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

Forever Sunshine, ASN, RN · Jun 4, 2011

Haters gonna hate.
They should step into the shoes of a nurse for a day in any setting and see what it's like. I recommend LTC, personally.
Let the "public" try dealing with a needy patient, one that refuses all cares/meds, one that's dying, and one that just fell on the floor all while everyone else wants to go to bed, be toileted, or "have a pain pill". Oh shoot, did that dementia patient just exit through the emergency door? By the way, you have a call holding from the doctor you called three hours ago. (I can keep going...)
I mean, if the "public" feels so competent and thinks nurses should be doing the work of the CNAs at the same time, why don't they give it a try? We have all this time to text and web surf, so it can't be that hard.
Right?

I apologize for not seeing your post sooner.

That is my whole night.. add in staffing to below bare bones(it was bare bones now its below bare bones), facility thinks its efficient to admit 3 rehab patients on a Friday evening (..PT has gone home.. and the patients doctor isn't even taking the call for their orders because she isn't on-call)., two that are dying, one that needs to go to the hospital, another can't breathe, someone just got a skin tear, .. yea thats pretty much it.

Cul2 · Jun 4, 2011

There's much truth expressed on this thread. The public can be difficult. But, like the police, sometimes nurses are seeing some people at their worst -- when they're sick, frightened, vulnerable. Yeah, they may behave badly. No excuses. But, does that define who they are? Is life in an inner city ER an accurate picture of the attitudes of that city? Is life on a Friday or Saturday night in inner LA or any other city an accurate picture of who people are?

Gotta be careful when you read responses to articles on line, and any blogs online. Like this thread. Comments like this: " Most of the public sucks. They really do." Or this, "The general public are ignorant and selfish and entitled.The general public are ignorant and selfish and entitled." Comments like this actually help promote the very attitude you're trying to offset that you hear among, what I consider to be a minority of the general public.

I've always had excellent nursing care and so as my family. I have tremendous respect for nurses and the profession. I think most people do. You are the ones keeping us alive after the surgery or procedure. Don't let these kinds of comments that are promoted as that of the general public get you down. They don't represent most people's attitudes. They are not representative. People who have bad experiences will write about them. Most people who have good experiences just take them for granted, unfortunately, and don't write about them on blogs.

rumwynnieRN · Jun 4, 2011

There's much truth expressed on this thread. The public can be difficult. But, like the police, sometimes nurses are seeing some people at their worst -- when they're sick, frightened, vulnerable. Yeah, they may behave badly. No excuses. But, does that define who they are? Is life in an inner city ER an accurate picture of the attitudes of that city? Is life on a Friday or Saturday night in inner LA or any other city an accurate picture of who people are?
Gotta be careful when you read responses to articles on line, and any blogs online. Like this thread. Comments like this: " Most of the public sucks. They really do." Or this, "The general public are ignorant and selfish and entitled.The general public are ignorant and selfish and entitled." Comments like this actually help promote the very attitude you're trying to offset that you hear among, what I consider to be a minority of the general public.
I've always had excellent nursing care and so as my family. I have tremendous respect for nurses and the profession. I think most people do. You are the ones keeping us alive after the surgery or procedure. Don't let these kinds of comments that are promoted as that of the general public get you down. They don't represent most people's attitudes. They are not representative. People who have bad experiences will write about them. Most people who have good experiences just take them for granted, unfortunately, and don't write about them on blogs.

True that comments in a blog don't have much weight; certain websites attract certain types of people, and there's always that one person who has to stir things up on a forum.

Unfortunately, online or offline, you remember the people who were the loudest, probably in your face, and rather demeaning. It's a shame really, because few people stop to say "thank you." The ones who say "thank you" or express any gratitude (or the occasional "I'm sorry for the way I acted") make our days.

pedicurn, LPN, RN · Jun 4, 2011

There's much truth expressed on this thread. The public can be difficult. But, like the police, sometimes nurses are seeing some people at their worst -- when they're sick, frightened, vulnerable. Yeah, they may behave badly. No excuses. But, does that define who they are? Is life in an inner city ER an accurate picture of the attitudes of that city? Is life on a Friday or Saturday night in inner LA or any other city an accurate picture of who people are?
Gotta be careful when you read responses to articles on line, and any blogs online. Like this thread. Comments like this: " Most of the public sucks. They really do." Or this, "The general public are ignorant and selfish and entitled.The general public are ignorant and selfish and entitled." Comments like this actually help promote the very attitude you're trying to offset that you hear among, what I consider to be a minority of the general public.
I've always had excellent nursing care and so as my family. I have tremendous respect for nurses and the profession. I think most people do. You are the ones keeping us alive after the surgery or procedure. Don't let these kinds of comments that are promoted as that of the general public get you down. They don't represent most people's attitudes. They are not representative. People who have bad experiences will write about them. Most people who have good experiences just take them for granted, unfortunately, and don't write about them on blogs.

