What is expected of me as a nurse?

Who sets expectations and defines what a nurse is? YOU DO. The health care industry has ruled nurses with fear since the inception of the HMO. The hospitals, doctors, supervisors, administrators and insurers do not want us to realize this. They cannot provide ANY care without nurses. Why is it that nurses are trained to be compassionate, knowledgeable and to place the patient's welfare first, but that is NOT what the hospitals, doctors, supervisors, administrators or insurers demand? Nurses are expected to be multitaskers and defer to any doctor, supervisor, administrator, patient or family. We are expected to compromise our own morals and what we were taught to do more with less help all to make a profit for the corporation. This attitude by health care providers have divided nurses and have forced many out of the profession.
With health care reform upon us and with it the realization of many people that placing profits over people's health is a socially irresponsible position. Health care is not like making autos, but that is exactly how it is managed today. How can a society expect to have a healthy, knowledgeable workforce that can believe in hope when one hospitalization without insurance can bankrupt? The health care providers, pharmaceutical, medical devices corporations don't want us to think about this. I want to put patients first, as they are ultimately the arbiter of quality of care and I want to do it for the next generation, our children. You should Google:"Why I hate nursing" and check the responses. If this many nurses and ex-nurses are disgusted then there is something wrong with our system of education and treatment of nurses. ANYONE ELSE FEEL THIS WAY?

Here are some links that I found informative regarding the Health Care Reform Bill.

Robert Woods Johnson Foundation re: Nurses impact on health care.

NPR: Nurses Knock Health Care Reform Bill. (maybe not what you think)

CBS news: Obama Rallies Nurses in Push for Health Care Reform. (Sept. 2009)

Kaiser Foundation: Doctor and Nursing Shortage Could Undermine Health Care Reform. (July 2009)

Huffington Post: (I know, maybe too far left for me, too.) Nation's Largest Nurses Organization: Senate Health Care Bill Cedes Too Much to Health Care Insurers. (March 13, 2010) Has some good points, though.

I wanted to post some links to articles by ANA, Association of American Colleges of Nursing, but they didn't address the core problem of the relationship between the nurse and the administrators of health care providers. The letters and proclamations I read contained language that generalized and was almost vague in it's context as to how to reform health care.

Please share your thoughts and write your representatives in Congress. If YOU don't get involved in politics, the corporations will because they have a HUGE profit motive.