"She's a FLOOR nurse..."

Valerie Salva, BSN, RN · May 25, 2009

I love ER, but I am currently watching my least favorite episode, "Fear of Flying."
Why do I hate this one? It involves a MedSurg nurse being pulled to County's ER and, during the course of the shift, depicts floor nurses as dumb people who have too much time on their hands.
I think the show has shown nurses in a positive light for the most part (soap opera stuff ignored) especially with the characters of Carol, Sam and Haleh. So why did they feel the need for the low blow to MedSurg nurses?
Of course, I was "raised" in the perioperative environment, and had instilled in me the belief that floor nurses were the ones who couldn't hack the real world of nursing, so I'm not shocked that Hollywood feels the same way!
I know I need reminding sometimes that we couldn't function without other types of nurses. If we all worked on the floor, who would be the RRT nurse, the LTC nurse, the triage nurse in the ER? We're all pieces of the same body!
Ugh!

That is so ironic- I was told several times in nursing school that perioperative nursing is not real nursing- because there is always a doc there who is responsible for everything, and no critical thinking is required on the nurse's part. Not that I believe it, of course.

It was instilled in me that med surg nursing is the real meat of nursing!

gonzo1, ASN, RN · May 25, 2009

ICU and ER is where med/surg nurses that can't take it go to get away.

med surg is the meat and potatoes and they do work their butts off

they have my full respect

angel337, MSN, RN · May 25, 2009

i personally think floor nurses are the hardest working nurses out there. the hospital would not exist without floor nursing.

keithjones · May 25, 2009

the experience most people have with floor nurses is when they are visiting or are admitted to a floor. they sit for an hour and see a nurse in the room for 5 min. then when they pass the nurses station their is either 2-3 nurses chatting or they are all 'hiding'. if they followed a floor nurse around for a typical shift they would see a very different picture.

AOx1 · May 25, 2009

I think this happens when we don't learn to work as a team. My patients in the ICU are extremely ill and require a lot of intense focus. With only 1-2 patients, I have more time focused on just them, and learn a lot more about history, diagnosis, labs, etc, and can list all that good stuff off the top of my head. However, in med-surg, I am too busy keeping my head above water with my 8 pts, 4 of whom are in isolation, lol. The way some hospitals staff, it's a miracle nurses even have time to meet and assess their patients. I think it's a lack of understanding of what the other person does in a given day. My days were equally crazy on both units, but you can't know every detail of 8-10 pts like you can when you only have 1-2.

Freedom42 · May 25, 2009

The episode of "ER" referred to in this thread actually ends with the ER nurses realizing they've misjudged the med-surg nurse. Said nurse says she's been floated to the ER -- and other unfamiliar environments -- by management in an effort to get her to screw up and forfeit her pension, of which she's just nine months shy. The ER nurses scoff at that until suddenly one of their own veterans, one year shy of a pension, learns that she'll soon be floated to neuro. The med-surg nurse is suddenly a sympathetic character, not an incompetent.

Penelope_Pitstop, BSN, RN · May 25, 2009

Freedom - you feel bad for her as a person. However, the episode doesn't end with anything positive about floor nurses. I agree with you, but the picture of MedSurg remains the same.

Freedom42 · May 25, 2009

Freedom - you feel bad for her as a person. However, the episode doesn't end with anything positive about floor nurses. I agree with you, but the picture of MedSurg remains the same.

I don't feel bad for a fictional character. I disagree that any conclusion is drawn about med-surg nurses in the episode, particularly since the punch line is that one of the ER nurses is about to be subject to the same treatment as the floater. If anything, the "picture" is that veteran nurses with high pay checks are treated poorly by management at that fictional hospital.

I do find it interesting that throughout this board, there is often disappointment and sometimes even anger expressed at entertainment shows that fail to present what posters consider "positive" portrayals of nursing. Sometimes even irresponsibility is suggested, as in the case of one poster who's writing to Showtime to complain about "Nurse Jackie." I'm not suggesting that's the case in this thread. But I find it curious that people expect to see nurses portrayed in what they explicitly call a positive light. I have no expectations from entertainment. It's created to sell ads, nothing more.

Penelope_Pitstop, BSN, RN · May 25, 2009

I don't feel bad for a fictional character.

Sorry, I meant "one feels bad," not "you feel bad."

