Nurses aren't maids!

Specialties Private Duty

Published

I'm sorry. I really, really need to vent. I work for a pediatric private duty nursing agency, and I'm an RN. This is what I wish I could say to my new patient's mom: Why the heck would you ask your child's new night nurse to do her laundry?! When the hell did they put laundry questions on the NCLEX? Oh, yeah, they DIDN'T because NURSES AREN'T MAIDS! I'm not your kid's nanny, I'm a healthcare PROFESSIONAL - just like a physician. You wouldn't ask your pediatrician to do your kid's laundry, so you better not ask the nurse to do it, either! It's not 1950, anymore, Sparky!

Of course, I didn't say that. To be nice, I folded the kid's clothes tonight, but then I sent off an email to the clinical director at the agency complaining profusely about this insulting request. I mean, seriously! Where do people get the brass testicles to ask a nurse to do a maid's job?

Why do people automatically assume when they get private duty nursing covered by the state or their insurance that whoever is paying for it also thinks it's cool to provide you with housekeeping services? Isn't that insurance fraud? THe state doesn't want to pay for someone to do your kid's laundry. You can't ask me to do that! Not only is it DEGRADING to ask a healthcare professional to do laundry, it must be abuse of services. I hope to God above that no one at my agency told this woman that nurses do chores, because I will go all the way to the top of national corporate management if someone did. This better be an unfortunate misunderstanding on my patient's mom's part as to what nurses do and DO NOT do.

Has anyone else had to deal with this? I had one other patient's mom ask me if that was something we do, and she totally apologized for asking when I politely told her no. This new patient's mom guided me to the laundry room to make sure I understood how the machines work because she is assuming it's totally in my job description to do laundry. She didn't even ask, she just started out with "when you do her laundry..." Excuse me?! I clean the kid and his or her medical equipment. Nothing else! I'm not a home health aide (whose job it would possibly be). It's just not *my* job to do household chores!

OK, vent over. I feel a little better. Thanks for letting me vent.

Specializes in Transitional Nursing.

I am not advocating that nurses should be used as slaves or maids BUT I also don't think that because someone has a degree tasks unrelated to that degree are beneath them. I've seen a few posts where it seems the problem is just this. *shrugs*

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Specializes in Geriatrics, Home Health.

I just oriented on a new case. The nurse who oriented me washed and folded the family's laundry when she had downtime. I have no problem washing my client's clothes or taking things out of the dryer, but I have a problem with washing and folding laundry for 6 people, including 4 kids. I'm a nurse, not a maid.

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Specializes in M/S, LTC, Corrections, PDN & drug rehab.

I have no problem with washing, cleaning & putting away the client's clothes but it ENDS there. I was always told to just clean up after my client & NOT the family. I am there to take care of the client not the whole family.

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I do fold this kids clothes,because Mom always brings us this big basket of clothes.

Its only his clothes.

My issue here is that she is a *itch with it.

She doesnt like the way i fold clothes,saying i dont how to.

As of late,the new nurse was also complaining about the way i fold clothes,an this same nurse tells the Mom she doesnt like the way i put the linens on the bed,saying they dont match or whatever.

Its when they dont appreciate the hwlp i am giving them that ****** me off.

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Here is my two cents and why I think that parents coming into nursing care need a course in how things run from experienced parents.

If you want nurses to do something non-technical (and possibly not a service required to be offered by the agency) like fold laundry and you don't like the way they do it, you have three options. You can show them how you like, you can not give them the laundry to fold or you can deal with it because it means your child was stable enough that the nurse actually had 10 minutes of down time to fold laundry.

If you don't like the sheet selection by a nurse and you know that sheet changing day is today, then go in to the linen closet and pick out the set of sheets you want used. It's not complicated.

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I do fold this kids clothes,because Mom always brings us this big basket of clothes.

Its only his clothes.

My issue here is that she is a *itch with it.

She doesnt like the way i fold clothes,saying i dont how to.

