Why do some nurse's act like they have just ate some sour grapes?

Nurses General Nursing

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I am a nursing student and have noticed that some of the nurses look like they just ate sour grapes. Do they really hate their jobs to the point they look sour or are they just that stressed out? :confused:

Specializes in High Risk In Patient OB/GYN.

Ah...missed that part. :)

Well, in the future then. ;)

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Specializes in LTC, Med/Surg, Peds, ICU, Tele.
Why?

Because nursing is a suckers job. But, you dont really realize that until you are out of school and doing it.By then, its too late, and you have bills to pay, and cant afford to take time off to go back to school for something else, and when you can make 30 bucks an hour, its almost impossible to go and get a job for, like 12 bucks an hour, because you know how much you can make being a nurse. And so it goes......

Can you tell I am a regular Flo Nightengale, herself?

Bingo!

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Specializes in LTC, Med/Surg, Peds, ICU, Tele.
Interesting. Now not only are we chastised for "eating our young," we are now also being rebuked for what we might look like to some random student we have never met.

I give up. This is why I no longer take on students.

Exactly my sentiments. Students are too emotionally needy. At least with patients, you get well paid to pretend to care.

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Specializes in High Risk In Patient OB/GYN.
Exactly my sentiments. Students are too emotionally needy. At least with patients, you get well paid to pretend to care.

:(

I'm not judging you. I'm just expressing my wishes that I never make it to that point.

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Maybe the two sour grapes she managed to choke down for lunch didn't sit so well.

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Specializes in Med Surg.
Yes I realize that nurses do carry alot of responsibility, but we a providing a service to the publice. That should account for something. Even when I'm having a bad day, I will vent to co-workers, but as of yet you will never hear someone say that I look like I just ate sour grapes. I'm also never rude to anyone. My instructor taught us that kindness and a smile will go alot further especially if an error is made. If you are rude you are pretty much guaranteed to get sued, whereas if you were kind, considerate and smiled, you probably wouldn't be sued if am error was made. Of course I'm alking about small errors. I realize that we are human, but we are in a very human demanding profession and I treat everyone how I would like to be treated. If you don't mind being treated rudely then keep eating sour grapes. Speaking of eating sour grapes, one of my biggest pet peaves is when I smile at someone and say hi, and they don't have the common courtesy to return the gesture, especially among coworkers. Yes there are days that I want to scream, but the day I'm rude repetitively then I need to get out of nursing.

The service I provide to the public is that I keep them alive when they are assigned to me. (sighs deeply) I treat my patients with respect, and I smile, but I am extremely shy and it's often painful to walk through that door and introduce myself. So, kstec, I guess I'm your biggest pet peeve, because if you smile and say hi to me, I'm probably either bucking up the guts to walk into that room or running through the ongoing list in my head of what needs to be done next, where the hell the PCA ran off to now, or how can I convince the care coordinator that even though this patient doesn't meet criteria for inpatient care he needs to stay because he looks hinky to me.

I guess you could say that I'm rude repetitively, but those who know me know I'll leave nursing toes-up.

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Specializes in LTC, Med/Surg, Peds, ICU, Tele.
:(

I'm not judging you. I'm just expressing my wishes that I never make it to that point.

If I had feelings for every patient who came along, I'd be a basket case. I'm a very good actress though, but I don't have time to socialize with nursing students. It's enough trouble dealing with the constant stream of BS from JCAHO and hospital administration.

As far as you judging me, I don't care if you do or you don't. After being a nurse this long, I've developed a thick skin, which the OP of this thread better do if she wants to survive as a nurse.

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I have a preceptor who is amazing. She smiles at everyone, is consistently cheerful, and actually takes the moments to introduce ME, the student, to all her patients. Many of the nurses on this floor are SO professional that they smile often, even at me, the student. I saw them working in a rapid response and I've never seen such calm and reserve during a crisis. Most of them have been nurses for over 20 years and probably just have their jobs down so well, they have time to smile. Many others probably dont. I doubt I'll get to the smiling point for a long time ...for now, I'm frazzled and can't even make eye contact yet.

After the kind of patient I had yesterday, (edemetous CHF, immobile, needy, demanding), I can see why the don't smile sometimes.

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you know at my hospital we got chewed because a nurse was "too cherry" It seems unbeknown to her the pt had just received a troubling diagnosis. The nurse was supposed to be a mind reader and know this walking into the room and be what I don't know.

Was she supposed to be solemn perhaps speak in whispered tones, was she supposed to be fighting back tears, what did this pt want we will never know.

We don't even know what the diagnosis was. It could have been life threatening or it might have only been something much less serious.

I had a doc warn me one time that he had just given a pt a terminal Dx so I could be available to provide emotional support and be ready to provide some medication support for his emotional distress.

I went into the pt room and he was thrilled. Not that he had a terminal illness but that the doctor took so much time to explain it to him. He was the happiest man on earth for this. I am not convinced to this day that the pt even understood it was a terminal illness.

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Kell, as a student she can't exactly ask them. She would be seen as an impertinent student.

Actually, you can't as a coworker, either.

"Yo, what's with the bug up your butt today?"

Nah.

;)

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Specializes in Operating Room.

I've been a nurse just about a year and already I know that you really can't win, especially when dealing with hospital administration. You're either callous or too emotionally involved, too new and enthusiastic, too old and burnt out, too cheerful, too cranky, ask too many questions, don't ask enough questions etc etc etc...you're basically at the whims of whatever sociopathic, maladjusted, paper pushing nitwit is around that day. Add to that patients(and doctors) who may not be the most stable people emotionally, and you get no support from your "higher-ups" when dealing with this stuff. I show compassion to my patients and they to me are the most important people there...but I'll be damned if I'm going to prance around with a fake smile glued to my face so I can win the "nursing student popularity award". Sorry, this sounds harsh-but maybe the OP would have been better off posting this on the student boards..trust me, I had no clue until after I started work as an RN. Despite all the nonsense we are expected to tolerate, I am still proud to be a nurse...and I think the profession NEEDS us to speak out despite how "grouchy" we appear to be. Saw this on someone else's sig but "well behaved women(and men!;) ) rarely make history." OK, rant over...I'm late for my Sour Grape Face Nurses support group.

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Interesting. Now not only are we chastised for "eating our young," we are now also being rebuked for what we might look like to some random student we have never met.

I give up. This is why I no longer take on students.

I can understand the overall frustration when students post things like this, but this attitude is basically just as bad as the OP getting upset over facial expressions though. What ever happened to judging people on an individual basis? :idea: Another bright idea would be for everyone (from students to techs to nurses and docs) to just go to work and get their work done with a degree of civility and competency and not worry about the inter-unit BS. But that would make too much sense.

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