The next best thing...

...to doing nothing. And gettin paid for it.

I really, really like my job.

You have no idea how completely foreign that statement is to me. How totally amazing it is to me that I can say that.

After being a hospital nurse for X number of years, you could poke me with a fork, honey, cause I was done.

I'd grown so disillusioned with the way nursing and healthcare in general had changed. How it's become so totally and completely about the almighty dollar, despite all the "hearts and flowers/patients come first" bullshit management spouts. I'm here to tell ya...big hospitals really don't give a damn what happens to you...as long as it doesn't reflect badly on them. And as long as the bill gets paid.
I think the hypocrisy is what disgusted me the most.

Don't get me wrong...there are lots of truly caring doctors and nurses out there. But they're slowly getting hamstrung by management. There are waaaaay too many chiefs and not nearly enough Indians.

And don't get me wrong about this, either...I know that a hospital can't run on air. I know it's gotta be run like a business. But it just shouldn't be managed like a factory. They're dealing with people...not Caterpillar parts. And I know, too, that it isn't totally the hospitals' fault. Insurance companies deserve a large part of the blame.

Aaaanyway, it's nice to get an evaluation that says "you're doing great" instead of picking you to pieces. It's nice to have co-workers who aren't trying to step on your head while they climb the management ladder. It's nice to have an hour lunch hour. It's nice to work "normal" hours. It's nice to have every weekend and every holiday off...AND to get paid for those holidays, even if they fall on a day I'm not scheduled to work. Uh huh.

It's nice to actually have some autonomy...to have a little freedom. With a few exceptions, I pretty much set my own schedule and can come and go as my schedule dictates. I'm not tied to a desk or to one floor on a hospital. It's nice that what I do isn't dictated by whether or not it's "cost efficient". What I do now is truly all about the patient. Nothing else.

Of course, there are little irritations. But they're soooo totally bearable compared to the major pain in the ass that hospital nursing can be. And sure...the pay could be better. I could walk into a hospital again and make twice as much as I am now.

But for what I get in return...and for the things I don't hafta deal with...I make a fucking fortune.

I could kick myself for not doing this sooner.