whinny nurses

themoreyouknow · May 14, 2011

I guess my pet peeve is poor spelling, poor grammar, and slang talk. We consider nursing a profession, so we should be able to write and speak like professionals. We did graduate college so our spelling should be at a high school level (at least) or we should understand how to use spell-check. (That little wavy red line under your words - it means they are not spelled correctly. If you right click it, you will get the option to insert the correctly spelled word.)

Nurses whine? Of course we do! We whine to other nurses because no one else really gets it. When I tried talking to my husband about the nurses' concern with the new CNO's rules, he tried to help by saying "Why don't you use the standing orders?" At least he threw in some nursing terminology. Nurses understand each other. After a lousy day at work, I call my mother-in-law who is a nurse or one of my nursing friends. We vent to each other so we can get all of that frustration out and go back and do it again with a smile!

At work, our code is "step into my office" which really means "I need to vent so I can walk back into that patient's room and smile." That bell ringing patient? When another nurse vents that she has been in that room 200 times since her shift started and she's going crazy, I offer to answer the next three call lights. Sometimes venting is another nurse's cry for help. Instead of judging, ask what you can do to help.

Nursing school DEFINITELY didn't prepare me for real world nursing. In most of our clinicals we only had one patient. Sometimes we had to share a patient because the facility had to approve the patients we could have AND the patients had to approve. Sometimes there weren't enough patients for each nurse to have one. When I started nursing in the real world I was given six patients. It was so overwhelming at first. Nursing school prepares you to pass the NCLEX. Nursing prepares you for nursing. It is definitely a "jump in with both feet and swim" profession.

The constant complainers are in EVERY profession. The drama queens and girls who make mountains out of little molehills (I call them the BDD Big Dang Deal girls) are everywhere.

Some nurses view nursing as a calling. Others view it as a career. There are those select few who view it as a "job" and those are the nurses who are generally the most unhappy.

Whining? I'll take a nurse that blows off steam in the break room and walks back in to her patients room with a smile any day over the nurse who mouths off to patients because there isn't enough staff, there aren't enough aides, and she shouldn't have to even be changing his bedding since it is the aides' job! (I've seen those nurses too!)

~Sherri

tokmom, BSN, RN · May 14, 2011

Big major whiners? BMW...?

**tch, moan, whine.

Aeterna, BSN, RN · May 14, 2011

We all need to vent every now and then. I've done it. There are a select few patients I can name that have really worn down on my patience (and, IMO, my patience is more durable than most). For example, the patient who was literally on the call bell every ten minutes. Or the semi-private room where the two patient inside needed the bedpan about 8 times a shift EACH. Or the family that criticized the patient's nurse that day if the patient was not fully bathed by breakfast. (Note: on our floor, nurses provide ALL patient care - we have no aides or PSWs)

So, yeah, it happens.

HOWEVER, there are always a select few who manage to complain about every little thing. If they must do more than do their assessments and pass out meds, they will stand around the nursing station to complain to whoever will listen instead of actually doing the work they're complaining about. I tend to lend a sympathetic ear but I'm usually too busy to linger for long, anyway

Five&Two Will Do · May 14, 2011

Some shifts are harder than others I think we can all agree on that fact. Those tough days with the loopy patient that hits or spits, or the difficult familiy members in the variouis stages of grief, etc get to us all sometimes. I believe the nurses that complain and whine on a daily basis are the ones in question. If you ask them, which I highly recommend you don't) they always work harder than everyone else. The boss is always on their back more than anyone else. Families are always more critical of them. In fact I cannot even believe they manage to make it in to work with the terrible drama they seem to always have in their lives. The best advice I could ever give about these folks is to avoid them like the infamous MRSA lol. They will suck the life and joy right out of you if you let them.

Nurse-One · May 14, 2011

I guess my pet peeve is poor spelling, poor grammar, and slang talk. We consider nursing a profession, so we should be able to write and speak like professionals. We did graduate college so our spelling should be at a high school level (at least) or we should understand how to use spell-check. (That little wavy red line under your words - it means they are not spelled correctly. If you right click it, you will get the option to insert the correctly spelled word.)

I take it you're a perfectionist. This is a forum, not a nurse's note or research paper.

Nurses whine? Of course we do! We whine to other nurses because no one else really gets it. When I tried talking to my husband about the nurses' concern with the new CNO's rules, he tried to help by saying "Why don't you use the standing orders?" At least he threw in some nursing terminology. Nurses understand each other. After a lousy day at work, I call my mother-in-law who is a nurse or one of my nursing friends. We vent to each other so we can get all of that frustration out and go back and do it again with a smile!
At work, our code is "step into my office" which really means "I need to vent so I can walk back into that patient's room and smile." That bell ringing patient? When another nurse vents that she has been in that room 200 times since her shift started and she's going crazy, I offer to answer the next three call lights. Sometimes venting is another nurse's cry for help. Instead of judging, ask what you can do to help.
Nursing school DEFINITELY didn't prepare me for real world nursing. In most of our clinicals we only had one patient. Sometimes we had to share a patient because the facility had to approve the patients we could have AND the patients had to approve. Sometimes there weren't enough patients for each nurse to have one. When I started nursing in the real world I was given six patients. It was so overwhelming at first. Nursing school prepares you to pass the NCLEX. Nursing prepares you for nursing. It is definitely a "jump in with both feet and swim" profession.

