1) I am a HUGE advocate for treating everyone alike, getting along with everyone, and for doing my best to refute stereotypes in the workplace.
2) I have worked in many hospitals (a dozen in several different states) and dealt with 100's of nurses... so my "opinion" isn't based off of 3 nurses in my hospital.
So here's my question. WHAT'S UP WITH THE EFFIN' ATTITUDE?
Do nurses really get treated THAT badly by everyone that they cannot muster a clean slate when they meet new people? Let me throw out a few scenarios here. All different nurses, mind you.
Scenario #1
Me: Hi Nurse 1. I'm Ella, part of Dr. X's team. Are you patient Y's nurse?
Nurse: Maybe. Depends on why you want to know.
Me: (smile... trying to break the ice) Ok, well when you have a chance he'd like to get his nicotine patch.
Nurse: Don't know why you bother. He's just going to rip it off later.
Me: Well, maybe, but he asked me... so I'd like to get him one while he's in the mood for trying.
Nurse: (Very snotty) Well, YOU'RE just going to have to wait.
Me: No prob. Like I said, whenever you get a chance.
Nurse: Well IF I get a chance I will.
Scenario #2
Me: Hi nurse 2. Dr. X is worried about patient Y and he'd like to get a glucose check right now.... I don't mean to rush you... but I think it's pretty important.
Nurse: JESUS CHRIST! Like I don't have anything else to do.
Scenario #3
Me: Hey is that patient Y's chart? Do you mind if I just sneak this note in there real quick?
Nurse: Is this your patient? Why has he been here so long? He needs to go!
Me: Well, he's got (really bad disease X). And he needs daily treatment.
Nurse: Well, I don't feel sorry for him. He does cocaine, right?
Me: Well, his tox screen was positive... but that's not related to the disease.
Nurse: Well, still. We shouldn't be putting so much effort into him.
Me: Well, that's what we do here. Help sick people.
Nurse: Hmpppfh.
Scenario #4
Me: (trying to get some blank progress notes which have been placed near a nurses desk... and I'm not even in the way or near any of her personal space/ things)...
Nurse: What do you need (attitude 10/10 on the bitchy scale)??
Me: Oh, hey, sorry I didn't realize this was your desk. I am just looking for the progress notes.
Nurse: Well this is MY desk.
Me: Oh. Ok. Well Dr. X said this is where they are kept.... but maybe he was confused. Is there some other place I should get them from?
Nurse: Nope.
Me: Well.... ok...
Nurse: Sigh. Well, go ahead.
Me: Big smile on the outside. Dagger of death on the inside.
Scenario #5
Me: Hi Nurse 5 (who is in charge of LTAC placement). I'm Ella. Dr. X was wondering if you know of any LTAC facilities that will do IV meds for 10 days.
Nurse: No.
Me: Well the problem is XYZ. Can you think of any way that we can deal with that?
Nurse: No.
Me: What about Facility X?
Nurse: No
Me: Facility Y?
Nurse: No
Me: I heard they will make special accommodations as long as the patient is ambulatory. Would you be willing to check?
Nurse: No.
And I can give 100 more scenarios like these....
There are some nurses in the emergency room I work at that are wonderful, others who are great and say that would be different if I were a med student, and others who were nice up until they found out I wanted to go into medicine, not nursing.
ReplyDelete...I don't get it...
But I will say that I studied abroad, and it's much better here because in X European Country, the nurses didn't just take it out on the Doctors, "DO IT YOURSELF", they yelled at the patients too, literally yelled. It was awful.
In conclusion, loved your little, "smile on the outside, dagger on the inside." YUP.
The only workplace experiences I've had where people were consistently actively rude to me was the kids I taught in high school and the nurses I work with in the hospital.
ReplyDeletewow. They sound just awful... I wonder if the reason doctors are supposedly mean to nurses is because the nurses were mean to them in med school but there was nothing they could do about it back then?
