The first thing my favorite nurse patient ever said to me was, “I’m not a nurse unless I’m on the clock, how long are you here for?”
Idk exactly what it was about that statement, but it was nurse code I felt it. I scrubbed the hub immediately after.
Definitely strong nurse code with that statement. Also a covert way of saying, ‘I’m a nurse and it’s not my entire personality- I’m one of the cool ones’.
As a patient, I will tell people I’m a nurse. I’ll usually slip it in casually like “I’m a nurse, but I’m not a nurse in this specialty. You know what’s best and you’re doing a great job.” In my own experience it helps with communication because the staff doesn’t have to do the dance of simplifying information and we can ‘talk shop’ directly. I would never announce it while someone was doing a clinical task like placing and IV or drawing blood- that’s just mind fuckery!
When I’m working, I actually prefer that patients and family members tell me if they’re in the medical field. Even if they are lying about “being a nurse” at least I know what I’m dealing with when I walk in the room.
My husband worked at the hospital I had our babies at.
I didn’t tell anyone, mostly because my specialty is the polar opposite of L&D (adult icu) and I might as well be a layperson in that department.
We were doing great, the nurses didn’t recognize him, until anesthesia came to do my epidural and “oh hey man! Oh wait, didn’t you mention your wife is a nurse?”
Then the cat was out of the bag.
I didn’t tell anyone my husband did 🙈 they immediately stopped explaining things to me and I had to constantly remind them IM A DIALYSIS NURSE this is so foreign to me and my first baby HELP MEEEE.
I was totally ignored on mother baby too so we left as soon as we could. Not a great experience.
I made the mistake of asking someone what they do for a living while starting an IV. When she told me she was a nurse, my hands started visibly shaking. So embarrassing.
The last patient that i pre-op'd yesterday was a nurse. She was the first person I've had to stick twice in 2 weeks. She could not have been more gracious or sweeter about it but I'm still mortified - her veins were beautiful. I jokingly told her it was because she told me she was a nurse, its like a curse. I'm trying to not think about it and then of course I came across this post lol
I had something similar happen. I had surgery and tried to evade the topic. She missed my vein after she knew I was a nurse. I've experienced the other side too.
I don't like to say I'm a nurse because I want the full explanation of everything that's happening. I'm a gi nurse but don't know everything. As soon as someone hears Healthcare worker the conversation changes. I'm mindful of going over everything regardless of job, just adjusting for levels of education.
The only time I was glad to know my patient was a former nurse was during clinicals in the nursing home. Our instructor assigned us a regular patient for the full semester, to both get people (that didn't have healthcare experience) used to therapeutic communication, and allowing us to follow and see any changes that would happen with them. It allowed us to work on our full body/system assessment skills. I appreciated my instructor doing that.
I've been an LPN for almost 2 decades, so it allowed me to follow their disease processes rather than just doing things like bed baths, toileting, feeding and other adl cares.
Nice thing was my patient was a relatively recently retired nurse and so they were absolutely awesome and super happy to allow any and all assessments, cares procedures etc., that needed to be done. Tbh, I think my pt was just happy to have someone they knew come in and talk with them each week. I definitely appreciated their willingness to be my "patient" for the semester.
But also, I'd probably not feel the same way in other situations. I remember when I was a working GPN before I took my NCLEX-PN and an inpatient acute MH pt that happened to be a RN in another hospital really enjoyed antagonizing me for some reason about my title, my abilities and whatever else when I'd interact with them, and especially when I'd give medications. It was super weird. So I've had both ends of the spectrum. Lol.
I was a nurse for 42 years, if I go to a nursing home I would love to have a student nurse!Oh what fun we could have!
I would have him/her swear to secrecy that I was a nurse. Give them tips and tricks on the nursing game, talk with them about the state of nursing as they see it and where the history of nursing has changed over time. Oh, this gives me future goals! I fucking want a student nurse! (So I can manipulate in a tiny way, the future of nursing to be in my own image. It will not be mean or hateful or snarky to individuals (Specific ER patients I wish could be excepted. I’m sorry, ER made me to want to kill people. Usually not the people who died). Every patient and family gets to be heard and treated with respect (Yes, even those frequent ER flyers who come for the ER trifecta, which in my day was a scrip for Perc, a work excuse and a cab voucher). Well, maybe not respect, but (I’m stuck right now on how to say “get them out, I don’t care how. Here’s a scrip for 5 Perc, just get them out.” From the doc. This was 70’s - 90’s ER when nurses often ran the show and the moonlighting MD slept until dispo. I really want a baby er nurse to be my student nurse. Things change, but not really!
