[IcanHealYou]

Originally Posted by Angie O'Plasty, RN

Why don't you just ask them?

You know what, I really wanted to haha. I wanted to just walk right up to them and ask why they were so bitter. Too bad I stopped volunteering before I could do it.

[MrsCaseyRN]

Sounds to me like the OP thinks he/she understands what its like to be a nurse, even if the OP is saying he/she doesn't. If you are not a nurse (and nursing school doesn't count) you can't really understand the stress that nurses are under. I find it hard to believe that all the nurses at this ER were just so wicked that they were rude to all the patients for no reason. I find it easier to believe that you do not know the full story. Other people on this website may disagree with me when I say this, but I feel that this is a forum for nurses to come vent, share stories, and not feel the pressure to defend ourselves. To come to this website to ask why nurses are so angry and to ask if we are one of the nurses that ***** your patients, or what ever you said, well, I find that rather offensive. None of us were there with you, so we can't tell you specifically why Nurse X said when she said. So really you are coming on here to vent that nurses are rude?? That's how i see it. Honestly, if you want to put down nurses, you can go to any other website out there. Because the general public is so ignorant to what we do as nurses and people want us to eat poop with a smile, that they are quick to put us down. (If we don't smile while eating the poop)
Again, I might be the only one that feels that way, but that's just how I see it.

[CCCRN2b]

Under staffed, underpaid for hours. madatory overtime, no lunch, no break, take a number. It is not the patients fault but you try to work 12 hours with no time to eat or pee and see how much of a good mood your in. Then add your lead telling you they are short for night shift so your gonna have to stay an additional 3 hours.

[dltrahan26]

I totally agree about passing premature judgement but some nurses actually are nasty pieces of work. I work in a county facility and see the same amount of (non-emergency) unneccessary cases in the ER. And yes is it frustrating when they come in yes.. well judge not less yee be judged. I go above and beyond trying to help my co-workers deal with the huge patient load by thinking ahead and offering to do whatever I can under my CNA but yet I still have issues with some nasty attitude nurses. Today I had one who actually got an attitude with me for setting her up for an IV on pt by bringing the chart and all the stuff to her table because when the attending came to look for her at the patients bedside, as usual she wasnt even there. I wasn't ugly about seeing her everywhere but with her patients gabbing to other nigerian nurses in another language (so noone but them understands, we have no african patients). I was trying to help so that whe she did decide to show back up and deal with the asthma patient sattin 90 she could get it done. I realize I am not a nurse (I start nursing school this fall) but I do strongly believe that we are supposed to work together as a team to give the best care we can in a timely and compassionate manner. I take offense to nurses who don't want to work together and complain to management when I call them over to make sure they see the sores and sundry issues so they can document them. I don't care if the cheif complaint on the homeless man was SOB, if he has PCP and a level 2 decubitus somebody needs to document it so it can be addressed either on the floor or with a followup in the EC. I am not gonna ignore things to make their lives easier and they have no right to be nasty to me because they have to do some more paperwork. I try to make up for it even with whatever else I can do while they document. I also take offense to nurse who don't witness something and can't make accusations to management that I am doing procedures I shouldnt trying to get me wrote up, but they don't have the guts to document false accusations. Sorry this is turning into a vent,,, but all the nasty hearted mean back biting nurses who are not in the EC to provide patient care and are only there to get a paycheck, watch out because I will be a GREAT NURSE in the ER soon and when I'm in management we will have no tolerance for this behaviour. I will work my unit myself before I would allow this to continue.,

[IcanHealYou]

Originally Posted by CaseyGirl827

Sounds to me like the OP thinks he/she understands what its like to be a nurse, even if the OP is saying he/she doesn't. If you are not a nurse (and nursing school doesn't count) you can't really understand the stress that nurses are under. I find it hard to believe that all the nurses at this ER were just so wicked that they were rude to all the patients for no reason. I find it easier to believe that you do not know the full story. Other people on this website may disagree with me when I say this, but I feel that this is a forum for nurses to come vent, share stories, and not feel the pressure to defend ourselves. To come to this website to ask why nurses are so angry and to ask if we are one of the nurses that ***** your patients, or what ever you said, well, I find that rather offensive. None of us were there with you, so we can't tell you specifically why Nurse X said when she said. So really you are coming on here to vent that nurses are rude?? That's how i see it. Honestly, if you want to put down nurses, you can go to any other website out there. Because the general public is so ignorant to what we do as nurses and people want us to eat poop with a smile, that they are quick to put us down. (If we don't smile while eating the poop)
Again, I might be the only one that feels that way, but that's just how I see it.

Why would I come here to put down nurses if I want to become one. You shouldn't take offense if you aren't one of them. My question is why are they angry, and you're answer is because they are under a lot of stress, so I guess because of stress its ok.. I'll definitely look down upon nurses that are rude to patients just because they are under stress. I'll dish attitude if it was dished to me, nurse or not. I was sitting there 6 hours a week just watching them do their job. I have never seen them once be courteous.

I understand the stress, I don't understand why some nurses must take it out on patients. It's a choice, you don't have to be a nurse if you aren't happy with it and you knew what you were getting into.

But I'm sorry if I was offensive to anyone here, maybe when I do become a nurse one day I'll understand why common courtesy can be lost under stress.

