So maybe this is more of a rant rather than much of anything... I'm not a nurse yet but I've been in a nurse's footsteps for the past month now and my appreciation for what they do has grown tremendously. What happened was that my sister told me to go grab her something and I told her I don't want to cause I'm tired from clinicals and my patient had to be discharged for a rehab center so the entire process was very long and there were many complications, etc, etc. She just stared at me and just told me, "Fine, whatever. Don't complain to me that you have to do the *itch's job." Who the heck started that saying in the first place? Previously, before entering nursing school, she has lectured me that I was smarter than that and I should really pursue a career in something better because ANYONE can do nursing and it's the "easy way out." (She wants to get into med school if that helps explain anything). It teared me apart and I did not speak to her for an entire week. It's one thing to know that other people may think that but to know that your very own sister feels the same hurts so bad. I don't need her to agree with me on what I want to do, but as family, I wish she could support me for me and ANYTHING I believe in. She had said she was sorry and that she didn't mean it but to hear it randomly slip out again just stirs up all the emotions and maybe the original apology was a load of bull.
Nurses are honestly the only ones who knows the patients best. Attendings make their rounds every what? 5 mins to each patient each day? Don't get me wrong, I have respect for doctors (some, not all). But they're not always there. The people who are always there for the patient is the nurse. Today, for the discharge, the attending who did the final discharge notes said that she had no known allergies. The patient has multiple allergies including cocedine, latex, sulfa drugs, lyrica...and the list goes on. Last week another patient had surgery on one leg and the normal routine for the procedure is to give the other leg something something device. The reason why I don't remember what it was is because the patient had only one leg. His other leg has been amputated. How can someone possibly miss that? So honestly I'm tired of people viewing a doctor as a higher power being and a nurse as nothing better than a female dog.
