There have been so many nursing vent threads that patients have come to chat on. I'd be interested in hearing the opinions from the other side of the stretcher. Let's try to be constructive, us nurses can be very sensitive
Compliments are welcome too!
I'll start. It drives me nuts when people go into a room to do an assessment or procedure and the curtain isn't pulled. I don't care if they're just stitching a finger, not everyone wants to walk by and see that stuff. Physical exams might not reveal naughty bits, but I don't imagine showing off your naked abdomen is what you signed up for in triage. Closed curtains are just common respect.
Even worse- people that feel they have a right to stick their head behind a closed curtain without warning. You may have seen it all before, but just speak up and ask before coming in.
Interesting thread. I am a little unclear why there would be such a strong reaction against it. I understand there may be the feeling that to a degree an "intersantium" had been breeched by outsiders. Perhaps its not the perfect place for this but it is a great opportunity to interact. If there is one thing we should all take away from this site, patient or provider, there is such a diversity, you can not pigeon hole or label either group, Nurses are niether angels or evil, though my personal experience puts them a lot closer to the former than than later. There are good paitents and bad, they are good people and pain in the a**es. Just as the recent 9 things opened some eyes on the patient side, this may be an opportunity to pick something up.
#1, odds are I am scared, nervous, a little or a lot freaked. I am in an unfamiliar environment and probably have a lot on my mind or I wouldn't be here. I probably am not communicating everything I want or should, I might be tense and stressed and cover it with a smile or some with being gruff, please forgive and understand, this may not be who I normally am, I am attempting to deal with what is going on,
2# I know you do this all the time, but I do not. While it may be just another rear end to you, it is a rear end that I am not used to showing and it is embaressing to me. We are all different some people don't care, some do, if you ask me if it matters if there is an option and you give me an option I would be forever grateful, this isn't a comment on you, it is on me, I know perhaps I shouldn't care, but for whatever reason I do. I realize this is my problem not yours, but I need your help,
3# We pass through the system so fast, we are under such stress, if I forget to tell you, thank you, May God bless all of you who have shown compassion, thank all of you who have asked, who made this about me not you, thank you for respecting me as a person, not as a patient. Thank you to those who understand this is not just another day at the office for me. Thank you for protecting my dignity and my feelings. Your not angels, but you about as close to it as there is in the business world
4. I need to trust you like no one else other than my God and my family, I am sorry if that burden takes a big toll, but I am putting my very life in your hands, Sorry, i don't know what else to do.
5 I know i am not your only patient, I know you have a lot to do and little time, I am sorry if I inconvenience you with requests, but I have no one else to go to
6 Thanks, thanks for all you do if I haven't said so
Great Canoe, not only do we have to deal with patient invading us, now we have nurses griping about nursing care.... from nurses!
Not going to share horror stories, this is a puke on the shoes thread. I liked my shoes. For every nurse complaint it equals a patient complaint, because we were patients! Do as each of us has always said, use the chain of command, speak up, become educated and accept nothing less than quality of care.
Yikes, that educated nurses have put up with poor nursing and never have spoken up! I'm just not feeling your educated, knew better complaints.
Sorry nursing peers, never tolerated substandard care, simply because I was a "patient". Never tolerated it before I was a nurse and was simply a patient.
People in every interaction in life can do us wrong, only if we allow it. To hear nurses allow it, has sickened me:smackingf
Specializes in Certified Med/Surg tele, and other stuff.
Wow I am sorry they did that to you I will say that the pacu nurses where grate as soon as I opened my eye the first word word out of the nurses mouth was do you need and pain meds :)
I think that everyone Needs to understand that not everyone yells in pain . The more pain I am in the quiter I get I was in a lot of pain when I was very sick and in pain at the er ( other post) the point I cryed once when on one was there and no one beleaved me i had to begg for meds for nurve pain witch is painfull as hell .
They new I was in pain. I begged and was in tears. It's been 7 yrs since my kidney stone from hell incident and I still get mad.
Great Canoe, not only do we have to deal with patient invading us, now we have nurses griping about nursing care.... from nurses!
Not going to share horror stories, this is a puke on the shoes thread. I liked my shoes. For every nurse complaint it equals a patient complaint, because we were patients! Do as each of us has always said, use the chain of command, speak up, become educated and accept nothing less than quality of care.
Yikes, that educated nurses have put up with poor nursing and never have spoken up! I'm just not feeling your educated, knew better complaints.
