Do nurses make the worst patients?

Nurses Safety

Published

hospitals may be the worst place to stay when you're sick

american hospitals are capable of great medical feats, but they also are plagued by daily errors that cost lives.

http://bcove.me/wturuxfq interesting video!

www.aarp.org

americans are dying in hospitals from preventable medical mistakes. but, patients can minimize their risks by keeping a close eye on their care

as a recent frequent flyer of medical care......i know why i hate hospitals and i admit i am not the most patient patient. viewing the medical profession as a patient i am increasingly concerned where this is all going to end up and increasingly paranoid when i am hospitalized knowing that it is increasingly difficult avoiding being the victum of a grave mistake.

Specializes in Critical Care, ED, Cath lab, CTPAC,Trauma.

This has more to do with the article about mistakes being made and hospitals being a dangerous place to be. That as medical professionals, and knowing what we know make us a pain to other professionals. I have noticed that when asking a ton of questions....they are not always recieved with warmth...

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Specializes in ortho, hospice volunteer, psych,.

while i was hospitalized for a massive upper gi bleed caused by a drug that i should never have been put on in the first place, i had

a brand new nurse. she was sweet, kind, eager to learn, and i discovered that despite graduating summa cum laude, she had absolutely

no idea how to start an iv. none. at. all.:confused: after she'd harpooned me no fewer than five times, i asked her to please stop. she

burst into torrents and torrents of tears.

i asked her to please call someone else to try but she was afraid she'd get into trouble so i finally said i'd try to talk her through it.

finally it was in and running although i was sure my arm would surely spring a leak from all those tries.

when my husband was in wound care rehab, a big mistake was made somewhere along the line. my husband, in addition to having type-1

diabetes since childhood, has adult add and one of his meds is buspar. he takes 15 mg. bid but after nearly a month of being dizzy, always sleepy, never hungry, constantly nauseated, i absolutely insisted that they double check every single one of his meds with both

the original orders and the directions on his at home bottles. guess what? they were giving him thirty mg four x per day!:eek::yawn:

i still do not know how 1 pill 2x day became 2 pills 4x day and neither the pharmacist, the pharmacy aide, or any of the many nurses

(not med aides) never noticed the error.:eek::madface::nono: if they didn't know his wife was a nurse when he was admitted, they sure as blazes

did when he left! whatever happened to the five rights? have they gone the way of the rumble seat, bloomers, chaperones, and waiting for the mailman to bring your state board results?

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Specializes in Oncology; medical specialty website.

I've spent a lot of time in and out of the hospital this past year. I really tried not to bother the staff; every time I rang the call bell, I felt guilty. I hope I'm done with hospitals for a while.

Many years ago, I was in the hospital for a different issue. The nurse brought me the wrong meds. I kept explaining to her what her mistake was, but she insisted she was right. There was a big communication issue on her part because English was not her primary language. We went around and around until I got really exasperated and told her I wanted to talk to the supervisor. (I knew who was on.) After a few minutes she came back and told me I was right. No apology, no hint of feeling bad/scared that she almost made a med error.

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Specializes in Critical Care, ED, Cath lab, CTPAC,Trauma.

Scary.....I hope you are feeling better. I unfortuntely have to frequent hospitals too often right now and my kids done even drive yet.....I don't want to be that statistic of another hospital mortality.

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Luckily, whenever my patients are a nurse or a family memeber that's a nurse I usually have zero problems. They were all great and told me wonderful stories!!! However, I have been taking care of one patient with a wife that's a nurse who's with him 24/7, which isn't the problem. The problem is she's always trying to overstep her boundaries. Scary because she's trying to do things that she says she has no experience with such as stopping/starting his continous feedings when SHE feels like it, and feeding him whatever he wants even though he is NPO. She refuses most of his meds (he's not able to talk anymore) and refuses all the pressure ulcer prevention methods to help protect his skin.

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I've definintely been on both ends of nursing care. As a patient (on my own unit nonetheless), I knew exactly what was happening on the floor and felt to be a burden if I pressed the call-light and needed assistance to the restroom. I also felt frustrated that, while the staff knew I was a nurse AND worked on that same floor (different shift), I was still ignored sometimes and made to wait for my pain meds while I knew they were gossiping around the corner (nobody is ever quiet anymore). It seems to go both ways. I try to distance myself from my profession and I'm often too sick to really care, except I can tell my nurse/MD exactly what I need. :nurse:

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I literally laughed out loud when I read the part about you having to take her through starting your IV. And then having her cry like that?! Poor thing (you and her)

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Specializes in Med/Surg,Cardiac.

In nursing school, I had a PP C-section patient who was a Cardiology NP. When I found this out, I initially freaked out. I knew textbook, but it was my first PP rotation. I expected the worse, but she actually had and let me answer a lot of questions for her... She mentioned that as a NP, a lot of times she didn't receive a lot of teaching because nurses assumed she already knew. She said she didn't remember all the gyno stuff since she didn't deal with it often. She was probably one of the best patients I've ever had.

When I go to the doctor now, I usually only tell them I'm a nurse if I notice them being utterly terrible. When my family/friends are hospitalized, I tell them right away because sometimes it does make them provide a bit better of care.

Isn't it kind of sad that sometimes we get anxious when there are other nurses around? Shouldn't we provide the best care we can even when the patient is alone in their room? Nurses don't always make the worse patients, but I do think it depends on the nurse.

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Do Nurses make the worst patients...in the words of Nursing students...YES!!!!! I've heard numerous times that when 1st year ASNs are doing clinicals and ask patients (who are/have been Nurses) the answer is NO. My question is that if you are wanting to teach fellow Nurses (albeit, Nursing students) who better to teach them than a nurse? Frankly, I am VERY SURPRISED that the students were turned down...do not know specifics, just that in every case the Nurse/patient said no...why?

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Do Nurses make the worst patients...in the words of Nursing students...YES!!!!! I've heard numerous times that when 1st year ASNs are doing clinicals and ask patients (who are/have been Nurses) the answer is NO. My question is that if you are wanting to teach fellow Nurses (albeit, Nursing students) who better to teach them than a nurse? Frankly, I am VERY SURPRISED that the students were turned down...do not know specifics, just that in every case the Nurse/patient said no...why?

How about because they're sick and they're not into "teaching" right now?:nono:

mc3:nurse:

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Specializes in Oncology.

I never thought I would be a bad patient, but when I had surgery, I woke up feeling pretty awake. I noticed my IV (which wasn't on a pump) wasn't running, so I began to troubleshoot. My PACU nurse caught me fiddling with it. I then insisted I could get up to go to the bathroom on my own and almost fell. I also got nauseated and proceeded to tell the nurse which meds I wanted and how much. When I woke up more fully, I realized what a pain in the butt I had been! I blame the anesthesia drugs though :bugeyes:

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