The Disrespect Of Nurses

The nursing profession might be the most trusted according to surveys and polls, but it is certainly not the most respected by a long shot. The intended purpose of this article is to further explore the rampant disrespect of nurses in American society. Nurses Relations Article

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TheCommuter, BSN, RN

102 Articles; 27,612 Posts

Specializes in Case mgmt., rehab, (CRRN), LTC & psych.
Deidra47 said:
And things are worse when there is no such thing as visiting hours.

I totally agree. Policies such as 'open visitation' are more of a hindrance than a help, especially when visitors know they can act like public enemies and basically get away with it.

Even though healthcare is a 24-hour business, some healthcare settings are totally inappropriate for 24 hour open visitation. Imagine the critical care nurse who has a TBI patient, and family members are camped out at the bedside 24 hours per day aggravating this same patient who desperately needs mininal stimulation plus lots of rest.

Specializes in FMF CORPSMAN USN, TRUAMA, CCRN.
Sacred eagle said:
People disrespect nurses for manyreasons. From the early 70's toabout the 90's in my opinionmany nurses were evil and dida lot of nasty and disrespectfulthings to patients. Today's nursesare paying for the bad deeds theolder nurses committed.

Sacred Eagle, Your post was too ______, to let it slip by. Would you please elaborate on what these "nasty and disrespectful" things the older nurses, might have done?

Specializes in FMF CORPSMAN USN, TRUAMA, CCRN.
PMFB-RN said:
*** In 1996 I was a patient in a VA hospital in California. I started in the ICU transfered to step down after 4 days in ICU. After 2 days on stepdown I want to surgical med-surg for another 3 days. My experience with the nurses was terrable. With only one exception I can say that all the nurses who took care of me where mean and nasty and very unfriendly, at least while they were in my room. It wasn't my family either since none came to see me.

I fully realize they were the exception to the rule, or maybe that hospital was the exception since the physicians weren't any better. I never went back and never would. I do agree with your questioning of the broad brush of past nursing.

Not to use that broad brush to besmirch ALL VA's, but my own experience hasn't been stellar and I use the largest VA Hospital in the system. The hospital itself is the only facility I never worked at either on staff or mercenary (agency, staff relief) because of the inherent problems with the system. Back when I was even considering it, in the 80's about half of the patient care was done by the patients themselves. They made their own beds with fresh linen, they emptied their own urinals and tracked their own I&O's, and they went to the desk and asked for their meds. I guess the system worked, but it wasn't anything I was used to and I don't like the idea of having to track my patients down or call out the National Guard, just to insure they are okay. This hospital and grounds are massive. Call me a control freak, but ... I couldn't work that way.

As a patient, it is run very similar to the military, hurry up, and wait. Your time is in no way as valuable as theirs. You are expected to sign in at least a half an hour before your scheduled appointment, so you could get your vitals taken and be ready to see the Doc when your name is called, the problem with that was, the Doc was never ready when your appointment was scheduled. They did a study and found that many weren't adhering to there half hour guidelines, so they made it so the nursing intervention with the vitals and so on would be an appointment unto itself, so from then on if you had an appointment, say for the Pain Clinic at 1400 hrs you also had an appointment to see the Nurse at 1330 hrs for VS and what ever and ALSO, you were expected to show up at the LAB by NOON to insure and lab work was completed and in the chart before your appointment at 1400 hrs. SO, your 1400 hr appointment just turned into a full afternoon, because you aren't likely to see the Doc until at least 1500 and if he writes any scripts and you want to pick them up, you have to confirm them with the Pharmacy and then wait at least an hour, if the prescription is a narcotic, your wait time is increased to at least two hours for some reason, before you can pick them up, so that's 1600 or 1700, wait in line for another half hour and by then you're in afternoon traffic. Good luck with that.

monkeybug

716 Posts

Specializes in Public Health, L&D, NICU.
FMF Corpsman said:
. Good luck with that.

That is no way to treat people who have served us. How sad!

PMFB-RN, RN

5,351 Posts

Specializes in burn ICU, SICU, ER, Trauma Rapid Response.
FMF Corpsman said:
Not to use that broad brush to besmirch ALL VA's, but my own experience hasn't been stellar and I use the largest VA Hospital in the system. The hospital itself is the only facility I never worked at either on staff or mercenary (agency, staff relief) because of the inherent problems with the system. Back when I was even considering it, in the 80's about half of the patient care was done by the patients themselves. They made their own beds with fresh linen, they emptied their own urinals and tracked their own I&O's, and they went to the desk and asked for their meds. I guess the system worked, but it wasn't anything I was used to and I don't like the idea of having to track my patients down or call out the National Guard, just to insure they are okay. This hospital and grounds are massive. Call me a control freak, but ... I couldn't work that way.

