yotoc

It was a joke Leslie. I still think you're wrong and we have every right to stand up for ourselves and let the patients know that their behavior is not only inappropriate, but will not be tolerated. We should also be able to do that without calling security. The hospital I work at has no security. The big guys...nurses, aides, janitors are the security.

Thanks to both of the last posters. I was starting to think I was crazy and had no business "intimidating" patients that acted like idiots. :)

There is a small, but very important difference between bullying and intimidation. I jumped into this thread because you started off saying the pt was bullied. I still fail to see where telling a pt that his behavior is unacceptable translates into bullying. Then you say he's intimidating. I'm going to concede that point. I'm a big guy, but I'd still watch my mouth in front of 'giant nurse' but I'd not feel that I was bullied by what he said. If that's your definition of intimidating, then you are right. It's still a long ways away from bullying.

Of course it was because of his size. As long as the guy said or did nothing intimidating, then he wasn't being intimidating. The patient was probably an obnoxious coward and of course he's not going to make those remarks to the "large nurse". That doesn't mean he's been bullied or intimidated. leslie

So any tall, overweight guy that says anything that isn't flowers and sunshine is "bullying"? If a tiny blonde girl said the same thing to the patient would that be "bullying" as well? "We don't harass nurses in this hospital," is not bullying. "If you don't knock it off I'm going to put you in restraints and beat your face in," is bullying.

How exactly is that bullying? When did it become ok for patients to act like animals just because they're sick?

I meant that it gets out to the other nurses that we have to work with. A nurse just asked a classmate of mine last week what was the real story on the reason the class president (me) skipped graduation in protest. This is a nurse that should have had no connection to me or my school...but she knew what was going on. I'm not worried about the community as much as I am about the nurses in the community. I should have been more clear when I said that. Around here a bad rep will follow you wherever you go. You're not coming off as flip. I appreciate the advice. I just wanted opinions from people that weren't connected to the situation. So Thanks! :)

Exactly! That's the problem, I've said all that to myself already. In the end, it doesn't matter. Buuuuuut. It not only sets a bad precedent, when the word gets out to the community about this it's going to make the entire graduating class look suspect. There's a lot more to this story that I can't go into for various reasons that makes this issue more important that it might seem to the casual reader. Just know this is just the latest thing in a long line of very shady things that went on during my last year of school.

At the end of my last semester in school we were required to take and pass the Hesi exam with a score of 850 in order to graduate. This exam and the review course we were required to take cost us $275. If you scored below an 850 you had to reschedule and pay another $30. If you failed yet again, another $30. After that you failed the course and had to repeat the semester the following year. Our school's syllabus clearly states, "Students are required to pass the Hesi exam with a score of at least 850 or a 'F' will be recorded for the semester and the student will have to retake the course." I, like many others in our class, failed the Hesi the first time around because of an incompetent OB instructor who thankfully was fired at the end of the semester (but that's another horror story for another time). I passed after the second time and went on with my life and my studying for boards. Last week I recieved a call from another student that several people had taken the Hesi for the fourth time and that two students had failed it yet again. The twist though is that the school decided to go ahead and graduate those two students anyway. To make a way too long post short... Do I have any right to be as angry as I am right now? I feel like all the hard work I put in to not only pass the course but to pass the Hesi was completely invalidated by this decision.

Yeah, it was great until one day one of the peppy 18 year old girls told me after I'd given her some help with something, "It's nice having you around, you're like the dad of our class." I'm only 34! To the OP, I say go for it. I just finished school 3 months ago, and while I'm not quite in my 40's yet, I agree it's never too late. If it's something he wants to do, then he should do it. You don't ever want any "what if's" hanging around when you get older.