How are some nurses nurses?!

kessadawn, BSN, RN · Jun 28, 2011

And hopefully when you are a great nurse, you won't make any mistakes. I'm sorry you were in pain, but please realize that a c-collar being placed incorrectly doesn't mean someone should not be a nurse, as the title to your thread implies. We all make mistakes, and learn from them, and you will too. :twocents:

Sparrowhawk · Jun 28, 2011

DOnt' be so quick to judge..it sets you up for later.

imintrouble, BSN, RN · Jun 28, 2011

One day, one incident, one nurse. Perhaps that was the only thing this nurse did wrong in a lllllooooooooonnnnnnnnnggggggg 12 hr shift.

I'm sorry her mistake involved you.

I never dog a fellow nurse in front of my pts. It diminishes their trust in all of us.

misswhitney · Jun 28, 2011

So is it safe to assume that you will not be a great nurse because your grammar and spelling are lacking? Nurses have an incredible amount of responsibility and ER nurses have to know how to do a broad range of things. There a ton of braces, it would be impossible to know how to put every single one on perfectly.

imintrouble, BSN, RN · Jun 28, 2011

So is it safe to assume that you will not be a great nurse because your grammar and spelling are lacking? Nurses have an incredible amount of responsibility and ER nurses have to know how to do a broad range of things. There a ton of braces, it would be impossible to know how to put every single one on perfectly.

Ouch! But valid.

Whispera, MSN, RN · Jun 28, 2011

I agree that one mistake does not a bad nurse make. However, when you were hurting badly, it would have been a good thing for her to listen to you and it wasn't a good thing for her to yell at you.

I hope you're all recuperated!

CrimsonAlchemist · Jun 28, 2011

When I did my CNA clinicals, I was helping a pt get into bed from her wheelchair. I don't remember what her injury was, but it was inpatient rehab. I think she may have had an MI. ANYWAYS, that was one of my first times ambulating a real pt basically on my own. My instructor didn't come in there with us and the other students with me hadn't had the class on ambulating and gait belt training so I, with my meager knowledge, was basically in charge and trying to teach them in the process. Nerve-wracking!

By the time I got her into the bed, she was really out of breath. I didn't do as well as I could have and I've learned since then and am better at moving pts.

My point being, nobody is perfect and as others have pointed out, this may have been her only mistake on a 12hr shift. She may be exhausted and about to get off shift and not be on the top of her game.

MomRN0913 · Jun 28, 2011

There is a difference between being a perfect and great nurse. You will most definitely not be a perfect one, because there is no perfect nurse. There is no perfect being. If you do one thing wrong, which you surely will, does that mean everything you are doing in wrong.

I agree, she shouldn't have told you to stop messing with it, but you could have kindly told her, especially as an aspiring nurse, or your mother who is a nurse could have said, politely, "I believe this is on wrong, this is the correct way, here let me show you"

I have learned plenty from patients. I had a patient teach me how to do peritoneal dialysis. I never did it, never had the chance to learn it in practice, and I asked the patient to show me how he does it.

and $100 says your ER nurse was under-oriented due to time and money constraints and probably had ot throw her right on the floor, with her never getting a chance to be taught how to put a C-collar on properly.

I think I have said my piece.

kellyjo · Jun 28, 2011

Thank you all for the replies, it just worries me if that is done wrong if they could be making other serious mistakes :) this one, however was not really anything serious. We did tell her it was on wrong, but she disagreed.

wishiwereanurse, BSN, RN · Jun 28, 2011

sorry to say this but you mentioned that your mother is also a nurse and she knew your brace was on wrong, yet she also didn't know how to intervene? 'cuz if your logic is followed, if all nurses should know how to put braces on, and your mother is a nurse, then your mother should know how to correct your brace problem...

bagladyrn, RN · Jun 28, 2011

Thank you all for the replies, it just worries me if that is done wrong if they could be making other serious mistakes :) this one, however was not really anything serious. We did tell her it was on wrong, but she disagreed.

You really shouldn't be judging this nurse's competence based on one task. She may be a very skilled nurse in other areas who had never used this particular model of appliance before. She may have been a nurse from another department who had been floated to the ED by the powers that be who assume "a nurse is a nurse" without extra training. This happens frequently.

I had a patient the other night jump to the conclusion that I was a new trainee because the other nurse was explaining to me how they set up the room for delivery. Instead I am a travel nurse with 23 yrs. in L&D who happened to be brand new to THAT facility and wanted to learn their doc's preference.

I do agree with you that she should not have yelled at you, but neither should the other nurse have disparaged her to you. There are more appropriate ways to make the correction, something you can also take as a lesson for the future.