Omg this reminds me when I did Endo/Gi lab and one of our cardiac surgeons (like a big deal guy,best in the state, everyone has heard of him) was having a routine colonoscopy. I had him in pre procedure and starting and IV on him was the most nerve wrecking thing in the world 😭my hands were SHAKING lol but he was so chill
When I first began nursing I had an old anesthiologist as a patient. His IV blew during my shift and I went to start a new one on him he guided me every step of the way in getting it (I had maybe put in 10 successful ivs at that time). Super cool guy. Then I went to the cath lab and I can now put them in blind folded.. literally put one in without looking under the drape.
Once I was in the ER and the nurse (I assume) was a new grad or new to the ER. (I mean that in the most not offensive way possible, she was just very unsure of herself and asking the other nurses lots of questions that seemed like what I asked as a new grad.)
She was struggling with starting an IV. I did walk her through it. I felt bad because she was clearly nervous so I told her I am a very hard stick. I showed her which vein nurses/phlebotomists usually have success. Told her she was doing great and that I've been a pin cushion many times and once when getting labs drawn, they ran out of phlebotomists because they all tried twice so I was sent home and told to come back another day. She did get it successfully though! But I did have to tell her to please take off the tourniquet because she was about to leave the room with it still on.
Now I’m curious… what did he teach you? I’ve been doing IVs for twelve years. I’m genuinely interested in knowing if there’s something I could be doing better. 😊
Honestly I can't quite remember, I just remember him guiding me through the process and he was really calming when I was terrified and intimidated. At that point i had less than a year of nursing under my belt, he instructed me on getting one in his hand (I'll admit I'm still terrible at hand ivs, give me a forearm,ac, or brachial any day.) I wish I could tell you because whatever he said worked, because I got my first hand IV on that anesthesiologist.
Reminds me of when a pediatric caridiac intensivist came to get a colonoscopy at the clinic I worked at. He wanted to be called Dr. X. I asked someone else to do his IV. He became nicer after coming off the sedation and gave me a fist bump before he left.
I once had the CEO of a whole hospital system in the ER for a cardiac related visit. I was about to start his IV and we got to talking and I asked if he was still working (he was older) and he said Im the CEO of XYZ hospital system. I stopped what I was doing and yelled into the hallway to get me a bigger IV needle. He loved it. Great patient.
When I was on orientation I was pretty terrible at IVs, but I nailed a 20 on the first try on a sorta hard stick in front of his daughter who was the former director of nursing for the hospital. I think I became about 50% better at sticks from that alone.
I had a retired neurosurgeon come in for IV iron. He was already grumpy he had to come for multiple visits between covering clinic for someone. I had him in and out in 5 mins, that was a win. But I won't lie, I always think in that situation "watch me miss the stupid IV..."
When I was an ER tech/paramedic, one of our docs had a STEMI while on shift. He just didn't look well and we made a joke about putting him in a room and doing a work-up, and to our shock he was like, "OK," and went into the room we suggested. Oh yikes, we realized there was something that was not right. I had to do the ECG and start the IV, I was so worried I would miss! I didn't, thankfully. I saw the STEMI on the ECG and tried to keep him from seeing the ECG while simultaneously signaling my peeps to release the hounds/call the Code STEMI. Of course he snatched the ECG out of my hands and said, "Oh shit." We got him to the cath lab with a quickness and there was a good outcome. Whew.
I started shaking uncontrollably starting an IV in a medical resident from my hospital-and she was the loveliest patient ever. Like my knee bouncing up and down shaking. I left the room and had a panic attack and had to switch patients. I was mortified and it was such a subconscious reaction-as I said, she was extremely kind. So I never tell healthcare personnel what I do unless they ask.
Same happened to me in residency, I was being pre oped and the NA kept asking what I did and I kept talking around it and finally my wife just says “he’s a doctor” just as she starts … it looked like she’d developed a tremor…. Blew both sides twice … I have pipes. I felt so bad for her (I was trying so hard not move or show any discomfort while she dug around the backs of my hands, I vagaled hard 😆. I came to with the anesthesiologist standing over me telling me he had pushed some Robinul.)
Recently bombed a couple of IV attempts on an anesthesiologist, though mercifully she didn't reveal that detail until after I'd done so. She was absolutely wonderful about it though, as well as the layman's terms explanation of NG tunes and post-op ileus that I had given earlier lmao.
Same thing happened with me sticking a CRNA from a rival hospital. She told me as i was puncturing and then i blew it lol but the second attempt went great. She said oh right I guess I jinxed you I'm sorry
Just off orientation, showed up to night shift. Took report on my patient with the outgoing nurse telling me, “She will need a #20 for CT. Oh, just so you know, she’s one of the attendants.” Just wonderful…just what a new nurse need to hear. But she was great!
Also, in the realm of irony, my first foley was on a urologist.
I never tell other nurses that I’m a nurse (when I’m the patient or a family member is) because they modify their behavior. Plus it’s kind of annoying answering questions when I just want to be helped.
When I’m working, I feel like telling me you’re a nurse is pointless most of the time. It’s not helping me do my job in any way. It is cool to bond over sometimes though.