You're not a nurse ???

I really don't think you have an accurate handle on this.

Let me tell you their behaviour is very real ...and yes, it does 'define who they are'. That's exactly who they are.

We see them at their most real - their true selves. Their 'worst' is exactly that ....and their 'worst' may happen quite a lot actually.

And BTW their perception does matter .... it matters terribly. When they are filling out surveys and making complaints - you bet your bottom dollar their opinion matters

SpEdtacular, MSN, RN, EMT-P · Jun 4, 2011

The hospital system by me does phone surveys which I think are even worse than the mailed ones because most people don't have time to talk on the phone or won't answer calls from some unknown company. I know I don't. Plus if the person being surveyed doesn't use the word excellent it lowers the score. So you could be incredible, phenomenal, fantastic, fabulous, spectacular, the best, awesome, superb ... but if you aren't "excellent" it don't count.

I agree that many people seem to have an undeserved sense of entitlement and if you have more than one patient you're probably "neglecting" the others. As much as I want to be a team player and help the CNAs and answer all the call lights and give the patient their pain med exactly on time it isn't possible. Sorry but that is life.

Also, has anyone else ever noticed how the sickest patients are the ones apologizing for everything and forgiving you for being a few minutes because you're dealing with some unpleasable malcontent?

Cul2 · Jun 4, 2011

"You're not a nurse ???

I really don't think you have an accurate handle on this.

Let me tell you their behaviour is very real ...and yes, it does 'define who they are'. That's exactly who they are.

We see them at their most real - their true selves. Their 'worst' is exactly that ....and their 'worst' may happen quite a lot actually.

And BTW their perception does matter .... it matters terribly. When they are filling out surveys and making complaints - you bet your bottom dollar their opinion matters"

Whether I'm a nurse is not relevant. This discussion is not about you or me personally. What's relevant is whether your extreme perception is accurate across the board, for all patients in all contexts in all situations, all the time. What's relevant is whether your point of view is representative of the nursing profession. You're claiming that people in general at their worst are their true selves? I hope not. Does this mean that when we're at our best we're not at our true selves? Just faking? You're claiming your experience represents the standard, the rule, the truth. I'm not challenging your personal experience or your perception. But I am saying it's a personal perception, a point of view based upon specific elements. My bet is that most reading this thread don't agree with your extreme position. I hope they don't have such a negative perception of people in general and patients in particular. But I could be wrong. Still, I stand by my last post.

canesdukegirl, BSN, RN · Jun 4, 2011

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.

You are exactly right when you state that it takes intense concentration to chart. Many of our support staff don't understand this very important point. Let me back up a minute and say in their defense that they CANNOT know how important our charting/documentation/notes are because they may not realize that what we document is discoverable should our notes be included in a malpractice case. There are some support staff that understand this, but I have encountered many that don't understand why checking boxes and writing a note (or as one of my scrub techs so eloquently stated, 'playing on the computer') requires our full attention.

I am a staunch supporter of leaving a nurse alone while they are documenting for this very reason. The smallest error in a note can lead to horrific consequences. I will share this with you:

OR nurse charts, "Pt X was transferred from the OR bed to the stretcher without complication. O2 via FM applied prior to transferring from OR to PACU. Pt VSS. Pulse ox applied and reads" (here is where the nurse gets interrupted).

Now the OR nurse is in the courtroom testifying because her pt filed a malpractice suit for negligence. After her pt arrived in the PACU, the PACU nurse connects the pulse ox and finds that her pt has a sat of 74, is blue, and requires emergent intubation. The pt had suffered from negative pressure pulmonary edema caused by laryngospasms after extubation that occurred in the hallway during transfer from the OR to the PACU.

"So tell me, Nurse S, why did your documentation not reflect the reading of the pulse ox prior to transferring the pt from the OR to the PACU?", asks the lawyer for the pt. She replies, "I know that the reading was 93 prior to transfer. I saw it on the anesthesia monitor before we transferred the pt to the stretcher." The lawyer goes in for the kill by stating, "But you did not document your findings. Did you not find that piece of documentation important enough to record? Are we supposed to rely on your memory that the pt's sats read 93 prior to transferring from the OR to the PACU? Did they not teach you how to document when you went to nursing school?" She states, "Of course I know how to document. I was interrupted while charting. The surgeon wanted to get a fast turnover, the PACU nurse was calling the room to see what the hold up was, the anesthesiologist wanted to move the pt to PACU quickly and the phone was ringing off the hook. The student nurse shadowing me asked me if she should go with the pt or stay for the next case, and the pre-op holding nurse wanted to know if we were going to be ready in 20 minutes for the next pt. It was chaotic! I was busy! I just overlooked the fact that I didn't complete the pulse ox reading in my notes." The smarmy lawyer then puts the nail in the coffin, "So you are stating that you were simply too busy to document this key finding, and turned your attention to the other things that you just testified to that you obviously deemed more important than the care of my client. Judge, I am done with this witness."

