RN here with 15 years of bedside under my belt.
Hospitals are just corporations doing everything they can to save a buck. Almost every meeting between health care workers and admin is about what they’re (the nurses) doing wrong and how they can be more efficient to save the hospital (ie HOSP CEO) more money. Nurses are stretched thin because the staffing is [bad] so the hospital can save money. Almost all nurses want to get out of working in the hospital because they treat the staff so poorly. Burnout is real. Which means when you’re loved one is in the hospital, the nurses taking care of them are brand new grads who lack the experience to catch life threatening issues, or burnt out experienced nurses who can’t help their apathy. I dread the day my family has to stay in the hospital because it is BLEAK. Patient’s get the bare minimum care they need, and it’s not the nurses faults. This issues needs to be talked about more.

The lowest paid staff members are responsible for making sure your room and everything you touch while you are there is clean and disease free. Sounds silly until you consider what they are up against.

I worked EVS (environmental service) at a hospital in the ICU during covid, I dealt with MRSA & VRE, c-diff, hepatitis B & C, influenza, norovirus and candida auris. I also had to deal with a whole family who had tuberculosis.

Once you have smelt c-diff or a GI bleed, you will never forget it.

I also forgot to add some of the worst things ever...bed bugs, scabies and lice.

Passing out during menstruation, from pain and bleeding 15-20 days every month.

I spent decades begging for a hysterectomy but was always told that I would "change my mind" about kids.

Finally, at 40, a doctor agreed to do the procedure. During pre-op testing, I was diagnosed with adenomyosi, fibroids, and (unrelated but would have gone undiagnosed without pre-op) cervical cancer.

My uncle always called me a swine, and I didn't learn what it was until I was 7 or 8. He contributed to my eating disorder at a young age. At the same time, I actually started to understand what he was saying and realized he was super racist, too.