[IcanHealYou]

Originally Posted by dltrahan26

I totally agree about passing premature judgement but some nurses actually are nasty pieces of work. I work in a county facility and see the same amount of (non-emergency) unneccessary cases in the ER. And yes is it frustrating when they come in yes.. well judge not less yee be judged. I go above and beyond trying to help my co-workers deal with the huge patient load by thinking ahead and offering to do whatever I can under my CNA but yet I still have issues with some nasty attitude nurses. Today I had one who actually got an attitude with me for setting her up for an IV on pt by bringing the chart and all the stuff to her table because when the attending came to look for her at the patients bedside, as usual she wasnt even there. I wasn't ugly about seeing her everywhere but with her patients gabbing to other nigerian nurses in another language (so noone but them understands, we have no african patients). I was trying to help so that whe she did decide to show back up and deal with the asthma patient sattin 90 she could get it done. I realize I am not a nurse (I start nursing school this fall) but I do strongly believe that we are supposed to work together as a team to give the best care we can in a timely and compassionate manner. I take offense to nurses who don't want to work together and complain to management when I call them over to make sure they see the sores and sundry issues so they can document them. I don't care if the cheif complaint on the homeless man was SOB, if he has PCP and a level 2 decubitus somebody needs to document it so it can be addressed either on the floor or with a followup in the EC. I am not gonna ignore things to make their lives easier and they have no right to be nasty to me because they have to do some more paperwork. I try to make up for it even with whatever else I can do while they document. I also take offense to nurse who don't witness something and can't make accusations to management that I am doing procedures I shouldnt trying to get me wrote up, but they don't have the guts to document false accusations. Sorry this is turning into a vent,,, but all the nasty hearted mean back biting nurses who are not in the EC to provide patient care and are only there to get a paycheck, watch out because I will be a GREAT NURSE in the ER soon and when I'm in management we will have no tolerance for this behaviour. I will work my unit myself before I would allow this to continue.,

I totally agree.

[CritterLover]

Could you be mistaking a "no-nonsense" attitude for bitterness?

When I did triage, I tried very hard to not be too friendly.

Sometimes, being really friendly is necessary -- some kids, patients who are reluctant and scared.

However, most of the time, being too friendly just invites the patients to chat, and elaborate -- two things you don't have time for in triage.

I frequently had to cut people off mid-sentence. While it may seem rude, bitter behaviour; it was really just me trying to cut through the extraneous information, to figure out what triage cateogory the patien belonged in, if I needed to do anything else at that time (labs, ekg, IV), and can this patient safely sit in the waiting room for a while?

When I would ask "what brings you here tonight?" and the answer started with "well, I've had this pain in my side for the past six months...." you better believe I'm going to cut that story off, and interrupt with a "but what caused you to come in tonight?"

I wish I could have been more chatty and friendly (and when the waiting room was caught up, I often was); however, getting people in and out was more of a priority.

[IcanHealYou]

Originally Posted by CritterLover

Could you be mistaking a "no-nonsense" attitude for bitterness?

When I did triage, I tried very hard to not be too friendly.

Sometimes, being really friendly is necessary -- some kids, patients who are reluctant and scared.

However, most of the time, being too friendly just invites the patients to chat, and elaborate -- two things you don't have time for in triage.

I frequently had to cut people off mid-sentence. While it may seem rude, bitter behaviour; it was really just me trying to cut through the extraneous information, to figure out what triage cateogory the patien belonged in, if I needed to do anything else at that time (labs, ekg, IV), and can this patient safely sit in the waiting room for a while?

When I would ask "what brings you here tonight?" and the answer started with "well, I've had this pain in my side for the past six months...." you better believe I'm going to cut that story off, and interrupt with a "but what caused you to come in tonight?"

I wish I could have been more chatty and friendly (and when the waiting room was caught up, I often was); however, getting people in and out was more of a priority.

Hmm maybe you are right Critter. Perhaps those nurses are just really good at their jobs because of experience and they have learned to work efficiently. (Not being sarcastic) Many have said I must be a nurse to understand all this, and I really hope I will once I start working.

I really can't wait to start classes and to work in the hospital.

[dltrahan26]

I can second that fact sometimes it does take prodding and direction to get only the pertinent details for the triage because there is a lot involved in quick assessments and people tend to ramble about things that don't have anything to do with what they are complaining about. But we as care providers have to at least try to care and prod them in a considerate manner. Sometimes though cutting them sort causes harm as my nurse found when she misjudged a pts CVA and triaged her as non emergent because she thought she just had a fever (shakes) by the time the woman got processed paperwork done... the oncoming triage nurse found out she had just been discharged from one of our floors with another cva incident and had only been out 3 days. Come to find out that's just how she presents (shakes and fever) she had had another one while waiting... pt ended up in ICU. Nurse theng got mad at me for letting her know how pt ended up.

[Nursebarebari]

It is the other way round where I work. The patients are some times very abusive to the staff. I remember a patient i covered for a co-worker that asked to see a doctor, after the doctor went to her she said to him to get her a real doctor that speaks english properly and knows what he was doing. And is not just what she said, it was how she said it. Anyway, he was the R3 and from Ukraine, none of the rest of the doctors spoke better english. So she grumble all night. Her nurse complaint about the patient tone of voice all night. This happens a lot where I work and we the nurses have to be polite to the patient no matter what.
I'm not saying there aren't angry nurses who treat patients bad but don't generalized from your experience in one just one hospital.