The Nurses Took

The Nurses Took

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1/11/22

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As COVID cases continue climbing in the wake of the overpowering Omicron variant — sparking a whopping 28,911 confirmed cases in New York City alone over the last seven days — overworked, understaffed and abused nurses nationwide are on the brink of a walkout.
“People don’t even realize that a walkout has already begun,” registered nurse Sarah Warren, 24, told The Post. Warren works in the progressive care unit at a medical facility in south Florida, but chose not to name her hospital due to privacy concerns.
“Nurses have been leaving the bedside at unprecedented rates since the pandemic hit,” she added. “And many are never going back because the trauma and systemic mistreatment has been too much.”
Warren sparked the now-trending conversation about a national nurse walkout in a TikTok clip shared Monday, following a viral post in which she revealed that an unruly patient once strangled her with her own stethoscope .
“It was traumatizing,” she explained of the 2019 incident. “I was doing my initial assessment on a patient and had my stethoscope around my neck, and the patient grabbed onto it with two hands and pulled me backwards.”
Warren — who chose not to reveal the patient’s gender — said the person was suffering with some dementia, but had no previously reported outbursts of violence on health care workers.
“I had to use so much strength to pull away that I thought I was going to break my stethoscope,” she added.
And she never reported the incident to hospital administrators.
“There seems to be this weird idea amongst nurses that things like this happen in nurses,” Warren said. “That violence comes with the territory , it comes with the job.”
But nurses, by and large, are no longer willing to excuse the abuse.
In response to the clip, which has yielded over 207,000 views in one day, a commentator and purported COVID ICU nurse said: “We need a national walkout . It’ll take six hours before we get everything we deserve.” Warren concurred, writing, “Regarding a national walkout, I think it’ll happen soon.”
She’s already reduced her bedside presence, transitioning from full-time to part-time nursing in January 2021 due to the agony she endured on the job the prior year.
“I suffered severe mental burnout and anguish during 2020,” she said. “What contributed to that was the shortage of PPE — having to reuse N95 masks for multiple shifts for weeks at a time.”
She went on to cite a shortage of nurse support staff members — including certified nurse assistants, who provide basic care to patients, and environmental service workers, who provide housekeeping services to patients and health care workers.
And when it came to requesting more money for the hospital’s fatigued employees, the admins wouldn’t budge on the budget.
“They’ve already reduced our benefits and took away our annual raises,” Warren lamented. “And when I reached out to my [chief nursing officer] for a mere one-dollar raise, he said it would take $2 million to give everyone in our system a one-dollar raise, which would bankrupt the system.”
Instead, her CNO suggested appeasing stress-ridden staffers with a 2020 commemorative coin.
“I told him, ‘Hell no!’” Warren said. “But that exchange helped me see that I wasn’t worth one more dollar to my hospital system.”
And she believes a collective walkout might show the system how unjustly it’s treating its most essential workers.
“This shell of a system needs to realize that nurses can’t even provide the quality treatment that people deserve and are paying for because we’re so under-resourced,” she said. “ Doctors have held walkouts before, and it’s not about abandoning our sick patients. A nurse walkout would be a demonstration to ensure that everyone receives adequate pay, benefits, support and care.”
When reached by The Post for comment, the American Nursing Association said they can provide a spokesperson about nursing/COVID in general — but “we can’t speak to nurse walkouts at this time.”
But supporters of the impending movement took to Twitter, encouraging Warren to lead the charge in the great nurse exodus.
“Do it. These things make history and are the only things that improve working conditions, historically,” one advocate tweeted in part.
“Pick a threshold, as a group. Do everything you can until it’s met, then all of you walk. Maybe when ER wait times hit 96 hours, or when incoming ambulances have to be redirected more than 500 miles [change will happen],” rallied another.
But while a number of hyped health care workers and their online allies strategized a mass retreat, other nurses expressed regret over the thought of abandoning those in need.
Nurses are against a national walkout without realizing that the walkout is already happening. #medtwittee #NurseTwitter https://t.co/VHfRnUpCkE
“Nurses are against a national walkout without realizing that the walkout is already happening.  #medtwittee #NurseTwitter”” Imma Helper stated on Twitter.
Imma Helper on Twitter stated: “I’m not sure it’s in our emotional wiring to be made to feel like we’ve abandoned those in our care,” added another nurse. “I think we’d collectively feel that way, even if we left bedside nursing or the nursing field.”
To that point, another nurse said: “We need to get over that immediately. It has been weaponized against us. A shock [and] awe moment does not abandon our patients (or students). It demands others (admin) to support our effort and ensures caregivers are around for people who’ll need us in the future.”
“Our empathy for patients has been used against us nurses for so long, and that’s why no one thinks we’d really walkout,” she said. “But if we don’t do something drastic soon, high-quality patient care will no longer exist.”

