Silly Question

[rnWinn]

Hey, is it just where I work or does everybody seem to refer to their patients as "ladies"? ie. when I go to the charge nurse and say "my lady wants an epidural now"? Just curious! And no, we do not ever mean it in a disrespectful way!

[Creamsoda, ASN, RN]

Yeah, I call them ladies, dudes, guys ect. Most of us do that.

[KellNY, RN]

Lady or mama.

Mama, usually for the Pt's I click with.

[grbrico]

mmm where we work.... they are numbers....

87 wants pain med... or whatever... we call the room number

we were chastised... harshly for saying lady or guy or man, because our Hippa Guru's thought it was revealing too much information to say lady or man.... so now they are all numbers....

[rnWinn]

we were chastised... harshly for saying lady or guy or man, because our Hippa Guru's thought it was revealing too much information to say lady or man.... so now they are all numbers....

Wow that's taking the privacy act a little far if you ask me, some may say the patients/clients are "more than just a number" - ie. you can't please everyone. "Hippa guru" that sounds facetious, although I have no idea what it means:)

[Montessori Mommy]

Gee.... I think all of the patients getting epidurals in L & D are ladies - aren't they??! How could that be a HIPAA violation?

When I call the CRNA, I say "My patient in 16 would like an epidural".

[NotReady4PrimeTime, RN]

I hate it when patients are referred to by their bed numbers or their diagnoses. How dehumanizing is that? I always refer to them by their names when I speak to the docs about them, and then have to pull out the bed number or diagnosis or both because they don't have a clue who I"m talking about. It isn't quite so bad when I'm talking to them face to face because they've usually seen me at my bedside (we're usually 1:1) and can make the leap without assistance. But I've started saying, "Little Mr Jones, the arterial switch baby in Bed 4..." when I have to speak to them on the phone in a feeble attempt to inject some humanity and respect into the mix. But generally speaking, by the time they're a second year peds resident, it's too late... Sigh.

[Elvish, BSN, DNP, RN, NP]

I'm on a mother-baby floor...by default, if I am calling an OB about somebody an adult pt, they are a lady! It's not a give-away on anything! I say "I'm calling about my lady in 21, Mrs. Jones, are you familiar with her?" If not, I brief them; if yes I still brief them, but more succinctly.

If I'm in the nursery calling peds about a baby, I refer to them as "Mr. Smith" or "Miss Rodriguez" or whatever.

[jenrninmi, MSN, RN]

No, I think I usually say "patient".

[karla.kks]

I usually say something like: "my lady in 4 needs an epidural pre-op" and give the anesthetist my name and wing. we have a friggen huge labor area, divided into units according to how high-risk they are. i work at one of the only level 4 trauma centers in the state so we get quite a few. we had pts being checked out in chairs that were overflow from ob-assess. bah... lol. but we usually say "my lady in rm __" we are a teaching hospital too, so we have lots of residents around who never know the names!

[nurseynightnight]

I tend to say "girl" not lady. Don't ask me why... Like "my girl wants her epidural now." Or when talking to another nurse "what is your girl dilated to?"

I also refer to room numbers when we are talking to another nurse. Like "your patient in 164 wants some pain meds."

And when I am referring to a baby I say "baby boy smith" or "smith baby" when talking to a doctor.

[33-weeker]

L&D calls them ladies.

When talking about babies, we say Girl Smith or Boy Jones - unless they are a long time baby in NICU, then sometimes by their first names to the other nurses.

When giving a level I nursery nurse a message, it's 'Smith in room 14 called and wants a pick-up'.