A Nurse and an Advocate for Nurses Shares a Few Thoughts.



Right now here in Winnipeg, nurses who have reached their Magic 80 are seriously thinking about retirement. Why? Because their employer is being held hostage by a government whose only concern is to balance the budget. I went through this in the 90’s. It is demoralizing. Your job as a nurse is to give the best care possible to patients. When staff ratios, layoffs, movement of staff, mandated OT, working short, Burn out, missed breaks, violence on the job. The list goes on. You can not give the best care possible. It works away at you. It is a toxic work environment and it is not going to go away. There is a toxic workplace here in Winnipeg and it is coming to the rural communities. 
Years ago during the 90’s, I remember having a rather heated discussion with my manager. We discussed or I discussed the lack of appreciation for the nurses who were working their butts off under the very real threat of pink slips. We agreed to disagree. She was towing the government line. The next day I found a card in my hanging file. It was a “star” card thanking me for my dedication to my job. Was I pleased? Absolutely not! To get that acknowledgment, I had to get confrontational. It was not right. And that card made me more determined to work for a kinder workplace 
I still have that card to remind myself that toxic work environments can do damage. And a card is just that a card. Nothing more.

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