John O'Connor

In any given year, McKnights.com publishes nearly 1,000 news stories and hundreds of blogs.

The various pieces tend to address issues you might expect: new regulations, new business moves, new laws, who’s moving up, who’s going to prison, and so on.

Some pieces resonate; others fall flat. That’s how it goes in the news biz.

When it comes to the former, two recently submitted pieces tower above the crowd. They generated unmatched readership and feedback. And apparently, quite a bit of soul-searching as well.

One of these pieces ran earlier this month. “Why I chose to leave the nursing home profession: A fed-up executive’s story” delivers pretty much what the headline suggests.

Author Julie Boggess walks us through her three-decade journey in the sector. It’s a career that saw high hopes dashed by crushing regulations and other soul-sucking disappointments.

Our other twin tower serves up a similar tale of regret. In “The LTC industry should be ashamed,” Author Buffy Howard also takes a walk on the sector’s dark side. But rather than blame heartless regulations, she’s more miffed at the allegedly heartless people who run so many of the buildings.

Each piece is compelling. But be warned: Neither is likely to make you feel better about your job.

So what are the takeaways here? Some critics might say these two women couldn’t cut it — and decided to give the industry an extended middle finger on the way out. Others might counter that they are lending voice to real concerns about what’s wrong with this business. Or is an authentic reality somewhere in between?

Different people will reach different conclusions for different reasons. And I don’t pretend to be the arbiter of truth here. But when these are far and away the two most-read pieces we publish in a year, it surely must say something.

John O’Connor is McKnight’s Editorial Director.