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

[Mrs. SnowStormRN]

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

[steelydanfan]

Well, I suppose they are not that far off. To an outsider it may look like all we do is look at the computer screen. But, what is going on when we are looking at the computer screen? We are going into pt medical records and charting their assessment, looking at radiology reports, labs, reading doctor's progress notes, looking up policies, looking up medications that may be new, etc. I feel like I spend a majority of my day on the computer. It's unfortunate. It makes us look lazy but that is clearly not true. Gee it would be nice not to spend so much time on the computer but there is so much charting to do on a pt.

I have had doctors complain of the same thing: "All the nurses seem to do is be at the computer".

Well, not ONE of you has stood up to the Joint Commission and tell them that thier regulations are so far out of reality as to be a joke, or else demanded extra nursing staff to help lighten the onerus burden all these new regulations have put on us.

If I don't chart EVERYTHING, I am out of compliance. If I DO chart EVERYTHING, I do not have enough time to ensure that my patients get the care they deserve.

And management can care less. Every monthly staff meeting is another session about "You are not making the grade"; all chastisement and guilt trips, never any brainstorming or problem solving. God forbid they listen to us, it might cost them money.

[SpEdtacular, MSN, RN, EMT-P]

I have had doctors complain of the same thing: "All the nurses seem to do is be at the computer".

Well, not ONE of you has stood up to the Joint Commission and tell them that thier regulations are so far out of reality as to be a joke, or else demanded extra nursing staff to help lighten the onerus burden all these new regulations have put on us.

If I don't chart EVERYTHING, I am out of compliance. If I DO chart EVERYTHING, I do not have enough time to ensure that my patients get the care they deserve.

And management can care less. Every monthly staff meeting is another session about "You are not making the grade"; all chastisement and guilt trips, never any brainstorming or problem solving. God forbid they listen to us, it might cost them money.

Sounds like our staff meetings.

Patient satisfaction isn't where it should be. You need to talk up your teammates and tell patients we have the best equipments and tell them they are getting the best care ....

Everything that is bad is 100% because we need to be doing a better job, not because we have terrible management or dated equipment or because some people are never going to be satisfied or because if people don't say their care was "excellent" (no other adjective is acceptable) we get a lower patient satisfaction score.

[enchantmentdis, BSN, RN]

As an on call hospice nurse i am supposed to pull out my computer and document while i am in the patient's home, nursing home, ALF, or board and care. I have tried it numerous times to get the charting done during the visit to save time. It does not work, especially in the patient's home. The minute they see a computer they want to talk and talk and i make multiple mistakes in documentation that i have to fix later in my car. Several nurses have been fired by family members for paying more attention to the computer than the patients. Now i keep my computer in the car and will only bring it into facilities to document only after i see there are no family members around. I will go back out to the car to get the computer. I desperately want to get my documentation done before i go to the next visit. Otherwise i wind up charting on three patients in my home later that night or the next day. The public just doesn't get it, nor do they care. They think we are just a bunch of dummies.

[Fribblet]

True story I learned in the ER, working as a waitress, and in retail:

People are idiots.

The end.

[RosesrReder, BSN, MSN, RN]

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?

In my neck of thw woods, most are allergic to work, make welfare a way of life and are the ones berating, and treating us (the nurses) like a POS.

Great post btw

[Crikey]

Huh? (let's not be victims) It is not wrong for customers to expect good on ward nursing practice and I am strongly of the belief that college/degree course ON WARD tutors should be immediately reintroduced into on ward nursing education and that it should not be left only to trained nurses to instill good nursing practice.

These specialist practice tutors were always the permanent spot check staff of the entire hospital (amazingly), and for both trained nurses and trainee nurses they were a VERY much respected pain in the ass!!

Additionally, instead of talking about what went wrong with nursing training post-P2K (and the introduction of Nursing Degrees) a qualified institute should conduct an in depth study to confirm or otherwise whether P2K is were all the problems arose.

Mick

[xtxrn, ASN, RN]

I've been lucky. Sure, there were some duds, but that's everywhere. The vast majority of patients and their families were appreciative (in correlation to how horrible they felt- felt REALLY bad, not as vocal....not doing terrible- more positive, which makes sense to me).

Most of the complainers were scared or angry- and not at the nurses necessarily. The were having major live events (either diagnoses or the end of being able to live independently). But I never got an overall "nurses are horrible" attitude from probably 98% of patients and families.

I feel fortunate :)

And as a patient for 6 weeks inpatient, I gotta say, the nurses were great. :) When I went back for outpatient treatment that required tele, it was the same floor, and they were great with that also. And I told people.

[carolmaccas66, BSN, RN]

I never saw this thread before for some reason?

I did a vent thread not long ago because nurses are not seen as professionals. We are viewed in a completely different way by the public and even by doctors.

Nurses get blamed for EVERYTHING. We run the hospitals, we are there 24/7 and are there on weekends, public holidays etc - WE ARE IT.

And that means we take all the $h*t as well.

Does not seem fair does it?