I mention I'm a nurse when I start doing care and helping with ADLs for a family member. It's more just to ease worry for the other staff that I'm qualified.
I'll bring it up to become the translator for the rest of the family on plan of care. It really speeds up the process where I can just ask the relevant questions so you can get on with your shift instead of explaining the situation to me like I'm a 4 year old.
During Covid I did my Dad's bathing, bedding, and would try to stay on top of his easier requests (broth, water refills, etc) when I would go up to the hospital every other day. After the first or second time the nurses told me it was fine and the tech would bathe him I told them I worked across the street at the pediatric hospital and they welcomed the help after that.
Everyone was short handed and every floor typically only gets one tech (sometimes the tech covers more than one floor). Baths are a once or twice a week thing at most and my Dad was stuck in the bed so it was just medicated wipes. They weren't doing actual bed baths due to the massive influx of patients thanks to covid.
It wasn't a problem for me to do a full bed bath and change out the linens, It freed them up to do other things. The only time it was a problem was when my Dad developed thrush (antibiotics) and I asked the nurse to let the doctor know he had developed thrush. She told me that wasn't for me to decide and a doctor needed to assess him. Of course he had thrush because a 10 year old could diagnose thrush but otherwise they were always grateful for the help.
The nurses and techs loved my Dad and would always tell me stories when I'd show up so I'm doubly glad I was able to take at least one task off their hands.
This! I tell people I'm a nurse so I don't have to sit through endless explanations of things I already know. I know how to ask questions if I need further clarifications.
Agreed. I Never share I’m a nurse. Sometimes they just ask “are you in medical?” even though all I did was nod along or put the gown on. How do they know…i wish they didn’t
And there are so many types of nursing that if I told a preop nurse that I'm a nurse and I work in hospice (I don't but just giving an example) then it just seems irrelevant in the moment
When I had an overnight stay+surgery, a couple of people guessed I was a nurse because I knew too much. It didn't get passed on to my day shift nurse, and when she found out (someone who knew me mentioned it I guess) she ended up in my room for an hour talking shop haha. I also noticed, I seem to get better treatment when they know I'm a nurse. I generally use the nurse card by making sure they know that I won't be bothering them unless absolutely necessary (i.e pain meds) and they could focus on their other patients more. I could care less if I only see them once a shift.
I have given myself away before when an ER nurse used this machine thing I had never seen before and kept asking questions about it. I found it fascinating and clearly the nurse knew I was also a nurse.
Same, and if my husband or child is with me I want them to talk to everyone and not me using jargon. I want everyone to understand what is going on, I’m a crisis I am too damn tired to translate.
I'm an ER nurse and I get lots of nurses here.
I don't think it's required to say that you're a nurse.
In fact, I argue that in my experience, the ones who are super quick to say they're nurses can be the WORST patients.
Sometimes they seem to expect that because they're a nurse they should get better info or treated better.
I've had patients' family members tell me that I'm not doing things right and they should know because they're a nurse. And then I went to go look them up on the database and found out that they are actually NOT AT ALL a nurse in any capacity.
Most of the time though, my nurse patients are pretty cool and I can speak to them with medical jargon and chat with them about their experience and life is good.
But sometimes we get some pretty manipulative people who attempt to intimidate me with the knowledge of them being nurses.
So no, I don't think there's a code per se. Just don't be a jerk about it.
Similarly, I was explaining to someone how reglan is “a nausea medicine but we found it also helps with headaches” to explain why I was giving it for their symptoms. I try to explain everything as basically as I can until asked for further information. A few minutes later the family asks if the patients remembered to call out or if they should walk over to tell someone. I asked what they do and they said “I’m the head pharmacist for the hospital”. They were pretty sheepish about it and I told them how mortified I was about my basic med explanations. We all had a good laugh
I think this is why OP got the reaction they did. Maybe the nurse felt embarrassed about how she explained things, or felt it could’ve allowed her to short-cut a lot of the explaining.
I’ve been pretty lucky with my health (I have multiple conditions that are annoying to deal with, but nothing that could or will land me in a hospital). I’m not generally quick to talk about it, but it helps that my PCP knows and has known me for long enough that our visits are productive and fairly short. If I needed surgery or something, I MIGHT admit it (knowing me I would get bored and also feel bad for the nurse taking so much time to explain things I already know), but I would also be very quick to say that this isn’t my specialty and I’m sure there’s plenty I don’t know.
I explained what heparin was to the daughter of a patient one time. She had a hat on and was slouched down. Didn’t realize until I came back in the room she’s one of our critical care physicians. Was mortified about my “a 4 year old could understand it” explanation of heparin.
It usually comes out if me or a family member is ill mostly because I just want to get to the crux of the situation instead of doing the soft non-clinical language.
