WOW! The public really doesn't like us, huh?

rnccf2007, BSN, RN · Jun 3, 2011

I recently read a news article in relation to call bell systems and posted it here. (I'm not sure if it's spamming if I mention the name of the article, until clarification I will just leave the title of the thread off). Anyhow, I just took the time out to read the 127 comments and only 6 of them were positive. A large majority (maybe 98%) of the negative commenters blamed the nurses. Many of them called us lazy, some said our only job is to pass meds so why can't we answer call lights. One lady was mad because it took 5 mins for her call bell to be answered. Another issue I think is that many patients believe that nurses are the only people responsible for the call light system, when in reality all healthcare professionals present on the floor can answer a call light. Some of the comments say we just stare at the computer or our cellphones all day, often laughing and gossiping with eachother. Nursing shortage was brought up a few times and followed by, it's not the shortage it's the laziness. A commenter said we should be checking on patients every 15 minutes. Upon the 127 comments, many people were "liking" these negative comments. I wasn't really shocked in the beginning but as I kept reading I became more and more shocked with disbelief. So what happened to Nurses being one of the most trusted professionals out there? GEEZ! I am not sure that this poor image of us will be changed, but I bet the hospital CEOs are happy they aren't the ones wearing the blame. I just wanted to vent. Feel free to vent here as well

Maybe we need some vents from the health care workers' point of view to slam back into the public's point of view. First of all, do you really think we want to work short? Most nurses that I know love to work 12+ hour shifts with a 5 minute break, if luck permits. You probably know what a "lunch break" means. And, afterall, we are the ones making the big bucks to keep staffing at a minimum. How would you like it if I came to your place of employment and harassed you all day, telling you how to do your job as a graphic artist (which I have no education, training, or clue about)? How would you like to drive home after work in tears; because you do not feel that you did your best, while in the back of your mind you truly know that this was mostly due to circumstances beyond your control. And don't give me any BS that this can be handled by collective communication with administration...been there done it. Also, no BS about joining the ANA, I am a member of the ANA and ONA. And what patient/family member complained the other day about my lack of care? A: on the call light every 5 minutes to complain about heating/air conditioning in addition to the development of every new sypmtom known to man and God (for the second visit in 2 weeks), B: the patient that was suffering major anxiety over a test that she was about to undergo. I sat on her bed and held her while she cried in my arms and gave her the courage to undergo the test. Sorry patient A, the heating and air conditioning was not my priority, but I am sure that your complaints will be what makes me a "lazy" nurse.

elprup, BSN, RN · Jun 3, 2011

I also believe that the public has been led to believe that a hospital is a 5 star hotel and should demand as such. Well personallly I have never stayed at the Waldorf Astoria but I know I wouldn't have open heart there...... :smokin:

EXACTLY!!!! But until we stand up for ourselves and our professions, AND educate the public, this is not going to change. Personally I would love to see this attitude change. If nurses are thought of as "The most trustworthy and best ethics" and others are stating they are lazy....We are not representing ourselves enough. Education can change thought processes.

Forever Sunshine, ASN, RN · Jun 3, 2011

I recently read a news article in relation to call bell systems and posted it here. (I'm not sure if it's spamming if I mention the name of the article, until clarification I will just leave the title of the thread off). Anyhow, I just took the time out to read the 127 comments and only 6 of them were positive. A large majority (maybe 98%) of the negative commenters blamed the nurses. Many of them called us lazy, some said our only job is to pass meds so why can't we answer call lights. One lady was mad because it took 5 mins for her call bell to be answered. Another issue I think is that many patients believe that nurses are the only people responsible for the call light system, when in reality all healthcare professionals present on the floor can answer a call light. Some of the comments say we just stare at the computer or our cellphones all day, often laughing and gossiping with eachother. Nursing shortage was brought up a few times and followed by, it's not the shortage it's the laziness. A commenter said we should be checking on patients every 15 minutes. Upon the 127 comments, many people were "liking" these negative comments. I wasn't really shocked in the beginning but as I kept reading I became more and more shocked with disbelief. So what happened to Nurses being one of the most trusted professionals out there? GEEZ! I am not sure that this poor image of us will be changed, but I bet the hospital CEOs are happy they aren't the ones wearing the blame. I just wanted to vent. Feel free to vent here as well

This whole thing just baffles me.

