"Nursing Solutions" in Need of Changes.

Nursing solutions to overloaded patient censuses, staff shortage, uncompetitive pay, longer hours, and increased work processes by nurses is to make it work and get the job done. This is actually a great solution for employers as the work needs to be done, but when the gap is closed the deficient isn't easily recognizable. And for those nurses putting in the work, this can equal more stress, decrease in morale, less time to do the much needed bedside care, and poor job satisfaction. A reality, for me as a nurse, is that the very core of what nurses do is to “put the needs of others before our own", but this is without consequences and it can actually eliminate the support and changes we need. My ultimate thought is, in situations where patient safety is compromised gaps in work processes and nursing care have to be seamless to avoid poor outcomes. However, those processes that are non-life threatening and of lower priority, employers have to be given the opportunity to see where the problems lie so they can take a role in fixing what needs to be done or allow the experts to do so (i.e. electronic charting systems, billing, HR issues, etc.). These gaps may create changes that are beneficial to nurses and our profession. A prime example, my first job as a nurse, I worked with an older nurse who had been on the floor for 16 years, being a jack of all trades. She did anything from patient care, staff education, precepted new nurses or new supervisors, helped in the planning of new changes on the unit, and so much more. She became so frustrated because I believe she was burnt out and there was no support from upper management that eventually she resigned. The irony was once she left, no other person was expected to do all that she had done, upper management realized it was too much for one person and the duties were split amongst a group versus one individual; so once the gap was recognized it was quickly fixed. We as nurses can't always create nursing solutions that don't allow much bigger changes that only employers can initiate, we have to allow them to take their part as well so that nurses can get back to the essentials of patient care and improving healthcare outcomes. What do you think employers can do to close the gap in the working conditions of nurses?