Waitressing as a pre-req?

Nurses General Nursing

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Specializes in Ante-Intra-Postpartum, Post Gyne.

Ever feel like this requirement was left out? Part RN part waitress? We don't have any techs, aids, or ward clerks on our unit. I will always get my laboring patient what she wants, I try to show the family where the patient kitchen is so they can help themselves or even get it for the patient; but there is always some family member that thinks you, the RN, are there for their catering needs.

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No kidding! Had a labor patient a while back who didn't even make ten steps into the floor before her "baby daddy" started demanding a menu. When we informed him the room service is for patients only he said he would go to another hospital (45 minutes away) and demanded we give them a taxi voucher to get there. Ha!

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I think any job where you must juggle a million things at once is great practice for being an RN. That includes waitressing, no doubt!

Any time I've been a visitor in the hospital, I have never felt it was appropriate to ask any staff members to bring me anything, and that was before I was a nurse. It just never occurred to me to ask a nurse to get me anything. I think that's why it puzzles me so that visitors, by and large, seem to feel like it's perfectly reasonable to ask the nurse to serve them.

Now, I can understand the husband or wife at the bedside of their dying spouse, the parent of the critically ill child, etc., not wanting to leave the room to attend to their own needs. For them, I will offer. They need not ask. But if your loved one is stable, and you're perfectly capable of getting yourself to the hospital, then you're perfectly capable of getting your own dang coffee, and to be honest, your loved one might like the opportunity to have some alone time.

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Haha I feel you on that one. When I have been in the hospital I, as the patient, dont feel comfortable asking for things that I don't absolutely need.

I once had a patients family ask if we had netflix....Uh, no.

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Specializes in Peri-op/Sub-Acute ANP.

I once had a surgeon compare my job to that of a waitress. When I didn't respond to his "joke" he asked me why I had nothing to say. I told him I was busy calculating how much he owed me in back-tips. He shut up after that.

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Specializes in Med/Surg,Cardiac.

I would be a terrible waitress with how clumsy I am. I did learn how to make coffee since I started nursing though.

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Specializes in Medical and general practice now LTC.

Always used to say nursing was 'Jack of all trades and master on none' many times I have been a removal company, florist, waitress, receptionist and on occasions a nurse

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Specializes in Emergency/Cath Lab.

I think the catering to the families is what will ultimatley be my exit from this profession. It drives me absolutely bonkers.

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Specializes in Oncology.

I always tell patients who demand "service" and rude families who want me to cater to them that I have patients with dire needs and direct them to where what they want can be located. I've actually had to tell people that RN stands for registered nurse and getting them snacks and such was not in my job description.

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Specializes in LTC, med/surg, hospice.

I know all about this. Let one family member find out with have snacks in our nutrition room and next you are taking requests from 4 people. "I want a soda. I will have a strawberry ice cream. Get me two popsicles." Meanwhile the patient doesn't want a thing!

Hello...I actually have nursing tasks to do.

I don't mind when it is a family member that is assisting the patient and making my life easier but not these 20 min visitors that are too cheap to go to the vending machine.

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Specializes in LTC Rehab Med/Surg.

It makes me crazy when the families demand more of my time than the patient.

Last night one room requested extra pillows and blankets. Two cups of hot tea, cookies, and ice cream. The remote didn't work, and the phone fell under the bed. All these concerns happened one at a time and were not grouped for efficiency.

The above items were for the visitor.

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Specializes in OB.

Having had some waitressing experience prior to becoming a nurse, I am definitely grateful for the multi-tasking mindset it instilled in me! But I agree with all above, families treating you like you are their waitress sucks, and involves much firmness, limit-setting, and orientation to the ice/water machine room. Luckily where I am the families are almost always polite, they're just always IN THE WAY in our tiny Manhattan hospital rooms. The patients didn't seem to get the memo or remember from taking the hospital tour that bringing 5 large rolling suitcases full of belongings for a 2-4 day stay isn't a great idea, which makes getting in and out of the rooms even easier :rolleyes:

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