Are you my waitress today?

[adria37]

I work in an oncology clinic and this was the question ask to me. How would you have responded? My response was "I did not go to school for 10 years to be called a waitress. I am now 4 courses away from my second master's degree in nursing so I can provide you the best care possible. What do you need."

Tell me how you deal with these kind of comments.

[Sisukas]

but you have to remember that this patient was young. she had been here several times, she was not confused the person beside her had the look "of wanting to slap her in the back of the head"

i am glad you are such a patient advocate. i am too, but at the same time i will not be treated as a door mat. i guess you would have to have been there.

i don't blame you for not tolerating being treated as a doormat. for years, i swore i was going to legally change my name to "not honey".

but there are more polite, less stressful ways to make your point. to most people, beginning a comment with "i did not go to school for 10 years...." creates a feeling of being lectured. trust me, it'll make your days in an already difficult job much less stressful if you find kinder ways to speak to patients who make mistakes or bad jokes.

[yannadey, LPN]

Working in LTC/rehab this happens alot depending on the pt. my way of handling it (1) say excuse me one minute let me get your waitress I walk out the room put a towel over my left arm walk back in & with a straight face say "the nurse said you needed a waitress or

(2) say let me see your hands now using your left hand hold the cup using your right hand pick up the water pitcher & pour into the cup thats good now you're a waitress too &

all the time assessing to see if they need the nurse side of me

(3) if they are really confused I orient them to where they are & say only nurses here dear now how may I help you.

[firstyearstudent]

I just don't understand why it's so disparaging to be called a waitress anyway. But then I lived for years NYC where the average waitress at any posh restaurant was better educated, better mannered, more articulate, better looking, younger and better paid than I ever was.

I'd give my right arm to be one of those waitresses...

[ortess1971]

but you have to remember that this patient was young. She had been here several times, she was not confused the person beside her had the look "of wanting to slap her in the back of the head"

I am glad you are such a patient advocate. I am too, but at the same time I will not be treated as a door mat. I guess you would have to have been there.

In your situation, I would have been ticked off as well. Vast amount of difference between a old, confused patient and a "frequent flier" who seems to have a sense of entitlement. Nothing wrong with sticking up for yourself especially since you didn't swear at her or anything. So, the patient got a little lecture? Small price to pay for being a jerk! If some of these people talked to the doctor like that, boy, would things get ugly..Why is it OK to treat nurses like garbage?

[jill48, ASN, RN]

Even though it's not meant to be an insult, it still feels like it sometimes. This is one of the reasons I think all the departments should wear different colored scrubs, so patients, families, even doctors aren't as confused. :banghead: :banghead: :banghead: :banghead: :banghead: :banghead: :banghead: :banghead: :banghead: :banghead: :banghead: :banghead: :banghead: :banghead: :banghead: :banghead: :banghead:

[PANurseRN1]

And how are they going to know who wears what color? People in the hospital are stressed, sick, often confused. They're not going to say "Oh, wait, I can't ask her for my medicine...she's not wearing navy, so she's not a nurse." They're gong to ask the first person they see.

I worked in an ED that wore one color and it never failed; the male nurses were still "doctors" and the women were nurses. Pts. still asked RTs (who wore a different color) for things that needed to be done by nurses. Same thing with techs.