I am curious as to how many of us readily make it known to other health care professionals that you are also a health care professional. Whether you are a patient yourself, or a visitor of someone in a hospital setting, do you ( or the patient ) make it known that you are a nurse? I never ever do. My sister practically announces it to everyone she comes in contact with when she is in the hospital, and I continually threaten to cause her more pain if she does that again! I feel it makes the provider of care feel very uncomfortable, and serves no ultimate purpose other than bullying or requesting special treatment. Frankly, though, I will "pull" that card if and only if something is glaringly wrong, and then I would ask to speak to management to make them aware.
I actually announce this and my previous provider background on a regular basis with my child's providers. I do this because he has had chronic health issues from birth that has forced us to switch providers and/or add additional providers as needed, all of whom tend to condescend to me as a mother UNTIL I LET THEM KNOW THAT I GET IT. I actually think that I end up coming off as a bit more intense but it helps them to do their job. I think the beauty of this situation is that I am armed with knowledge and am looking for knowledge greater than my own. If the provider cannot provide this (sometimes they honestly can not in this situation), then I move on.
I actually announce this and my previous provider background on a regular basis with my child's providers. I do this because he has had chronic health issues from birth that has forced us to switch providers and/or add additional providers as needed, all of whom tend to condescend to me as a mother UNTIL I LET THEM KNOW THAT I GET IT. I actually think that I end up coming off as a bit more intense but it helps them to do their job. I think the beauty of this situation is that I am armed with knowledge and am looking for knowledge greater than my own. If the provider cannot provide this (sometimes they honestly can not in this situation), then I move on.
No one can fault you for doing what you have to for your child.
Specializes in Neuroscience/Neuro-surgery/Med-Surgical/.
I've used it in circumstances that warranted it: grandpa in hospital, and busting a resident that LIED about assessing him at bedside; I saw her poke her head in the room, and walk away...NO assessment done other than he was asleep! He later has 1.5 liters removed from the pericardium....yeah there is a reason he was so SOB that he needed the bi-pap at nite.....urrrgh!
And working downtown Chicago, I have used it to show police that are re-directing traffic for the summer time events...I can usually get through and to work on time!
I'm quite surprised by the responses. I always let people know in conseration that I am a nurse and I appreciate when patients and family tell me they are a nurse, doctor or whatever. Knowing a patient's background gives me what I need to tailor the information and teaching I give them. I wouldn't give the same information about an IV to an IV nurse as I would to someone getting a needle for the first time. To me knowing someone's baseline allows me to individualize the care and that is part of effective practice. It really is a waste of my time and theirs to go over something they already know using. I'd rather know then I can decide what depth to go into, the language to use, the context to set it in etc... In the same way that I am going to explain something in a different way to someone who is having a procedure for the first time versus someone who is having it for the 40th time.
I don't understand why its a secret or a good thing to hide your profession. My profession as a nurse provides me with a skill set and knowledge base that I can use to enhance the care I or my family members receive and support the health care team. I've been a patient, my family has been patients - I'm not going to act like I don't know anything about illness, treatment or healthcare. The questions I ask and the answers I want are going to be those that add to what I already know.
To me care is compromised if you don't know your patient's baseline knowledge about their health, condition and treatment. It comprises my ability to provide you with the best care possible if you withhold information from me. Honesty I don't get why people would do that, but apparently I'm in the minority.
No, you're not in the minority- I totally agree. If I come in with a different knowledge base and experience than someone else, I expect to be talked with and respected as such. Can't tell you how many times I've had run-of-the-mill general providers attempt to lecture me about my decision not to vaccinate my son without knowing his health background or where I'm coming from. They get the condescending, "Oh, another mother who's part of the problem," attitude. And I can hear them beginning their education piece. And I'm thinking, "are you an immunologist? Or a researcher? Please don't give me the public health line. Because believe me, I've heard it a million times and that's what I was taught in school as well! The good of the masses, etc, etc......" So I ward them off at the punchline by letting them know that I have very different information as an educated health professional and mother.
I won't even begin to go into my husband's health issues and how I've had to go to visits with him in order to get the correct referrals and tests run. They don't take him seriously! How many specialists does it take to diagnose a condition? It sometimes just takes a family member who is also a healthcare provider and willing to speak up for them.
My own health is not so complicated but I still let providers know that I'm a nurse so that they will speak to me the way I expect to be spoken to: as someone who can understand their own health needs.
I feel for the family who doesn't live with a provider of some kind in their midsts. It must be frustrating!
I've done it only once, when I accompanied family to an outpatient procedure and it became apparent that the wrong procedure had been scheduled. I'll spare you all the gory details, but at some point in the conversation a nurse said to us, "I'm sure all the instructions were hard for you to understand."
I didn't flip out, but I got a bit more *intense* as I explained that I am an RN, and my family member followed the prep instructions for Procedure X to the letter, including withholding medications, and was at that very minute symptomatic from having meds withheld. The fact that Procedure Y was actually scheduled ... was not our problem ... but the patient needs to be treated. Now, please.
