Rude nursing comments

Nurses Relations

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After reading the post about whether spouses were in the medical field, it reminded me of a comment that my husband made to me that to this day he regrets. (It was over 5 years ago.) I had been an LPN for about 10 years and we were discussing an RN that we have known for a long time and he said, "Oh, she's the one who is a REAL nurse, right?".............yes, the silence was defeaning (sp), then.................to top it off, when I said, "Excuse me, I AM a NURSE!!!" he said, "Well, I just meant that she had a degree." ....................Oh, did he pay for that one. I was so angry that he didn't even understand what he had said!!!! Believe me, he does now!!!

Specializes in Cardiac/Vascular & Healing Touch.

I use the same come back & I am female!

My students were in my dept on Wed. & a highly respected infectious disease MD was seeing a pt. that I had assigned to my students. He turned to her as he was leaving & said, "Great that you are in nursing school, what a noble profession you have chosen, it is very important!" & then disappeared. She was knocked out! I really appreciated the boost! However, the same week two other MD's told my students, "marry well & get out of nursing"......I could just kick them! Yup, I want them to "marry well" but stay in the profession & elevate it to what it is, noble!

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I wonder if anyone else gets this at work, while dealing with a particular difficult, rude pt who was demanding her meds which had not yet been pescribed (pt arrived on unit 15 min before) and she had not been clerked in, as i was explaining this she screamed "give me my dam tablets I pay your wages" taken aback by the tone a calmly informed the said pt that 1. She could not afford me. 2. I actually pay her pension. At which point her husband (who was at her bedside) burst out laughing. Needless to say she was the most polite and quiet pt I ahve nursed afterwards, she even apologised later for her rudeness. It still makes me smile.

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Specializes in Cardiac/Vascular & Healing Touch.

I loved that comment Bettyboop!!!!!

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I still remember this after (counts on fingers....) 25 years....

I was an NA taking care of a little old man from the local nursing facility admitted for a fractured hip. I gave him his bath etc, the whole time he hollered at the top of his lungs "NURSE,NURSE" After 30 minutes or so, I looked him in the eyes and said forcefully "Mr _____ I AM THE NURSE" He blinked a couple times and proceeded to holler at the top of his lungs "WAITRESS" HA HA HA It still makes me laugh!

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I find it very insulting when pts or family members say:

"you are too smart to be a nurse, you should be the doctor." OR

"For a nurse you don't know how to fluff a pillow very well." OR

"There is my little waitress coming back right now." OR

"Oh I don't think she will know the answer to that question, she is only a nurse. We need to talk to the doctor." OR MY FAVE

"She is just a nurse."

On that one I start talking pathophysiology, med mixtures, standards of care whatever. I talk nursing in nursing terms, which nine out of ten times is WAY over their head. By the time I get going their eyes are big as saucers. They usually apologize.

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Hmmm, this isn't really a rude nursing comment, but rather a descrpition of how rudely a resident treated me...

While working one evening in a large inner city teaching hospital, I paged the on-call surgical resident. He phones back and blasts me .... telling me that he switched call, and how stupid was I to not know. :angryfire Like it was MY fault he failed to change the actual SCHEDULE ~ ugh! :rolleyes:

He hangs up on me...then calls me back to rant and rave some more.

I interrupt him and say...rather loudly so he got my point...

MD DOESNT MEAN "MADE DIVINE" ~ TELL IT TO SOMEONE WHO CARES!! I then nicely hung up the phone ;)

That doc respected me from that moment on!!

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Two decades later and I'm still steaming about a comment that a doctor made to me, thinking he was paying me a compliment. I was green and still soft hearted. The "team" (what a crock!) had just finished rounding. I used to participate in rounds because , well, you know, you learn things and I had the chance to ask questions,etc. This attending stopped me afterwards and said, in front of some interns and residents as I recall, "You're so bright, why didn't you go to medical school instead of being just a nurse?" To this day, I'm not sure what I should have said, what I did say, what I would say if the same remark was to be made to me after 23 years of nursing. Can you just imagine if I was to say to a new doctor, "You're so kind and compassionate. Why didn't you become a nurse instead of being just a doctor?"

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Specializes in ORTHOPAEDICS-CERTIFIED SINCE 89.

Just for the record. In SC in the past, senior high school students in a vocational track could take practical nurse training and graduated high school and nursing school at the same time. This is no longer the case, but someone could very well say their daughter took her nursing in high school.

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It never ceases to amaze me that the ones who "don't get it" aren't in the health feild,and yet, think they know it alllll..

recent comment to a co-worker by a visitor...

you're over here "writing" when my friend needs some H2O.

never put the call light on , never asked, just "assumed" she was doing puzzles I guess errr

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