Does anyone else feel this way?

mcleanl · Mar 6, 2011

No.....I don't feel like this at all.

roser13, ASN, RN · Mar 6, 2011

While I understand what you are saying (and there are other threads about this subject), I think that you will need to work on your feelings. Many of your patients on the average med/surg floor will be there as a direct or indirect result of their lifestyle and life choices. The MVA victim who drove too fast and caused his own accident, for instance. The patient who had unprotected sex and is suffering the consequences of an STD. You will constantly be challenged to set aside your internal judgment or condemnation.

Out of curiosity, do your feelings stem from a religious conviction or background?

Regardless of where your feelings are coming from, the bottom line is that your job is to provide care for these patients. Nonjudgmental and competent care. If you are unable to conquer these feelings as you progress through nursing school, I'm not sure how happy you will be in your career.

netglow, ASN, RN · Mar 6, 2011

Well, in reality your job is to help your employer make lots of money. These patients are cash cows for your employer - as long as they have the means (insurance) to pay for everything. Remember hospitals, LTCs etc. do not exist for any other reason but to make money. Bottom line.

Seth O Scope · Mar 6, 2011

roser13

I guess I feel this way because of the notoriety of these substances and the fact that people abuse them anyway. While you make a valid point with the speeder and the STD I cannot know if this person always speeds or always has unprotected sex it can be a mistake and so I'd give them the benefit of the doubt. However you do not get lung cancer from one cigarette nor do you get cirrhosis of the liver from one drink so I know this person abused these substances. Again I would never let my feelings get in the way of treating these patients and I would give them the same respect I would anyone else. I am just referring to my personal internal view of the matter.

backatit2 · Mar 6, 2011

i think that's really sad and scary as hell.

i have smokers in my family and i'd hate to think they didn't receive the same level of care/compassion (and please don't say they do) because they smoked or drank. i don't care if someone is a drug user and they're there because they overdosed - they deserve the same care and respect as anyone else.

i find it very interesting that you think the "obese patients have to eat so there's a reason for them to be so huge that it takes two people to move their oozing leg" excuse.

wow - just wow.

backatit2 · Mar 6, 2011

roser13
I guess I feel this way because of the notoriety of these substances and the fact that people abuse them anyway. While you make a valid point with the speeder and the STD I cannot know if this person always speeds or always has unprotected sex it can be a mistake and so I'd give them the benefit of the doubt. However you do not get lung cancer from one cigarette nor do you get cirrhosis of the liver from one drink so I know this person abused these substances. Again I would never let my feelings get in the way of treating these patients and I would give them the same respect I would anyone else. I am just referring to my personal internal view of the matter.

i don't think that's true nor possible.

Seth O Scope · Mar 6, 2011

wow onaclearday

Your outlook on patients as cash cows for the hospital is really fantastic. I'm going into nursing to help people, not make money for hospitals. I would rather noone ever get sick and me having to learn a new trade than to think of people getting sick as a means of making money.

sicushells, RN · Mar 6, 2011

I'm currently a nursing student and while my passion is to help people feel better I find myself going in with mixed feeling towards certain patients. The patients I am referring to have sicknesses caused by smoking and drinking. While I will do everything in my power to help them get better or be as comfortable as possible I find myself not feeling sorry for them. I feel like they got what was coming to them and that they knew the risks involved in using these substances and so only have themselves to blame. Does anyone else feel this way?
I know some may answer that the same should apply to obese and diabetic patients and I believe it doesn't. You need to eat to live, yes moderation is the key but many things can contribute to obesity and you can't not eat; however, you don't have to smoke and you don't have to drink and so it is solely the choice of the person using these substances.

Emphases my own. *Pause for deep breath here*

Yes, we all feel that way sometimes. Different things trigger this kind of response- the homeless braindead ICU patient who's sucking away the hospital's (and therefore my ability to get OT/raises/etc) money. The homosexual drug abuser who has AIDS and q1h fingersticks. The smoker/drinker oral cancer patient who tries to punch you when you won't give him a ciggie. The morbidly obese patient who cries when no one will move her (100 lb) leg 1 inch to the left because she's too lazy to do it herself.

Yup, it happens to all of us. Just because you have difference prejudices than I do doesn't make one of us wrong and the other right. It's just something for each of us to try to set aside while we care for those who have come into the hospital to get care.

I do want to point out that you said, "I find myself not feeling sorry for them." I very much doubt that anyone, ever, wants you to feel pity for them. They knew they might end up sick from their choices, just like you know you might end up with your 50 lb foot cut off because you ate too many twinkies and ended up with diabetes or whatever (insert whatever unhealthy choice you make into my example- we all do something "wrong" or risky- s*** happens). None of us are perfect. I accept that I make mistakes, and so does my 500 lb 90 year old homeless AIDS-having drinker/patient. We're there to try to help them make better choices and ease their suffering. Not to be their friend. Not to forgive them their trespasses.

sicushells, RN · Mar 6, 2011

wow onaclearday
Your outlook on patients as cash cows for the hospital is really fantastic. I'm going into nursing to help people, not make money for hospitals. I would rather noone ever get sick and me having to learn a new trade than to think of people getting sick as a means of making money.

I'm pretty sure that was sarcasm, my dear.

That said, if the hospital doesn't make money, we don't get enough money to eat.

bosnanurse · Mar 6, 2011

Well, in reality your job is to help your employer make lots of money. These patients are cash cows for your employer - as long as they have the means (insurance) to pay for everything. Remember hospitals, LTCs etc. do not exist for any other reason but to make money. Bottom line.

Well, I do not agree with this at all . .Yes, they are making money now and it is an industry , but imagine yourself on "Lost" just one episode . You are there , people who are there need help - will you help them or you will wait for "money" to come before you do it?

I am probably saying this from my personal agenda and personality who worked for free to help people. I do not see nursing anything as money driven.. Yes, I need money to live and survive and I will ask to be paid if possible ( and good pay) , but there is no money in the world that can pay me so that someone can vomit on me ( got it !) pee on me ( got it!) call me very interesting names( got it!) and overall make me run like crazy for someone else's life who maybe was not paying attention to mother nature and rule of activity ( brain, mind and body) separates us from animal kingdom.

So, to answer you question I always ask myself " Who am I to judge? And am I really so perfect to decide to throw the stone?"

I wish you all luck in this profession which is very interesting from every ways but you need and you MUST have an open heart to treat people because one day you will get me on your unit and I will be "one interesting crazy soul" .

God bless. :redbeathe

Perpetual Student · Mar 6, 2011

I think you're going to get a lot of negative responses from people, but I feel the same indifference toward substance abusers, especially users of illicit drugs. That's not to say I don't think their current illness/need for surgery is a bummer, but when you play stupid games you win stupid prizes. I feel the same way toward extremely obese people.

I don't necessarily dislike these folks, I just realize that their own decisions contributed to their conditions. I provide quality care, easing their discomfort as much as possible. I also take advantage of the opportunity to encourage better health habits, and enthusiastically congratulate people on their successes such as losing weight or quitting their abuse of a substance.

Many nurses feel the same way, you're not alone.