True. But after a while, one year after graduation the most, you should know what to expect. Expect the unexpected.

The constant complainers are in EVERY profession. The drama queens and girls who make mountains out of little molehills (I call them the BDD Big Dang Deal girls) are everywhere.

True.

Some nurses view nursing as a calling. Others view it as a career. There are those select few who view it as a "job" and those are the nurses who are generally the most unhappy.
Whining? I'll take a nurse that blows off steam in the break room and walks back in to her patients room with a smile any day over the nurse who mouths off to patients because there isn't enough staff, there aren't enough aides, and she shouldn't have to even be changing his bedding since it is the aides' job! (I've seen those nurses too!)
~Sherri

I agree, we shouldn't let our frustration build up inside. The frequency, attitude and delivery of these frustrations being expressed is another story.

xx--RN--xx · May 14, 2011

I guess my pet peeve is poor spelling, poor grammar, and slang talk. We consider nursing a profession, so we should be able to write and speak like professionals. We did graduate college so our spelling should be at a high school level (at least) or we should understand how to use spell-check. (That little wavy red line under your words - it means they are not spelled correctly. If you right click it, you will get the option to insert the correctly spelled word.

I am shocked that an educated person such as yourself would even be aware of the aforementioned redline feature.

JK

BTW --im typing this from a playstation using a playstation controller because my wife dumped white wine all over the PC keyboard ....gawd help me

Horseshoe, BSN, RN · May 14, 2011

I am shocked that an educated person such as yourself would even be aware of the aforementioned redline feature.
JK

Actually, I'm glad she pointed it out. I didn't know about that feature.

Horseshoe, BSN, RN · May 14, 2011

i can't stand it when im giving report to nurses who whine about their job duties.
the stress and some of the nonsense of the work environment comes
with the territory.
"oh my gosh, another admission"
"why do i have so many peg tubes"
"omg i have so many wounds to treat"
etc...
yes its stressful
yes the drug seeking patient can be annoying
but stop acting like you didn't know what you
where getting into when you entered nursing school.
see, my feet hurt after most of my shift (even with the best shoes)
i do my job to the best of my abilities including skills
and go home not expecting a phone call about me missing something
or not completing a task.
we are human and we can make mistakes but nursing is work.
if you cannot handle stress dont go into nursing (or any other
profession) which requires you to mulittask, think critically, and
serve it all with a smile and keeping a compassionate heart.
my advice, find your balance.
let the stuff that took place from the previous shift go. start new again.
don't hold any grudges against a patient or coworker. you see them everyday (most likely)
empathize, sympathize. how would you want to be treated if you were in their position.
when i feel myself getting annoyed and stressed i think to myself, "i thank god im not the one in that bed with that dx. i am an able boided person who can treat and help this human-being inspite of their such and such..." you get the point.
anyway i didnt mean to write so much. lots of misspelled word, i know. later.

don't assume what people knew or didn't know before entering nursing school. i would be willing to bet that a lot of nursing students have no clue what the real world of nursing entails unless they have worked in that environment prior to starting nursing school.

as far as the main gist of your post, i agree that constant complainers are annoying.

carolmaccas66, BSN, RN · May 15, 2011

When I read this, it said 'Whinny nurses' instead of whiny, and the last post was by 'horseshoe!'

I get sooo tired of people whining re their job, life, lazy husband, kids whatever. My gf is still in an unhapy marriage for 23 years now, and I got so sick of listening to her going on about it, I now don't see her.

I either tell whiners to do something about the problem/s, they can speak to me privately for help or, if they don't do that, I ignore it and cut them off. People are comfortable whining and being in negative situations - it turns them into negative people, but they don't seem to realise that even when u tell them that.

Cut off their whining with a question or say something like I do - I always say I can help/listen to you out of work or on a break, but this is work we need to get handover or whatever done, or just change the subject.

People like that will never change, despite the help you offer them, so let them whine and be lonely. They are too lazy to change anyway. My Mum is the same - complains about every tiny little thing without trying to see the positive light. So I just ignore it now. You just can't fix/change everyone - u have to make urself happy first.

dance4life · May 15, 2011

I love when I see the "older nurse" with all of his or her work done (pick any level of acuity) and then some whiner barely keeping up.. all over the place... has no prioritization in place..
Of course some settings and ratios and complexities just suck.. making it impossible to survive in some situations...
This is why you WORK...PRIORITIZE.. and don't stop until the work is done.. Like CPR.. Get off the Facebook on the phone.. stop gossiping.. and please QUIT smoking so you don't have to leave every 15 minutes for an hour.
Also give the families half a second if you can.. I always try too.

You can't even do any of the things mention, lol with out even getting fired at where I worked. I agree get your things done first. Time management. It just takes time to manage it all, but everyone gets there eventually.