We have had countless threads involving nurse's beleif that we are professionals and should be treated as such.
I agree, even us lowly LPNs are professionals and should be treated as such. AFTER it is earned!
A degree/lisence does not a professional make. Respect, and the view of professionalism comes from the public. It is not something that can be assigned based on license or degree.
Yesterday, I was up at the hospital visiting my dad. He's nearly 82. This 26 (or so) year old nurse comes bee-boppin in and says "Hi Ray!". Then immediately turns to me and asks, "Does he go by Ray or Raymond?" WHAT!?
This little bimbette expects to be respected and treated as a professional and she has none for this man? A man who is very obviously her senior. A human being who should be treated with repect and she has no simple common courtesy, let alone professionalism.
Very simply I told her "he goes by Ray, but Mr. F******** would be much more appropriate.
How can nurses expect to be treated as professionals if they are not? No professional would have come into the room, first meeting, and spoken the client/pt in such a familiar manner. This is not a pediatric unit!
She was not the only person I have heard calling my dad by his first name. I would like ot know how many of you out there also show so little respect for your elders and what your rationale is for doin so.
In OB, it is pretty much common and even expected we refer to our patients by their first names. I have never gone into a room and said "hello Mrs. Smith, I am Nurse Debbie" etc. I guess OB is kind of an exception. We are MUCH less formal there, much more intimately involved in the patients' experiences with us, and calling them right off by surname seems too formal and even off-putting. I have never felt unprofessional in so doing and never "
be-bopped" into a room, all airy, acting unprofessional, either. It's a matter of how I approach it, you know.
Now, with my gynecological patients, many of whom are well over 40, I DO first address them by surname. Maybe it's a respect- for- seniors courtesy I have....but it's what I do, until they (almost always) correct me by saying "please call me Mary". I also address doctors as "Doctor____" especially in the presence of patients/family. The doctors are well known to call and say "hello, this is Jan, how is my labor patient progressing?"....done all the time. But I STILL call them "doctor" when I address or refer to them. It just sounds much more professional to me.
She was fair as far as nursing care goes. not bad mind you, just young and inexperienced. I had a couple of other complaints with her behavior and took what I considered the most important to her today, after the meeting. One of her co-workers had suggested she address pts by Mr/Mrs whatever until after told she could call them by their first names. - This other nurse happened to be right outside the door when I told her yesterday the Mr F* would have been more appropriate.
Today I takled to her about gloving to do a finger stick or managing dads' cath and waterless hand cleaner doesn't work very well if you only slap a little in the palm and clap your hands together a couple of times. She told me she wasn't worried about getting anything from him. I told her that was very nice of her, but I wasn't as comfortable with him not catching anything from her. She was just a bit taken aback, I didn't mean to make her uncomfortable, but I felt for her own good, as well as the good of her pts it needed to be said. And probably didn't need to include all of her co-workers.
i use first names more when im working in the ER (except for 40+) then i do when im on the floor. thats probably because there are younger people there, more my age. But always the older adult should be addressed by his/her preference. as stated in all the posts above, i just wanted to add myself as well.
We have had countless threads involving nurse's beleif that we are professionals and should be treated as such.
I agree, even us lowly LPNs are professionals and should be treated as such. AFTER it is earned!
A degree/lisence does not a professional make. Respect, and the view of professionalism comes from the public. It is not something that can be assigned based on license or degree.
Yesterday, I was up at the hospital visiting my dad. He's nearly 82. This 26 (or so) year old nurse comes bee-boppin in and says "Hi Ray!". Then immediately turns to me and asks, "Does he go by Ray or Raymond?" WHAT!?
This little bimbette expects to be respected and treated as a professional and she has none for this man? A man who is very obviously her senior. A human being who should be treated with repect and she has no simple common courtesy, let alone professionalism.
Very simply I told her "he goes by Ray, but Mr. F******** would be much more appropriate.
How can nurses expect to be treated as professionals if they are not? No professional would have come into the room, first meeting, and spoken the client/pt in such a familiar manner. This is not a pediatric unit!
She was not the only person I have heard calling my dad by his first name. I would like ot know how many of you out there also show so little respect for your elders and what your rationale is for doin so.
Ok I did a reply so I could attempt to answer your questions point by point.