1. A majority of nurses are not lazy. We have too much to juggle to be lazy.

2. Our only job is not to pass meds, we are responsible for everything that goes on with our patients.

3. How come its always the nurses that have to answer the call light. CNAs, volunteers, housekeeping, social work, administration.. You don't need to be a nurse to go in a patients room and say, "What can I help you with Mr Jones?". And the lady who was ****** because it took 5 mins for her call light to be answered.. well .. I cannot duplicate myself.

4. When I am staring at the computer I am entering orders, orders that are medications, medications that are chemicals that can change the way the body functions and if I make an error... the patient can be harmed.

5. My cell phone stays in my purse and I do not sit at the nurses station and talk. I have too much to do.

6. It takes 5 minutes to check on my patients. Average. To a lay person that sounds quick. To a nurse those 5 minutes are valuable and needed. So if I check on my patients every 15 minutes.. that would take 15 minutes per hour.. I work an 8 hr shift. 2 hours spent checking on patients. I don't have 2 hours to do that. I check on my residents when I first come in. and I'm on the floor most of the night. Its not like I go hide in the closet.

I'm going to escalate my vent here. Most of the public sucks. They really do. I worked retail for 3 years before nursing. I had some very nice customers but a percentage of them really needed to be smacked in the head. I had things thrown at me, cursed at, yelled at, all kinds of attitudes, assumptions, etc. And we were expected by a corporate hog to bow down to these types of customers. I couldn't do that(I'm surprised I made it to 3 years and I wasn't even fired so I must have been doing something right).

There are some adults who need to go back to pre-school.

And how would these losers like it if we criticized their jobs and called them lazy?

carl5480 · Jun 3, 2011

Sometimes I feel like the majority of my patients actually are understanding that you have other patients besides them. But it's the ones who can't or won't accept this who stick out in our minds.

I had a patient, just the other day, who heard me say on the phone "Oh my goodness, I'm coming right now." And as I was walking out the door, quickly because it was obvious (to me) from my tone of voice, words used, and demeanor that I had a semi-emergency on my hands, the patient would not stop her story and practically followed me into the hallway so that she could finish it. Really, lady?

Of course, this was a minor incident. I'm sure we've all seen worse, like the patients or families who will follow you INTO ANOTHER PATIENT'S ROOM because they just can't wait. And we are all intimately familiar with the patients who are on the call light every 5 minutes, or who ask the same fricking questions 20 times a shift because they don't like the answer you keep giving them.

I'm not sure how many more times I can take being asked when the doctor will get there. We are not an airport, we don't have an arrivals/departures sign. What makes you think I will have any idea of this, especially on the holidays? Bah.

The world is crazy.

JSlovex2 · Jun 3, 2011

i know when i was working as a CNA (and this is something i carry with me and i'm thankful for the experience) many of the nurses would let call lights ring and walk right by them or even be standing right underneath of them aka right outside the patient's rooms and not answer. that was/is unacceptable IMO, but they had the mentality that "that's the CNA's job." yes, it is the CNA's job, BUT CNA's are not given jobs that nurses aren't capable of doing also. there were some nurses who would answer their patient's lights consistently and never ask me to go get a drink or a blanket or clean up a bowel movement UNLESS they were swamped and just could NOT get to it. i strive to be one of those nurses. there were other nurses who felt like it was NOT their job to answer lights. that's just outrageous. when i met with the "top dog" for my interview she was saying how she can't even pass a call light and not stop and see what the patient needs. this is the lady who hasn't been a bedside nurse in YEARS and could easily say, "that's not my job," but she doesn't. that doesn't mean if the patient has had a bowel movement that she has to go in and clean it up, but she'll at least stop, turn the light off, see what the patient needs, and find someone who CAN help. sorry, but my past experience makes this a sensitive topic for me. it's hard for me not to answer other nurse's call lights and when i'm swamped i have to say to myself, "i have my own patients to worry about. he/she can get it." one time as an aide i told a nurse that i was leaving the floor and said, "so, if that big beeping, flashing light above your head goes off - that means your patient needs you." i was joking with them, but i was also serious. this particular person would simply not answer lights bc it "wasn't his job." i'm sorry, but if you patient needs something, it's your job to find out what it is that they need and either help them, let them know when you can help them, or find someone who can help them. at least in my facility (the same place i was a CNA) call lights get ignored way too often so i can see where patients are coming from. they don't see someone standing outside the room and think 'oh, it must not be their job to answer me.' they think, "i'm being ignored." my advice is this: if you're a nurse who thinks it's not your job to answer call lights (gag) then keep your patient's doors shut so they don't see you standing right under it and acting as if you don't know.