Sorry nursing peers, never tolerated substandard care, simply because I was a "patient". Never tolerated it before I was a nurse and was simply a patient.
People in every interaction in life can do us wrong, only if we allow it. To hear nurses allow it, has sickened me:smackingf
This thread is going the wrong way fast!
I now understand how patients feel vulnerable, being a patient myself. Obviously you've missed the point of this thread. And FWIW, the only experience I had was 2yrs as a CNA in LTC, hardly what you could call an experienced nurse. Really if it makes you so ill, DON'T READ IT.
Great Canoe, not only do we have to deal with patient invading us, now we have nurses griping about nursing care.... from nurses!
Not going to share horror stories, this is a puke on the shoes thread. I liked my shoes. For every nurse complaint it equals a patient complaint, because we were patients! Do as each of us has always said, use the chain of command, speak up, become educated and accept nothing less than quality of care.
Yikes, that educated nurses have put up with poor nursing and never have spoken up! I'm just not feeling your educated, knew better complaints.
Sorry nursing peers, never tolerated substandard care, simply because I was a "patient". Never tolerated it before I was a nurse and was simply a patient.
People in every interaction in life can do us wrong, only if we allow it. To hear nurses allow it, has sickened me:smackingf
This thread is going the wrong way fast!
Not everyone posting was (or is) a nurse in the situation they described.
Over the last 2 years I have had 3 shoulder surgeries and I have to say, that the Nurses who attended to me did a superb job. I told them of my issues with Anesthesia before hand, gave them for warning, spoke with the Doctor and Anesthesiologist before all surgeries. My Nurses WERE WONDERFUL...I had No complaints at all about them. I was treated like Royalty. They listened. Great Job...
What I do have a problem with is: The Surgical Intake coordinator, with this last surgery, she called to confirm my time..and asked for me by my middle name and when I corrected her..she said "who ever is having surgery" I asked to speak to her Supervisor. Sorry, but that is wrong and we all know it.
Second: Orthopedic Doctors. They say they are going to do a procedure, make notation that they did it, charge for it, get paid for it, THEN I FIND OUT THAT HE DID NOT DO SAID PROCEDURE and removed something that he was not supposed to remove and NOT make notation about it and all of this RESULTING in me having to have a 3rd shoulder surgery. Thankyou Dr..so and so..I now have to change careers. In this economy. Thanks.
Sorry for the vent, I feel better. As a patient I have never been mistreated as a patient, but I have had to work along side some horrible Nurses who could not even tell if a person had expired or not.
Kudos to those who go above and beyond the call and make life easier for those who are in the Hospital.
Medicate the patient even though it might take some time for you to do so. I was being wheeled from PACU to my room. I woke up in severe pain because I had a nephrostomy tube placed. I asked the nurse if I could have anything for pain in recovery. She told me NO! I had told them prior that pain meds made me sick after surgery and I needed anti emetics or I would get sick if moved. So, the brainiacs that that they were, decided to not give me any pain meds. All I had to endure was a trip upstairs in an elevator, down a hall and jostled into my bed all with no pain meds on board.
Only after I pulled myself in bed with the help of my husband and yelled at the nurses for pain relief did I get some some pain medication.
My roomate (breast reduction) was even ****** off. She couldn't believe how they took their sweet time.
I was always good about medication right after surgery, but I'm even more aware and it's the first thing I do. The CNA get's vitals, I go get pain meds.
too bad we don't have cnas often enough.............................. When I get report from PACU, i always ask about their pain. I am not going to be the one yelled at by the pt and their family because the PACU nurse didn't address pain /nausea earlier. yes i know they will be in pain prob nausous when they come up.
When my son was il (AML and eventual BMT)l, I was tremendously grateful for the nurses who acknowledged he had Asperger's Syndrome, came to me to ask about how to make things easier on him and get my recommendations and then who respected the limitations that health condition put on him re: having an arm band on (he could not tolerate the feel of it against his skin), who understood he wasn't going to look at them when they talked to him but it didn't mean he wasn't listening, and those who understood that as worried parents, we wanted to provide as much care for him as possible ourselves and minimize the impact of the hospitalization on him however we could.
I also appreciated those nurses who were organized enough to cluster care at night, who would turn on the bathroom light to do meds/fluids during the night instead of the overhead and who understood the incredible stress and strain we were under. We were there for months on end, still trying to work at least part time, etc. Sleep was the only time the stress lifted and only came in three to four hour bursts.
I have to clarify something here and be picky.
