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?
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.
I file it right there with the constant "File Safe Harbor" and "Talk to your union rep" advice that only applies if you're in Texas for Safe Harbor or lucky enough to work in a union facility, which most of us don't. I swear some people think the only people at AN are ones working in their own facility with their same P&P and SOP.
Ruby Vee, I am familiar with the way you respond to posts. I agree with you. You are forward yet informative. I have always thought that we as nurses can offer advice, solutions and respectful criticism when the need arises. If the poster is not of that specialty, that decree usually preludes the suggestion so that it is not assumed that we are of a particular specialty. We usually see more than one type of nursing in our own specialty. Take psych, for instance, even though it may not be your specialty, you will inevitably see it in med-surg, peds, L/D, and other areas as well. You may have a question and have something to offer or need clarification with something you experienced. We need not be so "joined at the hip" with our nursing areas. SHARE/LIVE/LEARN
Well,i am sorry to say this but i find most nurses who work in other specialties besides the one i work in(private duty) give WRONG advice,or their answer does not pertain to private duty at all.
I think Private Duty might be that one unique specialty though.
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.
OK- in my world 'BMT' refers to my favorite sandwich from Subway (toasted, provolone, lettuce, tomato and spicy mustard please!).
What is "BMT' in nursing? I've pondered this much of the night- help!
Specializes in Clinical Research, Outpt Women's Health.
When people do not like your answer because it was not what they wanted to hear and does not reinforce their perception of themselves as right and everyone else as wrong they complain that way.
Drives me nuts.
I have choked back some replies to those posters that just about killed me.
Specializes in Nurse Leader specializing in Labor & Delivery.
Well,i am sorry to say this but i find most nurses who work in other specialties besides the one i work in(private duty) give WRONG advice,or their answer does not pertain to private duty at all.
I think Private Duty might be that one unique specialty though.
Except that the OP is not talking about specialty-specific advice, but rather, general advice about getting along with colleagues, etc. that is universal and transcends specialties.
wooh, BSN, RN
1 Article; 4,383 Posts
I file it right there with the constant "File Safe Harbor" and "Talk to your union rep" advice that only applies if you're in Texas for Safe Harbor or lucky enough to work in a union facility, which most of us don't. I swear some people think the only people at AN are ones working in their own facility with their same P&P and SOP.