Sinking ships/cycles of crappy work environments

5 The working conditions are terrible (no breaks, running around, leaving late). The smart ones leave for greener pastures. The dumb ones stay.

Everyday, there is less staff to meet the needs of the hospital. Due to this, the supervisors put more pressure on the already weary staff. More demands are added, as well.

More smart people leave.

They hire more nurses.

These nurses stay for a few months and then leave.

The dumb ones start to leave.

How does a hospital get out of this cycle?

Has anyone lived to see a "sinking ship" (like I described above) float and sail?

Note: I am a dumb one.
It's not a matter of smart and dumb. Courage or feasibility maybe. This has been a transitional period, first the recession and now the ACA (with some excuses layered on), I don't think a lot of ships are turning around right now.

I just jumped ship. I was making a huge salary and am not now, so I don't know if it was courage or stupidity. Time will tell. I made a fuss when I left, and things did improve for a bit because of my noise, but I hear from my old co-workers that everything is returning to baseline.Said ship is holding on, but still sinking.

My workplace is becoming water-logged but not yet sinking. I told one manager that I work with frequently that she has to stop hiring new grads, which was the reason for being short-staffed in predictable 6 month cycles, with new grads coming on in July and February of each year. There are soooo many new grads that quite naturally leave after a year's experience. (I am NOT blaming new grads; everyone leaves after 1-ish year experience....I did it, quite a few 20-year veterans I've talked to did it...no one stays in their first nursing job!) We even had one leave 1 week after orientation finished because he never wanted to work the floor anyway. Bad interviewing, I think, was the cause of this one.She finally took my advice. Hoping that unit's staffing stabilizes. Get the nurses with 1-2 years experience, make it their second career job, and they are more likely to stay. The facility just has to cough up the money commensurate with 2 years merit increases!

It depends on the size and strength of the facility. I have seen small ones fold and large ones continue to cycle on although in the past 10 years I can't say that I have ever really seen one that went to crap actually fully recover. Advice I'd give is to see the writing on the wall, accept it, and don't stick around after it becomes clear that the present culture is a way of life. Keep your finances and personal situation in such a state that you have flexibility and options because in my experience the ones who stay because they "have to" are the bitter ones and life is too short to be stuck in a bad situation both personally or professionally.

Great insight. Thanks everyone! I'm starting grad school for FNP in August. Will stick around this sinking ship as long as I can to get my tuition reimbursement. Then, I will run out of that place so fast one might think the building was on fire.

Quote from dudette10My workplace is becoming water-logged but not yet sinking. I told one manager that I work with frequently that she has to stop hiring new grads, which was the reason for being short-staffed in predictable 6 month cycles, with new grads coming on in July and February of each year. There are soooo many new grads that quite naturally leave after a year's experience. (I am NOT blaming new grads; everyone leaves after 1-ish year experience....I did it, quite a few 20-year veterans I've talked to did it...no one stays in their first nursing job!) We even had one leave 1 week after orientation finished because he never wanted to work the floor anyway. Bad interviewing, I think, was the cause of this one.She finally took my advice. Hoping that unit's staffing stabilizes. Get the nurses with 1-2 years experience, make it their second career job, and they are more likely to stay. The facility just has to cough up the money commensurate with 2 years merit increases!

Signs that your ship is sinking:no continuing education or unit competencieslow satisfaction scoresincreased ratios with reduction in full time staffmanagement sets the expectation for staff to sign up for overtimefavoritism shown to employees who gossip with the managementcliques that ostracize coworkers who report serious incidentshigh incidence of HAC - high infection ratesmanipulation of data for CLABSI and CAUTIevidenced based practice and continuing education is devaluedconstantly precepting unsuitable candidatesfilthy and cluttered environmentmeal breaks are non existenthigh cost of benefitsvacations denied due to lack of staffracial tensionA strong leader who hires competent and experienced staff nurses and charge nurses from the outside ​can turn this around in a year or two.

Quote from ThePrincessBrideAnd how are people going to get experienced nurses if the employers refuse to give anyone experience?As a new grad, I am glad that not everyone thinks like you as we would have a lot of new grads up the creek without a paddle. Not every new grad leaves their first gig after one year especially if the working conditions are supportive.