do you care about your patients?

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Specializes in postpartum.

I have noticed on a lot of our lovely press gainey comments that our patients say that they don't feel that we nurses care about them. This got me to wondering what exactly patients expect from a nurse.

I work in postpartum, and I try really hard to make sure that my patients have a good positive experience and receive the best care that I can give. In that sense, I care about them, but on a personal level, I don't really care about them in the way that I care about my friends and family. It just seems like it would suck a person dry to be emotionally invested in every single patient. There have been several patients that have kind of stuck with me who I think about now and then, but this is definitely the exception. I don't want anything bad to happen to anyone, but I feel that way about any person that I come in contact with, be it a work, or the guy who delivers the pizza, or the mailman or whoever.

I just started to wonder if I'm weird or what.

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Management paid to get those numbers, management can worry about them. I have only time enough to care for my pts.

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Specializes in Home Health.

Like you, I find that I care about my pts to an extent. I care about their tx regimen. I care about their progress while under my care. I care if they aren't doing well. But, at the end of the day, I try to leave that care at the doorstep and go home without having all of that extra stress on me.

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Specializes in Med-Surg.

I care about my patients a bit more than the pizza delivery person or mailperson. I care that they are comfortable, that they are safe and well, and they progress towards wellness rather than deteriorate, and their all their needs are met that I can meet. This is very important to me and the core of why I'm a nurse.

Sometimes in the stress of high patient ratios and budget cuts lately, it might be hard to convey that when they have to wait and hard as I try not to wear the stress on my face, sometimes it shows. I try to convey a sense of compassionate caring, but it isn't easy. Most all but the demanding unreasonable patients are understanding and know I care.

Like the person above, I leave it at the door when I leave because I have loved one's I care about.

I'm really not sure what the public expects when they say that their nurses don't care about them. I can only do my best, sometimes that's good enough, sometimes it's not.

Do I care about Press Gainey...not really.

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Specializes in LTC, Med-SURG,STICU.

Yes I do care. Will I allow it to effect my personal life? Nope that is where I draw the line. I will give the best care possible and sometimes in order to do that I must remain a little bit distant. There are things about my job that would eat me up if I allow it and I will not allow it to do so anymore.

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I don't think most patients would think that their nurses are suppose to care about them after they leave the hospital or for the rest of their lives. A lot of patients don't feel like the nurses care in general. Meaning that they aren't there to care for them or their well being in the hospital, they are only there to collect a paycheck. Of course not all nurses are like that but plenty act like that.

My mom has been in the hospital A LOT and I felt like some of her nurses cared and some didn't. Caring for a lot of patients is just being friendly, maybe cracking a smile and listening to their concerns about themselves. Some nurses don't even come in and introduce themselves to the patient or the family member that might be there. They'll just walk in, do what they need to do without saying one word and then leave. Some patients don't know how many patients a nurse has, so even just telling them that you've got some other patients and you'll get to them as quickly as possible is a lot better than saying nothing.

As a patient I don't really expect you to think about me all the time or care about me as if I were family. Honestly, I'd find it a little creepy if you did lol. But showing a little interest while you're taking care of me couldn't hurt.

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receive the best care that I can give. In that sense, I care about them, but on a personal level, I don't really care about them in the way that I care about my friends and family

I just started to wonder if I'm weird or what.

No you are not, that is called a "clinical detachment."

An essential skill to guard against long term burn-out.

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Today - 16 patients on the unit, 3 Rn's and 1 aide. The RN's are all registry and not familiar with the patients on the unit and are not notified that they all have to "share" one aide ( as it is very hard to notice).I have just got off a night shift and I'm waiting for my pick up in the hollway by the unit, the call lights are going off as they always are in the morning, I can see the aide running from room to room, the Rn's are sitting at the nurisng station glaring at their computere screans, streaching looking at facebook..., my ride is late and I'm trying to ignore the sound of call lights and not to get bothered that the light in room 100 has been on for about 28 minutes, and no one is in a hurry to answer it. I really want to stay out of it because my work is done and I'm punch out and I am a registry too and really don't want to cause trouble, but I could not take it any longer. So I shlap my butt to the nurising stationg and say in a really sweet and quiet voice - " Do you ladies know that you only have 1 aide today? and I don't think she can help the gentelman in room 100 anytime soon, so maybe if you can spare a minute you can check on the patient in 100 because I have notice his light going off for a while" - really no irony in my voice or accusations, so one of them pick up her spectra phone and says "may I help you?" and as I'm walking away I hear the patient" I have to go to the bathroom" the Rn "ok I'll send the aide in"... .

So in my opinion when patients say that the nurses don't care about them, they are talking about such nurses as mentioned above - they just simply don't care, they are there to pick up extra shift to make extra money, it's not their main hospital or unit. It is so sad but true and it happends.

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Specializes in ER, Trauma.

If I came upon someone who's car had broken down, I'd stop to help. I'd help them change a flat tire, or give them a ride to the nearest place that they could make arrangements to get their feces correlated. To that extent I care about them, as I would any human, or any patient. Do I bleed for my patients? No. I help them in a time of distress, aim them in the right direction, then we each go our ways. Reading the above posts I was having trouble understanding how you quantify caring, so I thought maybe this example would help. No man is an island and your mileage may vary.

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Specializes in ER.

I don't care about my patients, at least not in the way Press Ganey means. What I really care about is doing the best job possible, not missing problems, making sure their physical needs are met.

I've found that I can rarely fix emotional issues, though I can certainly listen. Sometimes the only positive thing someone remembers is that one nurse who "cared." I'm rarely that one, but I know I've changed the course of many diseases in a positive direction, or made an emergency situation a little smoother.

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Specializes in LTC, office.

I care that my patients get good care and have a good outcome. I treat them all with respect and kindness.

If I cared the way Press Gainey would like me to care I would be breaking professional boundaries and getting burned out.

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Specializes in postpartum.

I reread my post and now I think that I sound uncaring. I really do try to treat everyone with kindness and respect and I care about my patients while I am at the hospital. I introduce myself and make small talk and listen to my patient's concerns, but at the end of the day, when I go home, it's my family that I care about. At work, I am there to do a job, not make new friends . . . I feel like I do the best that I can, so it's kind of disappointing when we hear that patients don't feel cared for.

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