I've read here in many, many threads that we're dismayed, annoyed, and bewildered that the general public doesn't understand what we do.
So I have a question for all of you--
are you telling them?
and for our collective benefit, HOW are you telling them? Please share so that we may all teach our patients about who we are as nurses and what we really do.
My patients get detailed admission teachings on medications, labs (what certain ones are targeted to do and when they can expect to get them), and treatments. They're encouraged to call me for changes in symptoms and for pain control.
Here's something I learned to tell them from some of these threads and thoughts from other nurses:
At a certain point in the admission, I point to my badge and show them where to look for our name and license designation, and explain that nurses are LPNs and RNs, and that we or their doctor are best able to answer questions about medications, tests, or treatments, and it was important to identify who their nurse was as opposed to say, the housekeeper or the unit secretary since we all wear scrubs.
Almost without exception, these patients will pretend that they already knew that, but I can tell that they did not.
I make it a point to explain that the tech will be assigned to help with getting to the bathroom, taking vital signs, and things like that, while I'll be giving medications and consulting with their doctor about changes in symptoms.
My goal is to teach all of my patients some functions of nurses today and how to identify the nurse in the hospital setting as being part of an informed healthcare consumer.
I need to thank those of you at Allnurses who shared in the threads about public perception of nursing. They've really been a springboard for changing the way I talk to my patients and how I educate them throughout their stay in the hospital. But there are always more ways to do this, and I would appreciate your thoughts. So don't be shy....
Please share how you are teaching your patients what nurses do as you care for them throughout their stay.
I have explained to friends and family members what its like to be a nurse. I've told everyone who cares how frustrating it is...with so much liability and zero authority.
Patients are in a vulnerable position and when they're ill, they don't comprehend, they just 'need'. I wasn't debating, I was stating what for me is a fact. whenever appropriate and possible I educate my patients to my role and the misconceptions.
I applaud nurses who publish and do interviews and get 'into the public eye' and aren't afraid to tell the truth about healthcare today. They are my heros. The nurses with advanced degrees generally are most listened to in my experience, but many of these these highly educated nurses don't have a 'down in the trenches' perspective, unfortunately. I absolutely LOVE those who do and aren't afraid to tell it like it is!!
Everytime I see a commercial or a TV show portraying nurse stereotypes I cringe. I saw another one...the 'lusty nurse' after the young male patient wearing some deodorant spray. Its why I support the Center for Nurse Advocacy...we must address this stuff as it IS what the public listens to.
I'm sorry, I didn't think you were debating. Thanks for expanding on your answer.
Also, yes, Fergus, I read Suzanne Gordon, but more than that, I've actually been trying to find ways to put those ideas into practice--when and where it's appropriate, of course.
I give only as much as the patient can deal with. Why overload and overwhelm a patient who's already going through an extreme amount of stress, discomfort or pain?
Naturally, if the patient has immediate needs, they're taken care of before we go any further! And that goes even for "necessary teaching" such as how to operate the bed or turn on the call light. The patient will be taught that when it's appropriate, after they're reasonably comfortable.
But let's assume that the patient is already reasonably comfortable and is not actively sick at the point you receive him.
(Actually, I find that sometimes the sicker patients learn more and bond better than the others as you meet their immediate needs, and make small talk with educational information. I'm thinking of the patient I had recently who had a bowel obstruction and who wondered why he couldn't eat something, for instance. I wound up advancing the Salem sump and initiating intermittant suction. As I did so, I taught the patient about what I was doing and how it would help him get better. I took the opportunity to show him my badge and explain that if he needed questions answered about his condition, tests, or treatment, that the nurse--specifically the nurse assigned to him for that shift--would be who he needed to ask.
In just that example, in order to keep the patient from having to ask 5 housekeepers and nurses who were walking through from another unit, teaching the patient how to properly identify the nurse is essential.)
I don't believe that it's too much for the patient to see the RN on your badge and learn that you are her nurse, not her unit secretary or diet aide.
There are other opportunities to teach patients in the course of their care, sometimes by telling, other times by demonstration, as Matt's Mom describes.
I think we all are doing it, but we don't realize it.
I think it's a little strange that we can discuss death and dying, pain and suffering so much better than we can discuss how we are trained to help relieve it.
I read her in nursing school and this was the one thing that always stuck out to me. People don't know what nurses do. They need to tell the public. I educate people in my private life about what I do if they show interest (and they usually do since NICU is a sort of interesting thing). Like I said though, at work I don't need to tell the parents. They see what I do. They see me suction, they see me do compressions, they see me call the doctors and talk to them, they see me start IVs, they see me care for their babies in pretty much every way. Us nurses also do most of the education in the unit. I've also heard a lot of "you mean nurses do that?" comments, both in L&D and NICU.
i'm a future RN, at present i'm doin my associate's degree in nursing.i'm very curious about the work we have to do. everyother person in the street tells me that after becoming a nurse i will have to do jobs like cleaning the patients and attendin there nature's call neccessites.
i'm a future RN, at present i'm doin my associate's degree in nursing.i'm very curious about the work we have to do. everyother person in the street tells me that after becoming a nurse i will have to do jobs like cleaning the patients and attendin there nature's call neccessites.
is this true . please advice me.
regards
Sure it's true, in some settings. In some hospitals that do primary care nursing, the nurse does everything. In my hospital, we use a team nursing model.
