"I Narcanned Your Honor Student"

Nurseinmyblood · Jul 5, 2017

To the nursing student. Please don't be so judgmental and righteous so early in your career. You will find all sorts of dark humor in nursing. It's part of coping. It doesn't have anything to do with lack of compassion

doglover5 · Jul 5, 2017

In today's society of preaching nonjudgmentalism, I would kindly ask you to wait a few years and then review your stance without passing judgment from your ivory tower. I'm not saying this is correct, but I am saying you are not yet in the shoes of those ED and critical care nurses or first responders that deal with this day in and day out. I'm not justifying the behavior or the content of the shirt, but there's plenty of worse things out there that people should be worried about. Come spend countless hours in the trenches and then tell us how you feel.

bigmack78 · Jul 5, 2017

You'll have a totally different perspective once you become and RN and work on the floor for a bit. Right now everything you're learning is nursing utopia. Our humor is a coping mechanism because without it we'd burn out much sooner.

maji2002 · Jul 5, 2017

I think it pokes fun at the high and mighty in society with the attitude it only happens to "other" people and "other peoples kids". It is an across the board problem, that needs to be addressed. Might wake a few parents who live in denial...............or not. It is funny, however. Dark humor, as others have said, is a coping mechanism. We joke so we don't cry. Let your hair down, and find a way to have fun. You won't last long if you don't. Why so serious? >:)

lindahartford · Jul 5, 2017

No. Not funny.

firemedic12, BSN, RN, EMT-P · Jul 5, 2017

I'm a former firefighter/medic and currently an ICU nurse. Also worked in corrections in a past life. This is hilarious. Also hits home as I once had to Narcan a girl I graduated high school with. She was, ironically, and honor student ðŸ¤£ðŸ¤£ðŸ¤£

firegirlpj · Jul 5, 2017

It's dark, ironic humor that's not appropriate for a hcp to wear as a tee shirt.
I work in psych and I think when people feel superior to their patients they need to move to another specialty.
They rarely do though.

You have it backwards: the take away is that some of the privileged patients pretend to be superior to the hardworking EMTs and medics out there. Your proverbial crap stinks just as much as anyone else's.

tokumoshi, APRN · Jul 5, 2017

You are a nursing student, right? Don't take offense by those of us "seasoned" (and I will not say "hardened, rude") because, as others have said, dark humor is a way some cope with the saddest realities of being human. That said, please don't be influenced by those harsh comments some have given to you here. These HCP's would do well to think a little deeper about their judgemental comments. Your perspective is right where it should be at this point in your career; wide open and suceptible to compassion and empathy toward those we care for. Best wishes for your future and we look foward to you joining the profession by getting licensed!

(just thoughts from a psych NP student)

Aristillus · Jul 5, 2017

Ah the innocence of a nursing student. Bless your heart. Once you have cared for enough overdosed young people, with a tearful parent standing by saying "He was such a great kid, a good student, I never suspected anything like this," you will understand the pain behind the dark humor which gets many of us through our shift.

tokumoshi, APRN · Jul 5, 2017

You are a nursing student, right? Don't take offense by those of us "seasoned" (and I will not say "hardened or rude") because, as others have said, dark humor is a way we sometimes cope will the saddest realities of being human. That said, please don't be influenced by those here that offer unsupportive comments. These HCPs would do well to think a little deeper about what they are offering you. As I see it, your perspective is right where it should be at this point in your career; open and susceptible to compassion and empathy for those we care for.

Best wishes for your future and I look foward to you joining the profession by getting licensed!

(just thoughts from a new psych NP student)

anitalaff, BSN, RN · Jul 5, 2017

One of the biggest problems with addiction is that people treat it as a 'disease of morality' and not just a disease. It's easy to look at people and think "you did this to yourself!" when they're on their 3+ overdose, or third admission to the Psych ED in 2 weeks or relapse and get kicked out of their sober living ect. Yet we don't hold the same disdain for the person with Type II diabetes that comes in with red rock-candy blood due to an A1C of 12 or CbG so high that the glucometer is basically like "Too high to read, I give up - call doctor" over and over. Or the hypertensive patient that washes their Lasix down with a McDonald's #1 supersized despite how many times we've provided education and nutrition consults.
Humans have been getting high ever since some caveman discovered some prehistoric berry that made him feel funny. It's not some recent asocial phenomena that just happened randomly. It's a biological thing - brain enjoys mind altering substances just like the brain enjoys sex or any number of different things - and the brain can get addicted to a variety of activities that make it feel good (not just substances).
Yet we stand there so aghast like - "How can they do this to themselves! They made poor life choices!". Honestly though, we can say that about a lot of illnesses we treat. "How could they eat themselves into type two diabetes! If they just would have adhered to dietary guidelines and exercise!". "How could they give themselves skin cancer! We know better than to go outside without sun screen!".
I've come to this point where I just radically accept that people aren't always going to do what's best for themselves (and sometimes others). People will drive when they're way too tired to be on the road. People will eat McDonalds, people will go tanning, they'll try drugs, sometime's they'll drink too much or just generally make questionable decisions. Most of us come out okay and won't have issues - some of us, won't (they'll try a drug and not be able to stop, they'll fall into a pattern of problematic drinking, they'll continue to make poor dietary choices, they'll fall asleep driving, or get so wrapped up in video games the stop doing their ADL's and develop a crust ect).
The problem is too - that we treat substance use like a criminal issue instead of a public health issue - which causes it to link up with many other criminal enterprises (quite like what happened during prohibition - prostitution, other illegal acts ect) and see it overwhelmingly as a failure on behalf of the addict. So yeah, we can say "it's not economical to treat addicts" but I could say the same thing about diabetes, hypertension or many, many other chronic diseases.

I agree 100%. Thank you for your words.

anitalaff, BSN, RN · Jul 5, 2017

Dark humour is fine and good, but keep it off your tacky t-shirts. This is not about being "seasoned". When you step over the line and post your dark humour on a t-shirt (and wear it) you are making a public statement of judgement.