Remember when. . .

Remember when being able to say you were a nurse, be it RN or LPN brought nods of approval from people. Not so much anymore.

I've noticed a few things both on the job and through mass media. Patients and their families USED TO treat the nurse assigned their care with respect. I'm seeing that mindset long gone. Patients are rude, demanding and sometimes downright hurtful with their comments and actions toward the nursing staff.

Patients treat the nurse as if they were their own personal servant. I went into nursing to make a difference in someone's life by administering them the prescribed medication, assisting them with eating, helping then wash and dress, etc. I DID NOT become a nurse to be berated because I didn't have a cookie to give a patient's grandchild that was visiting, really?

It annoys me when a family member, one who is NOT on the contact list for the patient, calls and demands personal information about their family member, and when you explain to them, that due to HIPPA regulations you cannot give them that information, they phone the nursing supervisor and state, "that dumb nurse on the floor wouldn't tell me anything", which the supervisor also again stated the HIPPA rule and encouraged the person to speak to someone else in the family and they could share information.

Too many people like to and want to use the nurse as their punching bag. Nurses are, I feel, definitely NOT treated with the same respect they once were.

Is this a regional issue, I'm in NE Ohio, or has anyone else in the working world noticed this shift in how nurses are treated while on the job?