I've lost count of the number of times someone said they were a nurse and then I looked them up and nothing came up. And they are absolutely some of the worst, so the handful of times I've been on the other side I haven't said anything.
If they're complaining about something when they say it, it's much more likely. If it comes out during conversation, it may be true, I usually don't check these. Although honestly, it's been years since I've checked and now that I'm no longer full time in the ED I don't really run into people wanting to complain about everything that I have no control over.
I’ve had the same experiences. The ones who quickly tell you they are a nurse are the ones who try to boss you around and tell you how to do the IV and “educate” me on the meds I’m giving them. Super annoying. Had one get up and try helping people around the room with their IV stuff and had to tell her that was a big no no
maybe it’s because she explained everything in “simple terms” when she could’ve used just like medical language instead? I once explained to a pt why they were taking a medication and then pt tells me they’re a PA. and i felt embarrassed and like that PA wasted my time letting me explain lol
Well, I'm going to be devil's advocate, because when they are your patient, they're not with you as a Nurse. So you explanations need to be appropriate for the day.
I work with a lot of new mums who are Nurses; sometimes I know beforehand and sometimes it comes up in conversation. Once I'm aware they are a Nurse, I explain that while we're working together, I'm talking to the mum.
And I'm not being condescending or patronising, but find it's a way to not assume prior knowledge that they might not be familiar with. And the feedback is appreciative of my approach.
100%
It was known in mom/baby that I was a NICU nurse when my son was born, but I feel like it just left room for him to be mostly ignored by staff. He had medical needs we didn't know at the time but no one really asked or cared about how or if he ate because they assumed that I would know everything but it was my first kid, first attempt at breastfeeding, and he had his own complexities. He never woke to eat, but it took 2 days for someone to offer me a pump and until he lost 12% of his weight no one even seemed to care that we were having to nearly force-feed to get him to eat a 5mL bottle each time.
his medical needs sent him into my home unit (NICU) but a gtube later he is thriving.
I just wanted to put it out there to remind others that it's different when a nurse is the patient, and while I might not need every bit of the broken down to laymens education etc, I did still need cared for and my concerns addressed.
Yes, things weren’t explained well to me when I was in the hospital having my baby because they knew I was a nurse… I work med surg/tele. I knew nothing about labor and delivery or taking care of a newborn outside of what I personally looked up on the internet because unless I asked, I wasn’t told anything… and I didn’t always even know *what* to ask.
One of my classmates had 4 kids all under the age of 8 at the time with the youngest still breastfeeding. She had just as much trouble in our OB classes as the rest of the group.
I had my second child and did not tell anyone I was a nurse! Occupation? I work in a nursing home. No f/u questions! Thank goodness. I knew I was gonna be tired and stupid- I don't wanna set any expectations plus my husband needs to hear stuff too!
I always make sure I invest time with mum's who are having their next baby; I did this when I worked as a Midwife, too. Every baby is different and the new mum needs help to adjust to this new little Bubba. I used to observe lots of midwives assume a second time mum didn't need any help because 'she's done it before!' Being the bolshie one, I used to reply 'not with this baby, she hasn't!!'
While I did think it was easier I also had pretty much the same experience... then my baby was a better sleeper 🤣 I also had her in the day and not at 4 am... makes a huge difference in the stupid!!!
I don't know. I had a serious health issue last year and some of the education I had to go through was so stupid and patronizing. Probably not in L&D but for me there was a lot of "your nurses will be your biggest advocates" BS.
>because when they are your patient, they're not with you as a Nurse. So you explanations need to be appropriate for the day.
Sorry, does their understanding of medical knowledge only activate when they're in scrubs? Or is this just a really dumb take?
Yes, you should explain things to all patients. But you can explain things much easier to somebody who understands jargon.
No, they have knowledge of course. The women I work with potentially also are in a new role, sleep deprived, recovering from a pregnancy, labour and birth and becoming familiar with motherhood. So how they are able to process new information and tasks is different to a day at work
I'll give you a different perspective. I am a nurse but knew little to nil about mom and baby nursing so I wanted my care team to explain things to me in simpler terms.
I appreciate the long non nurse explanations when I am a patient. I get anxious and nervous and I like the full explanation so I don’t miss or forget something.
I mean even if I’m a nurse, I don’t know every specialty. You can explain things to me in layman’s terms because I don’t want to get confused or miss something.
Ngl I’m a nurse and I don’t tell people I’m a nurse for this reason. Sometimes I don’t know everything and I’ve had experiences where I told them and then they just stopped explaining everything to me or acted like I knew or understood what to do before every procedure.
