Long time follower. I was a pediatric nurse who went to medical school and am becoming an intern later this year. When applying to residency, my being a nurse was widely valued by the program directors and even landed me several Ivy league interviews which is awesome and I believe speaks to the strength that our perspective bring to medicine. I was very supported by the nurses I worked with while taking my pre-reqs. However, this has not necessarily been the case while as a medical student which has been stressful and unfortunate.
When I began my clerkships in the 3rd year, I was on my pediatric rotation. I was in the room of infant with RSV who was desatting to the mid-high 80's. Respiratory had given a neb due to the thick secretions and the patient hadn't been suctioned, so I took it upon myself to suction the baby, repositioned and when the baby continued to have increased WOB after a few minutes I turned up the oxygen by 0.5 and then 1L. I told this to the nurse when I left the room and went about my day. Later I found out she had gone above my resident and to the supervising attending to complain that I was left alone in the room with an "unstable" infant and allowed the baby to desat. She did not want me in her patient rooms without being supervised by a resident (which truly is not feasible as I am to pre-round before morning report). The reason I delayed was because I watched the sats and counted the respirations for a few moments to make sure that my suctioning intervention had worked before going up on flow. I even explained my reasoning to the nurse.
The nurse and I had talked about my having been a nurse prior to medical school. I'm in no ways green. I was a charge nurse, have trained new nurses and nursing students alike and have been certified in my field of nursing. I understand that I am an unknown variable and that nursing is protective of their patients (rightly so). I apologized to this nurse as perhaps I had overstepped. I spent the rest of the rotation going out of my way to find her and tell her when I was examining her patients and what I would be doing in the room. She refused to speak with or acknowledge me in any way. I'll admit this bothered me as I have always prided myself on being a team player and I believe in killing with kindness. Respect is not given but is earned..but, I also assume people to be reasonable.
I had thought that expressing my background with her would create a sense of cohesion and mutual understanding between us. I wanted nursing to know that I understand their plight and aim to be a provider that can bridge the gap between nursing and medicine to improve patient safety. After this incident, I didn't tell future nurses that I had been a nurse. I don't do so because I am afraid that it will lead to potential animosity towards me when I am a resident. Your thoughts on if this is something best kept to myself or am I overthinking this?
Oh that has nothing to do with you being a doctor because nurses have done this to me as a nurse. I try to "kill then with kindness" too but I am not a mind reader. And some people just don't like you and there is nothing you can do but accept it. Be grateful you don't have to work with her LOL
dancinginthedark
56 Posts
Oh that has nothing to do with you being a doctor because nurses have done this to me as a nurse. I try to "kill then with kindness" too but I am not a mind reader. And some people just don't like you and there is nothing you can do but accept it. Be grateful you don't have to work with her LOL