What NOT to do when your patient works in healthcare too...

Ever felt a palpable change in bedside manner once your healthcare team learned you are a nurse? Have you ever noticed a difference in your own attitude towards a patient once you learned that they work in health care, & have you ever thought about it? I have. Nurses Announcements Archive

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You have been there before or at least I have, where I enter the room begin gathering patient history and reason for admission when there it is... it's obvious from the patient responses -they are not your layperson patient and eventually reveal that they too work in healthcare; Usually I feel like I can handle it and nothing changes in my bedside manner, -or does it?

Until a recent experience of being on the other side, (the patient -not the provider) I always thought my communications with fellow health care workers were fine...but were they? I have compiled a list of all the things that struck me as odd and unsettling in my experiences as a patient. These experiences served to remind me that not only am I a healthcare provider but a patient (and a customer) and therefore just as worthy of the courtesy and professionalism that is afforded any other patient. That being said I'm going to take this into account whenever I come across a fellow healthcare worker as a patient in my practice.

So without further ado... What NOT to do when your patient works in healthcare too...

DON'T

Discuss the finer points of ICD10 coding. Yes -they are bothersome and tricky but please don't waste my time (the patient) complaining about them.

Assume that I know everything about your practice. Healthcare is huge and can be very specialized so my knowledge base may differ from yours.

Revert to technical jargon. Granted, -as a healthcare provider I may understand what you are saying but I'm not on the job and frankly don't want to be while I'm the patient. So explain it like I'm 5. Please, if I'm really sick I won't be offended, honestly. (Understandably this is going to vary and someone might get offended so in that case -jargon it up. Remember the mantra in school about "Always be flexible!" =P

Complain about time constraints. Nothing makes a patient feel uncomfortable like telling them that you didn't even have time to review their chart before seeing them. Really.

Badmouth other practitioners. We all work with them; please don't bring them to my appointment. Comparisons and scoffing at their mistakes don't make me (the patient) feel more confident in your practice.

Interrupt after posing a question. Why ask if you have no interest in hearing the answer? I realize there are time restrictions, yet I have also discovered some very important information that has directly affected patient outcomes by allowing for 'the long answer'; Remember that when someone is sick they can't necessarily be concise.

Partake in professional one-upmanship. What is it about the medical profession that attracts this kind of behavior?

Treat the computer. Eye contact it so important! Just because I'm in the business doesn't give you the provider permission to effectively use our appointment to catch up on paperwork.

And last but not least...

Don't hand a family member of the patient (whom you've just learned is a nurse) a shoulder immobilizer and say "You should probably know how to work this." then walk away.

DO

Remember that stress and fear reduces a person's IQ significantly and take that into account during patient education. Please KISS (Keep It Short & Simple). Where Did My IQ points Go? | Psychology Today

Treat me like a patient (not a colleague) with the same fears and concerns that anyone else might have.

It's discouraging or perhaps encouraging how the 'Don't' list outnumbers the 'Do' list. Obviously, the 'Do' list will take more time and patients (pun intended). I'm sure that all of us at one point or another have guarded against telling our providers what we do for a living to ensure an unbiased approach to our care. On the same note when visiting family members in the hospital I have warned them against revealing my profession for the same reasons.

For me I will endeavor to remember: with all my patients' health care professional or not -ultimately we are all just people and want to feel safe and taken care of in the healthcare setting. What are some of your experiences? What would you add to the 'Do' and 'Don't' list?

I try not to share I'm a nurse when I'm a patient. It inevitably comes out there. Usually when I give too accurate and succinct information, or use the correct terms, and/or when someone recognizes me.

Some time ago, I was a patient in our ED at work. My being a nurse kind of came in handy - I was able to discuss my care with the resident and attending treating me - and advocate against an expensive and unnessecary round of imaging. They asked where I work, I explained I worked in that facility, they asked what I did, I admitted I was a nurse. They asked where, I told them my department. They asked which "part" and I told them. Which is when they finally decided to believe me - my "issue" and present or absent symptoms were very similar to issues patients I care for have.

I hate, more than anything, when family members are hospitalized and it comes out that I'm a nurse. Several family members have had surgery where I work, I've been ID'd by coworkers, and by friends who work on the inpatient units my family member(s) were placed on. But overall, in general, it's so annoying - like the floor nurses expect me to translate or reinforce everything because I'm a nurse.

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Specializes in Home health.

I agree that it should depend on the situation - many times I've taken care of nurses and doctors and learned that no matter who they are it is important to explain everything and not assume they know. I had a cardiac icu nurse for 25 years who said she had no idea what metoprolol was for... I don't know if she was kidding or not feeling well or what. But from that encounter on I explain every single thing in great detail. And if they tell me to stop because they know, then I know. Some get offended when I explain too much, but I always nicely explain that I do so because I care about their wellbeing and they are always more than welcome to interrupt and tell me they know.

As previous posters mentioned, I also have had terrible encounters with nurses and doctors as a patient. I had some serious hemorrhage after cervical surgery and went to ER, blood was pouring like a river, but being a nurse I was drinking water nonstop because I was feeling dizzy and knew my bp was going down. The triage nurse sent me to the waiting room to wait - even though I explained I am really bleeding a lot. He said - well I know you're a nurse and all so you see your bp is still in 100's so you're fine. It didn't matter that at that point I drank close to 3 liters of water and was dizzy and my mouth was still super dry. I waited for an hour running to the bathroom every 5 minutes. It wasn't until another poor patient walked into the bathroom while I was still there and screamed - I tried to contain the bleeding but was too weak and so the whole floor was covered in blood. They suddenly had a bed open up in a second and understood I wasn't kidding about my condition.

Another time, another complication from surgery - hematometra - pretty serious as explained later by my oncologist who apologized profusely for the Er doc who treated me like I was exaggerating and drug seeking for the severe pain I had that made me unable to move and made me vomit because it was sooo sooo bad. He said "ha! Saw your abd us, looks like not much going on, go home and take your ibuprofen. You're a nurse you know how to manage pain" I was seriously in tears.

I asked the hospital multiple times to remove RN after my name from my medical records because it seems that when they know I am a nurse they treated me like I was supposed to know better than to seek care for when something was seriously wrong.

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I have come to believe over the years that the dont's you highlighted might apply to the health care worker as being the patient. For me I rather say I am a nurse when I am with a family member because generally speaking it keeps the nurses, CNA and doctors on their toes.

I notice they dont only walk on egg shell but also they tend to meet the needs of my family member efficiently and treat them as though their jobs depends on it.

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Specializes in PICU, Pediatrics, Trauma.
I'll spoil any of you when it will be my opportunity to do so. :) As a CNA, I took care a few retired nurses. They were amazing to work for.

Awww! Thank you! I love to "spoil" patients when I have the time and means to do so. I think for many of us, it's feels good to be able to give TLC...that's one part of Nursing I love. When it got to the point where I could hardly do the absolute needed things without a ton of pressure and stress, I got out of acute care.

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