It means a lot to me when the patients themselves tell me that I'm a good nurse. That means I'm doing my job well. The first time the resident in the LTC I work at told me that was when I first started working PM. At that time, I used to work NOC shift all the time and it was my very first day working in the afternoon. The resident said, "You're a good nurse because some nurses are 3-4 hours behind."
Another patient told me that I'm a good nurse.
Despite being a thankless job sometimes, there are still some positive things about it.
How does it feel when the patients tell you you're a good (or even great) nurse? For me, it feels amazing.
I think the sweetest one was a little old lady at my clinical site (FNP school), a very devout Christian, who told me "In Jesus' name you real good at what you do."
Now, personally, I think Jesus wants me to study my ass off if I want to be real good at what I do, but I took it in the spirit in which it was given, smiled, and said thanks.
Specializes in clinic, ortho/neuro, trauma, college.
Yes, and it was a wonderful thing. When I'd replace an IV quickly, and they didn't even flinch; when I reassured a knee post-op that she was on the right track, had gotten up with PT and was using her incentive spirometer (she was worried that she wasn't getting better fast enough!); when I held the hand of a patient having her IJ removed....those are the moments I'll remember best from my few years on the floor. Unfortunately, they weren't enough to keep me there! :)
Specializes in Peds/outpatient FP,derm,allergy/private duty.
Yes, and it was a wonderful thing. When I'd replace an IV quickly, and they didn't even flinch; when I reassured a knee post-op that she was on the right track, had gotten up with PT and was using her incentive spirometer (she was worried that she wasn't getting better fast enough!); when I held the hand of a patient having her IJ removed....those are the moments I'll remember best from my few years on the floor. Unfortunately, they weren't enough to keep me there! :)
The kind of thing you mention when combined with the "good nurse" compliment are those that I do appreciate because I try to practice things so that they cause the least amount of discomfort. It's feedback for future use.
Now, I'm not going to say I hate the little old ladies and the "honey sweetums you're just the best little ol' angel nurse etc etc" that I heard from the clinic patients I got to know. I had one of them smooth the wrinkles in my scrub top while my back was turned taking her husband's blood pressure. Different vibe than the first type, but still OK. :-)
Why ever take a compliment about being a good nurse "with a grain of salt?" At that moment in time you made a positive difference in a life. Life is too short not to appreciate that for what it is regardless of how short-lived the sentiment might be.
Specializes in OR, Nursing Professional Development.
Why ever take a compliment about being a good nurse "with a grain of salt?" At that moment in time you made a positive difference in a life. Life is too short not to appreciate that for what it is regardless of how short-lived the sentiment might be.
Because a lot of those comments have nothing to do with providing good nursing care but providing good customer service. Do you really think the NPO for surgery patient is going to say their nurse is a good nurse when they don't give them a breakfast tray?
I heard from a floor nurse that a patient told her she had a good nurse in the PACU, because I believed her when she said in how much pain she was (hemicolectomy with PCEA not working).
I was happy to hear that, as it was quite tough taking care of two other patients, while she was in so much pain she could barely process what I said. Keeping her calm and convincing her we'd take care of the pain, without frustration or irritation (I tried to, at least)... It just takes a little while to kill all that pain, you can't just push everything all at once through that central line... And figuring out if there was any nerve block at all when the only communication consists of variations of aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah and oooooooh and it huuuuurts...
I like opiates as much as anyone, but I'm a bigger fan of decent loco-regional anesthesia :)
Haha! So true. But I do occasionally get genuine compliments. We have this sad little Jamaican lady, with an accent so thick that very few of us understand her, and most will not take the time to listen to her. I do. A few weeks ago I was caring for her room mate and when I was leaving the room, she called me over and told me I was " born to be a nurse "..... which although I don't really agree, I found very sweet....and I agree with the poster who said its because of people skills that we usually get compliments. That is SO true. And makes me sad, because I have so little time to take care of the emotional needs of my patients.
I have been told this on occasion and it makes me feel great. More often I will get comments such as "are you sure you can't stay all night" (I work days) or "are you back tomorrow". I never feel like I am being manipulated for anything. I'm very straight forward and blunt so if I feel like a patient is gonna try to work me over I just lay it out for them right from the start. They aren't gonna go off the floor to smoke regardless of a compliment or not if the policy says na. They aren't gonna get more pain meds out of me because they simply can't have more than what is ordered however the difference between me and some of my co-workers I notice is, if I'm called for pain medicine, I bring it. I don't ignore the first 3 calls or make them wait 20 minutes because I'm in the middle of documentation. I would never be complimented for "not being behind" (on documentation) because quite frankly I'm typically always behind but that is because, for me, the patient care needs are a priority over the documentation. It gets done, but sometimes I'm there an extra 15min - 1 hr after my shift in order to get it done. I would agree with some of the others who commented that a lot of it has to do with personality and how the patient is treated but I agree even more with LupieNurse that many times it goes way beyond just personality alone. There is a whole lot more to nursing and pleasing patients than a winning personality. At the same time "you're a great nurse" can be said for a million different reasons.
