Do nurses make the worse patients?

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Specializes in NICU.

Some of my friends seem to think nurses make the worse patients partially due to the fact that we're so knowledgable and aware of what is going on. I think it works both ways. I think due the fact that we're so knowledgable we sit there and worry about all of the possiblities and complications of our treatment/procedure, but it's also good to have that knowledge because we understand what is going on with our bodies the most.

My experience?

Some nurses have been patients in hospitals that i've rotated in and nobody ever wants to take them on. Some of them question your IV technique, they ask you if you know why you're doing something, just give their nurse a really hard time as if they don't know what it's like to have an annoying patient.

Family members who are nurses?

They are the worst sometimes as well. "What are you doing to my mom/dad?" "Come clean my mom/dad!!!'' "That's not the way you pack a wound!" Some of them can't help themselves. They can't sit there and let you do your job the best way you know how without adding their 2 cents.

Like I said, everything has its positives and negatives. I think healthcare professionals are more likely to be on point and not bs around when they know a family member is nurse. It just gets to be overwhelming at times when it seems like they're being difficult on purpose.

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nurses are as individual as the personality behind them.

and so, some will be great and others (*ahem*), not so much.

also, what one nurse considers irritating from a pt/nurse, another can let it slide.

(but i can say... they all hated me.):o

leslie

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Specializes in Acute Care Psych, DNP Student.

The first IV I started in nursing school was on a nurse who was a patient. I can still see her sweet face saying, "Oh you have a student who needs to start her first IV...bring her over and let her do mine."

I think there's a lot of individual variation. Now me, I need a surgery, and I have been putting it off, ridiculously. I'm too afraid of all the things that could happen. I'm afraid of infection and cannot stand when nurses skimp on proper aseptic technique. If I finally do have this surgery, I might inadvertently spawn some thread here. I can see it now...

"I was giving this patient, a new grad RN an IV push, and she flipped out when I forgot to wipe the port with alcohol. She went crazy on me...saying she might die of necrotizing blah blah "

Etc. I can see it now.

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Specializes in Medic, ER, Flight, ICU, Onc.

In general, I don't think nurses make bad patients, but they do make the worst family members.

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Specializes in medical.
Some of my friends seem to think nurses make the worse patients partially due to the fact that we're so knowledgable and aware of what is going on. I think it works both ways. I think due the fact that we're so knowledgable we sit there and worry about all of the possiblities and complications of our treatment/procedure, but it's also good to have that knowledge because we understand what is going on with our bodies the most.

My experience?

Some nurses have been patients in hospitals that i've rotated in and nobody ever wants to take them on. Some of them question your IV technique, they ask you if you know why you're doing something, just give their nurse a really hard time as if they don't know what it's like to have an annoying patient.

Family members who are nurses?

They are the worst sometimes as well. "What are you doing to my mom/dad?" "Come clean my mom/dad!!!'' "That's not the way you pack a wound!" Some of them can't help themselves. They can't sit there and let you do your job the best way you know how without adding their 2 cents.

Like I said, everything has its positives and negatives. I think healthcare professionals are more likely to be on point and not bs around when they know a family member is nurse. It just gets to be overwhelming at times when it seems like they're being difficult on purpose.

I had similar experiences with nurses as patients and as family members. They can be really nasty, I really don't know why is this so. Recently I had a female nurse patient, from the very first moment of talking to her, I knew it would be a long 12 hr shift to deal with her. I never had to be in a hospital but if I would be a patient, I would try to be the sweetiest patient around!

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In general, I don't think nurses make bad patients, but they do make the worst family members.

Mom, is that you??:eek:

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Specializes in Staff nurse.
In general, I don't think nurses make bad patients, but they do make the worst family members.

...maybe, maybe not! I have called the hospitals my stepmom is a patient in and asked to talk to her nurse. First thing I do is apologize for my father's behavior!! I know how awful it is for a family member like my dad to criticize and yell and demand of the nurse. BTW, they usually thank me for understanding :nurse:

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I think there's a lot of individual variation. Now me, I need a surgery, and I have been putting it off, ridiculously. I'm too afraid of all the things that could happen. I'm afraid of infection and cannot stand when nurses skimp on proper aseptic technique.

i honestly think your concerns are healthy and valid.

look at the rate of nosocomial infections!

it's insane (and so preventable!)

bring you own stash of alcohol wipes, so when they go to jab you, you smile while giving them a wipe.

we need to be able to advocate for ourselves too!

