There are a couple of nurses I work with who seem to despise patients. One gal is exhausting to be around. They often put her in triage, she will literally give you an eye rolling negative assessment of how obnoxious the patient is, what a pathetic drug seeker, how fat, smelly, whiney, stupid, it goes on and on.
The other gal is the same. She too does triage, and will walk out of the room loudly indignant at what an appalling person she just interacted with.
Frankly, if you have such disdain for humanity, nursing is a poor choice of a career. Yes, people with poor coping skills end up in the ER more often. So what else is new? Yes, there are social ills in the world. People smoke, drink too much, eat too much, take meth, then end up in the ER.
Try to have a little emotional detachment and at least feign compassion. And, can you shut up about how awful these people are, it's tiring to hear!
I agree with other posters, do not engage their behavior. If they're careless enough to talk like that in patient care areas, they will eventually be reported by a patient or a supervisor. If you have to speak to them, I would just be matter - of -fact and keep it moving. Example: "Blah blah blah...(negative comments)" you just reply "OK, are they going to CT?" (or whatever). If they go off on a tangent and you can get away, I would smile and get up and go do something. I used that time to load up my pockets with alcohol swabs or whatever. That is what I used to do when I worked with someone I liked but would go off on unprofessional rants.
Yes, OP I get what you are saying. The triage nurses act this way because they are just plain sick of the usual "walking wounded" run of the mill, self abusers, who bring all this misery for one reason or another on themselves--"or not." These nurses need a break, STAT!
As a caregiver, nurse and human you can't lose sight of the "or not" segment of the wounded.Those are the patients at least on the ED level you are really there for.
So by logical extention in order to be a good Triage/ED nurse you must give all patients the benefit of the doubt. (oh, please!) This concept, and you must agree, has a self-serving, self preserving element to it as it treats the nurse as a sort of equal opportunity, vigilant clinician no matter what the issue is.
It's appropriate to give patients in triage/the ED the benefit of the doubt, or you risk missing some serious medical problems. It's easy to judge patients based on one's prejudices, perform assessments based on one's prejudices, and miss what is really happening clinically. I've seen this happen a number of times, with harm to the patient when their chief complaint/medical issues were not taken seriously or were not recognized as being serious, and they were not triaged correctly, and/or when they received care in an untimely manner unsuited to their chief complaint/physical condition/co-morbidities/age/previous medical history. I've seen patients discharged without a CT scan when they presented with stroke symptoms because the staff "thought" something else was the cause of their symptoms (it turned out that they were indeed having a stroke).
I had a experience with a white nurse on my first baby delivery that asked me when I I'll go back to my country: Brazil!! She also showed not compassion at all when tried 3 times to have my blood test and, left a purple on my hand!!
I feel bad for people who are negative to the point of toxicity. Every situation is dynamic, and nothing happens in a vaccuum. When a negative person makes us in turn feel negative about them, we only see the negativity flowing out of them. But often there is sadness and anger flowing into them from other situations that have made them the way they are.
Miserable people only see the misery in others, and they tend to magnify it in order to drown out their own shortcomings. It could be a loveless relationship, or an attachment problem going back to their childhood, or any number of things. Either way, they're going through life not really knowing joy, and that's sad, too, even if they don't even realize it themselves.
Sometimes, it's a cry for help. Not saying that's your job, just something I notice.
I had a experience with a white nurse on my first baby delivery that asked me when I I'll go back to my country: Brazil!! She also showed not compassion at all when tried 3 times to have my blood test and, left a purple on my hand!!
Surely, her lack of tact, compassion and skill was due to her being white
Specializes in Open Heart Recovery, Trauma/Burn, Tele.
Well said. Fully agree with being compassionate to those who are burned out. Taking an intelligent approach like this is truly vital and can help those who are burnt.
I agree. As a nurse it's part of your job to be compassionate. If she wants to be like that she needs to get a new job maybe work in a closet within interacting with anyone. Makes me angry everyone has a story you know.
chacha82, ADN, BSN
626 Posts
I agree with other posters, do not engage their behavior. If they're careless enough to talk like that in patient care areas, they will eventually be reported by a patient or a supervisor. If you have to speak to them, I would just be matter - of -fact and keep it moving. Example: "Blah blah blah...(negative comments)" you just reply "OK, are they going to CT?" (or whatever). If they go off on a tangent and you can get away, I would smile and get up and go do something. I used that time to load up my pockets with alcohol swabs or whatever. That is what I used to do when I worked with someone I liked but would go off on unprofessional rants.