As of late,the new nurse was also complaining about the way i fold clothes,an this same nurse tells the Mom she doesnt like the way i put the linens on the bed,saying they dont match or whatever.

Its when they dont appreciate the hwlp i am giving them that ****** me off.

The Mom or the complaining nurse need to make sure they do it themselves! Laundry is not medical care so their complaints regarding laundry is petty bullcrap that just keeps the pot stirred up. Hate that ridiculous behavior!

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Specializes in Pediatrics.

It was expressed to me during orientation with my agency that I was responsible for my patient's area. This included keeping it neat/straight, washing out patient dishes/syringes/supplies, and if I was asked, doing my patient's laundry/bedding and running a vacuum over their room if need be. It was the same kind of stuff I did in the hospital during nursing school clinicals; no one was asking me to deep clean or take on household chores, just take a couple minutes to maintain a clean and uncluttered environment for my patient. My agency did stress though that anything else was inappropriate, and could always be called on to set parents straight if need be. I don't feel like five minutes worth of work is beneath me, and I'd feel like a pompous jerk if I acted otherwise.

I've only ever had one family insinuate that I should clean their main living areas (I refused), and they even left another child (3 year old) unattended around me. I declined to take the case again and informed the agency. Usually parents bend over backwards and insist on doing anything they perceive as being "inconvenient" to me (mostly in a desperate bid to get me to stay). I guess I'm just in a kickass market, because if parents can't entice nurses to stay, they go without care.

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The Mom or the complaining nurse need to make sure they do it themselves! Laundry is not medical care so their complaints regarding laundry is petty bullcrap that just keeps the pot stirred up. Hate that ridiculous behavior!

I do too.

What makes it so bad,mom doesnt even work. She is a housewife.

She does nothing for this kid;neither does Dad. They dont even want to take him to the doctor.

Mom cant take the kid to appts by herself(they are muslim)

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Specializes in Pediatric.

I do too.

What makes it so bad,mom doesnt even work. She is a housewife.

She does nothing for this kid;neither does Dad. They dont even want to take him to the doctor.

Mom cant take the kid to appts by herself(they are muslim)

This sounds eerily like I case I had

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I have been doing Pedi PDN off/on PRN for the last few years, while I do not think it is right to do the whole households laundry or housekeeping I do feel I need to make sure my patient area is clean - changing bed linens if soiled, keep patient area clean, equipment clean etc.

I recently worked on a pedi case where the mother did not work, claimed to be "disabled" herself, the pedi child (in my opinion) really did not need all the hours she was getting for the week, mother knew how to use the system to get what she wanted - no wonder our healthcare system is a mess - but that is another topic for another day :). The house was always a mess - I just couldn't stand it - sink full of dishes, trash always overflowing, laundry spilling out everywhere. Though I did not make it a habit of cleaning up - I did find myself washing a few sinks of dishes, mainly because I had to prepare lunch for the kid and she never had clean pans/utensils for me use; and like I said I just couldn't look at it anymore. Mom never assumed I would do these things and always seemed to appreciate & thank me.

One of my first HH PDN cases I accepted the mother fully expected a housekeeper - she took total care of the kid, did not allow the nurses to touch the kid. She expected the house to be cleaned, laundry done & all of the childs food prep to be done during the shift. I worked there 3 shifts and then told the agency to put me on another case - sorry, but I didn't go to nursing school to be someones maid.

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in home health, every now and then I am asked to do personal chores, (usually the family). I just tell them thats not included, and never was. however, i've had some patients who were so pitiful and had nobody to help them, so I would do whatever I had time to do.

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If a patient requires help with chores/laundry/ personal care, and its in the care plan, then that patient should qualify for that service, which is provided by the appropriate person (home health aide).

If they are in need of these services and qualify, I dont understand why nursing would be delegated to perform these duties.

I may be wrong, but I smell a rat. I've never heard of a nurse being responsible for washing clothes and dishes yet being responsible for a vent patient or equivalent.

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