Which Area Has the Most Compassionate Nurses

Oldmahubbard · Dec 28, 2017

This type of thing was the reason why hospital nursing was never for me. It probably does go on other places, but not as intensely, or you won't be as aware of it.

Heylove, BSN, RN, EMT-B · Dec 28, 2017

Psych

MinneNurse, BSN, RN · Dec 28, 2017

This has more to do with individuals and attitudes that have gone unchecked such that it has become the culture of your workspace. I also wouldn't be surprised if nurses generally aren't treated too well where you work, but that's a soapbox for another day.

I agree with this! It has become the culture of your unit and it is not your specialty. I agree with other posters that hospice has very compassionate nurses due to the nature of that specialty, but if you aren't genuinely interested in hospice care I would suggest you look at other units/specialty areas that do interest you because hospice can be very difficult for some. And I have seen similar attitudes you are experiencing before I was nurse working as a nursing assistant in a nursing home & TCU.

See if you would be able to shadow for a few days on a new unit so you can see how staff on that unit interacts. Maybe in the meantime when you hear co-workers discussing patient's inappropriately or making comments, respectfully but firmly tell them that you don't feel that is appropriate and ask them not to do it around you. You can't change how others act but you can stand up for the patients as well as your own feelings.

I am in no way defending these actions, but I do want to add that what you are seeing on your unit by staff might be some unhealthy behaviors they have developed as a way to deal with the stress and feelings of becoming burned out that they experience on the job. As a newer nurse, you probably aren't experiencing this yet, but the stress of the job can really take its toll and this might be how they have come to deal with it. Again, its not appropriate and I'm not defending them, just wanted to mention that.

Best of luck to you!

Workitinurfava, BSN, RN · Dec 29, 2017

...depends but Nicu may..

Heylove, BSN, RN, EMT-B · Dec 29, 2017

I honestly don't know how you guys work ICU/med surg floors. I may be able work work cathlab, L&D, postpartum and hospice, but ICU and medsurg make my feet hurt just thinking about how much you have to run around. I love psych and think that a whole lot of compassion is needed. But, that's just me.

ProgressiveThinking, MSN, CRNA · Dec 29, 2017

Administration

RetiredLPN · Dec 30, 2017

Sometimes you just have to bloom where you are planted. When I was working as a CNA I had a coworker ask me why I was always so cheerful. I told her I live 2 blocks away and I need this job, so I make the best of it. You don't have to listen when someone tells you the history of a patient. Just walk away. Or look them in the eye and ask them "and your point is?" Another response is "that doesn't mean he/she doesn't deserve compassion now." I wasn't always liked by my coworkers but my patients and families liked me.

Oldmahubbard · Dec 30, 2017

People move around jobs every year or two. In 30 years of working, nursing and other fields, I rarely, if ever, worked with the same group of people for longer than a year. People leave the company, they get promoted, they get fired, they change shifts, they move to another state, and a few even die.

Five years later, you can't remember their names.

Perspective.

GaleSRN, BSN, RN · Dec 30, 2017

I have a suggestion. Ask to be floated to different areas, such as the newborn nursery, pediatrics, preop and postop, I would steer you away from the ER until you get a little more um...experienced (?). ER nurses are a group onto themselves. Not uncompassionate, just a little more "colorful" than your average floor nurse. They may seem dispassionate until you see one crying in the hall because a baby just died.

Floating is a wonderful way to gain experience and to find your way. Outside of the hospital, others have mentioned Hospice, Wound care, Dialysis (my current specialty). (I have done all of it in my 40+years of nursing).OB tends to attract a nicer crowd. By the way, looking up a patient's criminal history is a HIPPA violation and needs to be addressed. It is a blatant violation. All pt information is on a needs to know basis. If you don't need to know, than you don't look it up. You can make an anonymous complaint about this. It has to stop.

Editorial Team / Admin · Dec 30, 2017

By the way, looking up a patient's criminal history is a HIPPA violation and needs to be addressed. It is a blatant violation. All pt information is on a needs to know basis. If you don't need to know, than you don't look it up. You can make an anonymous complaint about this. It has to stop.

No, actually it is not. HIPAA protects healthcare information. Criminal records, on the other hand, are a completely different thing. And unless it's a juvenile record or otherwise protected, it's public. I can hop on my county's website and do a search on any name I want to see if they've had any criminal proceedings. Would I do it on a patient? No. But it is in no way, shape, or form a HIPAA violation to look up a criminal record. The only issue would be with the fact that the name was obtained while on the job.

RNNPICU, BSN, RN · Jan 1, 2018

OP:

I don't think there is any area of nursing that is immune to this type of behavior. In Peds, nurse's look up parent information if it is a case of violence parent/child. Nurse's talk about parent's behavior. I NICU, people would talk if the baby was born to drug abusing parents, gay, parents, IVF parents, etc. Everywhere there are things that people can and do look up. It doesn't necessarily have to do with the area as much as it is individual's personality.

Oldmahubbard · Jan 1, 2018

Not a HIPAA violation, but I would only do it on my own time, on my own computer at home.