All Bad Nurses - Please Stand Up

IMustBeCrazy · Jun 4, 2004

If the words 'get real' constituted a personal attack, then I'm confused. I've seen much worse allowed in other threads. My 2 cents.

AcosmicRN · Jun 4, 2004

A "Good" nurse, in my opinion, has all the good qualities: patience, kindness, humility, empathy, competence, and efficiency even when patients, coworkers and MDs are rude to them or when they feel overwhelmed or stressed or treated unfairly. The only problem is that one has to be in such situations in order to practice those good qualities under duress--being they don't come natural to us. This means that each day on the way to work, a nurse should pray that God will put them into those situations so that the glory of God (and the Good nurse) can be seen through their actions.

I hope one day I'll have the courage to pray that prayer. Right now, I do not.

AcosmicRN

nursemike, ASN, RN · Jun 4, 2004

Patients go bad, but one of the best nurses I work with is also one of the least dramatic. She is always calm, even in emergencies, Never unpleasant to anyone, and one of the most efficient people I've ever seen in any field. Her aides say she works them harder than anyone else, but they love her, because she works just as hard, and its all about the patient. She's a mentor and a role model, and a friend if you need one, and anyone on my floor would know exactly who I'm talking about. I can't remember the last time she had a patient code--of course, we don't always work the same shift, but from what I've seen, she doesn't have many emergencies because she anticipates them and intervenes before it gets that bad.

I don't honestly know if I'll ever be half the nurse she is--this last semester has taught me a lot about humility--but at least I do know what to aspire toward.

NursesRmofun, ASN, RN · Jun 4, 2004

Patients go bad, but one of the best nurses I work with is also one of the least dramatic. She is always calm, even in emergencies, Never unpleasant to anyone, and one of the most efficient people I've ever seen in any field. Her aides say she works them harder than anyone else, but they love her, because she works just as hard, and its all about the patient. She's a mentor and a role model, and a friend if you need one, and anyone on my floor would know exactly who I'm talking about. I can't remember the last time she had a patient code--of course, we don't always work the same shift, but from what I've seen, she doesn't have many emergencies because she anticipates them and intervenes before it gets that bad.
I don't honestly know if I'll ever be half the nurse she is--this last semester has taught me a lot about humility--but at least I do know what to aspire toward.

Hey! That was a good message! I agree that that is a good nurse (The qualities you wrote about!) :)

Dayray, RN · Jun 4, 2004

The good nurses are the ones that carry scissors in their pocket because I always forget mine and need to barrow them.

So that makes me a bad nurse but I prefer to be called

Knotty ..........please and thank you :rotfl:

Agnus · Jun 4, 2004

I like some of the others have stated am having a problem with where the OP is going with this.

One day in one situation with one patient you might see me as a bad nurse and be correct another day in another situation with another patient you might see me as good and be correct.

Please, define your terms at the very least.

psychomachia · Jun 5, 2004

One day in one situation with one patient you might see me as a bad nurse and be correct another day in another situation with another patient you might see me as good and be correct.

When I'm good, I'm really good...

and when I'm bad...

I'm still pretty good...

Groovydogg · Jun 5, 2004

I have always said it is so easy to spot a bad nurse, and a nurse that does not like his/her job. mean nasty, in a hurry, take short cuts, wear black hats. (sorry couldn't resist)

rnmi2004 · Jun 5, 2004

Oh yeah, I'm bad to the bone. :rotfl:

qje999 · Apr 30, 2005

how can you tell if the nurse your dealing with is bad nurse or good nurse?

you need to observe this person and you will know. people can't put on a front indefinite. how does this person treat co workers and patients. this will tell you alot.

pooh54 · Apr 30, 2005

Sorry, but this just doesn't hold up. Patients will request not to have a particular nurse again for the most asinine reasons, such as:
The patient tried to treat a particular nurse like a slave and the nurse would not stand for it.
The nurse would not give the diabetic patient candy, cookies, and soda.
The nurse would not change the diaper of a visitor's infant.
The patient felt pain when the nurse gave the injection/started the IV.
The nurse didn't have time to fluff the patient's pillow or refill the ice pitcher because she was coding one of her other patients.
The nurse asked the 15-member family of a patient to select a representative to receive updates and keep the rest of them informed, rather than have to take 15-30 phone calls per shift to give updates.
The nurse was floated from an entirely different type of unit and was uncomfortable with the procedures/patient load, therefore seemingly incompetent to the patient.
The patient did not want to be NPO, but the nurse enforced the order.
Sometimes people are just not reasonable and you cannot judge a nurse just by what people say. Get real.

I am fortunate to be one of those nurse's that are told "Thank God, you're my baby's nurse today," I ALWAYS tke this with a lot of grains of salt. After 20 years of working, I've seen too many pt's and their families try to manipulate nurse with this. It doesn't mean I'm ungrateful to hear this but quite often, they proceed to tell me about the "bad" nurse who wouldn't let them do what they wanted with their baby, and then try to engage me in a conversation about how horrible that nurse was. Most of the time, I've had to explain that the baby's condition wouldn't allow the particular thing they wanted to do. If I find that this was a bad personality clash, I will go to the nurse and find her side of the story. We gotta stick together and educate ourselves,each other and the pt or family! :nurse:

TracyB,RN, RN · May 1, 2005

It depends alot on the different situations... I guess one of the things that I would consider to be "bad nursing" is the lack of compassion, lack of respect for pts & coworkers, & laziness.

Good nurses.... let their relief know that they received new orders, but haven't had a chance to note them, let relief know that a dressing didn't get changed, etc, etc. It's all about communication, IMO...HOWEVER, if these issues are occuring on a frequent basis, I start to wonder what is going on that these tasks aren't completed... sometimes, timing is off & the day is just BAAADD, but if you are coming in to find a nurse on the phone, discussing dinner plans, or what movie to see, hmmmm? Poor organization in play?

Poor communication = poor nursing