Vent here.....I should repeat that this is a vent....
I get really tired of non-medical, non ER nursing, etc., questioning our (ER RNs) compassion because we vent and complain in a forum, where patient confidentiality is still upheld..... but where we can vent to our hearts content...... How we feel about the ER system, our not so enjoyable experiences in the ER...... How we hate some aspects of our jobs.
Don't we deserve to be able to complain without our compassion being questioned? It's not like I have ever seen any ER nurse complain about legitimate Emergency Care....I really have only seen the bogus stuff we complain about that makes our job of taking care of the true illnesses harder. I also think that if any of these people who complain about our compassion were a patient in the ER and required our instant care yet we said to them....listen, I have a guy here with a hang nail so you'll have to wait cause his hang nail is just as important as your heart failing.....we would get a whole new attitude.
These people who accuse noncompassion do not have a clue....and it adds to the frustration. I just want to have them shadow me someday.....Where I'm resuscitating a 5 year old, push all kinds of drugs, intubation, comfort the family, chart like I'm writing a novel, need a pee break only to get some attitude from your other nonEmergent patient and their family that they have waited 2 hours for an update. You're standing there with that full bladder and holding back tears from the previous patient's room and as a nurse you should keep your composure. So, if we want to come in this forum and vent about our bad day and the loser who jumped you and you still had to stand their with a smile on your face, use therapeutic communication to diffuse the situation...God forbid PressGaney gets a complaint.....I think those non-medical, non-ER nursing people who complain need to back the heck off. There is no other specialty like ER nursing....And I think ER nurses ROCK!
AND, being interrupted approx every 5 min with things like, "can bed 20 have ice? the family of 22 is on the phone for you, Dr. TooLazytoSeePt is on the phone for you, lab is on the phone for you about bed 17 even though you are very busy and they only have a stupid question that any non-medical person could answer but for some reason they NEED you, and in the back ground various monitor alarms, telephones ringing, vents going off, the tube system alarming, and the psych pt screaming." Ok, now I'm done for real.
THANKYOU to TraumaNurseRN for a thread that nurses can openly vent at...Although to my dismay, I saw that there are still those that can't just let a thread vent in peace....
My vent:
I was originally going to vent about druggies and how the next time a druggie tells me they're in the "worst pain of their life" as they calmly sit there, I wanna do something like....kick em in the shins!....then reasses :) lol...
However, as I read through the posts previous to mine, I came up with a new vent. A vent about people on this site that make it hard for the rest of us to vent in peace. My above mini-rant is like bait to these people... lol
I'd say that would be my #1 complaint about allnurses.com, is that ANYONE can read these posts. Granted that hasn't stopped me yet, but those people leak in and lurk around and then jump on your case when they have NO FREAKIN CLUE WHAT THEY'RE TALKING ABOUT AND UNTIL THEY'VE WALKED IN OUR SHOES PLEASE JUSTSHUTUP! I don't tell you how to do your job, don't come tromping in thinking you're entitled to tell me how to do mine! YOU HAVE NO IDEA!
That goes with all vents in all situations... but for example... just, you know, off the top of my head....Vents about druggies that we ER nurses frequently have because we face it EVERY DAY... to those who feel the need to jump in and give their own personal sob story about why we should give the druggies all their drugs and not "judge" their 10/10 pain...
Can I just say...
I DON'T CARE WHAT PAIN ISSUES YOU HAVE! I DON'T CARE I DON'T CARE I DON'T CARE! THIS IS NOT ABOUT YOU! I'M OFF DUTY AND I'M VENTING HERE! THE LAST THING I WANNA HEAR IN ANSWER TO MY VENT IS ANOTHER PATIENT-TYPE FIGURE TRYING TO CONVINCE ME OF THEIR PAIN!!!!!!!!!!!!! I REPEAT: THIS IS NOT ABOUT YOU!
I think you should have to be in the medical profession to be on and view this site. Isn't this after all "allNURSES.com"? I know it probably wont happen... just wishful thinking. Just venting.
I just realized that most vents are made in response to sh*tty situations that aren't going to change. And venting is the coping mechanism that helps us deal with the frustration of that reality.
