Lost

Why is it that nurses forget that the patients they care for usually do not understand the environment in which they find themselves or at the very least have an outdated or incomplete picture of the health care world they find themselves to be a part of?

To a nurse in the ED/ER they see another patient with the sniffles who decided to be a pantywaist and go to the hospital and end up causing unnecessary delays for those who actually require attention as well as occasionally being an ungrateful ass all the while. They see...well, I'll be damned if I can rationalise a trip to the hospital for a cold...I guess the best I can say is that people go to the hospital based on THEIR understanding of the care they require and not ours.

Does this piss us off?

Yep. But who are the professional in this situation?

That would be us, and we should act like it.

Bottom line, situations like the one mentioned (a very tame example) usually end up needing some level of education and, instead of complaining to those around us about how predictable and frustrating our job is (don't get me wrong, this is completely warranted in the right circumstances) we need to see situations like these with a higher level of respect and understanding and conduct ourselves in a wholly professional manner.

Easier said than done.

We're not really wired that way. We will bitch about ANY job we have, paid or not but you can always tell which ones are commiserating a truth and which ones are raging about something they could probably change if they cared to.

Reminds me of a story...

I used to work in construction and a large portion of my work involved placing concrete in really hard to reach places (called duplex basements) and doing so in extreme heat or extreme cold with precious few of these basements being large open spaces ready to be poured on warm, pleasant afternoons.

I was a crew foreman, which meant I could tell people to do stuff; and during one particularly inhospitable winter, I had a young man (teenager) named Jonas working for me (changed his name...not sure why).  Now, Jonas was not from Canada, he was from Europe and his parents had sent him to Canada to stay with relatives so that he could "get some life under his belt" which, in this case, was code for "get him the hell out of our hair so that we can go on an extended vacation".  So, in turn, Jonas' relatives had talked to my boss and gotten him a job being a labourer with our company because what teenager wouldn't learn some life skills from being chained to a wheelbarrow six days a week and being forced to move large amounts of concrete while angry old Italian men (who were usually in various stages of inebriation by 0900 hrs) shouted unintelligible orders at you?

Clearly the relatives' plan was foolproof.

Now, I was not a cruel taskmaster, I rarely shouted, led by example whenever possible, and was never drunk (at work).  I rather enjoyed Jonas as he was a bit of fresh air from all the aforementioned crusty buggers with whom I was accustomed to working.  But one day, Jonas just couldn't be helped.

It was a very cold day and our boss had given the option of working to the respective foremen at the morning huddle (seriously a huddle in a half-finished house where there was one working heater).  I elected to have my crew stay for a while and finish up some things as Christmas was fast approaching and money can get tight at that time when you work construction.  I gave Jonas one simple job:  drill some small holes in the basement walls, blow the dust out of them, then you can go home.  That's it.  barely an hour's work.  I was about to leave to go outside when I heard Jonas griping about his work and my decision to stay loudly to his buddy filtering up from the basement.

Maybe it was his youth, maybe inexperience with labour intensive jobs, maybe his upbringing in general, I don't know.

 But he had no clue how easy he had it.

I had a ton of work I could have forced him to do, but didn't; but he didn't know that.

I can guarantee my naivete to the nursing world but I bet it isn't that different in the bitching department.  I know things suck and we feel we can't change them but the difference is that we are professionals and like it or not this demands that we respond more appropriately.

This includes nursing students.  Take a step back and realize what an amazing profession you find yourself to be a part of and strive to do better.

Better than forming exclusive cliques.

Better than doing the minimum.

Better than seeing your patient load as a "to-do" list.

Better than seeing your managers as enemies.

Better than making shit up for your continuing competence requirements.

Better than you used to be.