Senior Nurse, Senior Citizen

I've been stewing for a month, and this soup is sour. We have only had a couple slow days, and otherwise so ridiculously busy and understaffed on our evening shift, that I'm about to blow a fuse. So, here's my latest ramble.

Sorry Spleen


Nothing written at all
For at least one month,
I think it happened before
Maybe just wunth,
What have I been thinking
Who in the heck knows?
The absence of all writing is as
Unpredictable, as the wind blows.

I guess I'll write about work
The never ending story,
All the chills, thrills and drama
Have overwhelmed the glory,
The Testament of this Nurse
Now at the bookend of his career,
I'm warning you, kid
Don't look stupid when I'm near.

I might write about you
And tell the story of a hack,
A Cardiac Nurse without the rhythm
That was yesterday, oh, how you slack,
Comfortable in your position
In this cool working place, what a score,
Less than 7 years experience
When you were invited through the door.

And it clearly is evident
In the way you bob-and-weave,
I worry about our clients
Regarding what is not, up your sleeve,
The patient's, they don't know Jack
Regarding what a Nurse ought to know,
So when you enter the room, they ASSUME
You are an Expert, Joe Blow.

Now truly, it's a fact
Administrators want good scores,
On the Satisfaction Survey
Or they'll be kicked outdoors,
To the curb or worse
Their reputation smudged,
"Mr. Smith, did you have a nice Nurse?"
That's how we're judged.

And please, tell your neighbors
That you had the best time,
How the staff was so friendly
And the food was sublime,
How the Nurses were best educated
They knew their stuff, each and everyone,
Knowing that, you felt safer?
Oh, you ASSUMED that, you son of a gun.

Human Kindness is a concept
We can all get behind,
Hospital standards of care
Are carefully defined,
Professional excellence
Should be demanded and required,
If you don't improve your skills
Then you will be retired.

But that is the world
Dreamed about by me,
The senior nurse, senior
Wishing I could be set free,
From this nonsensical arena
Of medical care, 2015,
It's all about the name-brand name
Not clinical outcomes, my sorry spleen.