Rant

Nurses General Nursing

Published

Please take a moment to learn about your patient. I had to give that advice to the RN caring for my very educated pharmacist father in law. Don't speak to the man like he is a moron. If she had read anything on the computer she would have known that. He doesn't require special education style discussions on his medications.

Specializes in SICU, trauma, neuro.

Poopy squishy so it doesn't hurt your heiney?????? My just-turned-3 y/o daughter doesn't even call it "poopy."

Our EMR doesn't have a prominent place for occupation, and it would be easy to miss if it was just mentioned in a note. Everybody and their brother enters notes--even the phlebotomists will enter a note if they came to the unit to draw and they didn't for any reason (pt in MRI, RN already got labs etc.) Staff MDs will C&P the resident's or med student's note w/ an "I agree" addendum. So anyway the list of notes gets long very quickly and there's not always time to read every single note since admission...

But regardless if he's a pharmacist or a 3rd-grade educated shoe shine man..."poopy squishy so it doesn't hurt the heiney??" Really?? Who SAYS that??

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"Colace is to make your poopy squishy so it doesn't hurt your heiney"

Seriously,Who says this?????? I wouldn't even say that to a 5 year old.

WoW.:facepalm:

Not to pick on your post at all jrwest, you just have a nice clear example of the "quote". The OP didn't quote the staff member as actually using these words. This is a rant thread and naturally prone to paraphrasing and hyperbole.

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Specializes in orthopedic/trauma, Informatics, diabetes.

We don't see occupation on our charts and we don't ask it on admission. That is for the case managers. I know there is a place that I could find it if I wanted, but I usually don't have time.

I would never speak to someone that way. Usually if a pt is a health professional (or former one) the charge nurse will tell us. I am in ortho and we get health care professionals that have no idea what to expect sometimes-they are not used to being a pt, but they DO know what a stool softener does.

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I had an male OBGYN tell me to slip my "panties" off and cover up with a sheet. Panties? really?

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Specializes in Clinical Research, Outpt Women's Health.

Panties is considered a more polite term for underwear in some regions......................

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Panties is considered a more polite term for underwear in some regions......................

Oh, well here panties is used for little girls or adults trying to be naughty

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Specializes in Pediatrics, Emergency, Trauma.
Oh, well here panties is used for little girls or adults trying to be naughty

:eek:

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I agree that the statement you provided about colace is not appropriate for anyone other than possibly a young peds patient, but I do not disagree with explaining medication intended effects and/or side effects with my patients despite their profession. I kind of feel the opposite of what you say. I think it would be a disservice to my patient to assume that they don't want me to explain or reinforce teaching about medications they are taking. Just assuming that I shouldn't provide education because of their background seems like I'm overlooking an important part of my job. Now, in that situation I may preface it with "I like to make sure all of my patients understand the uses and side effects of their medications, but I know you probably know as much or more about many medications than I do as a pharmacist, so if it's too repetitive or you'd like me just to give you the names, let me know." Or something polite like that. That way I feel like I'm still fulfilling my duty to provide teaching, while acknowledging that they have that level of knowledge.

Even if I know the patient has been taking the medication before I like to include "This is your xyz for your blood pressure" or a short statement so we are both on the same page about what the medication is and the reason they are prescribed it. I think if I was the patient I would appreciate that too because it means that my care provider is actively thinking about each medication, what it is for, and why I'm getting it, while giving me the time to process through each medication in my mind too.

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Specializes in Med/Surg, Academics.
I agree that the statement you provided about colace is not appropriate for anyone other than possibly a young peds patient, but I do not disagree with explaining medication intended effects and/or side effects with my patients despite their profession. I kind of feel the opposite of what you say. I think it would be a disservice to my patient to assume that they don't want me to explain or reinforce teaching about medications they are taking. Just assuming that I shouldn't provide education because of their background seems like I'm overlooking an important part of my job. Now, in that situation I may preface it with "I like to make sure all of my patients understand the uses and side effects of their medications, but I know you probably know as much or more about many medications than I do as a pharmacist, so if it's too repetitive or you'd like me just to give you the names, let me know." Or something polite like that. That way I feel like I'm still fulfilling my duty to provide teaching, while acknowledging that they have that level of knowledge.

Even if I know the patient has been taking the medication before I like to include "This is your xyz for your blood pressure" or a short statement so we are both on the same page about what the medication is and the reason they are prescribed it. I think if I was the patient I would appreciate that too because it means that my care provider is actively thinking about each medication, what it is for, and why I'm getting it, while giving me the time to process through each medication in my mind too.

Completely agree. Also, if someone is a healthcare professional, they likely don't know everything about everything. If we skip explanations, we risk saying a term that the patient doesn't know, and most likely that patient will be embarrassed to say, "I don't understand that."

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Specializes in ICU.

I kind of had the opposite experience. I was an MICU nurse and new mother who's daughter went to the NICU. She was in the NICU as a precautionary measure and when I called the morning after her birth for the update , they spoke to me like a nurse and not a new scared mom telling me my baby " brady'd down and become apenic when feeding" like it was nothing.

I wanted to to spoken to and explained what that means like I'm a new mom! NICU and MICU are very different. Luckily the other nurses treated me that way when I finally could get I to the NICU.

I also had a postpartum nurse come I to my room who was on orientation and is to know I was a nurse. I heard her preceptor come in and do a head to toe assessment and explain what she was doing. I let her do the whole shebang and nodded along. It was a good nursing experience for her.

The he nurse may have not know . All we need to do is say is " I'm a nurse, and I understand you can speak to me in medical terms, I prefer that"

or in my case I basically said " I'm a nurse, but I'm also a new mom and not a NICU nurse, first and foremost , please threat me like a new mom with medical knowledge"

thats all

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Specializes in ICU.

I would have just simply said, "that's ok; I'm a pharmacist!" or something like that. Our records do not indicate employment or education either. We only indicate if they are disabled. Every nurse is not perfect; choose your battles.

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Specializes in Eventually Midwifery.
I had an male OBGYN tell me to slip my "panties" off and cover up with a sheet. Panties? really?

uuuggghh, creepy :***:

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