My nurse's assistant takes care of things like inserting or taking out Foley catheters, taking out IVs, helping patients to the bathroom, getting specimens, and cleaning patients up. My job in that setting is to assess the patient, give medications, assess test results, call the doctor for problems (and suggest potential treatments), and charting.
All that care requires intelligence, education, critical thinking skills, and experience.
Please don't get the wrong idea, prita, about cleaning people up. It's a skill that promotes a patient's health and well-being. It's an opportunity for the nurse to develop that trusting patient-nurse relationship.
And I can say quite honestly from the patient's perspective, nothing made me feel more grateful to a human being than the nurse who helped clean me up when I was completely helpless and who then brought me a nice glass of water when I was so thirsty.
Patients don't know because we don't tell them, the hospital doesn't tell them because they don't want them to know. Our professional services and contributions to patient care are rolled into the hospital bill with the house- keeping, linens, and the complementary roll of toilet paper and box of Kleenex.
Until nurses bill for there services, we will always be invisable.
Lindarn, RN, BSN, CCRN
Spokane, Washington
When we realize the power we have --- much greater in numbers than the AMA --- and learn how to use it---that is when things will change.
Sure it's true, in some settings. In some hospitals that do primary care nursing, the nurse does everything. In my hospital, we use a team nursing model.
My nurse's assistant takes care of things like inserting or taking out Foley catheters, taking out IVs, helping patients to the bathroom, getting specimens, and cleaning patients up. My job in that setting is to assess the patient, give medications, assess test results, call the doctor for problems (and suggest potential treatments), and charting.
All that care requires intelligence, education, critical thinking skills, and experience.
Please don't get the wrong idea, prita, about cleaning people up. It's a skill that promotes a patient's health and well-being. It's an opportunity for the nurse to develop that trusting patient-nurse relationship.
And I can say quite honestly from the patient's perspective, nothing made me feel more grateful to a human being than the nurse who helped clean me up when I was completely helpless and who then brought me a nice glass of water when I was so thirsty.
How is it a nursing assistant 's scope of practice that he/she inserts/takes out foleys, and IV's? Have we given up that as part of our professional practice, along with medication adminsitration, as well? I was under the impression that these procedures are to be done by a licensed RN or LPN/LVN, not an aide or assistant. Am I missing something?
How is it a nursing assistant 's scope of practice that he/she inserts/takes out foleys, and IV's? Have we given up that as part of our professional practice, along with medication adminsitration, as well? I was under the impression that these procedures are to be done by a licensed RN or LPN/LVN, not an aide or assistant. Am I missing something?
Lindarn, RN, BSN, CCRN
Spokane, Washington
Our CNA's don't do any of that . . .it is all nursing. Can't imagine a CNA putting in a foley as I've never heard of it except on allnurses.
i really appreciate it as it clears any misconceptions i had for the profession i have chosen.
regards,
pritam
How is it a nursing assistant 's scope of practice that he/she inserts/takes out foleys, and IV's? Have we given up that as part of our professional practice, along with medication adminsitration, as well? I was under the impression that these procedures are to be done by a licensed RN or LPN/LVN, not an aide or assistant. Am I missing something?
i'm a future RN, at present i'm doin my associate's degree in nursing.i'm very curious about the work we have to do. everyother person in the street tells me that after becoming a nurse i will have to do jobs like cleaning the patients and attendin there nature's call neccessites.
is this true . please advice me.
regards
Yup! It's true, to a certain point. If you have nothing else you are doing and the cna/lpn/pct needs help, you will do it. Or, if your assistive personnel are busy w/another pt, you are the one who will be helping them w/their basic bodily fx. If your instructors have neglected to tell you, this is the pride and privilege of nursing. Do not ever let yourself get above it. As I have quoted on this site before, "nusrsing is a privilege" (per the dean of my nursing school), don't ever let yourself become "too good" to cover the basics, we learn a lot about our pt's in the little things we take care of.
My patients get detailed admission teachings on medications, labs (what certain ones are targeted to do and when they can expect to get them), and treatments. They're encouraged to call me for changes in symptoms and for pain control.
Here's something I learned to tell them from some of these threads and thoughts from other nurses:
At a certain point in the admission, I point to my badge and show them where to look for our name and license designation, and explain that nurses are LPNs and RNs, and that we or their doctor are best able to answer questions about medications, tests, or treatments, and it was important to identify who their nurse was as opposed to say, the housekeeper or the unit secretary since we all wear scrubs.
This is one of the best ideas I have heard yet, thank you, I will implement it.
How is it a nursing assistant 's scope of practice that he/she inserts/takes out foleys, and IV's? Have we given up that as part of our professional practice, along with medication adminsitration, as well? I was under the impression that these procedures are to be done by a licensed RN or LPN/LVN, not an aide or assistant. Am I missing something?
Lindarn, RN, BSN, CCRN
Spokane, Washington
You seem determined to be argumentative on a thread that hasn't called for it. Once again, this thread does not ask if nurses have been disempowered or deskilled or are invisible. The question presumes those facts and moves on to effect a solution.
Still, I will answer your question in the hopes that at some point, you will answer mine.
At my hospital, techs do not give medications. Yes, they are allowed to insert Foleys and D/C IV lines. However, that's purely the nurse's prerogative. If I don't feel that the tech is up to the skill, or if I feel that the skill is beyond any tech's expertise, I do it.
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SmilingBluEyes
20,964 Posts
sorry:
rolling on the floor, laughing.