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)
Specializes in Specializes in L/D, newborn, GYN, LTC, Dialysis.
I find I can understand their concerns w/o being told a cautionary "he/she is a health care provider/dr/lawyer/whatever". I find those things out in good time. And I may just find out those things in good time-----Also I find I can learn of special issues each patient may have by gaining trust from my patients and learning how I can best help them individually, regardless of their occupations.
I really find many people saying "she is a nurse" in the context as if we are to "watch how we treat them". Sorry, nobody gets "VIP" treatment from me. They are treated as the unique individuals they are, and that is what counts to me.
I also find out a lot by them NOT knowing I am nurse---the type care they deliver to everyone is of particular interest to me.
I find I can understand their concerns w/o being told a cautionary "he/she is a health care provider/dr/lawyer/whatever". I find those things out in good time. And I may just find out those things in good time-----Also I find I can learn of special issues each patient may have by gaining trust from my patients and learning how I can best help them individually, regardless of their occupations.
I really find many people saying "she is a nurse" in the context as if we are to "watch how we treat them". Sorry, nobody gets "VIP" treatment from me. They are treated as the unique individuals they are, and that is what counts to me.
I also find out a lot by them NOT knowing I am nurse---the type care they deliver to everyone is of particular interest to me.
I agree with you that we should not and should not be expected to treat them any differently, but I have never taken it that way in report if anything I have always felt it made my job easier by being able to use medical terminology and not having to teach the basics before starting into more specifics. JMO
But I would be very upset if I was expected to treat soem pts differently than others, I remember this from working in a military hosp. and it was one of the only things I didn't like about that job.
I'm having surgery next month at an affiliate hospital where I work. I will not be telling them I'm a nurse. If they find out through my demographic profile, fine, but I'm not going to be volunteering it.
Specializes in Specializes in L/D, newborn, GYN, LTC, Dialysis.
I agree with you that we should not and should not be expected to treat them any differently, but I have never taken it that way in report if anything I have always felt it made my job easier by being able to use medical terminology and not having to teach the basics before starting into more specifics. JMO
But I would be very upset if I was expected to treat soem pts differently than others, I remember this from working in a military hosp. and it was one of the only things I didn't like about that job.
Your comment about the military hospital raises a memory from when my daughter was hospitalized for pneumonia and RSV as a baby at an army hospital. The nurses actually said they had an "alert" or something to that effect on my name, since I am a nurse. I found that a bit weird and I wondered what that meant, but at the time was too exhausted and upset to ask-----it was all I could do to keep with it, holding my sick baby 24/7 in the pedi ward and keeping her calm.
I don't make a point of it, but termonology gives me away. I don't tell people I'm a nurse a)to get special treatment b)because I'm feeling "inadequate" c)to make anyone else feel inadequate I tell them because its part of my history, or to avoid "teaching" I don't need. I ask lots of questions, and simply say "this isn't my specialty" when I run into stuff I need more infor about. My son was in hospital out of state, I didn't make a point of my being a nurse, but words like "peripheral stick" slipped out, and tended to give things away. I'm his mom, not his nurse.
People get the same care from me no matter what, knowing they are a nurse or whatever just helps to know how to approach them. Instead of being irritated by it, use the knowledge.
Being nurses or lawyers can backfire, we couldn't get some things not to be done for my dad, because one sister is a nurse and another is a lawyer, so his team insisted on doing a lot more than we wanted out of fear. :angryfire
I don't tell every single person that is involved in my care, but I do tell my PCP. I go to a PA and we chat up all things including latest research on things, scholastics, my work, and her work. We laugh a lot too, I have fun there LOL.
Specializes in Open Heart/ Trauma/ Sx Stepdown/ Tele.
I had sx not to long ago...so the ortho dr knew what i did...he had to know...however I said nothing to the nurses...and as far as I know they were unaware...now my parents dr's I work with them in a hospital setting and they know what I do...when my father was going through chemo and radiation the nursing staff knew, because the dr let them know...not to be snotty...but just to be helpful, which in turn it was...I was the go between them and my mother and sister...actually had the nurses say it was helpful because of what was going on with tests and treatments...however not once did I expect special treatment...and I did not interfere.