Yesterday I had a patient with his daughter sitting in the chair, with her 3 inch leather binder and notepad writing as I walked in to assess this gentlemen. (I knew right away...she was gonna give me grief, but I proceeded to start my assessment) I'm looking at the pt. and asking him the questions and his daughter is answering for him. I respectfully asked if I could get the answers to my questions from the patient as it is important to the process. The little creep rolls her eyes at me, and says I need to just listen. I said, mamam again, it's important to get this information from your father and after I am done if there is anything you can add I will gladly get it then. She rolls her eyes at me again. This guy is alert and oriented okay.He's answering my questions properly. She interrupts me again and proceeds to tell me that they think he is having a reaction to his meds because everyday at the same time he gets "daffy", and that's why she needs to interject. She says they've seen the neurologist and their primary doctor and they say everything is fine.(So how the heck are we going to cure his guy of what I think is dememtia...hahahaha) So, I ask her directly, so what is different today that you bring him to the ER? She tells me," Listen, if you'll shut up long enough for me to finish, we can get this solved, and you need to call the doctor's nurse after this and let her know what is going on" grrrrrr...So, I say to her, "Mamam, I refuse to allow you to speak to me in that tone and manner, the process that happens in this ER is the nurse assesses the pt., the ER doctor sees and orders tests, we get the results and if the ER doctor feels the patient needs admitted, then he will call your father's Doctor....not his nurse. That's how the process works here" She shakes her head at me and says, " Is it protocol for you to be rude to me?" (I about had a syncopal episode from biting my tongue on that one) Rude to her?????OMG.... I had had it....I said Mamam, I have 2 other patients who are physically trying to die on me at this moment, so I will leave this room and send another nurse in to start this non-emergent assessment, she will ask the exact same questions I just spent 20 minutes trying to get answered from your father with your interruptions. So I sent one of my other nurses in and apparently she tried the same crap with her. I think family members are some of the rudest people I know....I wish they weren't allowed back until a disposition is placed...lol....
Normally, I could care less what people think of me, or if they feel I am compassionate or not. I know I'm a good nurse....I know they are ignorant to what we do. What angers me is how people think they can be so rude, insulting and demanding while I have to stand there with a happy face on as if they just handed me a bouquette of roses.
What I wish I could do is......get in their face, point my finger right up there when they have to look cross-eyed at me and say. Don't ever do that again or my magic hex power will turn you into the toad I think you are.....and then do it for effect....lmao.....
Posters in here that aren't medical have no place questioning our compassion. They ARE protesting to much I think.....I bet the truth hurts them because Nationally most ER nurses know when someone is a drug seeker, abuser of the system, and thinks we're their maids....Their the ones quickest to tell us how uncompassionate we are...I bet they or their family members have been turned down for narcs in the ER, their the ones who come into the ER for a cough that needs OTC drugs, but instead of not buying that pack of smokes....comes to the ER cause it's free to them...they aren't gonna pay anyway.
THANKYOU to TraumaNurseRN for a thread that nurses can openly vent at...Although to my dismay, I saw that there are still those that can't just let a thread vent in peace....
My vent:
I was originally going to vent about druggies and how the next time a druggie tells me they're in the "worst pain of their life" as they calmly sit there, I wanna do something like....kick em in the shins!....then reasses :) lol...
However, as I read through the posts previous to mine, I came up with a new vent. A vent about people on this site that make it hard for the rest of us to vent in peace. My above mini-rant is like bait to these people... lol
I'd say that would be my #1 complaint about allnurses.com, is that ANYONE can read these posts. Granted that hasn't stopped me yet, but those people leak in and lurk around and then jump on your case when they have NO FREAKIN CLUE WHAT THEY'RE TALKING ABOUT AND UNTIL THEY'VE WALKED IN OUR SHOES PLEASE JUSTSHUTUP! I don't tell you how to do your job, don't come tromping in thinking you're entitled to tell me how to do mine! YOU HAVE NO IDEA!
That goes with all vents in all situations... but for example... just, you know, off the top of my head....Vents about druggies that we ER nurses frequently have because we face it EVERY DAY... to those who feel the need to jump in and give their own personal sob story about why we should give the druggies all their drugs and not "judge" their 10/10 pain...
Can I just say...