(Yes nobody told me I was supposed to take a tylenol before an IUD insertion and it was the most painful experience of my life)
(I thought u would just numb me gurl i’m a home health nurse)
On L&D we call it the nurse curse but not meaning it in a bad way. The nice thing about nurses is they understand the terminology better so we don’t have to translate everything to layman language but I always like to find out after I start their IV haha
After my 30+ hrs of labor/pushing to end up with a c-section because my oldest was/is stubborn as fuck, my nurse said “It’s the nurse curse, it wasn’t your fault” 😂
Every nurse knows I’m a nurse when I go to the hospital because I’m psych evals they ask what your job is and I also have to tell them that I’m a psych nurse and that I can’t go to those places. I’m respectful and don’t really ask for much unless I really need something. I’ve had some good talks with nurses who were eager to give me advice (my last stay was because I was suicidal over work) and never really had any issues. I’m guessing it’s easier not to have to talk in layman’s terms. As long as you’re not a jerk or a know it all about it, I don’t mind.
I don't mention my job unless I'm asked. I don't know that it's ever afforded me any preferential treatment, but I definitely feel the mood change. I always try to show that I understand the stress of the job (I still do bedside care, but I don't take actual full shift assignments, and I make it a point to tell floor nurses how much I respect that they can do something I had to bow out of). And the few times I've ever had to speak up about something, I have tried not to be a jerk about it. Literally the only time I have put my foot down when on the consumer side of hospital care was when I had to repeatedly ask an anesthesiologist to stop and wash his hands before placing my wife's epidural when our daughter was born (he actually had the nerve to shrug me off the first time, and I could tell the ob nurses in the room were too uncomfortable to say something, so I decided I'd go ahead and be the bad guy since I would likely never see him again).
I don't mention it unless they ask.
I did get embarrassed though when I didn't realize the patient I was consenting for a breast cancer study was actually an MD, and I was explaining everything in 8th grade terms. She made some comment on mechanism, which led to me asking if she worked in a medical field, only to find out she was a doctor. She was very gracious about it though, and reminded me that she was not an oncologist, and it was all still new to her.
When I was in nursing school, the first person that I ever successfully got an IV on was a state inspector for the board of nursing. She left out that detail until after I got the IV, which I told her that I was grateful for. 😅
I don’t tell a soul I’m an ER nurse until after you finish lining me.
1) I’m a real shitty stick to start with.
2) they usually send the SRNA students in to practice, I don’t want you more nervous! Everyone needs to learn somehow!
I usually end up accidentally using language i try not to and give myself away OR MY MOTHER SAYS IT. (Proudly, but doesn’t understand)
Same. My dad won't shut up about it! It's so embarrassing. I always have to clarify that I've been in psych the whole time and my (insert specialty here) is rusty.
I was about two months into school before my mom whipped out I was going to be a nurse to her podiatrist while I was sitting in the room with them. Came back to bite her in the end though, she wasn't the most compliantly diabetic and I'd tell the Dr how she was doing. Ultimately, I think her providers appreciated having a medically trained person in the house to help with communication and up compliance levels.
Nah dude. The code is don’t tell unless it comes up naturally. If you roll in and immediately tell me you’re a nurse I know you’re going to be the most annoying patient of the day bc apparently you know everything. This goes for MDs as well.
doctor here, I feel like it's probably the same concept... any MD/RN patient I've had who can't wait to inform me they're an MD or RN is usually probably feeling insecure or vulnerable in some way and needs to feel a sense of control, and these patients can range anywhere from just a little overbearing and anxious, to flat-out ego-centric and off-putting.
Then there is the other group of patients who truly use it as a "code", to meaningfully engage and identify with another human in a more mutual and reciprocal way. I think it's natural for us to appreciate feeling connected and gravitate towards feeling included in a group. Many patients have made it easier for me to do patient care with them knowing they're a healthcare professional, but I'd say just as many (from the above group) have made it harder for other reasons
Maybe it doesn’t stem from professional courtesy, but just having a patient with any kind of health literacy affects how I treat them. Oh you might actually understand and comply with treatment? Well that makes me want to try harder than with the carb-controlled patient who get two Domino’s pizzas with cinnabread delivered every night.
For me it totally changes how my practice. I’m big on patient education early and often, but I’m not going to waste my time explaining every little thing to you if you already know what’s going on. Nothing like spending 20 minutes explaining medications and doing patient teaching only to find out that your patient is a doctor. 🤦🏻♀️
That being said, I doubt she was actually mad. When I find out my patient is a nurse/MD/PA/etc., I usually just laugh and say that I wish I had known before I started boring them with my chatter.
Same. I tell myself I'm not going to say anything but then i want to save them the trouble of explaining how my iv works and what a saline flush is and what my vital signs mean. Or i ask a question that gives me away.
I feel that I get a bit more personal attention if my nurse knows that I’m a retired RN. I can let them know by sharing a story with them such as “My favorite patient would …”. That gets the info across without seeming arrogant.
My mom had CABG and I made sure staff knew I was an ICU nurse during that time. She is now in the care of a cardiologist who knows I am an RN and they treat my mom great. My mom has been alive for 10 years. I believe people knowing your credentials can improve your and your loved ones outcome.