I usually don't say anything at all, but like some of you have said sometimes it just comes out. If I'm asked I don't hide it. When I've been hospitalized I haven't said a word about it. I don't want preferential treatment, I just want to be like all the other patients. A few months ago I had a kidney stone.. OUCH!! That hurt so dang bad!! Now in all my years of nursing I've never met a bad nurse, personally. Well, I guess that was my time. My doc had ordered 2 mg dilaudid q 2-4h anyway. I needed it and a male nurse had brought it in and had drawn it up in a syringe along with a cc or two of ns, fine right? Well, he goes to inject into my IV port, but only puts in a very small portion of the clear fluid in the IV. I called him on it, he had two syringes with him too, but only used the one. I asked him what he was doing, that he had not pushed the full amount of the syringe? His comment to me was not to worry he knew his ratios. I was ticked because I was in SO much pain and he was not giving me the medicine. I then informed him I was a nurse and I knew what he was doing was not right. His face turned bright red and he left. I did report him but I don't know what happened to him. Hopefullly they drug tested him to find out if he was doing it to other people. Well, I doubt he could have been taking dilaudid at work.
I don't intentionally say I'm a nurse unless asked, but they usually realize it when I answer questions such as what surgeries I've had and I say something like "A chole, bilateral carpal tunnel x 2, and a low anterior bowel resection for rectal c-a, etc. It gets to be such a habit to speak "medicalease"....lol.
My doc had ordered 2 mg dilaudid q 2-4h anyway. I needed it and a male nurse had brought it in and had drawn it up in a syringe along with a cc or two of ns, fine right? Well, he goes to inject into my IV port, but only puts in a very small portion of the clear fluid in the IV. I called him on it, he had two syringes with him too, but only used the one. I asked him what he was doing, that he had not pushed the full amount of the syringe? His comment to me was not to worry he knew his ratios. I was ticked because I was in SO much pain and he was not giving me the medicine. I then informed him I was a nurse and I knew what he was doing was not right. His face turned bright red and he left. I did report him but I don't know what happened to him. Hopefullly they drug tested him to find out if he was doing it to other people. Well, I doubt he could have been taking dilaudid at work.
Hmm Dilaudid comes in 2mg, I could understand if it was 1 mg ordered and he only gives half, that I have done, but I cannot see why he would not give all of it. Good to report him. I believe that little amount probably would not given him more then a buzz though if he was an addict.
I a bad pt as well, I had surgery and the doctor told me I had to keep the IV in until the IV fluid finishes. It was set at 125cc/hr and there was 700 TBA I turned it up and made it run full flush to be done in under one hr:devil: I wanted to take a shower but I was on bedrest so I got up and did it anyway. Hey the bottom line was nothing happened and I would not have blamed anyone if it did. The good thing was because the staff knew I was a nurse they just chastised me and told me not to do it again . Yeah right
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I tell them because its part of my history, or to avoid "teaching" I don't need. I ask lots of questions, and simply say "this isn't my specialty" when I run into stuff I need more infor about. My son was in hospital out of state, I didn't make a point of my being a nurse, but words like "peripheral stick" slipped out, and tended to give things away. I'm his mom, not his nurse. 
SmilingBluEyes
20,964 Posts
I find I can understand their concerns w/o being told a cautionary "he/she is a health care provider/dr/lawyer/whatever". I find those things out in good time. And I may just find out those things in good time-----Also I find I can learn of special issues each patient may have by gaining trust from my patients and learning how I can best help them individually, regardless of their occupations.
I really find many people saying "she is a nurse" in the context as if we are to "watch how we treat them". Sorry, nobody gets "VIP" treatment from me. They are treated as the unique individuals they are, and that is what counts to me.
I also find out a lot by them NOT knowing I am nurse---the type care they deliver to everyone is of particular interest to me.