Does anybody else find the "I didn't go to school to do X" mentality annoying? Annoying, not the correct word. Hmm...frustrating is more like it. Let me clarify: the "I didn't go to school to do X", X being, I guess, bathing patients or waitressing (i.e. bringing patients sodas, etc). Isn't the whole idea behind nursing to care for both the body and soul (spirit, mind, whatever your religious/cultural beliefs are)? My goal here isn't to be all Florence Nightingale-ish, but just to inquire as to when this attitude began and why.
I believe it's possible to prevent your patient from becoming septic and having a keen eye in recognizing subtle changes AND get your patient or patient's family member a warm blanket or maybe the 10th warm blanket during your shift. If it brings them comfort, why not do it? Nobody is above bringing comfort to a patient Nurses are both skilled, intelligent AND caring. I certainly wouldn't want someone with a "I'm too good for X" mentality to care for myself or my family member. And, yes, I understand that it's not always possible to do the little things for patients; there are certainly shifts from (shall we say purgatory? Yes, that's a kinder word lol) where it's just not possible, and I understand that we're pulled in a million different directions. But, it's everybody's job to help patients, not the CNA vs. nurse mentality.
Which brings me to one of my biggest pet peeves (nurses not helping CNA's). One of my friends who is a CNA at another hospital told me that a nurse refused to help her, saying, "That is not my job. I don't touch patients." WHAT?? Wow is all I can say. Most people in the public thank nurses and appreciate all that we do, but two things that are keeping us from being viewed as a profession would be: the above statement by the few nurses who say/do such things, and gossiping/texting at nurse stations. Hospitals really shouldn't have to have policies forbidding facebook and texting; it should be a given that we don't do such things at work when we should be working. (I understand that there are family emergencies, etc, but still, those can be handled in staff rooms away from patients).
In closing, I just want to thank all of the nurses, CNA's/PCT's on here that work so hard every single day for their patients! There may be days where we may feel like all we did was run, run all shift, and think "am I making a difference?" Yes, most certainly. What would have happened if you had not noticed X, for instance? Would your patient not be worse for the weather? Or how about the :) you got from Mrs Jones in Room 202 for doing X? There seems to be a prevalent "I'm just a nurse" mentality, as well, and that inferiority complex really needs to stop.
I had a tolerable (meaning: not intensely crazy) shift tonight, and I thought of this thread as I was changing a brief for the third time on a patient who just got Lasix IV. I actually enjoyed the time spent with this A/O x 3, bedfast, intermittently incontinent patient...talking to him as I was cleaning him up and trying desperately to warm the spray cleanser on the cloth to avoid sending his testicles into his kidneys from the cold. We were both laughing by the time I was done.
On crazy shifts, I would give anything to be able to spend that one-on-one time with patients.
Most days, I feel that I didn't go to school to fill out paperwork. I went to school to get away from that crap. Little did I know...
I had a tolerable (meaning: not intensely crazy) shift tonight, and I thought of this thread as I was changing a brief for the third time on a patient who just got Lasix IV. I actually enjoyed the time spent with this A/O x 3, bedfast, intermittently incontinent patient...talking to him as I was cleaning him up and trying desperately to warm the spray cleanser on the cloth to avoid sending his testicles into his kidneys from the cold. We were both laughing by the time I was done.
On crazy shifts, I would give anything to be able to spend that one-on-one time with patients.
Most days, I feel that I didn't go to school to fill out paperwork. I went to school to get away from that crap. Little did I know...
I love the hands on patient care. Nurses are so crazy with all of the charting and miscellaneous things that this aspect of nursing is lacking due to time constraints. I thank God for the fantastic aides I work with but I would love to be able to give my patients more direct care. Especially my little old folks. Some times I feel that the aides spend more time with my patients than I do.
Attitude has been around since Florence and Mary Barton were around. Back then they could probably smack ya upside the head with a bedpan. If we all had a dollar for the times someone with time on their hands, while sitting on their rump annouced to the world at large. "I didn't go to school for....."
It's not just nurses, just wait till you hear a resident say that and your blood boils! I've read all the opinions here and I totally agree with all those who say...yes but. There are good reasons to delagate, and we all have our melt-down point where we mutter under our breath...the "I didn't go to school to..." words. The difference is consistency and the ugliness of entitlement and abuse of position. Next time that happens, you better duck, bedpans may be made of plastic now but they still pack quite a wallop!
Attitude has been around since Florence and Mary Barton were around. Back then they could probably smack ya upside the head with a bedpan. If we all had a dollar for the times someone with time on their hands, while sitting on their rump annouced to the world at large. "I didn't go to school for....."
