How do you feel about having other nurses as patients?

[purplegal]

Quite frequently, I find myself caring for patients who are nurses or who are former nurses, or those who have family members who are nurses. I have to say that these people make me a little more anxious than those who are not and those who do not have any family connection to nursing. When I see RN after a patient's name, it almost makes me intimidated, even though I'm an RN myself.

Although I'm not sure what, exactly, causes this anxiety, I think part of it has to do with feeling the necessity to perform to perfection. Not that I give substandard care to non-nurses, but I feel like I have to be especially mindful when I'm caring for a nurse. After all, they know what is going on, and will likely know if I'm doing something wrong or am missing something.

Does anyone else have this issue?

[MrsC_RN]

Keep in mind that the RN (or physician) you take care of, may feel very vulnerable when a patient him/herself.

I once awoke from what was supposed to be a day surgery, only to find myself admitted...on the floor that I actually worked on! Very vulnerable position and honestly, I was not well taken care of. I was appalled. I couldn't speak, and every time I'd ring the call light they'd ask "can I help you?" When I couldn't answer, they simply turned it off and didn't come in. It wasn't until I threw something out into the hallway that anyone paid attention to me. It really made me pay more attention to how I cared for my own patients.

And remember, many times, it is assumed that because a patient is a nurse, they know everything you are talking about, when in fact the area of practice for that nurse may well be entirely different than whatever area she is currently a patient in so she may not be familiar with all of the jargon or procedures. (Trust me, I'd be in unfamiliar territory if I were a renal/CVS/ICU patient...those are not my thing).

Just food for thought.