Kinda makes your bowels loosen, huh? Unfortunately, this really happened. When I was in nursing school, my dad (who is a lawyer) constantly sent me information regarding how important it was to chart everything, and to chart it completely. He sent me a ton of cases to reference, included depositions from doctors and nurses and it scared the bejesus out of me! I immediately understood the gravity of precise and correct documentation by health care workers. He sent this case briefing to me some time ago when I was just starting my OR nursing career.

Nurses get interrupted constantly and then must re-focus on the semantics of their documentation. No wonder it takes us so long to chart, given the static that we have to address. Our written words are our defense. They MUST be complete and correct.

Thank you dajulieness for pointing out the seemingly 'withdrawn' demeanor we as nurses take when we are documenting.

JSlovex2 · Jun 5, 2011

The hospital system by me does phone surveys which I think are even worse than the mailed ones because most people don't have time to talk on the phone or won't answer calls from some unknown company. I know I don't. Plus if the person being surveyed doesn't use the word excellent it lowers the score. So you could be incredible, phenomenal, fantastic, fabulous, spectacular, the best, awesome, superb ... but if you aren't "excellent" it don't count.
I agree that many people seem to have an undeserved sense of entitlement and if you have more than one patient you're probably "neglecting" the others. As much as I want to be a team player and help the CNAs and answer all the call lights and give the patient their pain med exactly on time it isn't possible. Sorry but that is life.
Also, has anyone else ever noticed how the sickest patients are the ones apologizing for everything and forgiving you for being a few minutes because you're dealing with some unpleasable malcontent?

"As much as I want to be a team player and help the CNAs and answer all the call lights and give the patient their pain med exactly on time it isn't possible. Sorry but that is life."

See, this is where I think things are twisted. You (and i say 'you' in general) aren't helping the CNA's - they are helping YOU/us/nurses/etc.

Also, yes, I have definitely noticed that the sickest patients are often the most pleasant/apologetic. They often apologize for "bothering" to ask for something as simple as a blanket. Yet, the 20 year old who is going out to smoke every ten minutes is the one on the call light wanting you to hand them something across the room because they're in too much pain to move.

ITSSOSIMPLE · Jun 5, 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

Why is it that when you type into yahoo " I hate female nurses" that there are over 20,000,000 hits?

middleager · Jun 5, 2011

I find it very disturbing that nurses feel the general public has such a negative opinion of them. My personal and from what I hear from others could not be further from that point. I think a more accurate barameter would be the poll that is taken on a regular basis on professions we trust that places nurses at the top or near the top every single time. Trust is one of the most powerful and important emotion we have, trust isn't given it is earned. It is earned only after proving ones self worthy of it. Police have power, but we do not trust all police until we have experience with them. Nurses rate at the top of the polls for trust becasue when patients have experience with their care they remember and rate them highly. We place trust in nurses that we will give no one other than our spouse and perhaps our doctors. We will tell you things that we may not even tell our spouses. There is no greater sign of respect than trust. While my college education was many years ago, one of the things I recalll from statistics class was a poll or study is only as good as the controls that make sure it is representative of the population it is studying. A poll conducted by professionals that indicates Nurses are among the most trusted professions in the world, compared to a blog where any idiot with internet access can log on and run their mouths are just not the same when one evaluates the validity. I would put no more value in a blog like that than I would a couple posts on this thread saying the public sucks, or people at their worst are who they are. I do not think the public in general hates nurses anymore than i think nurses in general hate the public. The CONTROLED STUDIES indicate the public TRUSTS nurses, that is a huge accomplishment. We trust you, we do not trust the people running this country, we TRUST you more than the doctors who treat us. I don't know what more can be said, trust comes from the mind and the HEART, does not get anymore deep than that for non family. If you don't lump me in as the public sucks, I won't lump you in with the nurses suck, cause I and pretty much everyone I know think your awesome

Cul2 · Jun 5, 2011

"Why is it that when you type into yahoo " I hate female nurses" that there are over 20,000,000 hits?"

