In the world of being a Geriatric Nurse, I have been in emotional hell lately.  I work with the same approximately 50 patient each night and you can't help but get attached. In the last 2 to 3 weeks I have 7 of my patients pass away, one of which was my own Grandma-in-law, who I adored.  I have been brought to tears more than once by more than one nurse by offenses that are so awful they should have been fired immediately and investigated by the board of nursing.  I have been personally slapped in the face with the fact that administration really only cares about the things that State sees, and if staffing is a issue, it is almost impossible to get fired. So sit on your ass, do nothing, and as long as you chart that you did it, your golden.

Then to top off the good time that the last couple of weeks has been, during my one day off, they posted and had a meeting announcing that our company was bought out by another company. A company that I have worked for in the past, know for certain that loyalty to their employees is words that don't fit in their mouth and have the scruples of a criminal defense attorney.  
OH Yeah, and they gave us a 4 day notice that the nurse's hours were changing.
I really don't know what else was said, because like I said, the note was posted about the meeting and the meeting was had all within the 34 hours that I had off work.  Thanks for the phone call boss people!!!

Ok, so on a lesser whining side, what keeps me there?  The little old lady that pats me on the cheek and says..."they just don't come better than you".  Who cares if she says it all of us, she says it to me and it makes me feel special.  Then there is my CNA's who daily say "Lisa, I am so happy your here. I hate working days your not here". I know I don't have the most perfect CNA's, but my night shift crew is pretty darn good, and I know they love me so much, because my counter part on my days off is useless. BUT, I hope part of it is just me. That I have been a good role model.  That I have showed them that when I am hard on them and demand that things be done well, that I do it out of the love of our patients.   I hope they know, that I know just how hard their job is.