I'm a terrible patient now...

Nursing Students General Students

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I'm having a hard time not critiquing every single thing the nurses/Dr. I come into contact with are doing.

Last week I had to take my child into the ER and a follow up with the primary today. The Dr. was the worst in the ER with procedure related sterility and today the nurse didn't even wash her hands when coming into contact with my child. I don't ever tell anyone I'm a nursing student (because the last time I did that I was quizzed on the spot) so nobody knew I was monitoring things like a hawk lol. I know things are different outside of nursing school so I don't get all loud and self righteous I'm just a little annoyed that I can't just go in for medical treatment and trust everyone to be following proper precautions for my/my children's safety and health!

How do I get over that? Do I say anything to those not washing hands? How do I say that without being a total psycho witch?

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I would say something in a heart beat. It is apart of the job to ensure you are washing your hands and it is unacceptable when a basic concept as infection control is not being followed. Who knows what things that nurse could have touched previously.

I had an instructor whose's husband was a patient and she actually put a huge bottle of hand sanitizer and a sign saying wash your hands before you touch me please. I would have loved to be a fly on the wall in that room!

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I would definitely say something, it is in your child's best interest. I stand up for my child as well, more often now that I am in nursing school and am more aware of what should really happen. "Please wash your hands before you touch him/her, thank you." "If you don't know how to do it please call for help.." You may prevent something bad from happening to you, your child, or another patient in the future.

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Specializes in L&D, infusion, urology.

ALWAYS say something about handwashing. You don't have to be confrontational, but just kindly request.

Be your own/your child's advocate. If you see things being done in a way that risks health (like breaking sterility), say something. It's not worth sparing someone's feelings and ending up in worse condition.

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Specializes in Complex pedi to LTC/SA & now a manager.

Most facilities have signs encouraging families to ask staff to wash hands/use sanitizer before patient contact. It's all in how you ask..." Humor me and please wash your hands before working with my child" with a smile.

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I struggle with some ocd stuff and figuring out what is normal germ awareness and what is hyper obsessive germ awareness (im talking about in therapy once a week for this) so my experiences since starting nursing school have been real confusing and hard for me to determine when to speak up (add on to that I am "just a nursing student" and not really "allowed" to confront nurses it has to go through my instructor).

I bet the next time I need to speak up and choose to do so it will be the one time I misjudged a situation and the provider was actually right haha!

Im going to just work on not trying to overthink the situations and just tell people to wash hands when I need to and be that crazy handwashing girl. Its for the best.

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I struggle with some ocd stuff and figuring out what is normal germ awareness and what is hyper obsessive germ awareness (im talking about in therapy once a week for this) so my experiences since starting nursing school have been real confusing and hard for me to determine when to speak up (add on to that I am "just a nursing student" and not really "allowed" to confront nurses it has to go through my instructor).

I bet the next time I need to speak up and choose to do so it will be the one time I misjudged a situation and the provider was actually right haha!

Im going to just work on not trying to overthink the situations and just tell people to wash hands when I need to and be that crazy handwashing girl. Its for the best.

I too struggle with OCD-related handwashing stuff, so I know exactly where you're coming from! I have asked doctors and nurses to wash their hands, also asked a nurse to glove who was giving me a shot. I don't say I'm a nursing student, I don't feel I owe an explanation for asking someone to perform a SAFETY measure which they should already know to do. At least I'll never have a patient ask me to wash my hands ;) LOL

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Specializes in Emergency, Telemetry, Transplant.

I think a simple "could you please wash your hands" (non-judegemental, non-threatening) is sufficient for the nurse. It is a simple request that has to be made...there are posters in all rooms in our ED with the message to its "Tell us [staff] to wash our hands." If someone asked me to wash mine (even if I already did) I would not take it personally.

If you don't mind my asking, what was the doctor doing, or not doing, as it relates to sterility? Just curious, because that would determine my course of action from there.

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Suturing. I wasnt sure if it was surgical or medical so I didnt know when/if the way he was laying everything out was contaminating a sterile field or even if it was sterile or not. I havent studied that in class yet so I just didnt know. Plus.... real world vs school...... I just thought I was being a little particular because I use gloves at home to cook food and change bandaids and dont eat anything with my hands. No, not even pizza. But I emailed an instructor and learned I should have said something because what i saw was worth a few sentences. Thankfully the wound healed up just fine no infections everyone is fine.

I have come to the conclusion I am just going to say something if I feel I need to. I have to.

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As a future nurse, you will have to advocate for what is right for your patient.

Get comfortable with that role by advocating for your child.

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Youre absolutely right I am definitely going to need stop worrying about not offending people when standing up for stuff like..... immediately.

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A good patient, not that we should even be labeling people like that, is aware of how he or she can act to promote health. A person who knows that caregivers should perform appropriate hand hygiene is not a bad patient (or a bad parent) but a good one. :flwrhrts:

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