Nurses: Why do many of you do this?

[terina66]

I've been a registered nurse for two years now. Sometimes the nurses in my unit and I get together outside of work and chat. One day, the nurses were discussing about their patient encounters (non-medical related). I do not want to write what they discussed, but they were patient encounters that many people would describe as "gross."

I believe patient confidentiality (even when patients' names aren't mentioned) should be respected during work as well as outside of work. I'm sure patients already feel embarrassed about their condition, and it ANNOYS me when nurses say they will not judge patients when giving them care, but then they go around and talk about their patients conditions.

If I was a patient, I'd be angry if an RN talked about my condition outsideof work. Patients trust nurses to give them care while respecting their confidentiality. Yes, we may encounter new and different things each day, and some may feel that talking about so-called "weird" conditions helps them "bond"with others from work, but that does not give any nurse the right to talk about patients like that.

I've noticed there was a thread on allnurses entitled, "What Is Your Most Gross,Yucky, Disgusting Nursing Horror Story?" This is disrespectful in my opinion. No offense to any of the nurses that do this. Thanks for letting me vent...

[echocat, ASN, RN]

Sometimes in life we have to triage problems!! Sometimes we have to laugh about them.

When I worked in the ER the break room was considered a "safe place" where you could vent about the "fluff-my-pillow" patients, the "get me a sammich" patients, and the really monstrous illnesses we encountered -- vertebral fractures, unrepairable AAA, 35 year old fathers who die on the way to work. You could laugh, you could cry, you could lose it all you wanted to. It made getting through the shift bearable. And doable.

The more outrageous the family antics were the more we laughed (I had a woman screaming at me in the ER when I was a clerk because her friend needed 'her next dose of Demerol' when the entire clinical ER staff were called to a horrendous code at the ambulance bay. I told her I was unable to help her but as soon as one of the doctors or nurses came back from trying to save somebody's life I would let that person know. I meant that sincerely; I wasn't being a smartass, but she stomped off calling me "lazy and useless".

The work we do is difficult and sometimes patient families don't understand that we do our damdest to make their loved one feel cared for and provide comfort and relief. Sometimes they do, and their gratitude and appreciation makes it all worth it.

[rngolfer53]

Several months ago, I took care of a wonderful, and feisty LOL who needed to poop. Really needed to poop. She had tried Senna, PEG, the usual suspects with no joy. Finally the doc talked her into a Dulcolax suppository, which the patient viewed with a good dose of skepticism. Anyway, I gave her the supp, and pretty soon she has a BM...then a second, and a third. The poor doc came to see her just as I was getting her back to bed after the fourth session on the BSC. The patient initially ignored the doc and said to me "Is she the one who gave you that stupid order?" Then she looked daggers at the Dr. I had to get out of the room asap before I stroked out from trying to hold the laughter in. The Dr was on her own. The patient's daughter was trying to hold in the guffaw's too.

I can't hear the song Angry Eyes without thinking of this patient, and I still tease that Dr about it.

There are funny and sad situations that arise every day in life, and nursing gets its fair share of both. The normal human reaction is to laugh or cry. Last I looked, nurses are human, and need the release provided by both laughs and tears.

Pick a safe time and place, don't tear down people and don't be stingy about laughing at yourself too.

[SaoirseRN]

I worked at an older hospital with a boxed type heater in the room. It didn't get hot to the touch. It just blows hot air. I had an elderly patient poop on that. Never did get smell out of the room. Every time the blower kicked on...

We had a similar incident with a wall mounted hear register at my ancient hospital and an explosive C-Diff incident. They had to remove the register and found the "explosion" ended up not only inside it, but on the wall behind and somehow leaked through the ceiling to the floor below (which is OBS!).

[That Guy, BSN, RN, EMT-B]

I share the stories to vent. I dont carry much emotion with me at work but sharing the stories helps relieve the pressure a lot. My fiance is a nurse too so we share stories about the different places we work. A lot of my friends are nurses too. It calms us down after dealing with the stuff we do day in and out. We share things at home and in public. There are no identifiable things about the people we talk about. I will however not talk about patients I know will end up in the paper the next day in public.

You would also be surprised at what you can learn from hearing other peoples tales.

[xoemmylouox, ASN, RN]

Many of my coworkers are my closest friends. We vent. We share stories. It isn't to insult patients it is to help us get up and go into work the next day. We have also learned a lot from each other. As long as you observe HIPAA I see no problem.

[RNFiona]

Self righteous much? Even nurses need to blow off steam. As long as they are not using the patient's names etc or revealing identifying info I see nothing wrong with it. We are all human and all need to vent. You need to climb off of that soapbox you are on and chillax. Seriously, get over yourself.

[NP Sam]

I betcha plumbers talk about the worse toilet they ever unclogged!

Thank you for that visual.

[RNFiona]

Perhaps you should learn about HIPAA before you accuse people of violating it.

[nurseprnRN, BSN, RN]

What she's doing is highly inappropriate. There is a huge difference in sharing an interesting story about an anonymous person and sharing a particular person's life story. Huge difference.

Yes indeed. nguyenc77, to answer your question about what to do, you go directly to your clinical instructor and tell him/her all about it. This person needs to get a hard, fast reality check from someone in authority, and the school is just the one to report it to the nursing department at the facility.

[Dalzac, LPN, LVN, RN]

This has been one of the most interesting reads. How do I go out with my old nursing friends and not talk about things that have happened like the ancient LOL who told me whle I was trying to put a foley in there hadn't been anything up there since 1969? It will happen as sure as the sun will come up tomorrow. It isn't a HIPAA violation I can't even remember her name or when it even happened. It was just a story of experience that happened a long time ago that was funny as hell.

[Ruby Vee, BSN]

The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 HIPAA HIPAA HIPAA HIPAA HIPAAThis is not a HIPAA issue. It's in bad taste if you go out to breakfast after night shift and the other patrons hear you; it might put them off their feed, and if they can identify the hospital you work in and complain of your unprofessional behavior to the management, it might reflect badly on the hospital, and that could come back and bite you in the butt.AN is anonymous. Unless you were mouthing off here about an incredibly rare or widely-publicized case, like, oh, for example the Octomom or that teenager that lost an arm to a shark, it would be unlikely that people would be able to identify the patient him/herself.

As long as you're not identifying actual patients in public or destroying the appetites of those around you, talking about your patients is a way to relieve the stress of nursing. It is also a way to teach and/or learn something. I believe I learned as much from after-work drinks with my colleagues in my first year of nursing as I learned on the floor itself! I think the crusty old bats I worked with took me out at least once specifically to get a point across to me without being unkind about it (although I'm sure they must have been tempted!) They did me a tremendous favor that way -- although I'm not entirely sure we didn't destroy a few appetites here and there!

[Ruby Vee, BSN]

I fully understand that this has been your experience ... but it is not universally true in nursing. Maybe the ED is a different breed, but in every ED I have worked in, frequent socializing of both the organized variety (parties, outings, family picnics) and impromptu happy hours/breakfast-and-beer mornings has been the rule - and it has included not only nurses but physicians and support staff as well.

All through my career I've socialized with my co-workers. I work in ICU. I'm a lot older than most of my co-workers now, and don't socialize with them as much as I once did -- but most of them are fun and funny people. My husband is a nurse as well -- of the ED variety, and they're even more fun to socialize with. (Plus we're not so much older than everyone else.) I don't understand where this attitude comes from that your coworkers cannot be trusted.