I was at a friend's house the other day. This friend of her husband's was there. He had a similar injury to what I sustained last winter and I hadn't seen him since I was in the early stages of recovery. He said "How are we doing today?" LOL.
I knew he was referring to my injury, but ignored that and said "We are doing fine. and how are we doing?" I couldn't help myself, I just have decided to be a smarty pants from now on in life. Then he got more specific and had we had a nice talk about our injuries, comparing notes.
Yet, when I talk to my patients, I find myself just naturally slipping into the same vernacular. "How are we feeling today?" "We're going to need a urine sample" yadda yadda yadda...
Why do we just naturally talk this way to patients. It's like nurse baby talk. Any thoughts?
Good point. We do often talk that way! But WHY? hmm..I think because we are trying to focus the patient....get their attention and focus in on the plans for the morning or day. Maybe? lol
I don't know. I wish I knew. I live in south Texas so maybe it's a regional thing but I wasn't born down here. It gets under my skin. I don't know you! So much no!
That's just the weirdest thing to call someone who isn't your mom!
I call parents Mom and Dad. :) But just because I can not be trusted to learn a million names. Can you imagine? I can hardly keep track of my patient's names.
I find myself using the "WE" too, and I can't tell you why. It just comes out.
I was at a friend's house the other day. This friend of her husband's was there. He had a similar injury to what I sustained last winter and I hadn't seen him since I was in the early stages of recovery. He said "How are we doing today?" LOL.
I knew he was referring to my injury, but ignored that and said "We are doing fine. and how are we doing?" I couldn't help myself, I just have decided to be a smarty pants from now on in life. Then he got more specific and had we had a nice talk about our injuries, comparing notes.
Yet, when I talk to my patients, I find myself just naturally slipping into the same vernacular. "How are we feeling today?" "We're going to need a urine sample" yadda yadda yadda...
Why do we just naturally talk this way to patients. It's like nurse baby talk. Any thoughts?
"Nurse Emergent is just fine, thank you, and how are YOU doing? Back to work yet, still on disability? Do you want to talk about it?!"
Ok, snarky to the core, but I always feel like comments like "how are we doing today?" are bathed in sarcasm....
NursesRmofun, ASN, RN
1,239 Posts
Good point. We do often talk that way! But WHY? hmm..I think because we are trying to focus the patient....get their attention and focus in on the plans for the morning or day. Maybe? lol