First I would like to say I hope you and your father are doing well. I understand what it is like having your father in the hospital, Mine died last year COPDr with Prostate CA with mets to lungs. God Bless you and take this opportunity to speak with your father about anything you ever wanted to speak with him about.
Being treated as a professional D/T degree/licensure? I don't feel that any nurse or any person in any service industry is entitled to be treated any way other than the treatment they first employ: example, if my nurse comes into the room and and doesen't speak to me and begins an assessment, and poking and prodding and auscultating, I will immediately say excuse me MY name is Mr L and what would your name be? Is that RN? etc.
If the nurse walks in and says hello my name is Betty I will be your nurse today, I need to listen to yur heart and lungs etc. I would relax and let them perform their job. Just like at a restaraunt I do not like it when the waiter/waitres comes and asks for a drink order and then disappears for ten minutes before returning to ask if you are ready to order, they should return with drinks in a timely manner and then ask if you are ready to order or do you need more time? This is just what I feel is acceptable service.
Ok the next part about bee bopping is a little rambling ( I automatically picutre someone with Pink hair and headphones and perhaps even a cig hangin from their lip)so I would really have to have a better descriptor. Second part first meeting NO do not walk into a room and say Hello Ray, look to family member and ask oh does he prefer Ray or Raymond, this does seem inappropriate.
Next how can nurses expect to be treated as professionals if they are not? Well to this let me just explain my rap!
I enter the room of alert Pt's and introduce myself, Hello my name is Larry I am going to be your nurse today, I usually then say ok I need to stick this in your ear(quite an ice breaker, we use tympanic thermo), then I say are you having any pain or probelems? Wait and listen to the answer and inquire further as needed. The I explain interventions that will be taken if applicable. Then after this I say ok I need to listen to your heart and lungs, I then proceed to do my complete head to toe assessment, Listening, palpating, having them prove ROM grip etc. Then I ask is there anything you need right now? (if we have not already established pain etc. is a priority) Then I repeat My name is Larry call me if you need anything. So to the question of names I sometimes do not even use a name for an initial meeting/assessment. I will on returning to the room say Ok Mr. Blank here is the pain medicine you asked for etc. Let me check your name band(yeah right)you are Mr Blank aren't you? If they never ask me to just call them Ray etc. I never do although I am very friendly I actually rarely use a name anyway because from this point forward I beleive we have established who we both are and I just ask the things I need to ask, are you hurting, would you like another juice, was there something you needed. I think(and don't get angry here) men are much less hung up on being so formal I know when I meet someone and introduce myself and carry on with my assesment that we have become personal and I feel that they know too. I am also very humorous in my work and usually use jokes and levity in situations when it is ok. I try to put people at ease, I will answer any questions and do a great deal of teaching very seriously and really do not care one way or the other if my Pts (NEVER clients)see me as professional in fact I hope they see me as a nice (informative) nurse that is doing my best to help them in every way. Including relaxing tense situations with levity and being personable.
As far as do I show so little respect for my elders I would say NO, however they or their families may see it differently just as you saw what you felt was disrespectful. You mention others calling him by first name did you ask him if he had already told someone it is always Ray never Mr. F. I have gotten report that includes He goes by Toby etc.
We ask for a name preference when we do the admission assessment...until we know the patient's preference, they are called Mr. or Miss or Mrs. or whatever. There are too many people out there who don't like the formality of Mr. or Mrs. and there are too many people named Margaret who go by Becky!
BTW, stbernardclub, no where in the OP does it say the nurse was an RN...she could have just as easily been an LPN.
Specializes in CCU, SICU, CVSICU, Precepting & Teaching.
"Good evening, Ms. Jones. How are you?" can be just as personable as, "Hi, there, sweety!" If the former is said with genuine warmth, it might seem friendlier than, "I can't remember your name, but you're only going to be here a couple of days, so I'll call you 'honey'." Which is what a lot of older patients hear when you say honey or sweety.
You make an excellent point here. I've always HATED it when Hubby calls me "Baby", which I hear as "I just woke up with you this morning, I was really drunk last night and I can't remember your name." (OK, after 10 years together, we're past that stage -- it still grates on my nerves, though!) And I've been guilty of blanking on a patient's name and calling them "Darlin'" So if that's what patient's hear when you call them honey or sweetie, they're right!
