Question: Is there a thread that ONLY belongs to nurses?

First off, I believe this thread was started after I had a problem with the OP, for which I am sorry to them; something they said just upset me.

Now going on. I am not, as you can see from my name, a nurse. I am just a patient. I have been a patient at hospitals since I was 1 and had my first surgery at the age of 2. I have had 13 in all. I see 10 different doctors. I am at the hospital about every 2 months for an appointment or MRI scan to monitor growth of the tumor that I lost my right eye to (which thankfully in non-cancerous, I have Neurofibromatosis).

Now I have been a member here since I was a junior in high school. I used to want to be a nurse; I went off to college to be a pre-nursing student. I was not able to do it. I was doing poorly, however, this is why, ORIGINALLY I joined. Now I am a psychology major and am going to be what is called a child life specialist, which is someone who works in the hospital and helps kids through the experience of being there. They help them understand what is happening, why, and help them deal with painful procedures.

Being a member at this site has also helped me SO much as a patient. I used to, not call for pain medication, because I did not want to bother my nurse. I felt like I just annoyed them by doing it. I have learned here not to be afraid to call if I need meds, that is why the nurses are there and don't mind.

Also, with vent threads, I usually try to stay OUT I realize that they are just venting. I think I can count on one hand the number of times I have chimed in to a vent thread, other then adding things that I have seen other people doing that would be part of it. I understand about vent threads and do not take offense to them. I know that people can vent, and still be an AMAZING nurse.

Just my

Meg

If you vent and someone starts insulting you there is an (ignore) function.

Who is this person and where is Stanley???

lol......I guess it'll be like men going into a women's health site. (Never understood that either) We'll just have to deal with it accordingly.

When we first started the Male Nursing Forum, there were more females posting there than males. There's still a lot of females posting there.

Bottom line is yes, we are going to have to deal with it. :)

All I want to say is that being a patient does not qualify you to be a nurse or tell nurses or other healthcare workers how to behave or how mean we are in general. I can understand the curosity factor people wanting to see behind the curtain at what goes on in a hospital;but the line on this site has become very blurred and I think that this site has become more for the nonhealthcare people. I am not trying to say that anyone has more right to be here than anyone else;but I truly don't know how someone who has been a patient there entire life thinks that qualifies them to tell me how to do my job.

I am not a nurse, nor do I play one on TV:D I am in the process of pursuing a dream..perhaps a "calling" if you will.

I have just recently found this forum and I am facinated and sometimes overwhelmed by all the information, situational and procedural concepts that are expressed here, I would not begin to post negatively to anyones experiences, as I, have not walked in a Your shoes.

I have read some of the replies to post's that obviously are not Medically trained that are totally negative to orignal poster and I take them with a grain of salt, a very small grain at that.

Given the fact that there is so much info on here that a non-medical person has this "info", they feel that since they read something in another thread they feel that they are qualified to respond, the old adage of "A little knowledge is a dangerous thing" applies.

I also think that those who are not in the field or wannabes that post negatively are generally younger in age, please note I say generally not exclusively as I am sure there us older folks who do the same.

I would hope that if in fact there were a "private" forum there shall remain public forums open to those of us that hope to walk in your shoes someday.

Mark

When we first started the Male Nursing Forum, there were more females posting there than males. There's still a lot of females posting there.

Bottom line is yes, we are going to have to deal with it. :)

I have posted on the Male Nursing Forum even though I am neither male nor a nurse, because I have had something to say which was approriate for that forum.

I've been asked why I come here. It's because I have yet to find any pharmacist message board that's had more than a few dozen posts on it, and this board is welcome to anyone, even those who don't work in health care, as long as they have something valid to contribute. There are some blogs that allow posting (The Angry Pharmacist is the best known) but that just isn't the same.

Occupations of posters include physicians, dental hygienists, EMTs, paramedics, unit secretaries, radiology techs, medical assistants (who are NOT nurses), CNAs, veterinary technicians (animal nurses - Fuzzy is probably my favorite such poster!), etc.

This forum kind of gives the big picture. I probably shouldn't post here as I'm not a real human nurse but a Certified Veterinary Technician (CVT). I work with animals both human and others. I don't offer advice in threads where I know nothing. I will sometimes offer an observation or two from someone who sees the medical field from a different point of view. I belong to a forum that is only for those in veterinary medicine. To be honest it can be quite boring at times as everything is the same. The venting is the same, the cases the same, and the moderators rule with an iron fist as far as who may post and content. I do post there and have gotten some good ideas. However I just see things through one set of eyes. On this forum, I get get to see many different mindsets. Since being here I have been able to work better with my clients (people) who are members of the human medical profession. Believe me in vet med, when a person comes up to you and says that they are a nurse, EMT, or a doctor, the shields go up on the veterinary staff. It's an "Oh Gawd" moment. Thank you for your your kind post rph3664.