Sheesh, what an experience.
My family member joked for days about my having "played the nurse card" ...
I'm quite surprised by the responses. I always let people know in conseration that I am a nurse and I appreciate when patients and family tell me they are a nurse, doctor or whatever. Knowing a patient's background gives me what I need to tailor the information and teaching I give them. I wouldn't give the same information about an IV to an IV nurse as I would to someone getting a needle for the first time. To me knowing someone's baseline allows me to individualize the care and that is part of effective practice. It really is a waste of my time and theirs to go over something they already know using. I'd rather know then I can decide what depth to go into, the language to use, the context to set it in etc... In the same way that I am going to explain something in a different way to someone who is having a procedure for the first time versus someone who is having it for the 40th time.
I don't understand why its a secret or a good thing to hide your profession. My profession as a nurse provides me with a skill set and knowledge base that I can use to enhance the care I or my family members receive and support the health care team. I've been a patient, my family has been patients - I'm not going to act like I don't know anything about illness, treatment or healthcare. The questions I ask and the answers I want are going to be those that add to what I already know.
To me care is compromised if you don't know your patient's baseline knowledge about their health, condition and treatment. It comprises my ability to provide you with the best care possible if you withhold information from me. Honesty I don't get why people would do that, but apparently I'm in the minority.
I don't think anyone is trying to hide their profession. It's more about tact and timing. We have all had a know-it-all family member or patient who is a "nurse" (whatever that really means) who throws it in your face as if to intimidate us into giving a higher level or instant care and it's very off-putting. Those who choose to hang back with that information until an appropriate time to reveal it are only trying to alleviate any anxiety that some may feel upon learning that information.
Other nurses, in other threads that I have read, have expressed that they don't want a doctor or nurse to neglect some aspect of teaching because they assume that they have knowledge that they don't actually have. None of us knows it all, so I can understand not wanting to miss anything that would be important, especially when it comes to an area of nursing that they are not familiar with.
It is actually pretty difficult to get through an entire ED or hospital visit without someone picking up that you are a nurse. But in my experience, it's much more effective when I don't start my visit by announcing that I am a nurse, but let it evolve naturally as I ask the necessary questions to get the information that I need.
I don't announce it. I am just quiet about it. But I guess it won't be hard for them to discover. One time in the hospital, the anesthesiologist asked me a couple of questions until she finally said, "are you in the health-care field?" I asked her why. She said that some buzz words that I used where that of somebody who is a health-care worker! Also, when another doctor told me in the hospital: "Take this medication two times every day". I blurted out suddenly: "Just to clarify, did you mean BID or Q12?" But this is another one, when I was in a unit, the Nurse Manager dropped in the room, introduced herself as such, and asked how I was doing. I asked her if she could put me in a private room when one becomes available. She said she had a list and when it's my turn, she could transfer me soon. I told her I wanted to know what number am I on the list and when can I be transferred approximately. She said she didn't know. Being in a very uncomfortable position at that time, I began interrogating her and asked what the census was and how many discharges there will be and what time are they leaving. She said she didn't know. So I replied: " I thought you said you were the NM and that you had a list. What else don't you know about your unit?" I didn't mean to say all those but I was very uncomfortable where I was and frustrated. She got embarrassed and apologized. She said she was going to send me a special dinner (courtesy of the hospital cafeteria). I said, " You don't have to do that. Just do me one favor, move me in a better room, a private one." Through the course of the conversation she discovered that I work as nurse. I never volunteered that information. After discovering that, she opened her notebook and said, "Oh, you're actually number 2 in the list". About 30 minutes after that conversation, a tech came in to my room and moved me in a snap! Then at night time, somebody was knocking with two plates of steak and seafood.....It was for me and whoever was watching me that time.....yes, the NM gave me a private room and still sent the complimentary dinner as promised!
I don't announce it but I have had to tell a doc who was inferring we would not be able to understand some test results "as laymen". I then put on my pita hat and tell him I have been a nurse for over 26 years, and please give me the opportunity to understand. That changed his tune.:yeah: I only make it known when I have to.
My daughter on the other hand mentions she is an RN casually to the physician/nurse when she is accompanying a family member, and explains she would appeciate hearing the exact results, etc. She says she only does it to infer she expects professional courtesty in such matters, and the family member she accompanies enjoys having someone who can understand "doctor speak" and interpret it back to them in "people talk.":D
and tell him I have been a nurse for over 26 years, and please give me the opportunity to understand. That changed his tune.
:yeah: I only make it known when I have to.
holisticallyminded
164 Posts
I actually announce this and my previous provider background on a regular basis with my child's providers. I do this because he has had chronic health issues from birth that has forced us to switch providers and/or add additional providers as needed, all of whom tend to condescend to me as a mother UNTIL I LET THEM KNOW THAT I GET IT. I actually think that I end up coming off as a bit more intense but it helps them to do their job. I think the beauty of this situation is that I am armed with knowledge and am looking for knowledge greater than my own. If the provider cannot provide this (sometimes they honestly can not in this situation), then I move on.