Do nurses make the worst patients?

Nurses Safety

Published

hospitals may be the worst place to stay when you're sick

american hospitals are capable of great medical feats, but they also are plagued by daily errors that cost lives.

http://bcove.me/wturuxfq interesting video!

www.aarp.org

americans are dying in hospitals from preventable medical mistakes. but, patients can minimize their risks by keeping a close eye on their care

as a recent frequent flyer of medical care......i know why i hate hospitals and i admit i am not the most patient patient. viewing the medical profession as a patient i am increasingly concerned where this is all going to end up and increasingly paranoid when i am hospitalized knowing that it is increasingly difficult avoiding being the victum of a grave mistake.

Specializes in pediatrics; PICU; NICU.

I'm actually a patient right now. I was admitted yesterday after having a "minor" (not to me!) stroke. I've only had one problem & that was with the jerk of a doctor they gave me. The nurses are fantastic & I try really hard not to bother them. I do advocate for myself because there's no one else with me who can & if that means questioning things I don't understand, I do. When you're a patient & the nurses & docs see that your're a nurse, they assume you understand everything. Yes, I've been a nurse 34 years but I have never worked anything but Peds, PICU, & NICU. I don't remember much about adult nursing from my nursing school days.

I've only had one former nurse as a patient and it was awful.

Given she was a COPD patient, a morphine addict, and an attention seeker it didn't make things fun. She even tried pulling that ABC prioritization nonsense because she was asking for a duoneb treatment when I picked up her roommate off the floor.

Last I remember safety trumps ABC.

Specializes in Critical Care, ED, Cath lab, CTPAC,Trauma.
I'm actually a patient right now. I was admitted yesterday after having a "minor" (not to me!) stroke. I've only had one problem & that was with the jerk of a doctor they gave me. The nurses are fantastic & I try really hard not to bother them. I do advocate for myself because there's no one else with me who can & if that means questioning things I don't understand, I do. When you're a patient & the nurses & docs see that you're a nurse, they assume you understand everything. Yes, I've been a nurse 34 years but I have never worked anything but Peds, PICU, & NICU. I don't remember much about adult nursing from my nursing school days.

I am so sorry that you aren't feeling well....:hug:. Prayers and well wishes are on their way! I have found there are two extremes when nurses arepatients......the ones that drive you to distraction and the ones that will apply pressure to their own arterial bleed. I hae an auto-immune muscle disease that requires frequent hospital/MD visits. I find I have become different with the facility I am in. I am much more hypervigilant when in the acedemic setting......but I know the behind the scenes issues. But I am much more adapt to be the "do it myself" girl which isn't always the best either.

I find the patting of my hand when I ask a detailed question that says.....that's ok honey, you're ok. I'm not OK and I want an answer! A real answer

PLease feel better!!!!:loveya: and Welcome to AN! The largest online nursing community!!!!

Specializes in Med Surg, Specialty.

I've had multiple nurses (and doctors) as patients, and have been a patient myself. I've talked with many of them openly about being a nurse as a patient and how they would like the care to go, and resoundingly they all have stated they wanted to be treated like a normal patient, with everything explained to them. Once I became a patient myself I saw how much I agreed with this - when you are in pain, nervous about upcoming surgery/tests/etc, you are not in 'nurse mode', and things are also quite different being on the other side of the bed especially when you are receiving treatment in an area that is not your specialty. It is a definite fear that someone will assume I know something already and I'll miss an important piece of information.

But being a patient has opened my eyes to how critical education is on plan of care and what to expect for tests/treatment. As a patient, it is extremely appreciated.

Specializes in Med-Surg.

I think it totally depends on the situation, and on the person. If all is going well and the patient is not a drug seeking attention seeker, then things should be fine. Unless you are speaking about a nurse being hospitalized in an area she knows, then I dont think her profession really makes a difference. There are some basic things she will know about, like the principles of asepsis and all, but its best to just treat him/her like any other patient. You should be dotting your i's and crossing your t's with anyone, no matter what their profession. If anything, you might address teaching by asking them what they know first, then adjusting from there.

