Foul Speaking Nurse..............

Rhonda V · Dec 24, 2005

I've been known to get a case of Tourette's the minute I come home and start venting about my day and the screwed up people I work with ( ha ha). I tend to hold my negative thoughts and feelings in while I'm at work, but then I let it rip at home. I hate to say it, but I've found the F-word to be a great stress reliever! I just won't say it at work.

allnurses Guide · Dec 24, 2005

One of my English teachers in high school once said that people who routinely use profanity have a lack of creativity, because there are far more interesting and powerful words that can be used besides profanity.

That verifies my grandma's saying:

Profanity is ignorance made audible

I have had english teachers tell me the same thing.

steph

sjrn85 · Dec 24, 2005

My suggestion: get hold of the book "Shakespear's Insults." It's very funny reading, and there are some terrific lines in it that will stop people in their tracks. (Not that you want to go around insulting people right and left, but sometimes a well placed retort is necessary.)

kadokin, ASN, RN · Dec 24, 2005

Is this an everyday thing? A stress thing?
Does she say "I'm Mary RN, your f******nurse for this shift. Now let's get our s*** together and get some d***** work done around this h***hole we call our f****** job.:smiley_ab
Personally, I'm not a nurse because it's a calling or anything. It's a job, and a good one. So, my limited experience tells me that she could be having a huge adjustment problem -- it's a shock to go from the gilded cages of nursing school to the blood and guts hard work of a busy unit. In school our instructors told us that our "sheer joy of helping" would be our reward and nursing is a 'benevolent' act. Right, but a girl's gotta eat, and pay the bills, and support the kids, too.
So maybe you can tactfully ask her if her language has always mirrored that of a longshoreman or if it's the stress of a new job. Not in the condescending way we all have experienced and disliked, but out of concern about how she is adjusting to the rigors of unit life. We all know, it isn't pretty.
She could be venting -- we're all human and need to vent. Is she screaming about every single patient or is she just nervous and trying to hide it?
Perhaps when you have a quiet, unhurried moment to talk to her you can mention her language demeans her qualifications as a highly educated, intelligent person with a job which demands incredible responsibility.
It is a hard job -- there is a lot of weight put on our shoulders and very little authority. That in inself is a recipe for foul-mouthed venting.
I'm no innocent -- I've been known to let loose the occasional four letter word myself -- behind closed doors. My so-called friends went directly to my unit manager instead of me, and I've never trusted them since then. (I ended up leaving not long after anyway.) I have kids, and a temper, and thankfully they don't cross very often. If I find myself coming unglued I'll plug the kids into an Elmo video (they're only 2) and literally step out into the cold air (6 degrees right now) to cool off for a few seconds. A few deep breaths of that painfully cold air will drive your right back inside.
I've also been known to break down and sob -- again, behind closed doors, because the stress of the job is sometimes overwhelming and scary.
We all have our faults and our fears and our worries. We all want to do the best we can and be accepted and cared for by our co-workers. Perhaps this is a usual way of communicating in the nurse's home. A little TLC with a person like this goes a much longer way then telling her to shut the f@@@ up -- as much as you'd like to!

Thank you. Very insightful.:)

kadokin, ASN, RN · Dec 24, 2005

what i do with the people who use profanity is speak up immediately and very simply say, "you better not use that kind of language. if someone hears it and reports you, you'll get in trouble." then, the next time it happens, if there is a next time, it's "you better stop using the f-word, i'm not kidding". or how about just saying, "don't use that kind of language around me. i don't like it." if they persist, just walk away. eventually, they'll get the idea not to talk that way around you. tell the manager if you want and let her deal with it. this new grad is only going to "let loose on her colleagues", you, if you allow her to.
also, saying that "it's hard to respect someone when their mouth is full of crap. it shows bad character and that she has a hard time controlling her emotions. she is a mother of two children! i find it hard to take her seriously. i don't know her well enough to suggest she clean up her act." is very judgmental and not very rational, in my opinion. i've had patients use profanity when telling me things and took what they said very seriously because that's the way they chose to express it. they use the profanity because it adds emphasis, defines their emotion about a subject and usually because it's their habit to use it. as long as it's not aimed as a personal attack at me, who cares? it's only a word. young people today use the f-word very freely. it's nothing but word play. people of all societies engage in this. don't misunderstand me, however, i don't think it's right or appropriate to be using it around other people without their permission as some people take great offense to it. that is when we need to speak up and let the person doing it know we would rather they not talk that way around us.

i've alway liked this as a snappy response to blue language:

"you eat with that mouth?",

you make a good point here. if someone is cursing a blue streak, they are probably at peak stress and emotion. especially if it's a pt. or co-worker, find out what is happening and see what you can do to help! not that i ever use that sort of language myself, of course. :saint: :rotfl: