Nurses don't have a hard job

Nurses General Nursing

Published

I literally had a guy have the nerve to tell me that nurses don't have hard jobs. When I said I was tired, he asked "from what? All you guys do is sit behind a desk and write" I was so outraged I don't think I could even answer with a coherent word. I went thru alot of the things we have to do to ensure our patients health, assessment, and safety ( not leaving out cleaning up after incontinence) and he shut up quick. I asked him if he though putting on hip waders and elbow length gloves to clean up a patient who has had massive diarrhea incontinence sounded like an easy job to him. :madface:

Kellie

Halinja,

I agree, and home cooking wouldn't be the only thing he'd of been deprived of in my house!!!

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There are, unfortunately, people who think that all we do is push pills and bedpans and write. Those people will never change their minds about us.

I think it is up to us to educate people more. Not necessarily "on the spot" so to speak. Nurses should write more; books, articles in local papers, magazine articles, etc. If you're worried about not getting published, then self publish. Now adays that's very affordable and doable. Check out ads in writers magazines (or do a quick search online).

It's up to us

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Specializes in CVICU, MICU, CCRN-CSC.

How about the family of an 1:1 ICU pt that had the nerve to tell me that I must love my job because I only had one pt and the floor nurses worked SOOO much harder with several patients. Now I know how hard floor nurses work, don't get me wrong, that was not the point. I did not bother to point out that this persons MOTHER was on triple strength epi at 100 ml/hr (no not a typo), Levo-reg at an equally high rate, plus an insulin gtt at an enourmous amount plus we were boulsing with epi and atropine at routine intervals. This person also had a balloon pump and was on CRRT which the ICU nurses run. Quite frankly the pt should have been a 2:1 (yeah right) and I was WORKING my tail off. I did not even have the time to respond to that comment...I just said.."All nurses work really hard on the floors and in ICU" any more and I would have gotten FIRED.:nono:

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Specializes in Med/Surg, Ortho.

At the most, I might say something like "it is interesting that that is your perception." Then I'd probably give a sly smile and move on.

I like that comment,, but i may have added, "but ill be right back with your suppository, it will need to go as far up as possible".

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Specializes in cardiac.
Oh WOW, is he still upright? (I'dve been tempted to deck him)

NO...LOL....After that, he actually had to come up to my work to bring me something, I forget what. And, anyway, he saw all the commotion going on. Heart monitors beeping continuously,doctors dictating orders, phones ringing, nurses running their butts off, etc. He was shocked at the chaos that was going on. He, just like the OP's pt, had no clue as to what nurses really do. He asked me that night,"Is it always like that?" I said, " What are you talking about? Today was a GOOD day!" LOL! SO... from then on he never made a negative remark about what I do at work. He just didn't understand. Still a good guy!:blushkiss

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Specializes in cardiac.
Halinja,

I agree, and home cooking wouldn't be the only thing he'd of been deprived of in my house!!!

Ahhhhhh...Yeah.....that too! LOL!!!!!:lol2:

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Specializes in cardiac.
At the most, I might say something like "it is interesting that that is your perception." Then I'd probably give a sly smile and move on.

I like that comment,, but i may have added, "but ill be right back with your suppository, it will need to go as far up as possible".

Funny!!!!:rotfl:

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Specializes in cardiac.

Sorry guys, I'm having trouble trying to edit my posts. LOL!!!

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Many people don't really know what all we DO. When I worked labor and delivery, many NURSES would say "what is there to having a baby", " you don't know what real nursing is all about".

We had a unit secretary that worked on the post partum floor that had such an attitude about helping us in labor and delivery we just would do it ourselves rather than listen to her or wait forever for her to do anything.

WELL....she became a labor and delivery nurse...HAHAHAHA

She did say that "IF she'd known how much we did....she'd have been checking on us much more frequently"!!!!

If someone that is actually in our profession or someone that is as close to the scene as a secretary is...how in the world do we expect lay people to get what we are actually doing.

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Specializes in L&D, PACU.
Halinja,

I agree, and home cooking wouldn't be the only thing he'd of been deprived of in my house!!!

Oh yeah! :yeahthat:

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Specializes in Med/Surg, ER and ICU!!!.

Wow. I actually just left a HH job because of this. As soon as you walk in the door to this 18yo 130lb female, all I did was run, run, run. Start off by changing her, positioning her, getting meds, PROM (which was over an hour in itself) FOUR TIMES A DAY!!! Plus her shower, read to her, teach her school, help with switches, and on and on and on. I had to leave 15 minutes early, and told her mom 10 days in advance. The day after I left early, mom tells me I can never leave early again because she had to do all my work, and that she was not paid to leave early at her job, so neither should I. (I clocked out at 15 till.) She then said that she is not paid to watch TV. I DO NOT HAVE TIME.

Did I mention she was a HH nurse and was fired for watching TV, and is currently on a pedi floor? I immediately called work and stated I would NEVER go back to that house again!

Oh, and the only time that mom ever had an interaction with that child was when someone was there. From the time I left at 6pm until I came back at 7am the next day, she was only changed one time.:nono: :madface: :( Several times she would never be changed. I know this because I would count her pads and there would not be anything in the trash. I worked there for a year. Now, I am at a pedi/med surg at the other hospital. :wink2:

Edit to add: spelling error. Did not want to incur the wrath of RWS.

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Specializes in Acute Care Psych, DNP Student.

Well, it's not just certain elements of the uneducated public that think this way. I told a relative who is a retired practical nurse in Canada - that I'm back in school to become an RN. She is from Canada and she's a retired "practical nurse" in her words, which is different than LPN/LVN in the US? I don't know. Anyway, all her education and training was on the job, and not in an official diploma program. She doesn't value organized education for nurses. She thinks nurses ought to be hired off the street with no experience...be trained on the job for a few months...then BAM!..after a certain period of time, get a certificate saying you are a nurse. Just like she did. She said to me, "why would you become an RN? They just sit on their butts doing paperwork and boss around those who do the real work of nurses."

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