Oh, Hell, Again???

Frustrations of a working nurse....

I've been trying to be good.
Doing what I should.

Assessing the patients,
Listening to the cadence.

Typing up the charts,
Listening to the hearts.

Filing up the papers,
Avoiding potential capers.

Not running my mouth,
Or fleeing to the south.

And yet, here I am again,
Called in, actions to defend.

Don't they know,
It's how I run my show.

Patients always come first,
I'd just as soon the paper be cursed.

But, there's the crux,
Bottomline money always sux.

Now, for daring to care,
My sins I must bare.

Will I be fired, retired,
Or just jaded to the point of uninspired.

** Possible followup, pending results, of meeting with boss.

Author's Note

Written Dec 2, 2010.

Reviews

[LA Lorena]

Sometimes it truly is a fight! I'm often amazed at the irony of it being named "health CARE". Bureaucratic red tape, politics, budgets be damned. Someone has got to put the patients first. I'm glad you do.

[Little Abbey]

I like this poem. Is it about a Doctor or a nurse? I loved the way the rhyming was short and also flowed. Wonderful job!

[Derek S.Keck]

This reflection that you put into your poem is so relateable and painted brilliantly. Wonderful work!

[FJ Davis]

A quite serious poem--though, of course, done in light tone.
Here's how it is: The incompetent nurses are usually political types, they are kicked upstairs; the nurses who love their work, do it well, and put patients first are often harrassed right off the floor--by those very same incompetent, blindly-rule-following, innately cruel, jealous b*****s who've now found a way to punish their betters.
Sorry, Judy. But you'll remember I told you one of my daughters is an RN--a nurse like you, who went into nursing to help people. She is constantly fighting management to get decent treatment for her patients--again, like you.
This poem really says something. I will call it to my daughter's attention.

[J. Hampton]

I relate to this one ... You live the frenzy
And I see you have the purpose quite correct
:: it's all about the patients ::
I work in a hospital ....in patient service while I'm not a nurse..
Please do fill us in post meeting Id love to read it !
Blessssss