Was Sunday 23 Feb 2025 my last day at work? (A Nurse’s Breaking Point)

Описание: I’m sitting in my car, staring at the hospital entrance, praying this is the last time I ever walk in as an employee. My plan was to retire in September—but if I’m forced to return for even a few more months after today, I’ll be devastated.

Why I’ve Hit My Limit
Leadership Vacuum
I’m surrounded by people in senior roles who fell into promotions, not earned them.
The last two Clinical Nurses (CNs) got their positions because they were "acting" long enough—not because they were the best candidates.
One of them never says anything clinically insightful. Why hold a clinical role if you’re not driven to improve patient care?

Dangerous Policy Drafts
Management is pushing a reckless proposal: keeping PACU (Post-Anaesthetic Care Unit) patients overnight.
We don’t have bathrooms, kitchens, visitor access, or facilities for ward patients.
This isn’t just impractical—it’s unsafe. Yet leadership is blind to the risks.

Pediatric Staffing Cuts
They’re trying to reduce nurse-to-child ratios for unstable airways—claiming "one nurse + a doctor nearby" is enough.
False. At the Queensland Children’s Hospital, it’s one nurse per child PLUS backup support (medication nurse, float nurse, team leader).

We’re not a pediatric specialty unit—yet they’re gambling with kids’ safety to cut costs.

Political Sabotage of Public Health
The current Liberal government (under David Crisafulli) is privatizing public health, farming patients to private hospitals to enrich "buddies."
Public-private partnerships FAIL. I know—because I fought for 9 months (with Christine Cox) to stop our hospital from becoming one.

Now? Nurses sit idle while management dismantles what we saved.
Two Years of Warnings—Zero Action
I’ve spent 24 months begging staff to:

Define a nursing process for patient flow.
Prove our efficiency before management forces changes.
Advocate for safe staffing, not shortcuts.
Result? Crickets. No initiative. No resistance. Just complacency.
Now, change is being shoved down their throats—and it’s too late to fight back.

Why I Have to Leave
My spirit is broken by working alongside people who care more about paychecks than patients.

I love nursing—the privilege of guiding people through their most vulnerable moments has been my life’s greatest honor.
But I can’t survive in a system where:
Bad management is rewarded.
Safety is compromised for budgets.
Nurses won’t stand up for their own profession.

A Final Plea
If you’re a nurse (or aspiring to be one):
Fight for your patients.
Challenge bad policies.
Don’t wait for change—force it.
Because if you don’t? This is what’s waiting for you.

Today has to be my last day. I refuse to watch nursing crumble any further.

— A semi-broken-hearted (soon-to-be-former) nurse 💔

P.S. To the patients—thank you for trusting me. To the few nurses who still care—keep fighting. To management—do better.

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