I DON'T CARE WHAT PAIN ISSUES YOU HAVE! I DON'T CARE I DON'T CARE I DON'T CARE! THIS IS NOT ABOUT YOU! I'M OFF DUTY AND I'M VENTING HERE! THE LAST THING I WANNA HEAR IN ANSWER TO MY VENT IS ANOTHER PATIENT-TYPE FIGURE TRYING TO CONVINCE ME OF THEIR PAIN!!!!!!!!!!!!! I REPEAT: THIS IS NOT ABOUT YOU!
I think you should have to be in the medical profession to be on and view this site. Isn't this after all "allNURSES.com"? I know it probably wont happen... just wishful thinking. Just venting.
I just realized that most vents are made in response to sh*tty situations that aren't going to change. And venting is the coping mechanism that helps us deal with the frustration of that reality.
I think family members are some of the rudest people I know....I wish they weren't allowed back until a disposition is placed...lol....
So true!
Wouldn't life be so much better if that were the case?? If your family member is unresponsive, sure, I'll let you answer for them. But if they are awake and talking, come on...they are at least capable of providing their own pain scale number.
THANKYOU to TraumaNurseRN for a thread that nurses can openly vent at...Although to my dismay, I saw that there are still those that can't just let a thread vent in peace....
My vent:
I was originally going to vent about druggies and how the next time a druggie tells me they're in the "worst pain of their life" as they calmly sit there, I wanna do something like....kick em in the shins!....then reasses :) lol...
However, as I read through the posts previous to mine, I came up with a new vent. A vent about people on this site that make it hard for the rest of us to vent in peace. My above mini-rant is like bait to these people... lol
I'd say that would be my #1 complaint about allnurses.com, is that ANYONE can read these posts. Granted that hasn't stopped me yet, but those people leak in and lurk around and then jump on your case when they have NO FREAKIN CLUE WHAT THEY'RE TALKING ABOUT AND UNTIL THEY'VE WALKED IN OUR SHOES PLEASE JUSTSHUTUP! I don't tell you how to do your job, don't come tromping in thinking you're entitled to tell me how to do mine! YOU HAVE NO IDEA!
That goes with all vents in all situations... but for example... just, you know, off the top of my head....Vents about druggies that we ER nurses frequently have because we face it EVERY DAY... to those who feel the need to jump in and give their own personal sob story about why we should give the druggies all their drugs and not "judge" their 10/10 pain...
Can I just say...
I DON'T CARE WHAT PAIN ISSUES YOU HAVE! I DON'T CARE I DON'T CARE I DON'T CARE! THIS IS NOT ABOUT YOU! I'M OFF DUTY AND I'M VENTING HERE! THE LAST THING I WANNA HEAR IN ANSWER TO MY VENT IS ANOTHER PATIENT-TYPE FIGURE TRYING TO CONVINCE ME OF THEIR PAIN!!!!!!!!!!!!! I REPEAT: THIS IS NOT ABOUT YOU!
I think you should have to be in the medical profession to be on and view this site. Isn't this after all "allNURSES.com"? I know it probably wont happen... just wishful thinking. Just venting.
I just realized that most vents are made in response to sh*tty situations that aren't going to change. And venting is the coping mechanism that helps us deal with the frustration of that reality.
I completely agree!!! :up:
Thanks fellow ER NURSES!!!! I do my best at work regardless of my patients & I want to come home and have a place where I can vent without getting more BS!!!!! sorry, but most of the days ive had pretty bad days, especially as a new nurse!!!!
Just a student here getting ready to start his preceptorship in ER and graduate, I can't say that I agree more with you guys. If it wasn't a violation of HIPAA I would love to see the commonfolk, admin, and the idiots that devised all these surveys I had to go to an inservice on, follow you ER nurses around and really understand how rude certain families and pts can be, and how really non emergent a turkey sammich for the npo till we know what the hell is going on with your abdo studies patient really is when you are trying your damndest to save somebody you just met on a stretcher 4minutes ago and you know your efforts will be a little more than futile but you will go till your exhausted, and then attend to the non emergent sherbert and dilaudid seekers with a smile. Everybody has their moments, every human is prone to snapping and quite frankly, not sounding/acting like a disney gift shop worker, the only thing is...when you do have a lapse of customer service, you'd think you killed someone, while the real customer service of saving somebodys life gets highly HIGHLY overlooked. God Bless and a Sincere Thank you to all ER nurses everywhere for I can't wait to join the likes one day!
while the real customer service of saving somebodys life gets highly HIGHLY overlooked.
