Hating nurses? What is going on?

[Cattitude]

I post on several message boards and recently a poster stated "I hate most of the medical community" .

I wasn't going to respond at all until another poster agreed with her and then I gently reminded them that nurses were part of that community and I hope they didn't include us in that "hate".

Well they absolutely did! Apparently some personal experiences with doctors and family death, personal illness and such left them both with horrible views of nurses. I took it a tad offensively and it kind of sparked a mini battle on one board.

I must say that most of the other posters were pretty supportive saying they have had good experiences with nursing or saying no one should generalize and say they hate ALL of one profession.

I'm just really peeved at this. Like we don't get enough crap everyday as it is. No one gets it that we are humans too and deserve to be treated with respect. I've had bad medical experiences, I've had bad stuff happen with plenty of things in life, it doesn't mean ALL things are bad. I guess I just never really heard of someone HATING nurses like that, it took me by surprise.

What do you guys think?

[caliotter3]

Like anything else, I would hope that these people could confine their hate, dislike or other negative emotion to the individual(s) that deserve their unpleasant attitude. The rest of us didn't do anything to them.

[EmmaG, RN]

It only takes one bad experience, one bad nurse...

[fronkey bean]

It is kind of sad that we all pay the price for something somone else has done. Sometimes it is not even that something was done wrong but that the pt's perception of it was neg. and perception is everything. I wouldn't take it too personally. Just keep doing what you do well and you will make enough pt.s fans of nurses that those few who aren't will be drowned out in the applause. At least we aren't used car salespeople!

[UM Review RN, ASN, RN]

Hatred is often born out of fear. In my younger days, we were afraid of being at the mercy of a bad nurse. Unlike your PCP, you cannot choose your nurses.

When I was older (in my teens, that is), I would hear the other nurses talk about retaliating against patients they didn't like with enemas, laxatives, and large-bore needles. In those days, patients did what they were told and were not allowed "rights" or even to question the nurse or the doctor.

Nurses had a lot more power over patients back then.

So yeah, it makes a lot of sense to me that some of the older patients would absolutely hate nurses. Some of them had reason to, IMO.

[TheCommuter, BSN, RN]

This is America, and people have the constitutional right to feel hatred toward other persons, places, objects, and occupations. Their hatred might be rather misguided, although there's nothing we can do except educate these people on the precise role of nurses in society. I'm not too worried about a few people who hate nurses because many people love us so much that they'd like to become one of us. This is evidenced by the countless number of pre-nursing students who end up on waiting lists, begging for the chance to become nurses someday.

[judyblueeyes]

Everyone needs a hobby, I guess.

LOL

Seriously, try OB-GYN nursing. There is a small but vocal minority who badmouths OB-GYN like crazy.

[scattycarrot, BSN, RN]

Hate nurses? Well, at least it makes a change from thinking of us as bedpan carriers! I wouldn't sweat it, the world is full of strange people and their equally strange and askewed opinions....it doesn't make them right!

[bigsyis]

it only takes one bad experience, one bad nurse...

any subsequent nurse first has to do "damage control" because of the bad experience, before they can even begin to establish a therapeutic rapport w/ the pt. sometimes it is like trying to bail while you were on the titanic!

[Jo Dirt]

I'd tell them to stick it and they'd better hope I'm not the one coming at them with a big needle when they're in a bed and helpless.

[kenny b]

I'd tell them to stick it and they'd better hope I'm not the one coming at them with a big needle when they're in a bed and helpless.

Well that'll remedy the situation as quickly as anything I guess.

Seriously though, I'd pick my battles. I used to teach high school mathematics. In that position, I was sometimes the target of hate, but if I really concentrated, I could begin to "shine it on." With practice it became easier, and eventually it was just second nature.

[GilaRRT]

Whatever, I do not have time for people who make sweeping generalizations regarding an entire group of people based on one experience. Their ignorance is simply not worth my time or effort.