"My kids"

[BlueBoxSearcher]

Do you think its okay to refer the sick children you help as "my kids"?I have always thought that term to be wonderful and connect the children to the nurse more.Some people say you shouldnt,I think its okay as long as you dont think you are the parent.

[Double-Helix, BSN, RN]

They are my patients and they are kids. Yes, I will refer to them a patient as my kid” when speaking to a doctor or coworker. Such as, My kid in room 6 spiked a temp, could you order blood cultures?” or My kids both needed new IVs this morning.” I'd never refer to them as mine” when speaking to their parents, though.

[PICUGuy]

We always use "My kid" or more commonly "My friend". I think it's nice. :)

[adventure_rn, MSN, NP]

We always use "My kid" or more commonly "My friend". I think it's nice. :)

Love it. For me in NICU, it's "My little one." Never had any issues.

[la_chica_suerte85, BSN, RN]

My "fun friend!"

That's what we say. :)

For some reason, "My kiddo" drives me up the wall.

[Luckyyou, BSN, RN]

NICU mostly here, but I use "my kid", "my little friend", Mr or Miss [last name] -- which cracks me up if they're 400-500 grams -- or my personal favorite, "the troublemaker in [bedspace]". Always to the medical team or other nurses, though. To the parents, I just refer to them by first name. I definitely don't think I'm the parent...I don't want to be a parent of children of my own, let alone someone else's.

[BetsyOverlord]

I once worked in a Med-Surg unit at a small hospital. We rarely had pediatric patients, much less babies. Another nurse called a pediatrician on a baby we had one. She said something like "Your 'little one' in room 12 has a fever (or some other problem)." The pediatrician got really upset and hung up on her because she said "that is 'baby's name,' not my 'little one!'" I thought it was a little extreme since that was her only patient in the hospital at that time.

[jrt4]

I usually say "our friend in room x" it sounds nicer particularly if you are at the nurses station where others could potentially hear. I had a director that referred to them as "varmits" :)

[PixieRN1]

I never referred to them as "mine"...simply because...well, they belong to someone else. Mainly I have made it a practice not to because I don't want to risk either the child's family or even some other family overhearing that. Even a visitor.

Personally, as a mom of two, if a nurse had ever called my child "her kiddo", I would have bristled. Would I ever had said anything about it to the nurse or anyone else? Absolutely not, because I would be able to realize it is a term of endearment.

However, it's just as easy to call them by their name or in the PICU, where we only had 16 rooms, their room number, if I was actively worrying about violating HIPAA.

Now I don't have trouble with terms of endearment in general for peds, but I draw the line at calling them "my child". But that's just what works for me.

Best Regards

[HiddencatBSN, BSN]

When I'm talking about my patient assignment I talk about them as "my kids." As in, returning from a break or helping out in another area "I have to get back to my kids." But I don't refer to them individually as "my kid." I use "my patient" or "room 3" unless I need to be more specific. I think maybe it sounds too personal? I use endearments a lot but also make a point to use the patient's name as well.