Be the Nurse You Would Want As a Patient

[amygarside]

great post. empathy is a key..

[chanie911]

I am one of those who is becoming a nurse because of the nurses (the good ones) who impacted me (and continue to) as I've dealt with both chronic and acute illnesses for the majority of my life....it's sometimes an odd "balance"--I'm the student nurse in clinical all day and then the patient all night/weekend (literally....sometimes when the ER is busy I do both, and manage my own IV's!), but I have to believe that knowing how it feels to be in that bed helps me care a little more, be a little kinder, and hopefully be one of the "good ones".....(and for better or worse, dealing with GI failure and associated chronic issues, I'm never too far away from getting more "experience" on the other side to brush up on my empathy skills )

[ayla2004, ASN, RN]

Ive had a few bad weeks in work and the only thing that has made me remeber that I love being a nurse is my patients. Now management and poltics I could do without.

[Shauna_G, LPN]

I was recently in the hospital and I wanted a rootbeer to drink but none on floor and cafeteria had none. I had brought money but I couldn't leave the floor. It was evening and all my family had gone home after I asked for the rootbeer and the nurse told me they didn't have any I was like that is ok. Well I had initially told her I had money so when she came back in and told me there wasn't any she said you have money i will go down and get one for you out of the vending machine. I replied I know your busy with other patients don't worry about it she responded you are my patient and I make time for all my patients she took the money went and got it and came back. I was in tears when she came back in and she asked what was wrong I told her nothing but that what she had said and done meant so much to me she replied no problem. After she left I used my cellphone and called the operator and asked to speak with nursing supervisor of that floor and told her what this nurse had done for me and her name wanted to let them know. Hopefully they did something or said something to her about how great she was, bit I don't know I left before she came back for a shift. Talk about great bedside manner and making a patient feel special.

[NursesRmofun, ASN, RN]

Also, it's worth noting that the kind of nurse I'd want as a pt and the kind you'd want might be two very different kinds of nurses. The last thing I'd want is a stranger trying to "connect" with me. Even if I just got bad news, I'd want a brisk, but polite, nurse who did an assessment, gave me my meds and got out of the room. When nurses like me act aloof like this, we *are* being the nurse we'd want as a patient.

Old thread but not closed....sooooo.....just wanted to say, I knew a nurse that I thought I would NOT want as my nurse early on, back in the beginning of my nursing career, when I was an LPN. She was always joking and talking with her patients, making them "feel better"!...but she never cared as much for the hygienic care or "fluffing". I was the "fluff nurse"...I liked my patients very clean and, I thought, comfortable. I understand her much better today. We were dealing with many people who were dying, and she was trying to make them smile. She gave them pain medication to feel better too. But she was not a fluff nurse, and her patients were fine with that. Now, I understand more why.

[RNikkiF]

I spent a week in the hospital in May for meningitis following a suboccipital craniectomy with duraplasty and c1 laminectomy. It was both a good and a bad experience, but overall good. My nurses paid attention when I told them the steroid they were pushing in my iv was VERY painful and they pushed it slowly after that, which helped immensely. They also stopped my vancomycin infusion immediately when they noticed I was showing signs of Redman syndrome... and they continued to run it slowly every time after. They were immediately responsive to my pain needs. All of my aides, except one, were attentive and helpful. The one who wasn't claimed that she didn't have enough time to help me walk in the hallway every time I asked and she got huffy when I asked her to close my blinds. Not ONE of the other aides had any issue with helping me ambulatory. I tried hard not to be "that" patient, but just in case, I made sure my husband brought each shift a big tray of cookies. Even my doctors were great, except one who d/c'd a pain medication after he told me he was going to decrease my steroid and I could expect my pain level to increase... 😐. I was not a happy camper... he was covering for my doc...and I made sure to complain as soon as my doc came back. Not because he stopped the med, but because he didn't even bother to tell me. I found out when it was time for my meds and I asked the nurse where my medication was. The whole experience made me much more aware of the entire system as a whole and how each of us affects the patient.