I have a great deal of respect for nurses.
Honestly, I do.
I couldn't do their job, nor have I ever wanted to.
Needles, bedpans, gross, sick people, crabby people...
Not something for me.
But here are a few things I took notice of during my last hospital stay.
Some people just shouldn't be nurses.
Even if you can handle to drama and the icky -
at the end of the day, if you're rough and mean and
lack compassion, don't do it.
Nurses don't dress like nurses anymore.
In fact, if you work in the hospital, you dress however you want.
Remember when nurses looked like this?
One of my nurses told me they aren't even allowed to wear a nursing hat a graduation.
I liked nurses uniforms.
They don't have candy stripers anymore.
They have senior citizens who volunteer.
Nurses have assistants called PCT's (Personal Care Tech)
They do a LOT of work.
I had a few that I loved, a couple - not so much.
As for the PCT's - most of them I didn't like.
Doctors don't necessarily respect the nurses opinions all the time.
Sometimes I think Nurses lack common sense -
like why would you wake up a patient to ask them if they wanted to order breakfast at 7?
Sometimes you get a nurse that is awesome.
Sometimes.
But all the time? You need to know what they are doing.
You need to understand why they are doing it.
Always be an active participant in your healthcare.
So to the amazing, compassionate and wonderful nurses who took care of me and
the ones who tend to hundreds of others - I praise you. You have a difficult job and it's
one I wouldn't and couldn't ever do.
They do a LOT of work.
I had a few that I loved, a couple - not so much.
As for the PCT's - most of them I didn't like.
Doctors don't necessarily respect the nurses opinions all the time.
Sometimes I think Nurses lack common sense -
like why would you wake up a patient to ask them if they wanted to order breakfast at 7?
Sometimes you get a nurse that is awesome.
Sometimes.
But all the time? You need to know what they are doing.
You need to understand why they are doing it.
Always be an active participant in your healthcare.
So to the amazing, compassionate and wonderful nurses who took care of me and
the ones who tend to hundreds of others - I praise you. You have a difficult job and it's
one I wouldn't and couldn't ever do.
4 comments:
I don't understand why people who lack compassion are drawn to this profession...it is a shame. I consider it a privilege to be a part of such an intimate time in a patient's life, and always try to be the kindest nurse that I can be. That being said, there are some patients who test your limits to the max, like the non compliant alcoholic who throws his full urinal at you from across the room, cursing and yelling and looking like the exorcist. Those patients test the patience of every health care worker involved in their care.
I doubt that you were behaving in such a manner, though. Right?
Right? :)
I agree with what you wrote, though; each person should take responsibility for their own health and always ask questions of everyone involved in their care.
I agree with Heather.
The nursing profession is not the same as it was in the 80's.
Dress uniform of the pictures on the post have been gone for about 20 years now. I wore my last hat in a hospital in 1986.
Just as in all professions, there are good and there are not good.
So sorry you had a bad experience.
I think what you wrote is true of some in the profession, but it can also be said about every other profession on the face of the earth - there are parents that shouldn't be parents, business persons, pharmacists, on and on. I find that people of today just don't give a hoot one way or the other. They are putting in time to draw a paycheck and then to heck with the rest of the people.
Working in the medical field myself, I understand and know the system. There are a lot more people than just RNs, Care Techs and Doctors...lots of people that go toward the care, comfort and curing of a patient. If every person within that care circle gave 100%, then it wouldn't be broken. Sadly, I know it is broken due to some people in the equation lack of character and work ethic. But I also feel that the same can be said about every business and service industry across the world. Many people lack the determination, conviction and just plain moral character that we had 20 years ago. Society is in sad shape.
i am lucky enough not to have any personal experience in that department for quite a few years now. but i do remember being woke up in the middle of the night to check my temperature after i just endured 23 hours of labor and then a c-section and wondering what was wrong with them. and then when they left the room the lights were on and the door was open. i think i yelled at them.
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