Why do other floors think OB isn't real work?

PANurseRN1 · Dec 30, 2006

You have got to be kidding. I work in the ED, and OB pts. scare the bejeesus out of me. It's hard work and very stressful. I try to stay as far away as I can from anything remotely OB/GYN related.

RN34TX · Dec 30, 2006

That is so ironic since PACU has a reputation of not doing any "real work" either, particularly in the ICU communities.

I'm surprised a PACU nurse would make such comments as that specialty suffers the same stereotype.

I work ICU and PACU and always found it ironic/crazy how PACU was never looked at as a "real" ICU, yet PACU is suddenly considered to be good enough for ICU patients and skilled enough to take a train wreck trauma patient when the ICU's are full and beds are needed.

When it's convenient for the administrator and/or ICU charge nurses, PACU should and is considered to have the same capabilities and be able to take any SICU/MICU/CVICU patient that rolls through.

Funny how in the end we don't get credit for it, we could have managed a trauma ICU patient all night long and still be considered to be some ICU-lite version of their ever so much more highly skilled units.

mitchsmom · Dec 30, 2006

In my hospital I have not found that to be the case! They usually know we are crazy busy & I get comments about that.

But I know that other people commonly have your experience too... I guess they just don't know if they haven't been there.

It's probably from TV... shows tend to depict surgery, ER, and regular hospitalizations as hard/dramatic/frantic and maternity as always happy/easy/fun, you know?

welnet66 · Dec 30, 2006

I've done it all....ICU, Med/Surg, ER and L&D. As a nurse, you run no matter where you work and who ever assumes L&D is a cushy specialty has never worked there.

Marie_LPN, RN, LPN, RN · Dec 30, 2006

I'm surprised a PACU nurse would make such comments as that specialty suffers the same stereotype.

Me too.

Of course, i'm also in a specialty that's been refered to (here and other places) as "not nursing", "not REAL nursing," "all OR nurses do is stand there and pass stuff to the surgeon," "OR nurses just sit on their butt and chart the whole time."

Anyway, I would have looked right at that dude and asked "And what exactly do you think we do in LDRP that's not real work? I would like to know" (the same question i've posed to the three statements i've typed above). I have YET to get a verbal response after asking that, mainly because the person's so stunned that they were challenged (quite obvious from that startled-deer-in-headlights look i get afterwards).

Then again, this may be a far stretch, but perhaps he was being sarcastic in another sense, kinda like when i joke to another nurse who's been busting her butt "all she's done today is lounged in the chair and sip mint juleps".

clemmm78, RN · Dec 30, 2006

I get that with palliative care. Comments like "it must be nice to only have 9 patients and two of you to take care of them," and stuff like that. Sure, try handling 9 patients when two are actively dying, one is in respiratory crisis, one in a pain crisis, one is delusional and climbing out of bed and another one has just died.

santhony44, MSN, RN, NP · Dec 30, 2006

I would say, chalk it up to ignorance. However, I have to wonder how anyone can get through nursing school without enough exposure to the various areas of nursing to think that anybody has it easy!! All nursing jobs can be very tough and demanding, in different ways.

maledi · Dec 30, 2006

That's all too common of a thought if you ask me. I, on the other hand have to say that it can be so CRAZY. I don't think people realize that wehn we have 5 patients, that we actually have ten, seeing how we are responsible for all infant vitals, assessments, and any tests hat need to be done (PKU, hearing, Glucose). I was thinking of this last night when I was running back and forth down the hall trying to remember when I went to the bathroom last this WEEK.

babyktchr, BSN, RN · Dec 30, 2006

It is the same in my hospital..."oh I wish I could come work on your floor so I can sit and rock babies". UG. The gratification comes when someone (a CNA or nurse) is pulled to help us out when it is crazy, and they finally say...WOW..you guys work your butts off.

Sure there are times when we are slow, but they are well deserved breaks in the chaos.

And as for the PACU nurse who made the comment...how long had it been since he had worked on a MED/SURG floor??????

Tweety, BSN, RN · Dec 30, 2006

People just don't understand other people's jobs sometimes. I was at ACLS and was the only med-surg nurse there. The Critical Care educator was telling us about the new Rapid Response Team............"it's to help the med-surg nurse, because they don't have good assessment skills and we can talk to the doctor for them because they aren't comfortable talking to doctors".

Whatever.

TXNurseBSN · Dec 30, 2006

I dream of the day we can all respect each other for just being a fellow nurse. What does it matter if we are an ADN or BSN, an Ob nurse, an ICU nurse....or in may case an often looked down area in the profession....school nurse? We all worked hard to get and stay where we are. We all bring a special touch and skill set to our chosen specialty!!