Quite an astute comment from a student. Thank you, and good luck to you!
For about the 6th time in as many months, I find myself verbalizing my wish that posts on allnurses.com not be visible to the vast internet public but only to registered users of the site. And since I once said that and had at least one fast-reading poster assume that I said "registered nurses" let me say again very clearly ... registered users of the site - people who have registered a user name and email address to view the site.
ThrowEdNurse & ACRN06 & TraumaNurseRN ... you guys ROCK.
Vent here.....I should repeat that this is a vent....
I get really tired of non-medical, non ER nursing, etc., questioning our (ER RNs) compassion because we vent and complain in a forum, where patient confidentiality is still upheld..... but where we can vent to our hearts content...... How we feel about the ER system, our not so enjoyable experiences in the ER...... How we hate some aspects of our jobs.
Don't we deserve to be able to complain without our compassion being questioned? It's not like I have ever seen any ER nurse complain about legitimate Emergency Care....I really have only seen the bogus stuff we complain about that makes our job of taking care of the true illnesses harder. I also think that if any of these people who complain about our compassion were a patient in the ER and required our instant care yet we said to them....listen, I have a guy here with a hang nail so you'll have to wait cause his hang nail is just as important as your heart failing.....we would get a whole new attitude.
These people who accuse noncompassion do not have a clue....and it adds to the frustration. I just want to have them shadow me someday.....Where I'm resuscitating a 5 year old, push all kinds of drugs, intubation, comfort the family, chart like I'm writing a novel, need a pee break only to get some attitude from your other nonEmergent patient and their family that they have waited 2 hours for an update. You're standing there with that full bladder and holding back tears from the previous patient's room and as a nurse you should keep your composure. So, if we want to come in this forum and vent about our bad day and the loser who jumped you and you still had to stand their with a smile on your face, use therapeutic communication to diffuse the situation...God forbid PressGaney gets a complaint.....I think those non-medical, non-ER nursing people who complain need to back the heck off. There is no other specialty like ER nursing....And I think ER nurses ROCK!
i agree with you 100%!! it irritates me to no end when i'm walking out of the room of an unsuccessful code, only to come face to face with the irate family of a pt that is in the ER for "yucky eye drainage" x 2 hours PTA, wanting to know why they haven't seen me in there room for the past 30 minutes, and why that other pt was more important than they are. Ugh.
ok,..was gonna try to stay out of this,.but i just can't help myself! i agree that this is a great place to vent. this is supposed to be a safe place to vent. a place to let out all my frustrations away from patients and co workers. a place to verbalize all those thoughts that i would never, ever say to someones face while at work! a place to voice my opinions to other health professionals who understand where i'm coming from.
i don't expect solutions to my frustrations. i don't expect someone to tell me how to fix everything and make my job a day at the park. it just makes me feel better to write it all down and get it out! it makes me feel better for someone who understands to say "yeah, i'm with you there!". if occasionally i learn something in the process of venting then good for me! if commenting to someone else's vent makes them chuckle or breathe a little easier that's great.
i've been a nurse for a long time and i do understand that those who aren't in the medical field don't always understand what i'm venting about. i've often whined about something to my husband (a non medical person) that seemed like an obvious situation to whine about and he looks at me like i'm crazy! i then have to go into more detail about my complaint and sometimes he will understand.
that's why i come here! i shouldn't have to explain to any of my fellow nurses how it makes me feel when a 22yr old tells me he has abd pain 14/10, can't keep anything down, while eating cheeto's and coke, talking on his cell phone! there is no need to explain my initial thoughts when he then tells me he has no medical hx, takes no reg meds and is allergic to tylenol, toradol, haldol, vistaril, naprosyn, ultram, and phenergan!
i come to this site because we are all in the same boat. we are all caring, compassionate, well educated, professionals who are trying to do the best we can for our pts. we get frustrated when, because of situations beyond our control, we can't do our jobs!