It's not just nurses, just wait till you hear a resident say that and your blood boils! I've read all the opinions here and I totally agree with all those who say...yes but. There are good reasons to delagate, and we all have our melt-down point where we mutter under our breath...the "I didn't go to school to..." words. The difference is consistency and the ugliness of entitlement and abuse of position. Next time that happens, you better duck, bedpans may be made of plastic now but they still pack quite a wallop!
I agree with those who love the patient care aspect. We sometimes have such little time for the real getting to know someone as well as an aide might who bathes and feeds or truns the patients. I went from CNA to LPN to RN and with each role change I have felt myself get further from the heart of the matter. Some days I really get to connect with the patients, educate, or just give them the care I always wish I had time to give...those are the days I come back to nursing day after day for...or when I can help out others on the floor.
I don't particularly love the busy work of getting blankets or wiping poo, but it's part of the job and I get to do the things I like because of it, such as playing with balloon pumps.
Nurses who say "I didn't go to school for that" annoy me because it still has to be done and all that attitude does is make the techs hide.
when I first started nursing 20 years ago, we did not have nursing assistants, only RN's. No other level of nurse worked in the hospital. The RN would do all the washes, change and make beds, help patients and do the nurse techno stuff.
When you assist a patient in the shower, you know their mobility, you get to chek out their skin and their ability to do tasks. Now RN's do not do that yet we still get asked what is patient y like on their feet? Well how can you andwer that if you just see them walk and not actually engage in actintiy that requires other movemts. Lots of people can walk in a line but put them in a shower and they crumble. You only know that if you see it..you only see it if you do it.
I think bringing in nursing assistants is wrong because they do not document and you only have their word..and really, if I am writing something, I'd rather witness it not write second hand...but thats just me.
I have seen RN's who can go through a full shift and not touch a patient. They will say "but the wound is sealed" and yet that patient could be bleeding under the blankets or then look at the drain bottle..it's empty so they record zero drainage..but they do not look at the tubing to make sure it has not disconected or is kinked. I think some RN's would get a shock if they knew the bottle was actually joined to the patient.
i myself will be attending lpn school soon and once im a nurse i know i will help in anyway when it comes to a patients.
ahh, yes. because when you have back to back codes, residents falling every five minutes(with lovely ten page incident reports to complete after every event!) and a giant med pass, you will go ahead and take fifteen minutes to keep fetching ice for someone who insists it "isn't cold enough." just because we don't come and help with every little itty bitty thing does not mean we "have a stick up our ass." i can come and help you do your entire round. i was a cna before, i'm not too good to clean. but remember, when i go to do my round, you can't go and pass my meds/do my tx's for me. go to nursing school and get a job and see how you feel about it then.
Ahh, yes. Because when you have back to back codes, residents falling every five minutes(with lovely ten page incident reports to complete after every event!) and a GIANT med pass, you will go ahead and take fifteen minutes to keep fetching ice for someone who insists it "isn't cold enough." Just because we don't come and help with every little itty bitty thing does NOT mean we "have a stick up our ass." I can come and help you do your entire round. I was a CNA before, I'm not too good to clean. But remember, when I go to do MY round, you can't go and pass my meds/do my tx's for me. Go to nursing school and get a job and see how you feel about it then.
I did LTC and I'd help the CNAs do rounds sometimes. Morale is usually not good in a SNF so I did what I could to help out. It was known that if something came up, I'd have to stop helping them and go do something. Some other nurses didn't like me because I "set a bad example". They'd lollygag through their med pass or wound care treatment so that the CNAs would finish a round and they wouldn't feel bad for sitting down and reading a magazine while the CNAs were breaking their backs. I can't tell you how many times I heard the "I went to nursing school so I wouldn't have to do that" line from SNF nurses, both when I was a CNA and when I was nurse. "Go to nursing school and get a job and see how you feel about it then." I did and that's how I feel.
I went to school to get away from that crap. Little did I know...
dudette10, MSN, RN
3,530 Posts
I had a tolerable (meaning: not intensely crazy) shift tonight, and I thought of this thread as I was changing a brief for the third time on a patient who just got Lasix IV. I actually enjoyed the time spent with this A/O x 3, bedfast, intermittently incontinent patient...talking to him as I was cleaning him up and trying desperately to warm the spray cleanser on the cloth to avoid sending his testicles into his kidneys from the cold. We were both laughing by the time I was done.
On crazy shifts, I would give anything to be able to spend that one-on-one time with patients.
Most days, I feel that I didn't go to school to fill out paperwork.
I went to school to get away from that crap. Little did I know...