I’m not really the political type. I don’t have a major preference for any one party over another, and I don’t ever judge a party by just its leader – whomever he or she might be. I believe that there are flaws with all of the major parties, and I believe that the governing party should be changed regularly every few years. So when it comes to election time, I usually weigh up what affects me most at that stage in my life. But years ago when John Howard first started talking about the removal of penalty rates for shift workers, that’s when I began to get a little worried…
I have had a relatively long, and exciting critical care nursing career that I began in my early 20’s. I’m not over dramatizing what nurses do – I know that the public are well aware of the lengths we go to for our patients, this is why we are continuously awarded one of the worlds most respected professions every year. So why would the government want to penalize the people that do so much good for our society?
After a rather stressful nightshift recently, whilst my head was still buzzing – yet my brain was fried, I composed this letter to Tony Abbott and the Liberal Party of Australia.
An open letter to Tony Abbott – Please don’t disrespect our nurses. Shift work is NOT a lifestyle choice.
Dear Mr Abbott,
I am writing to you after just finishing a gruelling 12 hour night shift. I am tired, my eyes are sore, my head aches, and my body feels sweaty and dirty.
I am an Intensive Care Nurse, and last night I spent many hours resuscitating someone’s baby. My amazing team and I just saved a life. And in some way – perhaps from providing that glimmer of hope during one of their darkest hours, we have saved the lives of the child’s parents now as well.
You, and the Australian public need me. In fact you need my whole team. We are a group of highly trained and highly skilled individuals, who stayed awake all night – while the rest of the country slept in their nice warm beds. We left our husbands, wives, and our own children to go and care for the lives of strangers. We do this week in, and week out – and we do it damn well.
We do this ALL THE TIME, and at ANY TIME of the day and night.
You see in the world of clinical nursing, there are no boundaries to the hours of the day we work. We need to have a savvy team on duty 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. The sick do not stop being sick by 5pm on a Friday, and they do not miraculously get better just because it’s the weekend. And as for the holidays – well let’s just remind you that even more accidents and injuries occur during these periods.
I work long, hard, unsociable hours – but our camaraderie is paramount to get us through. And last night I saw camaraderie at its best.
But luckily (to sweeten what we do just a little bit), we get rewarded by our penalty rates. So when my body feels aged more than it should do because of the lack of sleep I get from staying awake all night, at least I get a little remuneration for it in the end.
And when my circadian rhythms are so messed up, and my hormones become imbalanced, and my immunity gets lowered from not getting the regular sleeping patterns that a “normal” worker would – And so on, and so on… (I am sure you get my drift).
But the hardest part is when I have to miss out on spending time at the weekends or holidays with my own family. So when I do come to work at these times, at least I get a little extra pay to make up for it.
And yes sure, as you have stated in regards to shift workers before: “If you don’t want to work weekends, then don’t work weekends”… But my contract doesn’t allow for that. I have to do my fair share of days, nights, holidays and weekends – we must ensure that the correct mix of expertise is available at all times of the day and night for the safety of our patients. Shift work is NOT a lifestyle choice for us.
Nurse and mother Dani Tinkler says any changes in penalty rates of hospital workers won’t just affect her family, it will ultimately affect yours too.
I suppose I could go and get a different job and only work Monday to Friday… But then why would I waste these tremendous skills that I already have. I have been resuscitating people’s loved ones now for over 16 years. Intensive Care needs these skills, and our patients need us nurses that have gained these skills.
Intensive care needs us shift workers. We are a special breed. All nurses are.
What it comes down to is that we are the front line. As shift working nurses, we are providing the direct care to our patients to make them well again. At all hours of the day and night, we hold in our hands the most innocent individuals of our population – children.
I consider us to be like a bunch of super heroes – super heroes disguised in a pair of navy blue scrubs.
I’m not saying that you need to pay us the earth, just pay us what we are worth. And if you (and the public) need us to stay awake all night to heal these precious little bodies, then don’t take away our penalty rates. Give us this small reward for the amazing job that we do.
You need to be attracting nurses to the profession, not driving us away. And that is exactly what will happen if you take our penalties from us.
Is it really worth it?
Mr Abbott, one day you might be a Grandfather, and heaven forbid if your precious little darling ended up needing the help of this highly skilled team that I am so honoured to be a part of. Can you imagine if we all packed up our tools and went home for the day – just because it’s now past 5pm, and considered “after hours”?
Sorry, health care doesn’t work like that. We have a duty to our patients, and to their families.
I hope that you never have to walk inside the doors of an ICU. It’s a scary place to be. Not many people have it in them to do what we do. To keep it together in times of adversity, to keep a level head, and then to use our skills to save a young life.
It’s humbling. And it’s also very grounding. It really puts things into perspective as to what is important in life.
I hope that you can keep all of these points in mind, and show us the respect that we deserve. Please do not take away our shift penalty rates.
Respectfully yours,
All of the diligent and deserving shift workers of Australia.
About the author: Dani is a thirty-something wife, and mother of one based in Sydney. She has been nursing for more than 16-years. In her spare time Dani runs two websites, Honeydew and Violet and Once Upon A Violet
