Do You judge and treat patients differently depending on who they are ? - Page 5

FMF Corpsman, I prefer:

Don't judge anyone until you've walked a mile in their shoes. That way, when you tell them what you think.............you have a one mile head start on getting away from them.

You can be as grossed out as you want to be, but I certainly hope you still maintain your professional demeanor. It may not be the patients fault if some fungus has invaded his tissue or if he has some other integumentary system failure. If s/he is walking around like this and has already been the subject of stares and ridicule from the general populace, and you know s/he has, they don't need to get it from you as well.

[color=#000000] [/color]the post i quoted would have been far more effective, in my opinion, if it had discussed the poster's own process and how it helped him/her provide better care. instead, she/he chose to scold and attempt to dictate how another person should feel. this is dangerous and damaging behavior.

My point is, you have to police yourself with regards to delivering unbiased care to your patients. You know when you are judging them for the right or wrong reasons. Don't get too caught up in the double talk that comes down from administration. They have no answers and take a "wait and see" approach. They wait and see the results, and if they don't like them..........they tell you that you should have known better and that there are policies in place for/against what happened. As I said before though, their policies and attitudes towards the whole issue reflects lack of understanding of the issue and are double sided.

[/COLOR]Considering that “judgment” a feeling of sorts, it is somewhat difficult to separate the two as it were and I am indeed attempting to help this Nurse to become a better RN/PERSON, by pointing out how s/he might better have assisted this patient. Granted, I undoubtedly allowed my personal feelings to intrude, but where I wrote my words, RN-CARDIAC merely insinuated, otherwise my post never tried to dictate s/he feel anything except perhaps a little empathy towards her patient which isn’t asking all that much for a NURSE. [COLOR=#000000]
"I agree with Katie,...I do make judgments,...especially when this is the 217th visit to my ER this year, twice today and you managed to get your BAL back to 0.437 in under three hours! Judge I do,...however,,...I will still stick a tube down your throat, give you a banana bag, and remove your nasty clothes and place you in a clean gown. I will treat you, and probably keep my mouth shut,. but yes I will judge. " RN-CARDIAC
[/COLOR] Awards:
[COLOR=#000000]Perhaps all of my years in ER have tainted my view, but I can put myself in the ER at the same time as RN-CARDIAC and this patient and see exactly how this patient is being treated and it isn’t exactly like the little old lady that is in the next cubicle. This patient is being treated with disgust and near abuse. Her tone of voice is condescending and more that of a Drill Sergeant than of a Nurse and she’s treating the patient like the dirt she pictures him as instead of a human being in need of help. I’ve seen it far too many times, and I’ve had to write up far too many nurses for just this same thing. Do I judge? Yes, I do, and I judge Nurses as well and for just this kind of thing. This patient needed serious help and all this nurse saw was the dirt, perhaps if s/he gave him a bath the view might have been a little different. People end up on the street for a variety of reasons, not all of them their own fault, and as I said in my post, the horrors out their would make a teetotaler drunk within a day or two, just to escape the reality of it all. I used to work 20 hours a week in a Detox Center for an Agency and it was an experience like living in a Third World country. The people affected by drugs and alcohol were Doctors and Nurses, Lawyers, Senators, everyone and anyone you wouldn’t expect to be were represented. This patient might have been a Judge, but I know it was someone’s Father, it may have been someone’s Husband or Brother or Dad and they deserved the same respect everyone else that came in the door to that ER deserved and exactly the same treatment. And they didn’t get it, BECAUSE IT WAS THEIR 217^TH TRIP TO THE ER. What if that patient had coded outside of the ER, would you have just walked away and let them die, because you didn’t want to touch them because they were too dirty to live? What if they hadn’t changed the guidelines for CPR, would you have done mouth to mouth? Honestly? You’re a Nurse; You’ve taken an Oath, or were they just words? [/COLOR]

my post never tried to dictate s/he feel anything except perhaps a little empathy towards her patient which isn’t asking all that much for a NURSE

"see exactly how this patient is being treated and it isn’t exactly like the little old lady that is in the next cubicle. This patient is being treated with disgust and near abuse. Her tone of voice is condescending and more that of a Drill Sergeant than of a Nurse and she’s treating the patient like the dirt she pictures him as instead of a human being in need of help."

RN Cardiac, I presume you live in a nice house, perhaps with your family? I obviously have no way of knowing any of this, but as a professional, it is the given norm. Given your post here, I’m somewhat astounded by your attitude. What do you know of your patient except for what you wrote? Anything? The second visit of the day, was the 217^th of the year? Your ER doesn’t have a clothes locker? Couldn’t you have provided him with clean clothes during the first visit of the day? Did he get a bath and maybe a shave during his first visit? He had to be sober in order for you to D/C him the first time; did anyone try to place him anywhere? What does his H&P show? How did he end up on the street, has anyone bothered to try to find out? Does he have family that anyone can contact or does anyone care? You obviously don’t. This man could be a Veteran, there are scores of them on the streets, but most people who are in a position to help are just like you, too damn busy judging them. If you were living on the streets and usually had to deal with what the average homeless person has to deal with, you would probably try to stay drunk most of the time as well. I know I would. There is an old saying about “not judging someone until you’ve walked a mile in their shoes.” Then there is an even older one you might prefer, “Judge not, lest ye be Judged.” I asked about your home, because what if suddenly you longer had it and you were forced to live on the streets? What exactly would you do? This isn't such a far out scenario, it happens to people everyday. It is worth considering.

So ... you are, as I pointed out, confusing feeling with behavior and assuming you know what s/he is doing based on what s/he's feeling.

Let me be clear: disrespectful or abusive behavior is unacceptable and should be confronted whenever you see it.

Extending that to include some divine right to dictate what goes on in the privacy of another's mind and heart is over the line and can do significant damage in itself.

I say again that your post would have been more helpful if you had shared your process for dealing with your own hostile responses in order to provide good, respectful care to those who might push buttons.

If you claim that you never react emotionally or experience a hostile response, then you are either lying or need to seek help.

One thing I can tell you is that your ongoing attacks against those who are being honest about how they are feeling are not helpful.

Here's an example of the kind of thing that deserves criticism ... focus is not on what the nurse is feeling but how she is behaving. There is a difference.