Do you talk about work at home?

[blackvans1234]

Hey all, wondering what the general trend is here.

My question is, do you talk about work when you're not at work?

The reason i'm asking is this: I'm a nursing student, my sister is an RN. She and I will always be talking about the hospital, patient conditions, latest things at work, latest rapid response (HIPAA naysayers can leave now), latest wild ABG (pH 7.06, CO2 140) . Etc.

A friend / classmate of mine has two sisters in nursing, but they NEVER talk about nursing when outside of the hospital. I am wondering if this is common?

To me, nursing is more than a job, it is a lifestyle.

(Obviously there are times when you won't be talking nursing, but if you're younger sibling, niece, nephew etc is studying nursing don't you think you'd talk about it once in a while?)

Potential bias on this forum, seeing how most people online right now are not at work, so are a little more into nursing than your average Jane.

[anon456, BSN, RN]

I talk in very general terms about what I did at work when I am with my husband. No HIPAA violations. Usually stuff like, "Had a hard night, no CNA and one of the parents was really hard to deal with." My mom is a nurse too, and with her I will tell the gross stuff or ask her advice about what to do in certain situations. Again both aware of HIPAA. I will talk in general terms about things I have seen, such as we have lot of pertussis on our floor and I will talk about how sick they get and how heartbreaking it is.

[Tait, MSN, RN]

In nursing school we were taught that pretty much any two pieces of information, such as a med and room number, could identify a patient, so when people claim "I never violate HIPAA" I just kind of brush it off.

Personally my mom has always been my sounding board after work. I need a place to release the stress and frustration, and it rarely gets home to my husband unless it has been really bad (patient death, sexual harassment).

However, I do see the issue with sharing patient information with anyone, even trusted family. Though I see this more as adding stress to them, fear of hospitals, fear of process, or fear of death, than the violation of privacy. So this is why a huge portion of my future goals revolve around getting nurses the resources they need in terms of counselors or debriefing sessions, to help manage the emotional toll nursing can have, and protect patient privacy rights.

Personally if my nurses, say who deliver my babies or took care of me when I was in for depression, decided to tell their family about me, I wouldn't care. The situations that get under my skin happen in more public places, such as my OB's office. Two pre-natal check ups ago I was sitting in one of the secondary waiting rooms with two other couples. We could hear the MA's down the hall discussing their frustration over early patients, talking about which patient was having how many babies etc. The worst part is they were using ALL of our names, while we were literally 20 feet down the hallway. While I like these gals, I did complain to my mid-wife as I felt it made the whole waiting room uncomfortable to hear their names being tossed around like details from a soap opera.

Other issues of HIPAA and inappropriate venting? Docs/nurses in elevators, discussions at the nurses station where patient families can hear, heck I didn't even like it when we did face to face report at the desk and everyone could hear everything.

Someday there will be a way to please HIPAA and get nurses the support they need to deal with the emotional world of nursing.

[RNperdiem, RN]

I am like anon456, I might also mention if my day was busy or slow, or general things like that. My husband is not a nurse, so I don't go on too much.

The longer I work as a nurse, the less I talk about it.

In the beginning of my career, things were so new, and I was presented with so much that was unfamiliar, that I had more of an urge to talk about nursing than I do now. It is kind of like having a first born child where I remember there was a time where my conversation didn't stray far from baby-related topics.

In general, I find that it is polite to limit work talk with people who can't fully understand or participate. My husband hears little, but with my sister I tell far more.

[NotMyProblem MSN, ASN, BSN, MSN, LPN, RN]

I have a 3 1/2 hour drive between work and home, one way. When I get off, I ***** about my shift practically all the way! So by the time I reach the house, I'm good.

[ChristineN, BSN, RN]

I believe that one of the ways I destress from work is to talk about it. So, after I come home from work I am always telling my husband about what was stressful, what made me happy, etc. When me and my husband first started dating I was working peds. Then I tried not to talk about work as much, but I do remember calling him crying needing someone's shoulder to lean on after having a horrific pedi code or having a child die.

[dt70]

Nurses in different floors share stories.

I found that out as a patient.

Yes. I'm talking to you.

[RNMom2010]

I will generally discuss some work related things with my husband. I almost always refer to who I am speaking about as "One of my pts". More often than not, at my last position, towards the end, I would vent more about what was happening drama wise in the office rather than what was going on out in the field. He doesn't much enjoy hearing about the awesome wound that I got to deal with, or the abcess that I drained haha.

[exit96]

I am a guy, which predisposes me to the " not so talkative type." Whether it be Nursing or my past life jobs, I may be very vague and am really not bogged won with living in the past. I may expound upon, ever so briefly, how my orifice got kicked last night, but there are more enjoyable things for me to tend to, like playing my guitar, or whatever. By contrast, when my S.O. Talks about her work day and who does this and who does that I tune the out...bbooooorrrrriiiinnnnngggggg!

[TheCommuter, BSN, RN]

I live alone, so I do not talk about nursing at home because I'd be talking to myself.

Anyhow, I talk about nursing to my best friend because she is also a nurse. I try to avoid talking about nursing to family members or others who are not nurses because they just do not understand, and I simply do not have the energy or inclination to help them understand.

[TerpGal02, ASN]

I try to leave work at work to preserve my sanity. If I came home and was still dwelling on what happened at work that shift I would burn out very fast. I might mention something to my DH if we had a really hectic shift with admissions and d/cs. The only times I feel that I need to "process" in any more depth are when we have child admissions with horrific abuse histories that get recounted to me in minute detail. That stuff just breaks my heart and if I couldn't process it, I'd internalize it, which is worse. That stuff I end up processing with co workers. My DH doesn't need to he saddles with that kind of stuff.

[ChristineN, BSN, RN]

I am a guy which predisposes me to the " not so talkative type." Whether it be Nursing or my past life jobs, I may be very vague and am really not bogged won with living in the past. I may expound upon, ever so briefly, how my orifice got kicked last night, but there are more enjoyable things for me to tend to, like playing my guitar, or whatever. By contrast, when my S.O. Talks about her work day and who does this and who does that I tune the out...bbooooorrrrriiiinnnnngggggg![/quote']

You sound like my husband. While he is not in healthcare, whenever I ask him about his day I always get the same answer "it was boring" or "I can't really explain it let's talk about something else.". I tease him that he knows what I do all day and I have no idea what he does all day at the office