Lovely_RN, MSN · Jun 3, 2011

I was once a CNA too and I'm curious about this mentality that the nurse should only ask a CNA to do something if they are absolutely swamped. So if both nurse and CNA are available to answer a call light or do something for a patient that doesn't require a licensed nurse then it should always automatically default to the nurse unless the nurse is actively engaged in a nursing task at that moment? So the nurse should leave the CNA at the nurse's station to do what the CNA is capable of doing and then when a task comes up that can only be done by a nurse they have to do that too because the CNA can't do it.

How many paychecks am I collecting again?

If the CNA isn't engaged in doing what a CNA is capable of doing what exactly are they doing at that moment because they sure aren't going to help me out with the things I'm licensed to do. Honestly, I remember many a day as a CNA when I bust my butt but many a day I was walking the floor looking for a spot to chill so that the nurses couldn't ask me to do anything. It's not just the nurses that can be lazy and avoid answering call lights and such. Let's not pretend that every CNA is a hardworking angel and that every nurse is a lazy slave driver.

i know when i was working as a CNA (and this is something i carry with me and i'm thankful for the experience) many of the nurses would let call lights ring and walk right by them or even be standing right underneath of them aka right outside the patient's rooms and not answer. that was/is unacceptable IMO, but they had the mentality that "that's the CNA's job." yes, it is the CNA's job, BUT CNA's are not given jobs that nurses aren't capable of doing also. there were some nurses who would answer their patient's lights consistently and never ask me to go get a drink or a blanket or clean up a bowel movement UNLESS they were swamped and just could NOT get to it.

Forever Sunshine, ASN, RN · Jun 3, 2011

i know when i was working as a CNA (and this is something i carry with me and i'm thankful for the experience) many of the nurses would let call lights ring and walk right by them or even be standing right underneath of them aka right outside the patient's rooms and not answer. that was/is unacceptable IMO, but they had the mentality that "that's the CNA's job." yes, it is the CNA's job, BUT CNA's are not given jobs that nurses aren't capable of doing also. there were some nurses who would answer their patient's lights consistently and never ask me to go get a drink or a blanket or clean up a bowel movement UNLESS they were swamped and just could NOT get to it. i strive to be one of those nurses. there were other nurses who felt like it was NOT their job to answer lights. that's just outrageous. when i met with the "top dog" for my interview she was saying how she can't even pass a call light and not stop and see what the patient needs. this is the lady who hasn't been a bedside nurse in YEARS and could easily say, "that's not my job," but she doesn't. that doesn't mean if the patient has had a bowel movement that she has to go in and clean it up, but she'll at least stop, turn the light off, see what the patient needs, and find someone who CAN help. sorry, but my past experience makes this a sensitive topic for me. it's hard for me not to answer other nurse's call lights and when i'm swamped i have to say to myself, "i have my own patients to worry about. he/she can get it." one time as an aide i told a nurse that i was leaving the floor and said, "so, if that big beeping, flashing light above your head goes off - that means your patient needs you." i was joking with them, but i was also serious. this particular person would simply not answer lights bc it "wasn't his job." i'm sorry, but if you patient needs something, it's your job to find out what it is that they need and either help them, let them know when you can help them, or find someone who can help them. at least in my facility (the same place i was a CNA) call lights get ignored way too often so i can see where patients are coming from. they don't see someone standing outside the room and think 'oh, it must not be their job to answer me.' they think, "i'm being ignored." my advice is this: if you're a nurse who thinks it's not your job to answer call lights (gag) then keep your patient's doors shut so they don't see you standing right under it and acting as if you don't know.

Ok I am guilty of standing outside in the hallway passing meds and a call-light goes off right above my head. I truthfully.. cannot hear it. Sometimes they don't always beep. Its just a light that goes off and it beeps at the nurses station. I am no where near the nurses station.

I do answer call lights. If its something quick like water or walk me to the bathroom.. I'll do it. One night when we only had 3 out of the necessary 5 CNAs on floor, yeah I did more. But I've mentioned this in other posts. We can and should help on the floor. but there's a fine line of where to stop. We have to be able to say, "ok Theres a CNA here for a reason, I have to get back to my work." At the end of the night when we are swimming in new orders, labs, charting, etc and our shift is supposed to end in 20 minutes and we have about an hours worth of work to do.. do you think the CNAs are going to stop and help us? I know they can't in some cases but we are the only ones who can do our job.