We were taught during our training at night to ALWAYS turn on the main overhead light, or the reading light to do medications; I remember our lecturer going on about this one point and stressing it. It is too easy to give the wrong medication when u can't see properly. That might be the reason why some nurses turn on the o/head light.
I've worked in some private hospitals where you must turn on the main light at night to do meds - I was told as an agency nurse to do this, irregardless of what patients wanted.
Specializes in Critical Care; Cardiac; Professional Development.
I have to clarify something here and be picky.
We were taught during our training at night to ALWAYS turn on the main overhead light, or the reading light to do medications; I remember our lecturer going on about this one point and stressing it. It is too easy to give the wrong medication when u can't see properly. That might be the reason why some nurses turn on the o/head light.
I've worked in some private hospitals where you must turn on the main light at night to do meds - I was told as an agency nurse to do this, irregardless of what patients wanted.
Meds should be checked for accuracy long before coming into the patient's room to hang them. The really efficient, considerate nurses carried a flashlight and were able to do very well by light of the bathroom for that last check and scanning the arm band. There was nothing done he/she could not see adequately to do with reduced and/or more focused lighting.
Getting adequate sleep when caring for a child who is terminally ill, in isolation (bone marrow transplant), still trying to work because all the bills were still there and then some and also still trying to raise the ill child's two younger siblings trumped the nurse's need to do things "by the book". If the sick kid's mom insists on use of a flashlight or the bathroom light, the nurse can simply document that when documenting meds if it troubled him/her from a liability or safety standpoint. Fortunately we had long term relationships with these nurses and it wasn't a problem.
It may be the policy at some hospitals that you must turn on the overhead light but I have not experienced that. It wasn't the policy at the private hospital we were at. I feel this is a case where book learning does not take into consideration all the consequences of being rigid in practice. He was sick and hospitalized for most of 18 months. Getting four hours of uninterrupted sleep made us all better able to cope with what was happening. The nurses who were holistic enough to include family needs in their plan of care were so very appreciated. And those who weren't were given the opportunity to care for patients who had mothers less vocal about the need for sleep than me. That only happened once and yes, it was an agency nurse who, by what you say, was probably following her agency's rules.
The awesome nurses that were there through my son's illness are the reason I am graduating in December to be one myself. I was simply stating what was appreciated from the other side of the bed, not casting stones. I appreciate where you are coming from and commend your desire to be safe.
That only happened once and yes, it was an agency nurse who, by what you say, was probably following her agency's rules.
middleager
115 Posts
Interesting thread. I am a little unclear why there would be such a strong reaction against it. I understand there may be the feeling that to a degree an "intersantium" had been breeched by outsiders. Perhaps its not the perfect place for this but it is a great opportunity to interact. If there is one thing we should all take away from this site, patient or provider, there is such a diversity, you can not pigeon hole or label either group, Nurses are niether angels or evil, though my personal experience puts them a lot closer to the former than than later. There are good paitents and bad, they are good people and pain in the a**es. Just as the recent 9 things opened some eyes on the patient side, this may be an opportunity to pick something up.
#1, odds are I am scared, nervous, a little or a lot freaked. I am in an unfamiliar environment and probably have a lot on my mind or I wouldn't be here. I probably am not communicating everything I want or should, I might be tense and stressed and cover it with a smile or some with being gruff, please forgive and understand, this may not be who I normally am, I am attempting to deal with what is going on,
2# I know you do this all the time, but I do not. While it may be just another rear end to you, it is a rear end that I am not used to showing and it is embaressing to me. We are all different some people don't care, some do, if you ask me if it matters if there is an option and you give me an option I would be forever grateful, this isn't a comment on you, it is on me, I know perhaps I shouldn't care, but for whatever reason I do. I realize this is my problem not yours, but I need your help,
3# We pass through the system so fast, we are under such stress, if I forget to tell you, thank you, May God bless all of you who have shown compassion, thank all of you who have asked, who made this about me not you, thank you for respecting me as a person, not as a patient. Thank you to those who understand this is not just another day at the office for me. Thank you for protecting my dignity and my feelings. Your not angels, but you about as close to it as there is in the business world
4. I need to trust you like no one else other than my God and my family, I am sorry if that burden takes a big toll, but I am putting my very life in your hands, Sorry, i don't know what else to do.
5 I know i am not your only patient, I know you have a lot to do and little time, I am sorry if I inconvenience you with requests, but I have no one else to go to
6 Thanks, thanks for all you do if I haven't said so