ReplyDeleteJust keep being as sweet as pie, and you'll develop some nurse allies. Try not to let a few bad experiences get you down, they're not all like that.
ReplyDeletelol hilarious :)
ReplyDeleteYikes! I think you're taking the high road, just keep on it and maybe they'll come to respect you over time. Sucks that it has to be this way, though.
ReplyDeleteNot trying to sound defensive, but I've had some rude med students who think they are all high and mighty and throw orders here and there as if they are an attending of 10 years experience. It's just kind of what every med student goes through. And they get put in their place. The nurses on wards are usually understaffed and many see it as a job (that really sucks!) that they have to keep to pay the bills. The nursing staff is not the most educated, I dare say. They aren't there to "save" or "help" people, contrary to every med student's belief. So don't take anything they say personally. Believe me, they treat nursing students much worse. It's called lateral violence and something we studied in nursing school, preparing us for the experiences you had just described.
ReplyDeleteI guess I could come up with a 100 cases of rude doctors, but I don't. As I know most doctors aren't rude. Just rude when they have had a bad day, a long day, something happen at home or with their patient, are getting ill, are ill/in pain at that very moment, but can't go home, when med students piss them off and they come and vent to the nurse. FYI in my hospital, I'm not allowed to take any requests or orders from a med student, not even a forth year I'm-about-to-graduate-I-go-into-Harvard-residency med student. I am really trying not to sound snotty, just venting... but nurses have a license, you as a med student - don't have anything to lose if a mistake is made. You won't get kicked out of school, and the nurse will be scolded by the attending if she/he did what you told them before what the attending said/ordered. I don't work on patient care floors, but in our ICUs, our students are only allowed to shadow and attendings and residents tell us not to listen to med students (at least in my unit) or just laugh it off if a med student was rude. Some are. You didn't sound rude at all, I guess they just had a bad attitude. But that's the real world. Just wait till an attending chews you out in rounds and a nurse saves your butt... you'll change your mind.
Sure hope your experiences improve... otherwise you're in for a ride of your life. Literally.
Nurses are hugely overrated, especially amongst themselves. The attitude is to convince them and others that they aren't.
ReplyDeleteThey do possess a dozen skills or so (such as phleb), and have completed some "for-dummies" life science classes. Far less skilled than your A/C technician, who can weld stuff, which I cannot, (though I can glue and/or suture about anything).
I generally turn into instant passive aggressive SOB when refused a service or basic cooperation by a nurse. I've been known to follow them until they comply, with patients waiting. Good luck going back to your Facebook with me standing at your elbow. "NOW do you have time?" In our ED "pod", I oversee 12 rooms and we generally have 4 nurses, an LPN and a Tech (who generally easily outwork the RN's to the point of embarrassment).
Busy, my ass. When I have to call Dr. SuperHottie (neuro, surg, or ortho version) in, here they all come from the different departments. Generally ends with me clearing the room so he can work.
The "shortage" is being taken care of. Last class I helped with at the local CC, about 25% found work right away. I live in the 5th largest Metro in the US. The largest hospital company here has a hiring freeze, replacing them with LPNs/Techs. RN's are popping up in Marketing and HR.
Let them have their fun. It won't last.
Best story ever: We had an RN that completed her DNP and decided to refer to herself as "Doctor". She was fired about the third time she did it. I don't get too bent out of shape about that stuff (even though it needs to be stopped), but evidently there are some other docs here that damn well do!
If I was a nurse I wouldn't take orders from med students either. But I wasn't giving orders in any of these scenarios. In every case there was already a standing order in the chart signed by someone important. I was pretty much either relaying a message or asking for info. And I don't think it's just med students. When I worked as a research coordinator I literally had to "win" over every single nurse I worked with. They were all awful in the beginning, and in the end every single one was eventually nice to me. I just don't get why I have to try SO HARD to get to that point????
ReplyDeletethey feel inferior to doctors.little man syndrome
ReplyDelete