I got found out!

[hiddencatRN]

I'm pregnant and was dehydrated with a stomach bug so had to go to L&D yesterday for some fluids. I decided to fly under the radar and not out myself as a nurse and just be a patient. My nurse and I were going through the intake H&P and details about how my pregnancy has been going and at one point she looks at me out of the corner of her eye and says "you're a nurse, aren't you?"

Busted!

We had a good laugh and she says she does the same thing whenever she has to go to the hospital.

[hiddencatRN, BSN, RN]

Do you think your care is better if they know you are a nurse?

Why would we try to avoid being recognized as nurses if we thought this?

[shelbs3, BSN, RN]

while my grandfather was in the hospital recently he had a doctor come in while myself, my mother (who is not a nurse) and my grandmother (who was a nurse) were there. He was explaining a procedure they would be performing on my grandfather and we were all listening. He stops mid sentence and says " are you two (pointing to me and my grandmother) nurses?" Busted without having even said a word! My mom though this was hilarious. Apparently we were looking like we were following what the doc had to say a little too easily. I was so surprised he picked up on it so easily!

[ybanurse]

Congrats! How did she know?

LMAO! Sent my son with Dad to ER with history and they asked him She's a nurse isn't she? LOL

[SaoirseRN]

while my grandfather was in the hospital recently he had a doctor come in while myself my mother (who is not a nurse) and my grandmother (who was a nurse) were there. He was explaining a procedure they would be performing on my grandfather and we were all listening. He stops mid sentence and says " are you two (pointing to me and my grandmother) nurses?" Busted without having even said a word! My mom though this was hilarious. Apparently we were looking like we were following what the doc had to say a little too easily. I was so surprised he picked up on it so easily![/quote']

That's super observant of him! I would be reassured by that I think!

[Pangea Reunited, ASN, RN]

The first time I went to see my new dentist, he asked me if I was a nurse. I asked him why he thought that, and he said, "I can just tell." I wasn't acting "smart" about anything...

A guy at the Walgreen's pharmacy tonight asked me if I was a nurse, too...not the pharmacist, just some guy in the waiting area. He had not heard me speak a single word, but had noticed my Danskos. Maybe that's how the dentist knew, too?

[T-Bird78]

I guess I'm backwards then. I'll mention it, especially when they ask for your occupation on the new pt forms. I know when I'm working and my pt is a nurse, I'm more likely to use the lingo and not have to translate medical speak into English and I'm more aware of my technique, so I assume all nurses are like that. If my nurse knows I'm a nurse, they're less likely to skip a step because I know how it's supposed to be done properly. :)

[hiddencatRN, BSN, RN]

I guess I'm backwards then. I'll mention it, especially when they ask for your occupation on the new pt forms. I know when I'm working and my pt is a nurse, I'm more likely to use the lingo and not have to translate medical speak into English and I'm more aware of my technique, so I assume all nurses are like that. If my nurse knows I'm a nurse, they're less likely to skip a step because I know how it's supposed to be done properly. :)

I'm not a specialist in everything though, so unless I'm going with a child to the ER or a med surg unit, I'd rather have things over-explained as though I know nothing (because when it comes to maternity and L&D, I really know nothing!). I'd also rather not be in their headspace- I feel like being overly focused on dotting the Is and crossing the Ts makes them too focused on tasks and less on my overall as a patient.

Plus, whenever anyone has announced to me that they're a nurse rather than it slipping out or coming up organically, they've gone on to be a challenging patient.....

[Tait, MSN, RN]

When I went to high risk perinatal I found nurses a little too open about how their charting system didn't work, the COWs were always offline, and how they often couldn't scan meds. All this while they tried to hang a bag of D10 on me instead of LR. I always felt a little more careful or perhaps just nervous when I took care of a nurse, while this crew seemed to think it was a license to tell me all the scary stories about their practice!

Oh and BTW congratulations!!

[hiddencatRN, BSN, RN]

Oh and BTW congratulations!!

Thanks! Just hit full term and I am ready to go- just need to get the baby on board

[Tait, MSN, RN]

Thanks! Just hit full term and I am ready to go- just need to get the baby on board

I am almost 39 weeks myself and pretty much ready to go lol.

[Meriwhen, ASN, BSN, MSN, RN]

I am almost 39 weeks myself and pretty much ready to go lol.

I was ready to go at 37 weeks myself. At that point, I was over being pregnant and as soon as he could safely come out I wanted him out. He disagreed and took his time

[Meriwhen, ASN, BSN, MSN, RN]

Do you think your care is better if they know you are a nurse?

I don't know if I'd say it was better--I'd hope that no matter who or what I was that I'd get the best care they could give me! But I think they definitely communicated with me better and more often--there wasn't a need to "dumb" things down when explaining them to me.

Plus, I think they appreciated that I understood what they go through re shift changes, breaks, staffing, MDs, etc.