"It's Not That Special --

[Ruby Vee, BSN]

--ty!"

Not long ago, I was admonished for posting in a specialty forum when I admittedly had never worked in that specialty. It surprised me, because the question being discussed had very little (if anything) to do with that actual specialty, but was more a general question that nursing staff in ANY specialty could have asked -- or answered.

The poster whose header screams "New to Orthopedics, and Everyone Is Mean To me" probably isn't asking for advice on how to toilet a patient with a recent hip replacement, but on how to get along with her brand new colleagues. Now I've never worked orthopedics, either, but I have been a patient there. The nurses I met working there seemed an awful lot like the nurses I've encountered in the specialties I HAVE worked, and the "politics" of the situations didn't seem to be all that much different. A Labor & Delivery nurse, an ER nurse and even (gasp!) an ICU nurse might be able to advise the poster without knowing a thing about orthopedics.

The brand new L & D nurse professes herself to be a good Christian and who posed a question about how to tolerate the immorality of her patients just isn't that different from the brand new ICU nurse fresh from a famous Bible College who announced that "The male nurses here are all immoral" and that she shouldn't be expected to work with such people. Neither question pertains to the specialty the new nurse is working in, but instead seems to be about how do you work with people whose values (morals) are very different from yours and perhaps about judging. You don't have to be a good Christian (or a bad one, for that matter), an L & D nurse or an ICU nurse to be able to shed some light on the subject for the new nurse involved.

"Failing Orientation -- What to do?"

"New LTC nurse being bullied!"

"How to deal with rude and arrogant surgeons?"

"Am I Cut Out For Nursing?"

"New L & D nurse here, can't do night shifts!"

"Is The First Year Of Nursing Really That Bad?"

"Do I really have to be a bedside nurse before I become an NP?"

"Help! I Work In ER And They Expect Me to Drive To Work In A Blizzard!" or

"HURRICANE?! I Have Small Children!"

"They Don't REALLY Expect Me to Work Christmas Do they?"

These are all questions that aren't really specialty related. They may be posted in the poster's specialty forum because that's where the poster normally starts, but when they show up in the "Get Daily" threads, anyone can answer. No, I cannot teach the new L & D nurse who is failing orientation about how to do a lady partsl check . . . but I can advise her on new ways to LEARN to do a lady partsl check, just as an experienced L & D preceptor might advise my orientee that if I'm not good at teaching her to do pacer sensing and stim tests, she might seek out another experienced nurse and ask for clarification or perhaps just a different way to look at the problem, that she might look up the procedure and read it before starting to do the checks, that she might look on AN or some other forum for tips on pacer checks, or that she might consult her nurse educator for specific advice. I can also advise her to go into the meeting with her manager humbly, ask for specific areas where she's failing and display a good attitude about improving. I don't think I'd be offended if an ED or L & D or LTC or Oncology nurse wandered onto the ICU specialty forum through the "Daily" results and made any of those same -- or better -- suggestions.

So how about the rest of you? Are you offended if an ICU nurse wanders onto (or hangs out on) your ER forum? (The ER forum is definitely funnier than the ICU forum!) Are you Oncology nurses upset if an ER nurse answers a question on your forum entitled "Where do I find the best scrubs?" If a L & D nurse answers a question entitled "Just started in ICU and my Preceptor Hates Me"?

I'm assuming that everyone would be offended if I, who hasn't worked oncology in 30 years, started giving advice about chemo protocols to a newbie or advised an orientee on a LTC unit about time management. But what about the more general questions?

[flashpoint]

I agree with you! A lot of questions that are posted in specialty forums are very general questions. Fussy preceptors are everywhere. Blue, petite length scrubs are no different in ICU, L&D, or LTC. Every "specialty" needs people to work nights, weekends, holidays, and even when the weather is bad. When I worked in LTC, I rolled my eye when L&D nurses with no LTC experience tried to tell me the best way to manage my medication pass, but anyone should be able to tell me where to find find the most reliable digital watch.

[blondy2061h, MSN, RN]

I personally think Allnurses has way too many sub forums and probably uses them as a way to gain extra page clicks to sell ads for more money, so no, I don't have a problem with people posting in their non-specialty. I may be a BMT nurse, but that doesn't mean I don't know about diabetes.

[AmyRN303, BSN, RN]

I browse on my tablet and often respond to posts I feel I can add to....that being said, I responded to a post about shoes in the men's forum the other day. I too love my Chuck Taylor's and hate that they offer no arch support...but I'm not a man nor will I ever be :)

[exp626]

I'm with you, Ruby Vee! If something pops up on the "what's new" thread and I think I have something to contribute, I'm on it! I don't always notice if it's in a specialty thread, especially if it's a general question.

[Nola009]

:roflmao:You crack me up...

My answer is: When I saw allnurses dot com, I took it to mean ALL nurses can chime in, because we're one big crazy family that can hopefully, generally understand and help one another!

[iluvivt, BSN, RN]

Yes I agree it is acceptable if you have something to offer. My speciality is Infusion and IV Therapy but you may be suprised by what I know. I often check out Oncology,ED, Home care (do that too!) and the ICU forums since there are often IV Therapy related questions there and I get to see a lot as I go into many departments. I have also lived and worked in nursing a very long time and experience does count! I think the person was being way too territorial!

[Emergent, RN]

I don't see a problem. I do think that there are too many subforums here. On the other hand it's nice for people like school nurses to have their own forum. But I get confused by all the subforums and tend to just stick to the general forum, the ER one, and the colleague one. The rest is a bit overwhelming. But that's me.

The people who admonished you probably didn't like what you said. You have strong opinions sometimes, and I guess they felt like you barged into their party uninvited. But I don't think that allnurses has exclusive forums, so people need to deal with the fact that their posts and opinions are open to criticism from other members of this forum. Otherwise the owners of the site would have set up private groups.

[Not_A_Hat_Person, RN]

Every now and then someone starts a thread implying that experienced nurses are not perfect. The experienced nurses complain about being bashed by spoiled, entitled young nurses who fail to see them for the experts they are. And then we have this. Over and over and over again.

[LadyFree28, BSN, LPN, RN]

The people who admonished you probably didn't like what you said. You have strong opinions sometimes, and I guess they felt like you barged into their party uninvited. But I don't think that allnurses has exclusive forums, so people need to deal with the fact that their posts and opinions are open to criticism from other members of this forum. Otherwise the owners of the site would have set up private groups.

Agreed; the only caveat is Ruby gave very safe advice; just being butt hurt about it doesn't solve anything, especially when one chooses to put their opinions out in the Internet universe; at least in this space the advice fell under "a nurse is a nurse" category that was up to the poster to use it or lose it...

[wooh, BSN, RN]

I only think it's bad if you get judgmental about whomever the specialty forum belongs to. Like I've been guilty of posting in threads from the ED forum about how horrible it is to try to give report to the floors before realizing I was in the ED forum. I was wrong and figure if they want to rant, we should let them. Just like if I was in the peds forum and wanted to rant about ED nurses, I should get to in "my" forum. Kind of like I think all nurses should get to rant wherever here without non-nurses telling us how horrible we are on a NURSES' forum.

[Fiona59]

I try and check to see if is a general topic before responding. What is annoying and frustrating is when some responders reply to Canadian posters with information that is so non-applicable to our world it's almost funny. Our hiring practices and lab values are different but we have posters wade in and go to town.