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Winner of the Gold Award for the Digital Health Awards, Best Media/Publications Article, Spring 2022
The findings of Nurse.org's 2021 State of Nursing Survey revealed some harsh truths about the profession but also spoke to the strength, perseverance, and passion that nurses have for their work. Nurse.org has relaunched the State of Nursing survey in 2022 with the aim to capture a complete picture of the true state of the profession - from how nurses feel about work, how nurses are being treated, how nurses feel about the future of nursing, nurse's mental wellbeing and what nurses think needs to change within the profession. Take the survey now (it takes less than 10 minutes.)
If the past two years have taught the world anything, it's that nurses are NOT okay. The truth is that despite the 7 pm cheers, the commercials thanking nurses for their dedication and selflessness, and the free food from major retailers – the overwhelming majority of nurses are burnt out, underpaid, overworked, and underappreciated.
With millions of nurses worldwide, Nurse.org wanted to truly understand the current state of nursing and give nurses a voice to share their thoughts, feelings, and apprehensions about the nursing profession. We surveyed nearly 1,500 nurses to find out how they felt about the past year and get to the real reasons behind the nursing shortage. The responses were heartbreaking, but not without hope.
Get the latest on all things nursing by joining our email newsletter. You’ll be the first to know about nursing news, trending topics and educational resources.
Nurses are struggling. Regardless of practice specialty, age, or state of practice – the answers were all the same. Nurses, NPs, and APRNs are all struggling and need help.
Only 12% of the nurses surveyed are happy where they are and interestingly, 36% would like to stay in their current positions but changes would need to be made for that to happen. Nurses report wanting safe staffing, safer patient ratio assignments, and increased pay in order to stay in their current roles.
Nurses didn’t hold back when discussing their feelings regarding the current state of nursing:
One nurse responded with the following, “I have been an RN for 34 years and in my specialty of nursing for 31 years and I am burned out.”
You’ve likely heard about the nursing shortage, but what does that mean and why is it happening?
According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) , the employment of registered nurses is projected to grow 9% from 2020 to 2030. Approximately 194,500 openings for registered nurses are projected each year, on average, over the decade. However, this number was projected prior to the pandemic, and before the mass exodus of bedside clinical nurses. As a result, it’s likely substantially lower than what the real demand for nurses will look like.
The American Nurses Association (ANA) reports that the increased need for nurses spans beyond the current pandemic. In fact, they sent a letter to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) on September 1, 2021, urging the country to declare the current and unsustainable nurse staffing shortage to be a national crisis.
The ANA attributes the needs for thousands of nurses to the following:
However, those stats don’t address some of the systemic issues nurses face every day, particularly in the midst of a pandemic. That’s why we asked nurses why they are really leaving the bedside.
What we heard is that, overwhelmingly, the number one reason nurses want to leave the bedside is because of unsafe staffing ratios. This leads to a never-ending cycle of shortages: nurses face unsafe staffing ratios so they decide to leave the bedside, this results in even fewer nurses available to care for patients, so the downward cycle continues.
Essentially, nurses are dealing with an increased workload with fewer resources. Typically, pre-covid ICU nurses would experience a 1:1 or 2:1 patient-to-nurse ratio. Now ICU nurses throughout the country are experiencing a 3:1 or 4:1 patient-to-nurse ratio which exacerbates staff burnout and unsafe nursing practices.
One nurse reported, “With increased patient census, staffing ratios are very unsafe especially with high acuity patients. Having 4+ critically ill patients not only puts licenses at risk but the patients do not benefit at all. We’re just running around doing tasks, not providing adequate care.”
While a big piece of the puzzle, unsafe staffing issues are, unfortunately, one part of a long list of issues plaguing nurses today.
Nurses are leaving the bedside because of issues like:
To learn more about the nursing shortage and learn ways you can get involved, check out the full report here .
70% of nurses still think that nursing is a great career and 64% still think that new nurses should join the profession.
“If you’re a student considering becoming a nurse, please know that you are not walking into a doomed profession. You will never meet anyone who is more determined, more resourceful, or more ready to jump in and lend a helping hand than a nurse."
--– Nurse Alice Benjamin, MSN, APRN, ACNS-BC, FNP-C, CCRN, CEN, CV-BC, Chief Nursing Officer and Correspondent at Nurse.org
If you’re a nurse, you know that nursing isn’t just a profession, it’s a calling. It’s devastating to see that so many nurses are suffering in their quest to heal and give care, but it’s heartening to know they are not without hope.
If you’re a nurse, know that your job is simply to put yourself first. If we want to solve the nursing shortage (and we do!), it can't happen without nurses recognizing that they are NOT the problem.
"The problem is not with nurses or nursing; the problem is that nurses have been so busy taking care of others that no one has taken care of them. And we’re here to change that--and by entering the nursing profession, you will be part of the solution too”
– Nurse Alice Benjamin, MSN, APRN, ACNS-BC, FNP-C, CCRN, CEN, CV-BC, Chief Nursing Officer and Correspondent at Nurse.org
The truth is nurses need a lot more to be incentivized to stay practicing clinically at the bedside. Nurses reported needing:
While we may not be able to make this change at an individual level, collectively, we can amplify the voice of nurses and shed some light on the issues that they are facing every day. Together, we have the power to create meaningful, lasting change for current and future nurses. Here's how to get involved:
Sign the pledge seen below and encourage your friends & colleagues to do the same. While you’re at it, print it out and post it in your break room.
Change can’t happen unless we get the word out about what’s really going on. Share what you’ve heard and what you’ve experienced, and encourage others to do the same.
It’s time for elected officials to stand up for nurses. Write them a letter. Call their office. Demand change for nurses. Click here to get the contact information for your local and state Officials.
Get even more in-depth insights into what’s going on with the state of nursing and the issues that nurses face today, click here to download the full State of Nursing report or read about the best and worst specialties for nurses during COVID .
“If you are a current nurse considering leaving the profession, be assured that you are not alone in your struggles. If all you’ve had the energy for is keeping your head down and getting through your shifts, sleeping, and getting up to do it all over again, know that you are doing enough. It’s not your responsibility to solve the nursing shortage.”
– Nurse Alice Benjamin, MSN, APRN, ACNS-BC, FNP-C, CCRN, CEN, CV-BC, Chief Nursing Officer and Correspondent at Nurse.org
Looking for a change beyond the bedside? Check out our list of the top non-bedside nursing careers
You know all nursing jobs aren’t created (or paid!) equally, but do you know which nurses are making the most money in 2020?
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