Becky RN

One night as I was working in an ER a cowboy came in. He had been stear wrestling at a rodeo and got "horned". Well it was serious enough but not life threatening. After the X-rays etc. and he was stablized he was asking for something for pain. "Ma'am you jest gotta give me somthin for this pain." I told him sure I'd bring him something right away. In a few mintutes I came back with his little Demerol injection and told him to roll over a bit so I could give him his shot. "SHOT! oh no ma'am yur not givin me a shot I hate needles. Don't you have a pill I can take?!" I told him roll over Cowboy, if you can take a horn in your side, you can surely take a needle in your backside! Becky RN

I was working in a rural hospital once and patients would push a button at the back ER door that would ring a bell at the nurses station. When the bell rang you would ask the person who it was and what they needed over an intercom. One particular night the bell rang at the nurses station and the nurse answered "Can I help you?" The urgent reply was "Ma'am you have to help us my wife cannot breathe!" Needless to say all the night nurses went flying to the back at break neck speed grabbing the ER doc on the way only to find a man and his little wife standing there calmly at the ER door. The nurse out of breath and scooping the wife into a wheel chair said "sir I thought I heard you to say your wife could not breathe?" "Yes ma'am her nose has been stopped up all day and she cannot breathe."

I only have one little piece of advice from one who has been a nurse forever. Nursing is versatile but when you do find something that doesn't bore you or frustrate you too much try to stay with it. It's a great feeling to be good at what you are doing, and have a little experience to support it. Becky RN

I've been a nurse 22 years and I've worked with literally hundreds of doctors. And for every doctor there is there is a different attitude toward nurses. In my experiences it may be a doctor has a problem with a certain nurse, he/she just doesn,t care for them personally or the way the nurse operates. In some of the hospitals I've worked it was a certain floor or department the doctors didn't like or respect because of the supervisor or the reputation of the particular area. So many factors go into an attitude. You cannot clump all the doctors in one good or bad catagory nor the nurses. Sometimes you have to earn a doctor's confidence then the two can work adiquately together. Doctors also have to earn our confidence (we can be a fickle bunch sometimes) But through it all I've tried to keep the patients interests first and foremost, and sometimes that means swallowing your pride and sometimes it means formally reporting a doctor for his/her incompetency, etc. 95% of the time if you know what you are doing, and are confidant, kind, and respectful, you will have very little trouble from a physician unless they just are a total jirk (and I have met a few). Thanks, BeckyRN ------------------ Becky RN