warning..long rant..nurse skills in question!

oh- the nurse at the gps office is of questionable skill!!

i went in due to bad gi distress from a round of antibiotics that tums and zantac otc wouldn't touch....the "nurse" did weight, temp, bp..... no hx....am i on meds, allergies, what am i doing there....nothing. i let that go cuz i can tell the dr. so...she leaves.

comes back in 5 min and asks for a urine---hands me a cup seal broken, open, lid off........i say eeeww and ask for another cup, sealed please.....i don't know what's been in there or who's been using it! okay...

comes back says "the dr wants a fsbs, i guess because your stomach hurts...and i just have this old pricking thingy..it hurts more than the new one but i ran out of the lancets." i was speechless! why is "guessing" at the dr's intention???..and too much info on the pricking thingy! then when i say for her to prick my left hand because i'm used to those fingers being stuck everyday--she says " why? are you diabetic"? yes yes yes

shouldn't she know that already by looking at the chart??????

she's had it in front of her face for how long??? do you walk into a room without important info like the patient is diabetic!!

i told the dr (who i love and adore) all about it and he said they he was trying to find new help......he's had other such complaints.

maybe i'm being petty..am i being too harsh? i mean she didn't endanger my life or anything but..........2 years ago i went into the office with terrible lrq pain and nausea---after taking hx the nurse got the dr right away & i went in for emergency appendectomy. i'm glad i wasn't depending on her!!!

read the chart, take the hx, know your patient....geez!

it's people like that who motivate me even more to be a great nurse!

btw--got a ppi for distress and already feel better:)

[kmrmom42]

Unfortunately there are ignoramus's in every profession....including ours :uhoh21:

[rnmi2004]

Are you sure she was a nurse? Many GP's use medical assitants or aides who may call themselves nurses (there was a very long, recent thread in here about this issue). Please note: I am not saying that her apparent incompetence means that she is automatically an MA or CNA; I am aware that there are nurses out there who aren't so good with their nursing skills & there are MAs, etc. who are very skilled.

[okie2]

She's a nurse....sad to say. BUT even an MA or assistant should be trained in vitals, hx, basic skills...right????

Maybe she's just having a hard time right now, stressed, over-worked or something. I feel kinda bad for talking about her but I was mad and concerned. I didn't say anything to her, or act badly toward her..

Am I being too harsh? I would hope the nurse or assistant would at least read the chart and ask why the pt is there. Anyway, thanks for listening!

[Jo Dirt]

What kind of nurse? Maybe she is a nurse on mind altering medication? That sounds like plain old incompetence.

[Jamesdotter]

Ten years or so ago I had day surgery for a hernia repair. The next morning I woke to abdominal pain (I mean I had a really awful bellyache!). I called the advice nurse and said "I had a hernia repair yesterday and I seem to have developed an ileus". She said "What's that?" I said "Never mind," hung up and treated myself with a Fleets and clear liquids. It took about 2 days to get back to normal.

I've often wondered if she ever found out what it was.

[Antikigirl, ASN, RN]

I have run into this situation before as well...and being a nurse wound up getting me a very odd diagnosis!

You see, I was transfering a patient, 80lbs soaking wet at best, just from bed side to bed side commode. Easy and quick really...but go figure that in that .5 seconds it took, she had a gran mal and down we went! Due to just mechanics, I was her cushion...good for her, awful for me! LOL! At least she was fine, and I didn't feel any aches or pains for about an hour. Then let me tell you..OUCH! My L hip hurt like the dickens and I would barely walk. I was working in hospital, so my NM told me to go down to the ER...so I did!

The Nurse down there was an idiot! I told her the situation and she either didn't get it, or didn't believe me at all! She even told me "and I suppose you are allergic to all non-narcotic medications too"....OH MY she thought I was a drug seeker!!!! Hello, fellow nurse here who got injured...not happy about this and having to deal with the hospital policies of workers comp either...so why would I be here for that!

I told her "actually, I would prefer a non-narcotic if you don't mind...and if that doesn't work we can talk", but before I could say what I wanted to next she pipped up "yeah right...so you are saying you have a probelm with narcotics...past drug history?" I was furious at this point! What was it about me that made her think I was a drug seeker! I quickly replied that one, I had a shift the next day and didn't want to have to take time off work due to having a narcotic pain med on board, and two...they tend to upset my stomach very badly in the past and don't like the way they make me feel!".