I don't expect nursing to be always portrayed positively. I felt that the program showed a truth in life, that different types of nurses hate on one another, and that it was most unfortunate that the writers' portrayal of a floor nurse could actually encourage the stereotypes that might create this behavior.

I actually didn't mean this to be a thread about how awesome floor nurses are. (I'm not complaining that it's going that way, of course!) I know I've heard myself say things close to how the ER nurses described the floor nurse, when describing other types of nurses. Not a good idea on my part, something I regret.

I'd like to teach the world to sing in perfect harmony...

Tait, MSN, RN · May 25, 2009

As a med/surg nurse myself I can totally see why keeping six near step-down sick patients from dying/decompensating on a twelve hour shift would be considered the "easy" stuff...

I don't think most people realize that the floors are closer to ICU style patients now than they ever have been.

I remember transferring a patient to CCU one night and the RN asked me how many patients I had that night. When I told her five more on the floor, she shuddered and told me that was why ICU nurses get nervous when they have to float.

We work our, pardon but, asses off on the floor. Anyone who doesn't see that lives in a very small box. And anyone who bashes any nurse doesn't deserve the care we give.

Tait

PS. I think I am continuing the derailment of this thread. Sorry

LockportRN · May 25, 2009

Boy does this bring back memories of my time in the hospital. It is now almost funny to look back on. I started on the tele unit. On our unit was GREAT teamwork and respect for one another. They really helped me hone my skills. But during lunch, I saw it for the first time. At first I was horrified, but when I got home to think about it, I realized that they were just being territorial and had taken on the views of the world.

What happened was this...

As we (the tele nurses) made our way to find a table, I started to walk a little ahead and was pulled back by several of the 'seasoned' nurses to not sit at a certain table because they were the ICU nurses and that was 'their table'. They then started to point out where the ER nurses sat, the PICU nurse, the surgical nurses etc. Then warned me not to try and sit there because we were only 'lowley tele nurses'!

Like I said, at first I was offended but when I was home I started to really think about the environment. We worked for a large teaching institute and nurses were just coming into their own but on the tele floor, several Cardiologist still had the 'Doctor God syndrome' in full force. Worse than them, were the interns that were abused by their 'teachers' the cardiologist, who then needed to try and show their superiority over the nursing staff...or try to as most of these nurses could run circles around them!

NOt only that, but as a new grad, I had just finished my final semester where we had to work 'the units'. What I STILL remember is that each and every unit had it's own brand of stress and overwork as well as specialty.

I am now in management in LTC. Not a lot of high tech but a specialty all in itself. As a tele nurse having 5 patients cause HUGH stress. When I 1rst came to LTC and was given 50 patients, well, I think I couldn't breath! lol It took a long while to adjust.

I have been a nurse for nearly 20 years and when I hear 1 nurse say that another nurse is stupid, it tells me that that nurse is either a)insecure about her own practice, b)has a limited scope of practice, c)is currently or has worked in the environment I described above and the only defense that nurse has to help themselves feel better is to put another down, d)is NOT a teamplayer and is one of the nurses that can be described by the phrase 'nurses eat their young' or e)may becoming burnt out.

OUr profession is not the easiest in the world and any nurse that has worked for a few years on their own, KNOWS that completion of school does not a nurse make! The 'real' trainging begins once you don the uniform and begin your job on that first day and if done right, never stops! Therefore, to say that a nurse in a different specialy or a new nurse or transfering nurse is 'stupid' or to insinuate that they are not as good because they do not work in your specialy really just shows your own ignorance. A lack of knowledge do to lack of experience does not equal stupid.

This makes me feel sad to hear that this still goes on...it seems that no matter how much ground we make in advancing our images and increasing our expertise in this wonderful profession, this is one area where small mindedness seems to remain.

I wonder, for the nurses that love to do this, have you thought about when you make this statement, esp to a non-medical person, about the damage that you do not only to the nursing profession (of which you are a part of) but also to that person. Do you not understand that you DO hold some authority on the subject and when you say these things to a non-medical person, fear is intilled in them and lack of faith in nurses in general so the next time they go to the hospital, you very well may have hindered their recovery. Or even may be a cause for their cont. illness or worsening of that illness because of that fear they may wait to seek medical help. Please, use caution with your words. In the end, you put a doubt in the minds of others about your own self with your own words.

In ending, "until you walk a mile in my shoes..."