I'm in my mid-30s, but I guess scrubs make me look young. I assume this is the reason why I am often asked by my patients, "How long have you been a nurse?"
I am a second-career nurse, and the answer is somewhere in the neighborhood of 2 1/2 years. And I've only been in the ICU setting for 6 months.
So I find myself lying to my pts a lot. 5 years seems a nice round number. I don't want them to doubt my competence as a result of my lack of years of experience.
I'm sure it's a silly hangup. I'm just wondering if other people do the same, or if you don't, do you have a smarty-pants retort if they make a comment about how you haven't been a nurse very long?
P.S. They ask me this during our first meeting, not because I've done something stupid or clumsy to make them think I'm inexperienced. I think it's purely my looks.
I think you're right in theory, but in reality it would all be hearsay.
I've seen a number of BON actions against nurses that are based solely on hearsay (patient's word vs nurses's word). Keep in mind that BON proceedings on actions against licenses are not subject to the rules of a criminal proceeding. The BON is free to take a patient at their word if they have no reason to disbelieve them.
I don't know why they ask. I was around 35 when I got my RN and people would ask me daily, so it's not like they are asking because we look young, or we look old, or whatever.
There is no reason for nurses to lie about their years of experience, not only does it violate veracity, it is a lie that is easily caught, one just has to look on the BON website to verify the original date the nurse's license was issued.
I simply reply "long enough to hate that question" they end up laughing in a discomforting manner and we move on from there ...but if they push it I tell them it's my first shift so I know everything by the book they usually leave the subject alone after that. They don't need to know how long I've been working here let my nursing skill and knowledge do the talking
Now I know what to answer instead of "About two years..."
Specializes in Med nurse in med-surg., float, HH, and PDN.
I say, "For-E-V-E-R !" and roll my eyes. It's the truth: 44 or so years; so sometimes I say, "I've been in the business for over half my life!" Or, "I've been taking care of people since I was knee-high to a grasshopper!"
You could ask them back, "In dog-years?...." or say, "Wait a minute, if I tell you then you'll know how old I am!"
I've been a nurse for 1 year! I tell my patients the truth just in a matter of fact way.. They mostly ask because I'm young and use it as a way to initiate a conversation.
most people tell me I look mid to late 20's for age (I'm actually almost 41) so when I tell them 18 months (or closer to 2 years now) it isn't that shocking. It IS when they ask me how old I am though!
It's one thing to deflect the question, but I have to doubt that every BON would have no problem with clearly lying about your nursing experience to a patient. Whether it's an accurate judge of your abilities as a nurse or not (it's not) a patient asking about years of experience could certainly be interpreted as an inquiry about your qualifications, and lying about anything related to your qualifications is usually grounds for immediate loss of license. I'm not saying that's right, but it's not what I think that counts when it comes to your license.
Seems like a very far stretch. They have much more to worry about.
Interesting question. I am aged and am asked that question a lot but I always assumed it was just a conversational opener. One thing another nurse taught me years ago. Never say anything to a patient which is not factual. You can deflect or be diplomatic but always factual. Our heart cath lab routinely overbooked and patients were delayed for hours. Our leaders told us to tell patients there was a serious emergency with another patient, basically shaming them not to complain. My colleague dug in her heels and we all followed her
eroc
218 Posts
No reason to lie. Because it does not matter.