Jesus, there's a lot of crab in the bucket mentality here.
If you get a compliment from a patient, you're not a good nurse because you're pandering to them?
Grow up.
I get compliments from my patients. They tell me I am a good nurse and that I make them feel comfortable. I haven't killed any of them yet. I have saved quite a few of them from going downhill.
I also get compliments from my peers and from my managers. I don't care about those as much, because this praise is usually about meeting numbers or being a team player. I get compliments from docs to for catching things (usually much later after I have pissed them off while advocating, but, there you go).
So what? I didn't get into nursing to make my hospital look good on paper, I got into it to make decent money while helping people. Teamwork makes my life better, it's purely selfish on my part.
Take the genuine compliments for what they are. Someone is *******' GRATEFUL that you made their life suck less at a terrible time in their lives. How is that remotely negative?!?!
There's a relevant saying: "Patients don't care what you know until they know that you care about them."
Yes, I've been told that I'm a good nurse. However, the compliment has never been based upon my proficiency, technical skills or nursing knowledge. In general, patients and families who liked my personality have made the "good nurse" comment.
The average American is a low-information consumer who reads/writes at a 6th to 8th grade level. Many of these people are our patients, but lack the analytical skills to appraise whether someone's a good clinician. Hence, they base their opinions on more concrete criteria such as a smile, an image, and personality of the nurse.
Thus, when someone says I'm a good nurse, I thank them with an attitude of gratitude for having received a compliment instead of an insult. Then I secretly take the comment with a grain of salt.
This!!! Love this comment above. Could not agree more.
OP - If I am correct, you are pretty new in healthcare. I want to caution you - most patients have NO IDEA if their nurse is "good" or not. Do not base your "worthiness" or "happiness" on whether or not the patients/their families compliment you. You will be disappointed. It's not their job to make you feel good about yourself. If it's their perception that you are good - then they like you, and may compliment you. That drives me a little crazy after 20 years in nursing but that's how it is - it's all perception nowadays. Press Ganey isnt helping, but I digress.....
For example, one adult ICU I worked on had this nurse who looked just like Debbie Reynolds. The patients loved her - the old ones especially. She had a very kind face. The running joke on the unit was that she'd be rubbing your back as you were coding - because her clinical skills were an absolute joke. Technically, she was probably the worst nurse on the unit....yet her patients loved her because she was nice. Well, that's all fine and good, but when I'm a patient I want experience and technical skills MORE than I want nice. "Nice" is icing on the cake. I am a "nice" nurse, but I'm skilled, too - aim for both! "Nice" is sometimes what nurses do to cover up how lacking they are in their skills. You can be both.
When I was your age, I thought "I'm going to get so many thank-yous, flowers, etc" Thought my patients would think I was 'nurse of the year.' Ha! How sweetly naive. Now I realize that I need to be a good nurse FOR ME.... for my own integrity....because that's how I would want to be treated....not for thank yous.
Ironically, I've had a few thank yous that mean almost nothing to me - because they were from sweet families of patients I did almost nothing for - nothing that I dont do for every other patient. I keep them to remind me of everything I'm talking about here.
I have a few thank yous from patients who I advocated my a$$ off for - those are golden and I'll treasure them forever. I've purposely cared for many non-English speaking patients - because I like advocating and they needed it - but with their limited communication skills, they couldnt give me a thank you if they wanted to. One family brought their chubby toddler back to see me (I'm in the NICU now) and the look on Mom's face while she cried and showed me her chubby former 28 weeker was a thank you I'll never forget as long as I live! Mom to mom - I totally understood what she was "saying" with that look. Aw, that's the best - to see a family thrive - is the best.
The patients who "should've" given me thank yous had no idea how much I was doing "behind the scenes." It's a rare patient that actually "gets" what you are all doing for them.
Specializes in Radiology nursing, emergency nursing.
Thus the reason the patient satisfaction score is low. Unfortunately, administration sides with the 6 th grade education instead of their own educated staff.
During my med surg 2 rotation in school I had a patient that told me that, as a student, I was a better nurse than the one scheduled to take care of her
Elvish, BSN, DNP, RN, NP
4 Articles; 5,259 Posts
I think the sweetest one was a little old lady at my clinical site (FNP school), a very devout Christian, who told me "In Jesus' name you real good at what you do."
Now, personally, I think Jesus wants me to study my ass off if I want to be real good at what I do, but I took it in the spirit in which it was given, smiled, and said thanks.