[blueberrybon]

Originally Posted by Marie_LPN

It's called 'professional behavior,' and it's not limited to just RNs. Has nothing to do with some supposed need to be admired, knowledgeable, or useful. Has to do with the professionalism that the pt, family, docs, etc. expect a nurse (LPN or RN) to have.

Very true indeed. Professionalism is very important. We "represent" the profession.

Just a tad different when you're in "Grandpa Pete's Pizzaria" waiting for your dinner and having a conversation with other patrons who are tired from a good days work.

Just a by-the-by conversation, everything is great. Psyche gets the best of us (sometimes them, sometimes me) whether we admit it or not.

The CNA (in some cases) plain and simple wishes he/she was a nurse. The LPN (in some cases) wishes he/she were on the same level as the RN.

This exact same thing happened to me just last week. I was waiting for terryaki, when another lady in scrubs asked me where I worked. I told her in a pediatric office. Then I reciprocated the question and she answered that she worked in our local hospital. We had small talk for several minutes before she hesitantly told me she was in dietary. Now, of course I have nothing against dietary personnel, that would be stupid, but it was obvious she didn't want me to know that she was not a nurse. I made every attempt to make her feel my equal in every way during our conversation.

That's the only thing I'm trying to get across here, Freud would surely have a take on this.

Blue

[DusktilDawn]

Originally Posted by charlies

I, for one, would prefer that all I had to do was carry out the physicians orders. How easy life would be if that is all I had to do.

If all we nurses did was blindly follow orders, consider all the adverse outcomes for the patients. We are a line of defense in preventing adverse outcomes BECAUSE of our knowledge.

nursing care more influential than medicine on patient outcomes? lol. If i have a ruptured abdominal aneurism, I'll take a physician over a nurse anyday.

Actually mortality of AAA rupture is 75-90%, with 65% of patients dying before they arrive at hospital. Certainly you would want a skilled surgeon to repair an abdominal aneurysm before it ruptures, however it will not be that surgeon who will be monitoring your condition at all times, neither is that surgeon in the operating room alone. Throughout your stay, from pre-op to discharge, you will be monitored by nurses. Trust me, you will want nurses who are well versed regarding your condition and the course of your treatment, that know any signs of complications and what needs to be done, someone else may be covering for your surgeon if he is unavailable.

It's not an either or situation. When your physician is not there, who do you want? I really don't think you want someone who blindly follows orders.

[Kay Ciel, RN]

Originally Posted by GardenDove

Some patients are just very self centered, and do only consider nurses handmaidens and pillow-fluffers. I don't think you're going to change that portion of the population, no matter what.

Not being penalized as "uncaring" on PG when you tell a patient, "I'm busy with a more critical patient right now, but I will ask the patient advocate or nursing assistant to bring you one shortly" might be a good start.

I think that's a large part of it, actually. When we hire survey companies like PG to evaluate how we do our jobs, they better be asking questions pertinent to not just our caring, etc., but our clinical knowledge. Asking to rate from 1-5 "Did the nurse seem willing to drop everything for you?" further reinforces our view as handmaidens to the public. If the survey asks it, it must be true that's it's all we do! Not many people here are fans of Press Gainey for such reasons, the nefarious of which being what I mentioned above. If even they can't understand the core of being a good nurse, I sure don't expect the public to.

[lovejana22]

The thought of graduating from nursing school now scares the hell out of me. The public may love nurses, but from what I hear it is different on the "inside". I hear of how the older nurses will eat you up and spit you out. My cousin is a nurse and told me she went home crying the first month of her job!!!! In my opinion if there is such a shortage of nurses why would the older nurses do this.

[SharonH, RN]

Originally Posted by charlies

I, for one, would prefer that all I had to do was carry out the physicians orders. How easy life would be if that is all I had to do.

nursing care more influential than medicine on patient outcomes? lol. If i have a ruptured abdominal aneurism, I'll take a physician over a nurse anyday.

ps. In school, I used disturbed energy field all the time on my care plans. I think it is enormously ridiculous. Laughable even, how are we supposed to get any respect when we entertain such notions? Next thing you know we are going to break out the crystals, lol. I was challenging my teachers to tell me it was ridiculous and to rewrite. Not a single teacher ever even blinked an eye.

These are just my opinions, please don't get mad at me.

Uh-huh. How many times do people survive a surgery only to die of

1. Pneumonia
2. Wound infection
3. DVT
4. Post-op ileus

These are all complications which require skilled and aggressive nursing care. Unfortunately many nurses think like yourself and only want to carry out the physician orders....ya know the "important" aspects of patient care. Too many nurses value medical interventions such as hanging antibiotics, administering Coumadin, administering Albuterol treatments and pushing MOM over nursing interventions such strict hand-washing, good wound care, turning and ambulating the patient aggressively, promoting the use of the incentive spirometer and carefully monitoring and promoting PO intake. It's very embarassing to see a physician write an order to feed or turn a patient, something we should be doing anyway. Trust me, those are the issues that a patient's recovery hinge on.


And yes, I am well, well aware of time issues and the frustration that many of us feel when we are unable to carry out our nursing care in favor of implementing the physician orders but at least we realize that nursing care is just as important(if not more) as physican care.

[Kelly_the_Great]

Originally Posted by lovejana22

The thought of graduating from nursing school now scares the hell out of me. The public may love nurses, but from what I hear it is different on the "inside". I hear of how the older nurses will eat you up and spit you out. My cousin is a nurse and told me she went home crying the first month of her job!!!! In my opinion if there is such a shortage of nurses why would the older nurses do this.

Hi Lovejana22,

The issue of "older nurses eating their young" is really a worn out cliche (imo) and a misplaced blame on one particular group of our practioners for all of the woes which are endemic within our profession; whereas, in reality it is a lack of unity amongst all of us...

It's a divide and conquer technique that some of us have decided to jump on the band wagon of. You know, i.e. "there's a problem,"..."oh we can blame it on somebody else???"...."Yea! Let's do that instead of finding a solution!" (said with tongue in cheek)??? Believe it or not, many of our older nurses are not regarded with the high esteem they deserve for the knowledge they posses and they too are mistreated.

Anyways, and again, this is just my opinion, we need to be promoting the care of one another and the need for supporting eachother. Something that would probably be of immense help to you, Lovejana22, is to find yourself a good mentor.

Good luck...

[General E. Speaking, RN]

Originally Posted by Kay Ciel, RN

Not being penalized as "uncaring" on PG when you tell a patient, "I'm busy with a more critical patient right now, but I will ask the patient advocate or nursing assistant to bring you one shortly" might be a good start.

I think that's a large part of it, actually. When we hire survey companies like PG to evaluate how we do our jobs, they better be asking questions pertinent to not just our caring, etc., but our clinical knowledge. Asking to rate from 1-5 "Did the nurse seem willing to drop everything for you?" further reinforces our view as handmaidens to the public. If the survey asks it, it must be true that's it's all we do! Not many people here are fans of Press Gainey for such reasons, the nefarious of which being what I mentioned above. If even they can't understand the core of being a good nurse, I sure don't expect the public to.