So what does the idiot do? She comes back with valium!!!!! Okay..hmmmm! I declined, so she listed me as noncompliant! I told her "look sister, I have been pretty cool about this, and I don't know where you got off thinking I am a drug seeker (she tried to act suprised and I looked at her like give me a break!), I simply had to come down her because of hospital policy and I really would like to get this hip pain to a dull roar. I may not need a narcotic pain med to do this, so lets start out with something non and see! And to list me as non compliant when all along I told you I wished for something non is false and WILL be removed from my chart! Also, I didn't want to be loopy during a potential workers comp case because I am so aware of what is going on...and will remain that way for my complaint, to which, I will be filling out when I leave...don't think you want me all loopy when I decribe you do you???"

They gave me a shot of toridol, which worked like a charm! I made my complaint and had that nurse put under probationary review for false charting, harrasment, poor customer service, and overstepping my rights as a patient to decline a medication, and not getting a physician when I asked 5 times!

There are idiots out there, and this scared me...if this had been a non-medic what choice or knowledge would they have had to make choises about their treatment! I thought that is what us nurses were for...to help with the choise, explain rights, and to translate dx's, and to be an advocate for your patient...boy did she ever drop that ball!!!!!!

[okie2]

EEEEK!

Nursing school is HARD-right??? I'm not there yet but i've read the horror stories-:rotfl:

How do these people get thru school??? geez! Maybe they memorize for the test then FORGET everything!

[apaisRN, RN, CRNA]

TriageRN_34, what a crazy story. Why the hell would she give you valium for hip pain, especially is she thinks you're a drug seeker? Sounds like an incompetent witch-with-a-B! Did you ever get diagnostics done on that poor hip?

[FutureNrse]

It's awful when this kind of thing happens. Although I'm not saying that I'm glad a nurse went through it, I'm glad that you had a chance to see what the average patient goes through. Us regular patients aren't taken as seriously as a nurse is when a complaint is filed, so maybe if enough nurses complain about the BAD nurses, something will get done.

I wish that drug-seekers didn't exsist because it's making normally good nurses turn suspicious and rude. But, they do exist, so something needs to be done to get around this issue. Anyone have any good ideas?

[BETSRN]

oh- the nurse at the gps office is of questionable skill!!

i went in due to bad gi distress from a round of antibiotics that tums and zantac otc wouldn't touch....the "nurse" did weight, temp, bp..... no hx....am i on meds, allergies, what am i doing there....nothing. i let that go cuz i can tell the dr. so...she leaves.

comes back in 5 min and asks for a urine---hands me a cup seal broken, open, lid off........i say eeeww and ask for another cup, sealed please.....i don't know what's been in there or who's been using it! okay...

comes back says "the dr wants a fsbs, i guess because your stomach hurts...and i just have this old pricking thingy..it hurts more than the new one but i ran out of the lancets." i was speechless! why is "guessing" at the dr's intention???..and too much info on the pricking thingy! then when i say for her to prick my left hand because i'm used to those fingers being stuck everyday--she says " why? are you diabetic"? yes yes yes

shouldn't she know that already by looking at the chart??????

she's had it in front of her face for how long??? do you walk into a room without important info like the patient is diabetic!!

i told the dr (who i love and adore) all about it and he said they he was trying to find new help......he's had other such complaints.

maybe i'm being petty..am i being too harsh? i mean she didn't endanger my life or anything but..........2 years ago i went into the office with terrible lrq pain and nausea---after taking hx the nurse got the dr right away & i went in for emergency appendectomy. i'm glad i wasn't depending on her!!!

read the chart, take the hx, know your patient....geez!

it's people like that who motivate me even more to be a great nurse!

btw--got a ppi for distress and already feel better:)

hopefully she is not a nurse (maybe a medical assistant)? they are only minimally trained (although some i have encountered are excellent). you can't expect much sometimes.

[BETSRN]

EEEEK!

Nursing school is HARD-right??? I'm not there yet but i've read the horror stories-:rotfl:

How do these people get thru school??? geez! Maybe they memorize for the test then FORGET everything!

Some of these people are "book smart-life dumb" but she sounds more like just an idiot who happens to be a nurse!