I'll tell you why -- because when you type into yahoo or google "I hate (fill in the blank)," you'll get millions hits. Try it. I used google. Dentists got 7 million hits; doctors got

over 62 million hits. Teachers got almost 61 million hits; engineers got almost 20 million hits; classical pianists got about 6.3 million hits. Peanut butter got almost 61 million hits, and good old "mother" got 17.5 million hits. Granted, "I hate male nurses" got only 711 thousand hits, but that may because there are just too few to hate.

Yahoo and google aren't the world. They're the cyber world. There is a difference. The web ranges from the good to the bad to the ugly; from the truth, to the half-truth, to the untruth. Be wary.

I still say the majority of the public has a high regard for nurses as a whole and the profession as a whole.

Esme12, ASN, BSN, RN · Jun 5, 2011

"you're not a nurse ???
i really don't think you have an accurate handle on this.
let me tell you their behaviour is very real ...and yes, it does 'define who they are'. that's exactly who they are.
we see them at their most real - their true selves. their 'worst' is exactly that ....and their 'worst' may happen quite a lot actually.
and btw their perception does matter .... it matters terribly. when they are filling out surveys and making complaints - you bet your bottom dollar their opinion matters"
whether i'm a nurse is not relevant. this discussion is not about you or me personally. what's relevant is whether your extreme perception is accurate across the board, for all patients in all contexts in all situations, all the time. what's relevant is whether your point of view is representative of the nursing profession. you're claiming that people in general at their worst are their true selves? i hope not. does this mean that when we're at our best we're not at our true selves? just faking? ( they are at their worse when they are sick!)you're claiming your experience represents the standard, the rule, the truth. i'm not challenging your personal experience or your perception. but i am saying it's a personal perception, a point of view based upon specific elements. my bet is that most reading this thread don't agree with your extreme position. i hope they don't have such a negative perception of people in general and patients in particular. but i could be wrong. still, i stand by my last post.

i gotta tell ya......working for years around emergency departments the general public really does "suck" in ways only a nurse can understand. :smokin:

i believe to really understand...you need to walk in our shoes for 30 days.....that yes to really" get it".....i mean really "get it" you need to be a nurse.

i do believe that most people do trust and respect us. i believe that in the performance of our duties the perception of what our responsibilities are can be misleading.....heck! the senior management has lost sight of what the responsibilities are let alone the general public. i think that when people are frightened, sick and in pain they beheve in ways that their families may not even recognize. that in the families persuit of their loved one's recovery they can be loud, demanding, obnoxious, demeaning pains in the #@^.

now......have a 6 patient assignment and half of those families acting out and the other half have the patients acting out (usually if the family is acting out the patient is a saint.....if the patient is acting out the family are saints) now you are being screamed at by lab, physical therapy, x-ray, the resident, ct scan, and surgery while trying to discharging a patient to a nursing home to get the ed alcohol intox from the ed. that's an average day. unfortunately....people very rarely leave the hospital and tell everyone how wonderful it was and how smooth their hospital stay was......have them have to get stuck a couple of times because they are a hard stick and a cold luch and they call the evening news, tell the waitress at the lunch spot, regale how miserable they were at the beauty shop..........misery loves company and everybody loves a train wreck.

really...... :cool: how interesting is it really to tell everyone.......i had the most wonderful nurses and uneventful hospital stay ever....they were smart and sweet....you should go there! :yeah:

i have been bit, scratched, kicked, spit at, cussed at, screamed at and that's by the visitors. i won't go into what drunks, gangs, and confused little old folk can do or the psyche patients that we care for. i've had patients try to choke me with my own stethescope (she was 80 lbs and 90 years old) do you think that patients daughter told anyone how patient the nursing staff was with her mother when whe ripped the call bell out of the wall to hit us with it? :uhoh3: i have worked the south side of chicago and the most threatened i have ever been was in a upscale affluent hospital in the burbs was by an large carrier commercial pilot that grabbed me and pushed me up against a wall because he wanted a doctor to see his baby now! because he had "waited long enough!" his baby had a temp of 99.9 rectal after recieving vaccinations that day. triage time 1842...room time 1857....md time 1903 to get the man to let me go..... :eek:

people react badly to stress and it is our job to deal with it. that's why i always told my staff in the ed....your goal is to make their stay with us as unmemorable as possible. if they leave here and don't complain.....i'm happy. people under stress has a constrewed perception and an elevated sensitivity to input and some....not all but a large sum....react poorly.

this is allnurses.com.......while all are welcome to come and learn and post realize that there is alot of venting that goes on here by nurses for nurses because nurses understand we need it and we get it too......:twocents: