Demansionamento, lettera di una collega.

Letter of complaint from a colleague who has been working in Italy for 13 years.

The purpose of the professional is to inform and raise awareness among colleagues. In the past, she tried to report and change things, but she always found herself fighting alone, several times she feared for her job, and now she prefers to remain anonymous for the sake of her youngest daughter. 

Full letter:

Last week I went to do the afternoon shift, the first task I received was: to close the garbage bags.
I had to close them, despite my protests.

A few years ago I asked the cleaning ladies to take away the paper bin bag from the clinic, because it was full, and they replied that it was the nurse's job.
So I asked the coordinator for clarification who replied: by agreement with management, it is the nurse who must do it.
So, in the place where I work, we nurses are required to empty the paper bag.

A worker also taught us how to intervene in case of a broken water pipe and how to unlock the elevator.
During the morning shift therapy, both the head physician and the coordinator want us to open all the shutters by hand before administering the medication to properly light up the room.
Nurses a bit of everything.
If a patient vomits or spills milk on the floor, we have no cleaning staff to help us. The end result is that during therapy there are a thousand interruptions for tasks that have nothing to do with nursing.

The toilet breaks? The light bulb, the cartridge, etc., we have to report it promptly...
All reported for years to my former union, where I was a member for years, but I seemed to be the guilty one, in fact nothing was ever resolved.
I have worked in different departments, but the story has always been the same.
As soon as you start therapy, the bells start ringing, the bedpan, the glass, the urinal, the nightstand...etc.

I work in a large private facility, the support staff is at a minimum and cannot answer the bells either in the morning or in the afternoon.
I don't think that anyone would ever dare ask a doctor to lower the shutters.

This experience of mine of being downgraded, I want to share it to inform and raise awareness among colleagues, at first I spoke up, but I was immediately left alone, both by colleagues and by the three unions that have a monopoly in the facility, I also feared for my job.

A salary that hasn't changed in thirteen years, and we are forced to do any job (cleaning, improvising as hairdressers, manicurists, etc.).

For 13 years I have worked in Italy as a nurse, the salary has always been the same but the cost of living and the workload keep rising frighteningly.
The government talks about heroes, awards, bonuses, we haven't seen any of it, but we don't even want charity, the only wish would be a single national contract between public and private with a salary that at least allows you to make it to the end of the month.

I've heard of people providing care, without any qualifications or responsibilities, some working off the books, who earn much more than us.

I feel discriminated when I hear about significant raises for doctors, politicians, huge bonuses for nursing managers who, even if they often make mistakes, know where to point the finger. Governments spend billions wasted on weapons, corruption and crime, but for us there is never any money.

I thank the colleagues of the page for publishing my outburst, I know you are trying and I am with you.

A tired nurse