when you are a patient, do you tell the attending doctors/nurses that you are a nurse?
i dont for a variety of reasons
*my proffession is rarely brought up, i would never lie about it.
*my training was 20+ years ago and i stopped working in the hospital system 17+ years ago, there is much i do not know and i would never want not to be explained something with the assumption i knew it, when perhaps i didnt.
*i would not want anyone to think i mentioned it because i was seeking preferential treatment
what are your thoughts and if you have been a patient, what did you do ?(this is ofcourse assuming you were not being attended to by people you have worked with/who know you)
God's child....did the ??? mean you dont understand my post or you are questioning me?
I'll assume the prior...
what i meant is, I do not volenteer the information however, if i am asked, i would never lie and say i am an accountant (for eg) my usual response is i have been involved in a baby care centre...if further questions are asked, i respond truthfully to them also...stating my qualification but ensuring they understand that my knowledge is probably out of date for areas other than post mother and baby care and that i would appreciate their assumption that i know nothing, that way i am sure i do not miss any information that may be usefull to me because it was assumed i knew. I would rather here 1 000 things i know than miss one learning opportunity (though its more like 1 thing i know and 1 i learn)
same when its about my kids...i may offer the info there if i can be an extra pair of hands, eyes, opinion...only if asked to help, i would never impose...but i ask them to explain it all to my children and myself that we both be responsible for the care of their broken arm/stitched knee/recent appendectomy.
Medspeak is picked up also...in a home where there are nursing and medical personelle, the children speak fluent medspeak...or feel excluded at some conversations. Its often very funny. Until i lost my grandmother, a year ago, she lived with us (yes a huge family of 9...great grandma, grandma, 5 kidz and us) the children all became very educated in caring for the elderly...diabetic care, personal care, intermittant catheterisation, medication checking and counting (how many of you do this at home, as we do, get meds checked with another before administering?) then when i got sick, the older ones were taught to give both subcut and IM injections...so much for the nursing care, they were also taught alternative modalities to help all family members, massage, visualisation, meditation. They all attended St John and got a first aid course, ofcourse not all were certified, the course was age appropriate and even my then 7 year old learnt the rudimentaries of EAR and CPR as well as wound control and bandaging. They loved doing all this and it meant they truly shared in the caring aspect of our family.
What are my childrens dream future occupations (for now) a merchant banker, an accountant, a lawyer, a painter and a sword and bow and arrow maker
not a 'care' profession amongst them.
but they will always know how to put a bandage on (or ring home)
(apologies....i sit in here in the middle of the night, too tired to correct typos, too lazy to notice spelling mistakes.....but if poor spelling is an irritant around here, i will try harder)
Maybe this is my own silly notion....but I think that making my profession known to "keep them on their toes" would be a reflection of my own inadequacies. It implies that the nurse would give poor care otherwise.... since we tend to base the rest of the world on how we, ourselves, are.
When someone discloses that information early on when I am taking care of them or a family member, I don't become offended. I just think they may be a tad insecure and it kind of amuses me. They tell me they are a nurse and I'll just smile and say "Oh, well bless your heart"
When I or a family member are patients, I just keep quiet and would only say something if I experienced poor care. Even then, I probably wouldn't tell them I am a nurse.
when i was first admitted in to High Dependancy with Isolation, i had the warmest, compitant nurse i have ever had the pleasure to be cared for by.
Trying to be a model patient, When the sheets were dropped in, she would arrive to find the bed made. Then tubes in the way or not, i would shower myself. This exhausted me so much, i would sleep for 4 hrs but i did it because i needed to move, i had no idea how long i would be in there and it ended up being 8 weeks. She, in turn, would check on me and had learnt to judge by my positions when i was in pain...she never asked, just delivered the pain relief and i trusted her to keep me comfortable. I liked this more than PCA and though we used it when others were on shift, she would remove when it was hers. She brought me music and cried with me when they wouldnt let my children in (my enlarged parotids indicated possibly mumps though it didnt make any sense with blood works etc) She taught me that as morphine wears off, a small amount of a lighter narcotic like codeine can make the relief last longer and many skills i still employ in my managment today.
One day while she was on evening shift, i was taken for an mri and my sheets were changed while i was away. When i returned my temp was 43 and i had the sensation that there was glass in my bed. Ridiculous as this seemed, i dd not have the strength to look for myself and so i called my dutynurse who coldly told me she was busy and didnt have time for my febrile hellucinations. I tried to stay as still as possible with rigours but by the time my nurse came on duty, i was crying and told her i was sorry but could she put my mind at ease and check if there is glass. My legs were shredded by a few large glass pieced (looked like from a broken drinking glass) when my nurse called the nurse who refused to look earlier, she picked up the glass pieces and said, arnt i the lucky one...diamonds in my bed!
(afterwards i wondered if she perhaps had a relationship with my X...he wasnt the most faithfull of men and to see him at my bed during every break on the list may have irritated her, i dont know, just a thought)
When i was to be transferred to another hospital by taxi, carrying all my bags, she got special permission to drive me herself and stayed and made me comfortable, informing the nurses on duty, i was special (bless her)
I had been in that ward before and my X (very well known at ths teaching hospital) had visited me and we were overheard discussing my diagnosis. My lovely nurse was hurt i had not told her i was a nurse. I didnt mean, not to, it just never came up and i was pretty groggy most of the time.
I guess every time, i need to guage the relationship i build with those caring for me. With this lovely woman, it was a friendship and just as i shared other things, i ought to have shared this. I am very sorry i hurt her by my ommission. I sent her flowers and home baked cakes and music she loved in gratitude a few months later when i was finally home but i never got to see her again.
