10 Reasons Nurses Are Leaving The Hospital - O.R. Edition

Hard truths that I wish were made up about why we are experiencing an exodus of nurses. This one highlights my favorite people, Operating Room Nurses and Scrub Techs. Because, let's be real, it takes some special people to see your insides and care for you as if you were family.

1. Supplies. We have no supplies.

Everything is on backorder. For the whole country on everything, yes we know. There is even a print-out graphic taped to the break room wall explaining how ships can't get us the things we use daily. Things we use to make sure your operation goes smoothly. Um, are we the only ones alarmed by this?!? Let me say that again, we don't have all of the things we need to make sure you have a flawless surgical procedure. Odds are your surgeon is just doing without that one thing she likes to use, or we found a similar substitute for a while (until that backorder hits).

2. Management. The vegetables of the hospital.

I'm just going to come out and say this, most of these people have no idea what's actually going on. They get promoted and either forgot how to take care of patients or they skipped actually taking care of patients in the setting that they are currently managing. Somehow, somewhere, these people lost their brain cells. They (typically) have no more intellectual value than a potato.

3. Administrators. The Worst Accountants.

These people only care about getting money. Dollars are more important than patients. This should also alarm you. Surveys and productivity and charts with FTEs are all they see. 'Patient safety' is not in their vocabulary. This should actually terrify you.

4. Call. Have you ever worked 24 hours straight?

Yes, call is necessary. But do you really want the person caring for you while you are literally asleep and helpless to be on hour 23? What happens when you're on call is, they have one team to finish ALL the cases for the day. You stay until its done. No Break, no help, just hope your brain functions enough to finish the cases and drive home. And if you work at an institution that doesn't believe in Rest Comp, you might have to stay for part of your actual shift.

5. The Next 5 are about Staffing.

This is actually a simple concept. We are leaving because there is NO ONE ELSE TO WORK. We are tired of having to do everything, everyday, without help. I realize the irony of the above statement, but until a potato stands up for staff or an idiot with a calculator stops the bleeding this is only going to get worse.

6. No one wants to work in SPD.

SPD stands for Sterile Processing Department. You know, where they make sure the instruments used to cut you open are actually clean before re-using them. This is a difficult job to fill for HR because it pays dog poop, but you need to have a certain level of brain cells and organizational skills to be successful at it. High turnover, and difficult to keep those who are great at it. I know it sounds like a lot to ask, but for the love of Pete, SO many things are riding on if the correct instruments are clean and available for surgeons.

7. We Like to Eat.

Seriously, we like food. Anything. Even the horrendous "pizza party" that so many nurses speak of, will do. We literally just want the chance to eat. When you work in the Operating Room, you are quite plainly locked in a room of four tiled walls and some high beams from the ceiling. You cannot escape. Does not matter your role in this room. No one can leave unless another walking, talking human being, who can carryout your job description comes to tag you out. So unless you have the staff to complete lunch breaks, food is out of the question. See also, we like to pee.

8. When will you be home?

We have no clue. Please stop asking us. We will be there when we get there. It might be in an hour, it could be tomorrow. Hope you aren't waiting for me to cook.

9. Support Services are Cancelled.

In 2020, hospital systems used what was happening in the world to do some shady stuff. Things like layoffs and forcing doctors to "retire" would come back to haunt us in 2021. But also, using the fear of the unknown, they took away our support teams. I cannot even begin to find the words to explain you how important support people are in the operating room. Environmental services, runners, floats, OR assistants, transportation and many more were simply removed from the operating room. Is it really fair to ask OR staff to do 12 jobs instead of the most important one, which is making sure your surgery goes according to plan??

10. We Have Options.

If I told you, the same job that you do now exists........outside the traumatic scene of a hospital. Away from hospital administration. With NO call shifts. Would you be interested? Of course you would. OR staff is leaving the hospital for stand alone surgery centers. Many of us found something completely different. Even more of us are leaving nursing altogether. While there are still millions of us who want to care for people, we are done with the disrespect and blatant lies that things will be better.