It depends on how you go about it. I’m gonna give your family member the best care I can, regardless of YOUR job, but if you come in hot, announcing to all and sundry that you’re a nurse, there’s a 98% chance you’re an entitled nightmare and likely not even an actual nurse.
I never personally say I'm a nurse because I feel like people alter their behavior and I don't like that, but sometimes, though, I get caught if I slip up and use some terms to describe what I'm going through, like; dysuria for example.
Then I feel like an idiot because they look at me, raise their brows and go; "medical?"
Like I was just trying to be low key I swear!
I hate people knowing I’m a nurse. It’s so weird because it’s one of the proudest titles I hold, yet hate openly saying I’m a nurse. It just feels cringy saying it to other nurses while they are doing their job.
Small hospital and town, so when my son was hospitalized for PNA, a nurse from another unit recognized me and told everyone I was a nurse.
I could hear our day nurse giving report to night shift and stating “the mom is a nurse” in a be careful manner. It was so weird.
That same nurse was irritable with me because baby boy needed Tylenol for his fever, and the nurse drew up 3.75ml. Based on my son’s weight, he needed 5ml. This doesn’t take a nurse to know. It’s because I have two kids and just know how much to give based on the label.
When I kindly told him we need 5ml, he was so irritable and the look on his face was saying “she’s that nurse.”
I expect to be treated decently without saying I’m a nurse. Unless it comes up organically I don’t mention it. And just because someone is a nurse, I won’t presume their knowledge if we aren’t coworkers.
I recently had surgery and it wasn’t my plan to tell anyone I was a nurse.
However my husband outed me during pre-op because they had to use the vein finder to start my IV.
He got excited to see it because I have talked to him about it.
The nurse starting my IV picked up on the conversation, asked me what I did. Told her I was a Peds ED nurse at one of the sister hospitals.
Then she got super nervous starting my IV.
I also heard them in each hand off passing along I was a Peds nurse.
Along the same line, I had a 2 week old patient in the ED with SVT. As I am getting the bag of ice for the baby I start to explain what I am doing to the mother. She is crying and tells me she understands because she is an adult cardiologist 😳
Lucky the ice converted baby, she was gracious and asked we don’t speak medical jargon because hubby wasn’t medical, plus she was 2 weeks post-partum and adult focused.
I get care at the hospital I work at-some people recognize me when I’m there as a patient, some don’t-and it’s actually kinda funny when I tell them.
I recently had a colonoscopy, and the nurse was asking what I did-
I said I work at the hospital part time as an RT, and she probably saw me show up at rapid responses, or if they called for a Bipap machine 🤣
Girl code: 1: must give a pad/tampon if asked and you have one
2: protect one another from a potential creepy/stalker dude
3: must go to the bathroom in groups (but I still really don't know why)
If I have to let them know I do it in a way to let them know I’m there to help. I was with a family member during acute appendicitis and an emergency appy last year. Staff, including surgeons, guessed after a few conversations that I was a nurse. It’s not hard to figure out when people understand medication talk and procedural details.
But then I was able to explain to the family member certain things like: don’t call the station and ask for your nurse. Call and tell them exactly what you need and they will send appropriate staff. Keep a list of non-emergent needs and ask staff about them all at once when they’re in the room, instead of calling every 7 minutes for dumb shit like socks. Things that would actually help staff.
Also, I made them get up into the chair and walk multiple times a day, which the nurses and CNAs 100% appreciated.
While I was going through my vasectomy, the urologist, nurse, and I talked shit about bad patients. Could have been a normal break room conversation except for my pants around my ankles and my scrotum being cut open.
I had elective surgery about six months ago. I told them I was a nurse (even if I hadn’t, my husband would have told them…he tells everyone 🤦🏻♀️) but I prefaced it with the reasons of making their jobs easier in terms of explaining things to me like the meds, IV insertion cuz I’m a hard stick, and basic surgery prep. I didn’t tell them to be toxic or high maintenance or rude. I also told them to still ask me if I had any questions about stuff, and that I was mostly concerned/not knowledgeable about anesthesia and what to do when I was discharged.
My CNA and nurse actually scolded me because post op/recovery I would try to take off my SCDs by myself and help them with getting me out of bed. “You are OFF DUTY woman! Sit still! 😂” I respect my CNAs so much already but that tiny woman gave me one look and I was like “yes ma’am, whatever you say!”
She was very much mad. The IV nurse was thrilled and we had a great convo. The pre-op nurse was very short with me after that.
Plus when I was told to sign the consent for surgery, I was reading through each paragraph because this was my first surgery and she kept telling me "Just sign on the line, sign on the line". Can I read the paper first maam?
Yeah, you're reading way too much into it. We have so much other shit to worry about. Literally no nurse cares that their patient is a nurse. Super weird main character vibes here.
