Does Nursing make you Obsessive Compulsive.....

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........................Or do Obsessive Compulsive People become Nurses?

The reason I ask is I have OC ways, not to the point I have to turn a door knob 16 times, flip the light switch 8 times, nothing like that. I just am obsessive about things, being in control may be the actual issue.

I have a few nursing friends who said they weren't like this (OC) until they went into nursing school and the instructors drilled in their heads the check, recheck, double check, check again rules. Now, some 20 years later, the are still doing the check rules.

So my question is....is it the training and the nursing that makes us OC, or is it that people who are or tend to be OC flock to nursing?

Just a fun question......NOT MEANT TO UPSET or label ANYONE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!36_1_13.gif

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Specializes in NICU.

There is definitely a synergistic (sp?) effect ;).

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I guess it might be like asking "Which came first, the chicken or the egg?"

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Specializes in ER, ICU, L&D, OR.

Im not obsessive compulsive

though I do tend to obsess over golf Golf GOLF

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Specializes in Neuro, Critical Care.
........................Or do Obsessive Compulsive People become Nurses?

The reason I ask is I have OC ways, not to the point I have to turn a door knob 16 times, flip the light switch 8 times, nothing like that. I just am obsessive about things, being in control may be the actual issue.

I have a few nursing friends who said they weren't like this (OC) until they went into nursing school and the instructors drilled in their heads the check, recheck, double check, check again rules. Now, some 20 years later, the are still doing the check rules.

So my question is....is it the training and the nursing that makes us OC, or is it that people who are or tend to be OC flock to nursing?

Just a fun question......NOT MEANT TO UPSET or label ANYONE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!36_1_13.gif

Im so OC..I think OC people flock to nursing as you can be in your glory lol...I check and recheck and recheck about 80 times...EVERYTHING..I just do it without thinking really...check meds in the chart...check t hem in the pyxis..check them against the MAR...check them with the pt. if they are intact....sounds like a very lengthy process but really you just do it...now on the other hand...when i really have the urge to stop at every hand sanitizer in the hall...thats OC! LOL.

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Specializes in Hospital Education Coordinator.

I did a thesis on nurses's personality and learned that we have a lot in common. One thing we tend to have is the urge to control - and that can be construed as obsessive by some. All the detail work nurses do MUST be managed by a personality that is controling. Of course, we can develop that into something destructive, but I believe most nurses get their fill of it at work.

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That's certainly interesting about Classicdame's thesis! I was a little OC before I ever became a nurse. I do think that it can be an advantage in nursing, although taking it too far (having to check meds numerous times, etc.) would not be good. Everything in moderation!

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Specializes in Infection Preventionist/ Occ Health.

I find that lab techs are generally more OC (I prefer the term detail-oriented) than nurses. However, I would suspect that physicians, pharmacists have many of the same tendencies. With the emphasis on error-prevention and safe practice, you would be hard-pressed to find a good health care professional who is not a little obsessive about double and triple-checking.

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Specializes in midwifery, NICU.

even before I was a midwife, I had a degree of oC behaviour. Still at home, have to check electricals are unplugged at night or when I go out..(I often call home to check the straightening irons are pulled out!), that the cooker is off, and that the doors are locked. At work in the NICU, it doesn't control my work, but am ultra careful in checking and calculating drugs and fluids etc. Always find myself re-checking the infusion pumps, even though it's policy in our unit that two people check a rate change, VTBI etc. Am just glad that now I can do it quickly, its second nature so I dont hold anyone back! A whole load of midwives in our unit are like this though, I'm not alone, so I guess it must be a trait.

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