Well I think that the problem lies with "the other nurse"

[snoopy29]

dear other nurse

it has come to my attention that all is not well in the world of nursing. alkthough many of us enjoy the actual hands on care we provide we are beset with frustrations and things that make our role so much harder. it is increasingly clear to me that the problem lies with ..... the other nurse ..... to whom i offer the following advice..........

the nurses on the opposite shift - now i am sure that you are a really nice bunch but it is only fair to point out that the work on my shift is much harder/complex/more demanding (delete as you feel appropriate) than mine. i know that you have times when the work is done and you sit magazines in hand and i would be grateful if you would consider filling those quiet times with things that would make my life easier like re-stocking/ completing care plans or beginning the work that usually falls to my shift.

the nurses on the other wards or areas - i work in an acute area and no-one else experiences the stresses and pressures in the way that emergency department nurses do. as the more specialist nurse i feel it only fair to point out that i could of course do you role in my sleep and as such feel able to comment and critique what you do.

the newly graduated nurses - now i accept that everyone has to start somewhere but the need you have to be more thorough and check everything you do holds the team back. in the time it takes you to assess a patient an experienced nurse could have seen twice as many patients. your endless questions and requests of how to do things take us away from our own patients and constantly slows us up. if you could just learn and gain experience wothout bothering us that would be great

the old school nurses - now we fully understand that in order to switch on and operate your new mobile phone you had to enlist the help of your teenage children but in the workplace this level of technophobia is simply not tolerated and quite frankly you need to get with the programme - we don't have the time or the resources to show you how to work all the new technical equipment and your fear/unfamiliarity of all things to do with a computer needs addressing by you - if you cannot keep up then its about time you got out.

the nurses in management - now again we understand that someone has fullfill the management roles but there you sit in your ivory towers in relatively highly paid posts out of touch with the reality of hands on nursing. it's not real nursing that you do is it????

but hold on a minute what is that heading my way - its a thunderbolt of recognition that at some time during my nursing career i have been that other nurse - how can that be i ask myself because that means that the problem in that case must lie with not with them but with me??? so what do i see when i am in the shoes of myself as ....... the other nurse........

the nurse on the opposite shift ...... yes we have a different set of demands but they are no less than that of the opposite shift. admittedly we have times that may be quieter but we often work with less staff and have responsibility for many subtle roles like checks and stocking which unless you are doing them yourself can go unnoticed. nightime changes patients they can become disorientated or frightened and can need a totally different level of care - how many times have we all heard "you would not believe the sort of night we had with ........" and yet as soon as dawn breaks peace and serenity reigns.

the nurses in the other wards/ areas ...... having worked in many different areas one thing i have learnt is that there is no one area where the "best" nurses work and no one area where the work is harder/ more specialised / better than anywhere else. there are good and not so good nurses in every area of nursing and each area of work presents its own demands and challenges. each and every one of us (within the limits of availability of work) works in the area of our choice and if we are looking at other areas thinking they have it so much easier/ less demanding than us then we always have the option to switch. once a week i bank in a ward area and know that i will work flat out for the entire shift within a group of incredibly knowledgable skilled nurses.

the newly qualified nurse .... yes as a new nurse i was slow and did endlessly check but the flip side was i was incredibly keen, eager to learn and came with a whole range of bang up to date theories and practice. i was willing and in fact welcomed the opportunity to do any part of nursing and rewarded any investment by soaking up knowledge like a sponge and working as hard as i possibly could to establish myself as a nurse. i had not devloped some of the bad habits i got into over time and was not in anyway jaded by time or cynicism.

the old school nurse ...... ok, ok i admit the mobile phone technophobe is me and any new technology takes me longer than most to master however please be patient with my technical slowness because i also carry many many years hands on nursing experience. there is very little that i have not directly experienced and even less that will faze me and i am more than willing to share this experience and help the next generation learn the skills imparted to me. i do have to be stopped when i wander off on a trip down memory lane but within that journey i have taken so much that is as relevant today as when i started nursing.

the nurses in management ....... what gets lost in our moans at the management nurses is that without them we would not be able to do our ands on nursing jobs. in truth we need the structure and protection of policies and procedures to protect us. my time is management roles showed what a thankless (and on occasions lonely) task they could be caught between the demands placed by non-clinical executives balanced between the expectations of the working nurses. it is not a role i would ever want to repeat and am truly grateful for the nurses able, and willing to fullfill it.

i think dear other nurse what i am coming to recognise is that to each and everyone else we are "the other nurse". in this day and age of increasing pressures and responsibilities it is so easy to point the finger of blame and judge each other but the truth is none of us can really pass judgement until we have walked in the other nurses shoes.

my reflection came after a very busy night shift - i was utterly frustrated with nurses in other areas/ roles/shifts but didn't stop to see it from their perspective. i gave myself a huge mental shake and reminded myself that ultimately we are a team with a common aim to provide the best possible patient care we can,and if we could very simply work together with a littlerespect for each other the nursing world would be a much nicer place to be.

before i get utterly flamed i guess i need to point out that this post has been written very tongue in cheek but my message is relatively serious - if i and every other nurse stopped looking externally for the problem and pointing the finger of blame and instead looked at ourselves then wouldn't nursing life be a far more tolerant and gentle place to be????? i am so proud to be a nurse but on occasions the way nurses treat and percieve other nurses utterly disappoints me ....... just my thoughts....

yours, with respect,

[roma4204, BSN, RN]

This is a beautiful thought.

[carolmaccas66, BSN, RN]

Snoopy, you gave me such a laugh! Too true, we don't see our work from other nurses' perspective. That is why when nurses say in h/over 'this wasn't done etc...' I don't make any comment. I just plod along and take it in my stride. I don't see the point in humiliating anyone - it just engenders bad feeling and gives nursing a bad image.

But it's hard to always think from another nurses' view point when ur tired, stressed and u just get irritated cos it's soooo god-damn BUSY. Maybe that's where we should be going into the toilet, taking a deep breath and counting to 10 to calm down!

[JRP1120, RN]

This should be printed and posted at every nurse's station!! Bravo!

[samirish]

Thank you for posting this. I saw myself in one of your examples and I'm going to take a proactive approach in changing it. :)

[brandy1017, ASN, RN]

I disagree that the older nurses have trouble working a mobile phone. Come on that is pretty easy and strait forward and I'm one of the few that doesn't have a cell phone yet!. I know I should ie for car emergencies and convenience, but I'm just too cheap so far. It bothers me that you have to pay by the minute even incoming calls unless you pay alot more for "unlimited".

Also I don't know any old nurses that have more trouble learning the computer, except for the cheap crappy, non-user friendly software programs chosen and the usual computer doesn't scan, freezes up and the battery goes dead, but that happens to everyone.

The old nurses may be a tad worn out and nerves frayed and maybe our feet ache or back, but whose doesn't! We may be burnt out with PTSD from too many encounters with etoh/drug detox and one too many unpleasant, violent psyche patients

[nurseprnRN, BSN, RN]

i'm over 60 and frequently give tech lessons to nurses younger than i:d

i love your post and agree that it should be reprinted in every nursing publication, newsletter, and online board in perpetuity, maybe every year on nurses week.