I must admit I probably was a PITA when I had my daughter. However, as a nurse, i also knew what was acceptable or not. I made it pretty clear what I wanted or not. The nurse had no teaching to do because Ive worked post-partum, so knew the teaching she was required to do. She didnt need to help me with breastfeeding. I had no pain I couldnt handle. The only thing I asked her was to D/C my **** IV after I had voided, after she had seen that I had normal lochia, just so I could shower! That took her almost 3 hours to do, and she only finally came because I told her it was going to 'accidentally' come out if she didnt do it soon. I know it was rude of me, but geez, I know how long it takes to take out an IV, and after being in labor and assuring myself my daughter was fine, all I wanted was to clean up!! lol...

I am having a major surgery soon. I am a very experienced ICU nurse and I am terrified of being in the ICU or any other inpatient area! I know the ropes, I know how it works and that is the most frightening part. I do not want to be that PIA nurse patient, but I will if I have to. I also do not want nurses to skip out on my teaching! I have a very rare tumor, something doctors at the teaching facility may see once a year at best. I also do not want to be the guinea pig for all the learning residents, but I know the value of education and experience so I will put up with some.....

Wish me luck and know I will have my eyes wide open, and I will show my behind if I need to!

I am also a terrible patient...

Specializes in Trauma Surgical ICU.

I have cared for numerous nurses and NP's. Never had a problem with them or the pts that had a nurse or NP in the family. The worst are family members that claim to be nurses and ask a million unrelated questions. Come to find out, many are CNA's, NA, or MA's. The worst part, they are so rude, obnoxious etc, you don't even want to deal with the actual pt if they are in the room. So yes, sometimes being in the medical field does hinder care.

Nurses as patients have been fine on the whole - its relatives who are nurses or doctors that tend to be the problem. We had a pt recently who was a retired gp who was lovely. His daughter who was also a gp was a cow. Luckily she thought nurses were too lowly to talk to so I didn't have to deal with her too much - she insisted the registrar dropped everything and came to update her every time she came in!

I had a patient, dear old woman, who got a cryomaze procedure (to reroute chronic afib). It usually takes days to weeks to take but her daughter, who was a GP, kept INSISTING that we FIX it. So we cardioverted the patient. That worked... for half a day, predictably.

In storms the daughter... insisting we do it AGAIN. The mother expresses to me that she doesn't want to be cardioverted again. It's not fun you know. Guess what? We did it again. I felt sick to my stomach.

Specializes in Critical Care, ED, Cath lab, CTPAC,Trauma.
I am having a major surgery soon. I am a very experienced ICU nurse and I am terrified of being in the ICU or any other inpatient area! I know the ropes, I know how it works and that is the most frightening part. I do not want to be that PIA nurse patient, but I will if I have to. I also do not want nurses to skip out on my teaching! I have a very rare tumor, something doctors at the teaching facility may see once a year at best. I also do not want to be the guinea pig for all the learning residents, but I know the value of education and experience so I will put up with some.....

Wish me luck and know I will have my eyes wide open, and I will show my behind if I need to!

I wish you the best! Let us konw how you are doing....sending positive thoughts and prayers to cover all bases!

Specializes in Med/Surg, Academics.

I've had a few RNs as patients. One was wonderful from the get-go, and one had a rep for being difficult but became wonderful after I talked to her for a little while.

I was also recently a patient and will continue to be one for the next few months, and apparently, I'm an easy patient (or so they all said). I really only needed post-op abx and pain meds, but I was checked on every two hours, so the pain mgmt process was a smooth one. While it's not the norm, my surgeon did agree to discharge me quickly, given no complications and all abx infused. I practically begged him for a quick discharge when he saw me in pre-op, and I was out less than 24 hours after a 5-hour surgery, but he elicited my explicit promise to call him if any problems arose. No problems yet!

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