As a patient, it is run very similar to the military, hurry up, and wait. Your time is in no way as valuable as theirs. You are expected to sign in at least a half an hour before your scheduled appointment, so you could get your vitals taken and be ready to see the Doc when your name is called, the problem with that was, the Doc was never ready when your appointment was scheduled. They did a study and found that many weren't adhering to there half hour guidelines, so they made it so the nursing intervention with the vitals and so on would be an appointment unto itself, so from then on if you had an appointment, say for the Pain Clinic at 1400 hrs you also had an appointment to see the Nurse at 1330 hrs for VS and what ever and ALSO, you were expected to show up at the LAB by NOON to insure and lab work was completed and in the chart before your appointment at 1400 hrs. SO, your 1400 hr appointment just turned into a full afternoon, because you aren't likely to see the Doc until at least 1500 and if he writes any scripts and you want to pick them up, you have to confirm them with the Pharmacy and then wait at least an hour, if the prescription is a narcotic, your wait time is increased to at least two hours for some reason, before you can pick them up, so that's 1600 or 1700, wait in line for another half hour and by then you're in afternoon traffic. Good luck with that.

FWIW for the last 5 or 6 years I have been getting my care, includig two sugical procedures accompanied by hospitalizations, at one of the largest VA hospitals in the system. The Mineapolis VA in Minneapolis, MN. I have found the level of care to be superb and the staff worderful.

CrunchRN, ADN, RN

4,530 Posts

Specializes in Clinical Research, Outpt Women's Health.

My bro in law was recently hospitalized near death at the VA in San Diego and he got amazing, life saving, respectful care.

Specializes in FMF CORPSMAN USN, TRUAMA, CCRN.

Crunch and PMFB, that is why I said I didn't want to use such a wide brush to paint ALL VA HOSPITALS, because I knew they all couldn't be bad. It is just a shame that some are, have been and continue to be. AND, the one I am referring to received/receives a large number of returning service members from Iraq and Afghanistan into the POLY TRAUMA UNIT. It was bad enough that one Warrior requested his Congressman have him moved back to Walter Reed and it happened quite quickly, but the press still got wind of it. The only thing I can use to “justify” the haphazard way this place is run, is the sheer size of it, and that in and of itself is no justification. This hospital was cited for Cockroaches in the O. R., now, how’s that for sterile? Granted, this is Florida, and Cockroaches are everywhere due to the tropical locale, but not in the O.R. A couple of the post referred to security and using them for back up. Well at the VA, since it is a Federal Institution, they have their own armed Police force, and that isn’t always a good thing. Here, the “Chief” had his own little fiefdom, and it was quit interesting for a bit, at least until one of the officers pulled a gun on one of the vets over a parking space. Just a bizarre little microcosm here. One might think the resulting investigation would clear things up and get them back on the straight and narrow right? Only in the case of the Police Department, the remainder of the Hospital remained unscathed. Even after the newspaper reports about the roaches in the O.R. They were given a few months to clean up the O. R’s and that was that. Nothing about the underlying problems with management and Administration. The staff routinely is gone by 1600 hrs. Even though they are required to be there until 1700 hrs. On Fridays, they are gone by 1500 hrs. It’s like a mass exodus. They take turns on alternating weekends, and management knows it and they are out the door just like the rest of them. This place needs one great big housecleaning, but if they did that, they wouldn’t have anyone to staff the place. It’s a tragedy, because the vets are stuck in the middle.

Esme12, ASN, BSN, RN

1 Article; 20,908 Posts

Specializes in Critical Care, ED, Cath lab, CTPAC,Trauma.
Quote
People disrespect nurses for many reasons. From the early 70's to about the 90's in my opinion many nurses were evil and did a lot of nasty and disrespectful things to patients. Today's nurses are paying for the bad deeds the older nurses committed.

But you mentioned that the nurses deserved they disrespectful treatment for their behavior in the 70's to the 90's. The things that have been described are a systems issue not a nursing issue. What have we nurses done that we are deserving payback.

Specializes in Psych.

I have to say if somebody would try to body slam me and choke me out I am more than willing to put them in a Judo match with myself and the guy. I believe that the law states that anyone who puts their hands on you has now become a threat and you are within the legal right to defend yourself. I have no problem to put them in a Judo clinic. I'm not trying to sound like a tough guy or anything but that just will not fly with me. Body slamming a nurse? That's asking to be arrested and if I were to be fired I would have no problem calling the labor dept.

I'd try to show them as much respect possible and I know things happen but there is no reason to be assaulted.

TSWaller

5 Posts

I would like to relay my story of disrespect. I was working as the charge nurse in a busy ER. We had a patient sobering up in the ER. The nurse went in to perform vital signs. The patient became very angry with her and kicked her so hard she received a grade 3 liver laceration. The Nurse was hospitalized, we called the police. They arrived only to ridicule the RN. What asked to remove the pt from the ER they laughed and refused. One actually states, " this is part of your job". I asked the officer, if the pt had kicked your partner in this manner what would befall them? He responded, " I be dragging their A** to jail" The hospital administration did not support the RN and she soon resigned

TSWaller

5 Posts

That statement is simply not true. Nurses as a whole can not be responsible for actions of one person. There are many reasons that nurses are disrespected; first we live in a patriarchal society and the Nurses profession is still dominated by females. The value of actually taking care of people has not worldly value (unless all the nurses walked away) Nurses are still viewed as subordinate to doctors