i would never, ever, tell a new mom, who is worried about her 8mo olds 2hr temp of 102 that she is wasting my time and resources by coming to the er instead of running to walmart to buy some tylenol! i would never, ever tell the man with back pain for "about 2yrs now, no one can figure out what's causing it" that he needs to loose 100lbs and find a family doc to take care of these "flair ups".
but,.when that same mom comes up to the triage desk and complains that they have been waiting "almost an hour" and "people who came in after us have already gone back" and then gets nasty with me when i explain that the sickest pts go first, i'm gonna come to allnurses and vent! i would so love to take that mom by the hand, take her back to rm 3 the 6yr old who was found in the bottom of the pool, then to rm 5 the 18yr old unrestrained driver of a roll over mvi who was ejected, then to rm 8 the 60yr old who suddenly couldn't speak and has a l sided facial droop, rm 24 the 22yr old ruptured ectopic with a bp of 54/20 who is bleeding out faster than we can put it in and of course or is full! i would so love to put everything in perspective for that mom,..but alas,..i can't,..i won't.
i come to this site to vent to other nurses! to those that know exactly what i'm feeling. i don't vent to my neighbor or my hairdresser. i'm not directing my vent to any patient or family member. i'm here to talk to other like minded professionals!
if you have stumbled in to this site as a non medical person, just looking for an interesting read, or free medical advice you should be prepared for what you might see. nursing can be a very unpleasant job at times. we see people at their worst. we see things on a regular bases that most people will never witness in their lives. we are expected to leave the room of a dead 3yr old and smile and ask mrs jones if "there's anything we can do for her, i have the time".
we are expected to understand that when the doc orders 100 of morphine, he really meant fentanyl. we understand why our pt with sob really does need an 18g in the ac. we understand why a pt with abd pain must stay npo. we know how to do our jobs and we do understand that non medical people don't understand!!
i find it insulting for a non medical person to make judgments on how i do a job that they couldn't do. i don't argue with my mechanic about the best way to fix my car. i don't argue with the electrician about how to fix my furnace. why why do people think it's ok to not only argue with us, but accuse us of being cold, and uncaring when we are doing a job that many people say they could never do?
i must stop,..if you are a non medical person and are offended by what is said on this nursing site,...it's simple,...see that little red box with the white x in the top right corner of the screen? click it!
This guy is alert and oriented okay. He's answering my questions properly. She interrupts me again and proceeds to tell me that they think he is having a reaction to his meds because everyday at the same time he gets "daffy", and that's why she needs to interject. She says they've seen the neurologist and their primary doctor and they say everything is fine.(So how the heck are we going to cure his guy of what I think is dememtia...hahahaha) So, I ask her directly, so what is different today that you bring him to the ER? She tells me," Listen, if you'll shut up long enough for me to finish, we can get this solved, and you need to call the doctor's nurse after this and let her know what is going on" grrrrrr...So, I say to her, "Mamam, I refuse to allow you to speak to me in that tone and manner, the process that happens in this ER is the nurse assesses the pt., the ER doctor sees and orders tests, we get the results and if the ER doctor feels the patient needs admitted, then he will call your father's Doctor....not his nurse. That's how the process works here" She shakes her head at me and says, " Is it protocol for you to be rude to me?" (I about had a syncopal episode from biting my tongue on that one) Rude to her?????OMG.... I had had it....I said Mamam, I have 2 other patients who are physically trying to die on me at this moment, so I will leave this room and send another nurse in to start this non-emergent assessment, she will ask the exact same questions I just spent 20 minutes trying to get answered from your father with your interruptions. So I sent one of my other nurses in and apparently she tried the same crap with her. I think family members are some of the rudest people I know....I wish they weren't allowed back until a disposition is placed...lol....
:bow:
:up:
ThrowEdNurse, BSN, RN
298 Posts
AND, being interrupted approx every 5 min with things like, "can bed 20 have ice? the family of 22 is on the phone for you, Dr. TooLazytoSeePt is on the phone for you, lab is on the phone for you about bed 17 even though you are very busy and they only have a stupid question that any non-medical person could answer but for some reason they NEED you, and in the back ground various monitor alarms, telephones ringing, vents going off, the tube system alarming, and the psych pt screaming." Ok, now I'm done for real.