Hello everyone!!! I hope this New Year has been a kind one to you all thus far.
Well, here i go again on one of my rants about the ever so intriguing world of nursing. Here's my pet peeve of the day:
Is is just me, or does it seem to you all that everytime you go into a patient's room to pass meds, do procedures, or simply check on the patient, they always have to ask you to bring them something.
I know for me, it never fails. If I go in there to just look in on my patient they always will stop you before you get out of the door and say, "Oh, nurse, could you get me some coffee," or "May I have something for pain?" or "Turn the lights off, will you". And it drives me crazy.
Now don't get me wrong, I have no problem doing anything for my patients. But it seems that patients look at nurses as nothing more than handmaids to wait on their every beckon and call. For example, I had this man to ring his call bell just to tell me that he wanted to sit up on the side of the bed. I wanted so badly to tell him, "Well, what are you waiting for?". This is because I know that this man is very capable of moving himself because I've seen him do it when he has a male nurse caring for him. But whenever a female steps in, the patients all of sudden become invalids.
I feel that too much of my time is taken up running up and down the halls getting water and coffee. I mean, as much as family members like to stay all day in night in these patients rooms, it would seem that they would get up off of their lazy bums and get these patients something every now and then. It wouldn't hurt them to do this. Oh no, they won't do this. But they can tell you and I how to do our jobs, can't they? (LOL!!).
I have gotten to the point that I actually like being pulled to the critical care units in the hospital because we have telemetry there and you don't have to go into the rooms quite as much as you do on the medical floor because the telemetry is evident.
Do you all feel the same way? Do you all feel that patients are too darn demanding and don't respect us as care providers but see us as handmaids instead? Male nurses, do you feel that patients tend to not bother you as much as your female colleagues? I welcome all input.