I was an LVN and LPN and am now an RN and my job is exactly the same. Responsibility doesn't really change if you are doing your job correctly. Just because I was an LPN I understand that ultimately there was an RN responsible and/or that would have been responsible for things that I was leaving incomplete but I never left anything that would make another person responsible for my work. RNs did have to actually check (2 nurses 1 must be RN)and stab blood and blood products for/with me as an LPN and they were responsible for the 24/hr chart evals but I did those and they would sign behind me. If you are an LPN working to your full capability, you should be doing your job competently so that the question of who is responsible does not arise.
Even if the OP was the stupidest person on earth with no formal schooling and dug ditches for a living, she, as a patient has the right to comment on how they feel they are being treated by ANYONE. Just because there are credentials after your name doesn't mean you can't learn from other people - including those "beneath" you.
My suggestion is we actually stop and observe the people and world around you - you might learn alot more that what you got in nursing school.
You make an excellent point here. I've always HATED it when Hubby calls me "Baby", which I hear as "I just woke up with you this morning, I was really drunk last night and I can't remember your name." (OK, after 10 years together, we're past that stage -- it still grates on my nerves, though!) And I've been guilty of blanking on a patient's name and calling them "Darlin'" So if that's what patient's hear when you call them honey or sweetie, they're right!
Which is why I always try to give name and room number when calling a nurse or CNA about a pt.--it does get hard to remember, especially when things are hopping.
I've done worse, though. Once went to pick up a patient in the ED and couldn't remember the name, so I said i was from 7 West. Clerk sent me to pts. room where I found her name was Mrs West (I hope that isn't a HIPPA violation). I thought that was quite a coincidence, especially since we had a nurse whose surname was West. Wondered if they were related.
Got to my floor, but it turned out this pt was for 8 East (where, to this day, they still marvel at my team spirit in bringing their pt up for them--how did I know they were so swamped?)
Never made that mistake again. Plenty of others, though.
. I was always taught it's direspectful to refer to your elders by their first names. THEN, my dad always says if an older person asks you to use their first name (example Earl, or Gilda)Then I am supposed to say Mr. Earl or Ms. Gilda, and that's just the way it is. I don't know...I am from the south...that's how we do it around here:)
I usually refer to anyone over the age of 18 as "Sir" or" Ma'am". For those under the age of 18- I do use their first name , when speaking to them.
I would never address an adult by their first name, unless told to by that person .
I'm not from the South, but that was I was raised also.
Didn't read all the posts Ms. Dixidi.... perhaps I'm too forward in asking now, but what is your real beef?
All my best to you and yours.
No, you are not to forward in asking. I firmly believe the only stupid question is the one not asked; therefore, all questions are valid.
The beef is exactly as stated. I am not a complicated person. She entered the room at the speed of light addressing my dad by his first name. Turned to me and asked ME if he goes by Ray or Raymond instead of asking him. Simple as that. Nothing else to it.
The other issues I have mentioned since the original post were all after this initial introduction. I didn't even evaluate her nursing care until laer that evening, after I had gone home and didn't think any more of it than she is young and inexperienced. It was the next day before I found out that so many errors had been made, and not just by her. So, my beef was and still is the familiarity with which many "professionals" address their elders at the first meeting.
My family is very strict with these things. I know he would never tell a "kid" to call him Ray.
Anyway, it's as simple as I put it. I have no other beef and really don't see where you find in my opst that their may be one.
Dixiedi
458 Posts
She was fair as far as nursing care goes. not bad mind you, just young and inexperienced. I had a couple of other complaints with her behavior and took what I considered the most important to her today, after the meeting. One of her co-workers had suggested she address pts by Mr/Mrs whatever until after told she could call them by their first names. - This other nurse happened to be right outside the door when I told her yesterday the Mr F* would have been more appropriate.
Today I takled to her about gloving to do a finger stick or managing dads' cath and waterless hand cleaner doesn't work very well if you only slap a little in the palm and clap your hands together a couple of times. She told me she wasn't worried about getting anything from him. I told her that was very nice of her, but I wasn't as comfortable with him not catching anything from her. She was just a bit taken aback, I didn't mean to make her uncomfortable, but I felt for her own good, as well as the good of her pts it needed to be said. And probably didn't need to include all of her co-workers.