In general, I don't think nurses make bad patients, but they do make the worst family members.

ha!

yrs ago, there was a member here, that was hospitalized and i had been speaking w/her and her dtr (who i believe, was poa?)

this friend was having some (avoidable) issues and no one at that hospital was giving this friend what she needed.

so with her permission, i called up the hospital myself, spoke to her nurse, telling her exactly what this friend/pt needed.

this nurse had consulted w/others about my 'phonecall', and ended up obtaining an order from the doc (who agreed w/my suggestion).

friend was ecstatic...

personnel at hospital, not so much, i'm sure.

so yes, i feel pretty sure that i would have been placed number 1 on that worst family member/friend list.

leslie

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Specializes in ED, CTSurg, IVTeam, Oncology.

As nurses, we are decidedly informed consumers when it comes to bedside technique. But whether to make an issue out of strict aseptic textbook or just letting the little boo-boos slide; well, that's just a matter of individual personality. IMHO, health care people are really just people after all; when they're patients they are probably as nice :p or nasty :devil: as they are in real life.

The best is the visitor or patient who is a nurse or doctor, but is otherwise non-judgmental; they work to help you solve or catch a problem, and then forgets about it as if it was the absolute right and normal thing to do.

Case in point: I remember an old RN who I was once taking care of, hand me an uncapped needled syringe that she'd found on her bed. I was mortified and was stammering an apology when she suddenly reach across the bed rail and grabbed me by the hand. Looking sternly into my eyes she tipped her head and quietly said, "...don't worry about it, last time I looked, they still didn't require eyes in the back of your head for this job..." We both laughed about, and she never mentioned it again. :up:

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Specializes in Gerontology, nursing education.

There's a real difference between someone being a PITA and someone who has health care knowledge and is trying to advocate for him/herself or a family member. Because I am an RN, I try to be very understanding and cooperative when I am the recipient of care, but I also believe in speaking up and being treated as an equal partner in my own health care. If that means I need to correct someone's technique or speak to a supervisor, I will do so. And if it means I have to argue with my provider about what medications work, which ones don't, and which cause side effects, I will do so.

I once had a doctor not believe me when I complained about the side effects of a certain drug until I told her that I knew the drug acted on a certain neuroreceptor and had XYZ effects. When she realized that I knew what I was talking about, she backed down and changed the prescription. Good grief---how would I have been treated if I didn't know the way that particular drug worked?

I am certain that I am seen as a total pain by the kind of provider who longs for the "good old days" of paternalistic medicine, the days in which the doctor prescribed treatments and medications and the patient shut up and complied. If that makes me a "bad patient" so be it. How can I be an advocate for other people as a nurse if I cannot be an advocate for my own health care?

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Specializes in Critical Care.

I had to be inpatient in the hospital a couple of times last year...one was for a week and the other just two days. I try to be extremely accommodating. Heck, I know what it's like to work short staffed, be so busy you can't think. I'd do things like write down my own I & O for staff to chart, reminded them when my BS needed checking (newly diagnosed diabetic, sigh) & I'd usually go find them instead of ringing my call bell. Whatever I could do to help, I'd try as long as I could. I was surprised when I was d/c'd that the day nurse who had been taking care of me most of my stay, said she didn't really want to take me when she heard I was coming in, since she knew I worked in open heart (word traveled fast I guess). She said she thought I'd be too intimidating and hard to work with.....and she was happy that I wasn't like that. Like I told her, I try to work with people..not throw my weight around. I will say something if there is a problem and I think something will go wrong. But I'm also quick to call the nursing supervisor or nursing manager to tell them how much I appreciated the staff's efforts for me. When I do call and give staff kudos, they always seem surprised. I think as nurses we're so used to hearing the bad, we can't handle compliments!

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Specializes in LTC Family Practice.

Not the worst but I think we tend to micro manage our care a bit more. Once when I was admitted through the ER and had gotten a chest xray, someone waltzes in to give me a TB skin test:uhoh3:...I refused and she was :mad: and I reminded her that ummmmmm I'd already had a chest xray. So I KNOW I'm not the best patient, I have refused tests or procedures when the doc hasn't discused it with me and the same with meds without knowing what their for or what their side effects are. I must admit tho I have some very good reasons to be gun shy, I'm very sensitive to most drugs and have ended up in the ER more than once because of something new, one time my BP totally tanked with a new med so I'm what I call a "self advocate" at near 60 I've lived in this body for a long time and know it quite well and do get ****** when staff isn't listening. I've also on occasion been the victim of a Zebra hunt that I had to kabosh...grrrrr. So yah, I'm not the best patient...but yah know who's worse .... my x who's a Doc;)

I've taken care of my fair share of docs and what a whinny bunch they are - their hang nail pain has got to be more than their neighbors abdominal surg. Trust them they're docs:rolleyes:.

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