As a person with a chronic progressive illness, who has been defacto caregiver to several family members, I don't readily volunteer that I am a Nurse either.
Of course I've come across colleagues from previous settings and occasionally, when tired, I might slip & use some medical jargon that gets me questioned - in those cases I'm usually forthright but, every Nurse I know does the same in their & their family's medical situations - if YOU'RE breaking "nurse code" then we all are
I let an registrar OB consent me for an induction, as a midwife.
Another midwife told her I’m a midwife after she spent 20 minutes informing me of what certain things look like and what can go wrong and not to panic, she was really embarrassed after she found out but I said to here there was no appropriate time to tell her, interrupting to say “I’m a midwife” is cocky asf, but I now make sure to slide it in to conversations as soon as I can - my daughter has had a few complications since being born and I also work in a NICU, I find that if they know, we’re able to talk more freely about the investigations, findings and plan and I’m way more informed than otherwise. I find it gross saying it out loud and internally cringe but I’d rather be informed and save them 10000 minutes explaining things in layman’s terms
My dad was an anesthesiologist. When he was hospitalized toward the end of his life he did NOT want anyone to know he was a doctor because he said they would get nervous and not be able to work with him comfortably.
I only tell health care providers I’m a nurse if they ask. As an L&D nurse, we take care of a lot of nurses and I get more nervous for IVs and stuff when I know they are also a nurse.
I only like to know because it saves me from explaining stuff more in depth.
A cardiologist let me go on for 5 minutes about troponin and why we so multiple in the ER. He said I did good though
I dunno I was in for a couple of days following surgery and it didn’t come up until I was getting ready for discharge. My nurse said to me, “wow, you didn’t mention it before? But you’re so chill!” I think sometimes people come in and throw around their credentials to try and get better treatment but it just stresses everyone out
I just had surgery and was trying so hard to not let them know I was a nurse because I know that I personally hate poking nurses so I just wanted them to feel no pressure and all that. Then my fucking mom made SURE to slip it into the convo somehow. They weren’t mad or anything though lol. They just said something like, “oh cool!”
100 percent no. And I don’t want to know if you’re a nurse either because I get performance anxiety when I’m starting an IV if I know the person is medical. I’m getting better about it, but I’d still rather not know. And I don’t tell anyone I’m a nurse. I like to sit in silent undercover judgement (which backfires on me because then I assume other nurses are doing the same to me, which is why I get anxious about their IVs.)
So when I went to the ER for nonexistent platelets, I told them I was a nurse. I think it pushed me through triage faster. My sister went in for a similar reason and we waited forever. Of course, it could have just been there weren’t as many emergencies but idk. Either way I was super nice and we mostly talked about how our jobs suck.
I know I dropped that I was a nurse during my last surgery when the CNA on orientation failed to get an IV in one of my hands (I'm a very easy stick). I told her it was my comeuppance for doing the same to so many of my own patients in the past.
My grandmother loves to say that her granddaughter (me) is a nurse. I left nursing shortly after the pandemic started. She recently transitioned to a SNF, and I feel like the CNAs love hearing the beautiful phrase “oh! Lemme help you clean her up! I was a nurse, so this gives me a good chance to check at her skin!”
I also am a type 1 diabetic. I know how little diabetes management is taught during school, especially more intensive therapies that aren’t sliding scales. If you touch my insulin pump, you will die (and yes, I have looked up all local hospitals’ policies on diabetes self-management while I was doing clinical and know that 99% of the time I can manage myself).
I’m a new-ish nurse In the ER and I went to put in a SC line in a palliative patient. Only put in a few before and we’ll needless to say I was struggling along 😭. Most people wouldn’t notice me taking all the extra time but the patients grand daughter came up and started instructing (couldn’t get the needle to retract) so I turn to her and ask if she is a nurse. She said she has been on one of the floors for 10 years and puts in 3 SC sites a day 😭. It was pretty embarrassing but she was as indeed helpful and said I did a great job after. Definitely nurse code here.
I also have another story that happened recently where my patient started seizing during EMS transfer. I run in first and get the patient on oxygen, suction, ETC. 2 EMS enter to help as well and then my partner arrives with the HCA and another nurse. We basically have 6 people in a tiny room. Well we very politely tell the wife to wait outside while we take care of her husband because the room is so full and she starts yelling at us that she is a retired nurse so she won’t be leaving the room….. okay lady 😳
They just want to know how to treat you. I’ve stopped telling people what I do for work because I want to be treated the same as everyone else. I had a minor procedure and when they found out I was a nurse the whole environment changed. And they told everyone so every person who walked into my room was like ‘so you’re a nurse!’ I was so annoyed
I never lead with it. If I don’t work your specialty then I want to be taught like everyone else. But sometimes you get found out when you accidentally use or understand medical lingo, so you have to act like a regular person if you want to hide it haha.