ZippyGBR, BSN, RN · Jun 3, 2011

I was once a CNA too and I'm curious about this mentality that the nurse should only ask a CNA to do something if they are absolutely swamped. So if both nurse and CNA are available to answer a call light or do something for a patient that doesn't require a licensed nurse then it should always automatically default to the nurse unless the nurse is actively engaged in a nursing task at that moment? So the nurse should leave the CNA at the nurse's station to do what the CNA is capable of doing and then when a task comes up that can only be done by a nurse they have to do that too because the CNA can't do it.
How many paychecks am I collecting again?
If the CNA isn't engaged in doing what a CNA is capable of doing what exactly are they doing at that moment because they sure aren't going to help me out with the things I'm licensed to do. Honestly, I remember many a day as a CNA when I bust my butt but many a day I was walking the floor looking for a spot to chill so that the nurses couldn't ask me to do anything. It's not just the nurses that can be lazy and avoid answering call lights and such. Let's not pretend that every CNA is a hardworking angel and that every nurse is a lazy slave driver.

there is an assumption by some CNAs/HCAs that the RNs should do an 'equal' share of the 'any person' person work rather than their fair share .... and doing assessments and documenting them , doing medication rounds or other RN only tasks are percieved as 'not pulling your weight' until all the any person tasks are done ...

caregiver1977 · Jun 3, 2011

I think some patients have had a legitimate complaint about a nurse and let that cloud their view of ALL nurses. That's not fair.

With all the silly complaints that are floating around, it makes a patient with a REAL issue seem like someone just wanting their pillow fluffed.

middleager · Jun 3, 2011

It seems whether it is a patient or a boss, complaints seem easier to dish out than compliments. I think the number of nurses who ignore or are truely neglient as in the article are a very small minority, as are the patients who are truely morons who think a nurse is their personal nurse or servant. The challenge is how do you get the message out there for people in general recognizing verbally as well as in your heart/mind when you appreciate what someone does for you means more than we realize. After my experience with my parents passing I have made a concious effort to recognize people whether it be a waiter at Red Lobster or my healthcare provider. My dematolist and his staff are some of the most considerate people I have met. I sent them plant and a card at Christmas, my next check up when they logged in on my file, the woman at the desk smiled and said he will be right with you and thanks for the plant and the card. When my MD walks in he opens my file, taped inside the cover is the card I had written. While they were exceptional to start, I felt almost embarassed by how they reacted. Made me realize just how rare it must be for people in healthcare to be recognized. I assumed people said thanks, showed appreciation but from what I read here, doesn't seem so. So, how do we get the message out, when people do good things, recognize them, don't just think about it.

Lovely_RN, MSN · Jun 3, 2011

I don't know how we're supposed to get the message out to the general public that the highlighted duties take precedence over fetching a box of tissues or a fresh pitcher of ice water if your own co-workers don't get it. :confused:

I do care about my patient's comfort but keeping them alive is more important then their momentary discomfort. If the patient isn't able to understand that the CNAs certainly should. I don't think it's fair that some of them expect me to do 50% of their job, 100% of my own, and want to have an attitude about it on top of everything.

I think a nurse needs to develop thick skin, get the job done, and stop worrying about whether people like them and think they're a "good" nurse. It seems to me that the perception of the public and some of our co-workers is that a "good" nurse is a a doormat who never says I can't or won't do that no matter how innapropriate the request is or what they are doing at that moment.

Now don't get me wrong. I don't feel that all nurses are hardworking angels of mercy. I have had the pleasure :down:of working with some very lazy nurses who do make their patient's and ancillary staff miserable. They do exist but they are not the majority of most of the nurses I have encountered.

there is an assumption by some CNAs/HCAs that the RNs should do an 'equal' share of the 'any person' person work rather than their fair share .... and doing assessments and documenting them , doing medication rounds or other RN only tasks are percieved as 'not pulling your weight' until all the any person tasks are done ...

Forever Sunshine, ASN, RN · Jun 3, 2011

there is an assumption by some CNAs/HCAs that the RNs should do an 'equal' share of the 'any person' person work rather than their fair share .... and doing assessments and documenting them , doing medication rounds or other RN only tasks are percieved as 'not pulling your weight' until all the any person tasks are done ...

And meds, assessments, and documentation.. is what takes time(sometimes hours) and requires intense concentration which is why we seem so withdrawn from the fact that we can get a box of tissues for the patient down the hall.