During this same time, my urethral spasms were driving me CRAZY with a catheter in place. I remember begging for it to be removed. I dont know how, but fully inflated, i pulled it out. This caused much snickering behind my door but it stopped when my nurse came by. Kindly, she brought me some ligncaine and did what she could to settle the spasms and the damage i had created. I know it seems very unlikely, but i have no memory of doing this, had i been rational, i would have deflated prior to extraction. Noone believed i didnt do it on purpose (I had complained enough) and i still blush when i think about it and still remember her kindness
No I rarely tell hospital staff that I am an RN, but most do pick up on it beacuse of the amount of knowledge I have.
That is the same with me I try not to tell someone but I do not deny it if they ask. I had a situation where I spent 5 days in the ICU and then had to have surgery the surgeon was called in and gave me the most wonderful explanation of my up and coming surgery I have ever heard. He left then came back 20 minutes later and said " your an RN and you made me go through all that" I told him yes I was but had I told him I was I would not have gotten any explanation.
Nurses treat you differently and sometimes negatively, they think you are judging them all the time and lets face it we do anyway. Why make them more nervous.
Specializes in Specializes in L/D, newborn, GYN, LTC, Dialysis.
No, I want to see how "all people" are treated. I don't want special or preferential tx---or to be avoided because I am known to be a nurse. I tend to keep this to myself.
I was told by a very wise brillant and expierenced nurse that only the worse nurses tell their title. Also that the worse nurses make even worser patients.
That's a pretty unfair judgment for her to assume.
Specializes in Specializes in L/D, newborn, GYN, LTC, Dialysis.
Conversely, I get *HIGHLY* annoyed when I receive in report, "Mary Jones is a doctor/nurse" etc. I don't want to know. They are not going to get "better" care from me----it just distracts me, hearing this. I give good care to all my patients, not just those "in the know"......
Did have a malpractice attorney once as a patient (I am in the litigious OB field!)----- and no one knew til one of the nurses recognized her from her town---and knew her job. She did not say a word to anyone. Really, I was happier NOT knowing. My care for her did not "go up a notch" just because of it, however. That I can say. She was a DELIGHTFUL person, I have to add.
I shamefully admit, I would prefer NOT getting celebrity/VIPs or patients w/medical backgrounds, or at least NOT knowing if they are. I just want to give care to everyone the same way!
I like to know all of my patients occupations, it helps to understand them and to help plan for discharge, someone working a very physical job (such as nursing) is not goimg to be able to return to work as soon as someone who has a less physical job on crutches for instance, and some jobs are going to be much more sensitive about breast pumping ect ... the list is endless.
Pesonally it depends on the situation, I will tell someone that I am a nurse so that they will educate me in more medical terms, I know it is crazy but I hate being talked to like a lay person, I make sure they know if I don't understand something, but it is generally easier to understand if presented in language you use, when I teach patients I try to use both medical and lay speak, tellign them in medical terms and then explaining in lay terms and I make sure they understand by asking them questions.
With my kids I always give it away when I go to tell them my daughters dx. LOL instead of saying "she has a hole in her heart" I tell them she has a ventricular septal defect and a patent ductus arteriosus with a coil embolization done at 20 months, and they say "do you work in health care?" lol I am also teaching her to know her true dx, in the event that I am not there in an emergency situation (like say she knocked a tooth out and I couldn't be reached). But im rambling now...
I like to know all of my patients occupations, it helps to understand them and to help plan for discharge, someone working a very physical job (such as nursing) is not goimg to be able to return to work as soon as someone who has a less physical job on crutches for instance, and some jobs are going to be much more sensitive about breast pumping ect ... the list is endless.
lisalau
24 Posts
God's child....did the ??? mean you dont understand my post or you are questioning me?
I'll assume the prior...
what i meant is, I do not volenteer the information however, if i am asked, i would never lie and say i am an accountant (for eg) my usual response is i have been involved in a baby care centre...if further questions are asked, i respond truthfully to them also...stating my qualification but ensuring they understand that my knowledge is probably out of date for areas other than post mother and baby care and that i would appreciate their assumption that i know nothing, that way i am sure i do not miss any information that may be usefull to me because it was assumed i knew. I would rather here 1 000 things i know than miss one learning opportunity (though its more like 1 thing i know and 1 i learn)
same when its about my kids...i may offer the info there if i can be an extra pair of hands, eyes, opinion...only if asked to help, i would never impose...but i ask them to explain it all to my children and myself that we both be responsible for the care of their broken arm/stitched knee/recent appendectomy.
Medspeak is picked up also...in a home where there are nursing and medical personelle, the children speak fluent medspeak...or feel excluded at some conversations. Its often very funny. Until i lost my grandmother, a year ago, she lived with us (yes a huge family of 9...great grandma, grandma, 5 kidz and us) the children all became very educated in caring for the elderly...diabetic care, personal care, intermittant catheterisation, medication checking and counting (how many of you do this at home, as we do, get meds checked with another before administering?) then when i got sick, the older ones were taught to give both subcut and IM injections...so much for the nursing care, they were also taught alternative modalities to help all family members, massage, visualisation, meditation. They all attended St John and got a first aid course, ofcourse not all were certified, the course was age appropriate and even my then 7 year old learnt the rudimentaries of EAR and CPR as well as wound control and bandaging. They loved doing all this and it meant they truly shared in the caring aspect of our family.
What are my childrens dream future occupations (for now) a merchant banker, an accountant, a lawyer, a painter and a sword and bow and arrow maker
not a 'care' profession amongst them.
but they will always know how to put a bandage on (or ring home)