Why are healthcare profession pts the WORST to take care of???

mysticalwaters1 · Aug 1, 2005

This happened to me . . . when I had my son 4 years ago by cesarean . . everyone from the nurse to the doc assumed I knew everything I needed to know because I am an OB nurse!!!!
No, I'm a scared 40-something woman in labor with a baby in trouble - talk to me!!
I didn't say much either . . . I didn't want to be a pain.
So, this goes both ways really. I haven't had many patients who were in medicine be a pain - mostly they worked hard to not be a pain.
steph

When my mother was in the hospital she did the same, courteous and let the nurses do their job. To the point when her call light wasn't working and the nurses had opened the door with a blanket then it closed she was terrified at not being able to get help but when she told my dad made him not complain b/c she didn't want to offend anyone. Ok that was too much! Anyway maybe the ones who are nurses and other health care people the ones that are not troublesome don't even bother to let you know they are in health care. Where ever I go i'm not oh i'm a nurse. I may after something explained like at the Veterinarian the staff taught me how to inject my cat with iv fluids I let them explain b/c cat different of course then human then mentioned i was a nurse and felt comfortable sticking him. I just can't stand it when people also use their status to throw it in your face or to pull weight like the paramedic i mentioned. I understand it's not all health care. But I do come across a lot of this on my med surg floor. And man as someone mentioned sometimes it's more frustrating when the relative of a sister in law's neice says i'm a nurse tell me everything, or right off the bat trying to get a colonoscopy consent the poa before i can get through my explanation of calling the md to talk to her is I'm a nurse before i could finish wha't the wbc count and all specific. she didn't even want to hear my explanation of me getting consent that i have to have the md talk to her and sign it with her that she understands it. I can't just let her sign it. And I have no idea how long or if you are still in nursing. Gosh some are 80 year old mothers of pts! I also get people who say they are a nurse and i've got to stick to my guns, i know my stuff just be polite and answer what i can but SHEESH! Anyway some say they're a nurse and i find out they are not at all well maybe they care for a loved one but not a licensed nurse. I just hate how it seemed more people respected you and now everyone feels their expert on things. Bad before in noone asked questions. NOw it's too much, like we're being overrun ex the thread about people acting as if the hospital is a full service motel!

twin#2 · Aug 1, 2005

i've found they're either the best patients/family, or the worst. usually if the pt is a nurse, they're great, it's the nurse sister/sil/neice, whatever who's the pain.

it's very frustrating to know what we do, and have to stand back and watch someone we love being cared for by someone we don't know. i had a few experiences last year with my mil and husband, and just decided to be all eyes and ears only, unless i saw or heard something totally out of whack. i know i appreciate it when people stand back and let me do my job w/o questioning everything, watching the monitor "are you going to do anything about that?" i didn't want to put any extra pressure on anybody, taking their concentration off my family member. it worked like a charm.

i think some people play it up thinking 1) it will make people take better care of their family member or 2) they'll look cool in front of the family. you know it's gonna be bad when the first thing some family member says is "well, i'm a nurse/paramedic/cna/pa/doctor/medic" or whatever. omg, really!!! so, can you help me take care of your mom? cause i'm sure you're smarter than me. don't worry, i'll run everything by you before i do anything.

i concur; c pts/families who work in healthcare when they're good they're very good but...when the are bad they're terrible. there are those who have worked in the trenches & know that m.d.s don't always call back stat ( and i am not intimidated by m.d.s; i'm there to take the best possible care of the pt. & have never been reprimanded by acting as a pt advocate) the pts/families et know this, they know & respect hippa etc...the bad ones however, seem to develope "select amnesia" re how the system works; in their esteemed opinion they are your only pt, they are their doctors only pt.

they need reminders that orders for meds need to be inputted into the pyxis system, remved, counted etc...(my "gentle" reminder to the "it's been an hour!) is; "well...it's been @ 10 minutes hon, we don't have narcotis sitting around in a big bowl...you know that". actually my little wish list would include doors requiring a code to all units so we can monitor the volume of family members. :blushkiss

UnewmeB4 · Aug 1, 2005

So I treat them just like anyone else, do all the same discharge teaching and teaching/orienting on admission, explaining meds/procedures and I find they really appreciate it.
Melissa

Bless your heart! Not many people "get it", that we don't know everything about everything. Bad things happen when a patient does not understand what is going on...no matter who the patient is!

twin#2 · Aug 1, 2005

When my mother was in the hospital she did the same, courteous and let the nurses do their job. To the point when her call light wasn't working and the nurses had opened the door with a blanket then it closed she was terrified at not being able to get help but when she told my dad made him not complain b/c she didn't want to offend anyone. Ok that was too much! Anyway maybe the ones who are nurses and other health care people the ones that are not troublesome don't even bother to let you know they are in health care. Where ever I go i'm not oh i'm a nurse. I may after something explained like at the Veterinarian the staff taught me how to inject my cat with iv fluids I let them explain b/c cat different of course then human then mentioned i was a nurse and felt comfortable sticking him. I just can't stand it when people also use their status to throw it in your face or to pull weight like the paramedic i mentioned. I understand it's not all health care. But I do come across a lot of this on my med surg floor. And man as someone mentioned sometimes it's more frustrating when the relative of a sister in law's neice says i'm a nurse tell me everything, or right off the bat trying to get a colonoscopy consent the poa before i can get through my explanation of calling the md to talk to her is I'm a nurse before i could finish wha't the wbc count and all specific. she didn't even want to hear my explanation of me getting consent that i have to have the md talk to her and sign it with her that she understands it. I can't just let her sign it. And I have no idea how long or if you are still in nursing. Gosh some are 80 year old mothers of pts! I also get people who say they are a nurse and i've got to stick to my guns, i know my stuff just be polite and answer what i can but SHEESH! Anyway some say they're a nurse and i find out they are not at all well maybe they care for a loved one but not a licensed nurse. I just hate how it seemed more people respected you and now everyone feels their expert on things. Bad before in noone asked questions. NOw it's too much, like we're being overrun ex the thread about people acting as if the hospital is a full service motel!

I do not know what region you work in but, though I do not live in Rancho Mirage I work there & as this is a community hospital that sucks up like a Hoover vacuum to the wealthy residents in the area they are attempting to make it in to a full-service hospital. All the accouterments c meals. The well-coiffed servers who have to make sure all is perfect etc...it is a good thing that I waited tables for years when I was younger. Addendum; since these are elderly snowbirds I am still have to refrain from saying to 70ish sons/daughters "You still have parents???"

BETSRN · Aug 1, 2005

And then there is the other side of the coin.
When I had my girls, I did my best to keep my profession from the staff, because I didn't want anyone to assume that I knew it all and didn't need teaching. My youngest came home on phototherapy, so we had a home health nurse visit daily. The first one to come out was impressed by the way I had secured the bili blanket and asked me if I was a pediatrician. (That was funny enough-like a pediatrician would know how to secure a bili blanket!) As soon as she found out that I was a nurse, she started in on her litany of complaints, including how she was inappropriately assigned to OB/GYN cases since she had a history of sexual abuse. That was WAY more than I cared to hear. Why do so many healthcare professionals think that their colleague patients give a rat's behind about their personal and professional problems? I called the agency as soom as she left and insisted that she not be allowed to return!

That certainly is inappropriate!