Fuzzy

I kind of enjoy Meg's posts, even if she is 'justapatient'. I've not seen her try to tell us how we should be doing our jobs.....We're not nursing in a 'nurses only' vacuum. Patients are part of the equation, as are doctors, aides, EMTs etc.

I understand where some of you are coming from, and I just roll my eyes at all the posts about 75 questions on the NCLEX......etc. But I think that students need to vent and talk as well. I just don't read those posts anymore. I don't think they should be tossed off the board because they don't have a license yet. I learned tons from this site while I was in school, and I still learn tons now that I am an RN.

I try to be the adult and not let the petulant child in me answer some of the few immature postings, ignorant postings, just plain annoy the heck out of me postings. I do get irriated by people who pass judgements on vents whether they be new RNs or older than dirt RNs and keep on doing it even when they've been asked not to. A vent is just that. A place to unload and 'whine' as it were. Most people have asked for advice if they want it. A vent just might require a a hug icon......we all have our bad days.

tencat...Thank you very much for your kind words.

Traumagirll99...I am sorry if I come across as "trying to tell you how to do your job" usually what I am thinking is that I will give you an answer from the patients perspective as to that situation. It is not my intent AT ALL to tell you what to do, I try to give some food for thought sometimes, if I see things being VERY one sided, and I see the other.

This forum kind of gives the big picture. I probably shouldn't post here as I'm not a real human nurse but a Certified Veterinary Technician (CVT). I work with animals both human and others. I don't offer advice in threads where I know nothing. I will sometimes offer an observation or two from someone who sees the medical field from a different point of view. I belong to a forum that is only for those in veterinary medicine. To be honest it can be quite boring at times as everything is the same. The venting is the same, the cases the same, and the moderators rule with an iron fist as far as who may post and content. I do post there and have gotten some good ideas. However I just see things through one set of eyes. On this forum, I get get to see many different mindsets. Since being here I have been able to work better with my clients (people) who are members of the human medical profession. Believe me in vet med, when a person comes up to you and says that they are a nurse, EMT, or a doctor, the shields go up on the veterinary staff. It's an "Oh Gawd" moment. Thank you for your your kind post rph3664.

Fuzzy

I had no idea you were lurking, or would stop by shortly! I always love your stories about what goes on at the vet clinic. I had to take one of my cats to the vet last week, and she was the first patient of the day. He thought he might have to draw blood, so he plugged in the razor to charge it AND PLACED IT ON THE FLOOR. Imagine a people doctor doing that! Wouldn't happen. But I know she gets great care from this office.

My vet knows I'm a pharmacist, so he doesn't have to explain to me what the various drugs are, unless he would give me something that was veterinary use-only which hasn't happened to me yet.

Like you have said, the patients don't cause the biggest problems - their family members do.

We get lots of posts from teenagers who are thinking about going into nursing and want to know what it's like. They have come to the right place!

All I want to say is that being a patient does not qualify you to be a nurse or tell nurses or other healthcare workers how to behave or how mean we are in general. I can understand the curosity factor people wanting to see behind the curtain at what goes on in a hospital;but the line on this site has become very blurred and I think that this site has become more for the nonhealthcare people. I am not trying to say that anyone has more right to be here than anyone else;but I truly don't know how someone who has been a patient there entire life thinks that qualifies them to tell me how to do my job.

I have to disagree...a patient is also a customer like it or not and if they are unhappy w/a nurse's behavior or the way they are doing or not doing their job they have every right to speak up about it. Granted most patients don't always know what goes on behind the scenes but on the other hand some patients have been in and out of hospitals more than what some nurses can count as actual experience. Some nurses also speak much louder then they think they are and patients often times can hear the gossiping and the drama that takes place at the nurses station.

The other thing is just because one is a nurse doesn't mean they know what a procedure or situation is like for a patient. Just because we read something in a book or watched a procedure be done a million times doesn't mean we have any idea at all what that feels like physically or emotionally.

Why do so many (not all) nurses feel like they cannot be questioned as to how they do their job by the public but yet they question everyone else's experience in other job fields that are not related to healthcare? And yes I've seen nurses question mechanics, cops, lawyers, etc but freak out when the shoe is on the other foot.