Nurse sees worst, best of profession during daughter's ER visit

"I wanted what I wanted and I wanted it right now. Bless their hearts, her nurses never yelled at me.”

So basically she acted like all other overly-demanding and rude family members who will do anything to get their way. Just another article by a nurse to make other nurses look bad. That's exactly why we are treated like dirt on a shoe.

I think all of you missed the point that she could have made.....

When will the ER be treated like the Critical Care area that is and have a nurse staffing ratio of 2:1? When will the throughput of the ER be realized that is an important bottleneck of the hospital? Instead of building gorgeous waiting areas/more doctors offices.....why not add on to the ER and build fast tracks beds, more trauma rooms....etc? That is the point the the author could have made.....instead of putting down nursing, she could have said...you know....I want to doing a couple of shifts in the local ER to shadow those nurses, so that I can see what they see to teach my students......Obviously, there are nurses who need to be long gone from the the ER...if you are so burnt out that you treat every single person who walks in the ER doors as if they are bothering you (and I know them and have worked with them) then it is time to go. Not every single patient is going to be a trauma. The reality of ER healthcare is what it is. Some days it is a clinic environment, some days nothing but trauma. It is what it is....thanks to insurance companies not paying for urgent care clinics, no insurance for the majority and other things. If you don't like ER, go somewhere else. I don't ***** about the ICU being crazy or all the IN"s and OUT's because that is what my unit is. It is what it is. But I think the author missed a valid point.....ER nurses go hours and hours and sometimes the entire shift without even so much as being able to go pee, eat or like the previous poster said, say goodnight to their own children. This is just as important a staffing issue as any other floor and I think that the ER is generally overlooked about this. I am sure that if they had the staff, the staff would or could have rounded in the waiting room to do updates, unfortunately, I doubt they did have staffing.

Just my 2 cents.

Ok...this is funny...I have a reply to my own post....

After I thought about this, I thought you know...the original article writer had a point. she was shocked at her own healthcare system that she works in. Are we all in nursing in denial about the healthcare system as a whole and that it only sinks in after our own flesh and blood have to participate in the healthcare system?

Why as employees of ER's and ICU's and medical staff floors, Women's Center's defensive about behavior that we agree is appalling and yet we still defend? See I can't pee for 12 hours, see I can't spend time with my patient to ambulate them, see I can't even find time to teach my patient incentive spirometry after surgery because I am so busy just trying to get by each day?


Hmmmmmmmm.........

Yeah, I missed the point that wasn't made. Was I GOT was another nurse publicly attacking her own.

We know the system isn't great, but it's what we have to work with. As long as administration focus on keeping staff low, politicians keep cutting programs and hospital reimbursements, and hospitals keep closing. There will be no room at the inn.

I checked on the writer, and as I suspected ....she worked in L&D, Nursery, and finally as a lactation specialist prior to working as an assistant professor. None of these areas are crisis, all of them are usually happy areas, and areas where a nurse can spend time with their patients. It's expected, and supported by administration.

It's funny, I am currently taking a class with a professor working on her PhD-she worked pediatrics. She hasn't got a clue, and sometimes I am not sure she believes us when we relate stories. I count the hours while I sit in her "fantasy" nursing class, and thank GOD, it is almost over! I wonder if this is how Karen's students feel. She also writes a column....so shame on her. I agree with another poster....shadow an ER, PACU, Recovery, ICU or any other critical care nurse for several days-do what they do-get your hands dirty-see what it is all about before it ends up in a national magazine.

Maisy

I would love to sit and hold my patients' hands but I simply do not have the time for that. There are things that need to be done. I'm not saying that I never give the patient the slightest hint that I care. I do care but there isn't enough time for RNs to have the one on one time with their patients when they have 4-8 of them.

When I worked progressive care I never had the time to sit down with my patients and talk to them. All of my patients had MARs with 4+ pages. Some had trachs, some were vented. Some were incontinent of stool and urine and I would be the only person there to clean and turn them because management felt that it was ok for a NA to have 12 patients. Some of these patients had family members that acted as foolishly as this nurse did when her daughter was in the hospital because "they wanted what they want and wanted it now".

I would like her to work a month on that unit or even on a med/surg floor where short staffing is a daily occurance. I'm not saying it doesn't happen in L/D, but the med/surg areas are worse of when it comes to staffing.

I have to disagree. The column communicated shock and disdain not at the system, but at individual nurses she encountered during her daughter's hospitalization. And shock at the fact that her daughter wasn't highest on everyone's priority list.

As I read the column, what I gleaned from it was immaturity, total disconnect from the reality of the health care system she supposedly prepares students for, and a sense of entitlement.

Thank you. She didn't blame the system at all, just the nurses. I'm slightly irritated by the fact that she thought the RNs were going to yell at her for being demanding. As I've said, another article by a nurse that make other nurses look bad. How about an article about how overworked RNs are?

I'm going to stick up for the writer in one singular area. How could she have been expected to notice this was an appendix prior to the rupture? A lot of posters keep writing that they would have picked this up from their child much ealier. Honestly, I don't think I would have if it presented in a similar way.

IF her daughter's symptoms are related truthfully (prior to the worsening of the symptoms with the fetal positioning, etc), she had emesis, but no abdominal guarding or tenderness. Heck, I work in a peds office and see this about 10x a week. And we get about 2 appys a year (I would guesstimate).

I just don't get how she should have suspected an appy in a 15 yo who has vomited a couple of times. If I set every kid to have a CT with these symptoms, it would be overkill.

Most of all, I have been on the other side recently with my mother. From the ED to hospital transfer to surgery to discharge (and a dx of pancreatic cancer- non resectable in between) I never once had one of these feelings the writer had. I was proud to be colleges of the wonderful people taking care of my mom. Yup, the nurses were busy, but I did what I could for my mom, because I DID have the time. And if I were able to do it, why should one of them? Let those nurses spend their time with pts who don't have family members to help.

Thank you! Perfectly stated.

I completely agree. She would have made much more impact if she had focused on WHY things were taking so long, WHY she had to do some of the nursing care for her duaghter rather than complaining about having to do it in the first place.