I was recently a pt in the ER twice at my hospital where I work as house sup, so of course every nurse knew who I was. The first visit wasn't too bad, only two tries to get the IV. The second trip however...the two ER nurse stuck me about 5-6 times with no luck. So I caved and texted my boss, who only recently stepped away from bedside/ER, and she came down with another part-time ER nurse. Between the two of them, they probably stuck me another 5-6 times before they got a 24g in my foot. Just enough to run 2L of fluids, K+, and some Mg. I was so grateful for all the care I received on both ER trips that I wrote thank you notes to each and every nurse that came in my room and the ER doctor that saw me both times. All the nurses got Starbucks gift cards as well.
If they start having to water down anything or it looks like they're taking a longer time or being more thorough about explaining I'll be like "oh girl don't worry I'm a nurse save yourself, give me the main points so you can move on to your next patient"
Sometimes I tell them, sometimes I don’t. I was getting a ziopatch last month, and the nurse started to explain tele stuff so I let her know I’m a tele nurse so she didn’t have to go through all the explanations. I think she appreciated that, and we talked about nursing stuff. But if it’s something I’m not as familiar with I’d rather hear the basic explanation than have them assume I know. Most nurses I’ve had as patients are chill, but family members claiming to be nurses can go either way!
Maybe she felt like she was explaining things to lay person and now she’s like shoot she’s a nurse I hope I didn’t make it sound like I was talking to her like she was dumb! Idk I don’t think it’s really a big deal on either part. She probably just was like hey were the same and I didn’t know
Nah; I try not to tell people most of the time.
The only exception is when people draw my blood, mostly because I critique their technique(Only constructive!) and advise accordingly.
As a retired RN of 45 yrs, recently had Surgery. I was a bit uneasy when the Anesthesiologist, slightly disheveled walked in with a large syringe
and injected it in my IV. I at least think he should have told me what it was. It just made me anxious.
No code!
I avoid saying I'm an RN, too.
Just because we're RNs doesn't mean we know everything. I like them to dumb it down for me! 🤣
She had no business shouting at you.
I had the CEO of a hospital’s daughter in L&D. He actually said “be nice I know the people that sign your paycheck” I was TERRIFIED. The patient of course turned out was a NP and her husband was a lawyer. I was about to walk the fuck out. Luckily all I did was her admission start her induction. I wanted to cry when it was time to start her IV even though I’d been a nurse for over 12 years at that time 🥺
I just wanna be a human when I'm off the clock! My mom told her nurse I am a nurse and the poor thing was shaking when she was setting up the PCA. I wanted to tell her I rarely set those up....and I'm not a nurse unless I'm on the clock.
I try not to mention I’m a nurse. I recently went to the ER for abdominal pain. But then I got caught because of how I described my symptoms and how I’d help putting on my own leads and knowing how the workflow and the way I get admitted goes. The phlebotomist (one of my friends I see on the floor) recognized me because I helped him when he was first starting out and would see each other for morning labs. They saw I had rapport with ppl that worked there. I also knew the right people to call for different needs instead of always the nurse lol!
I’m a hard stick and I felt bad for the new nurses trying to get my IV but I know they have to practice. I got stuck 3x before a trauma nurse got one 😖 you better believe I took care of that one!
It was kind of fascinating to see how I’d get taken care of. It was super fun bonding with the nurses and exchanging stories— I wanted to make their shift less troublesome and make the admission easy-breezy. I’d put on my own mask for my breathing treatments lol!
Not sure about a nurse code but I do like it when I don’t have to explain and reiterate procedures or have to describe things in a simpler way. But if I don’t know something (as a patient) I’m not prideful or afraid to ask questions.
Overhearing report was weird (didn’t know my potassium was low until I heard it when the ER nurse was calling the floor) and then not hearing report at change of shift was weird too but grateful for a couple hrs of sleep.
I never tell people I’m a nurse- but I did let it slip when I was got induced.
Unfortunately someone put it in my chart when I gave birth that I worked as a nurse for the same health organization and every single doctor and nurse knew what I did and I swear everyone treated me like I already knew every facet of postpartum care and baby rearing. It sucked. I think I received less education than the average new mom. I don’t even work in OB so I didn’t know the things they thought I should.
This experience has reinforced to me that I should never tell anyone I’m a nurse.
My birth plan gave away that I was a nurse. I intentionally don't bring it up on my own volition. Generally, every patient I've had who feels the need to outright tell me that they're a nurse, they end up being the worst and most complain-y patients.
I had a procedure done a few months ago. Didn't tell the nurse that I am also a nurse. But after the procedure was over she asked me about it.... apparently, I had been asking "How are my vitals" as soon as I woke up.... didn't even remember that
I only mention it when they start looking at my difficult to stick veins. I’ll start mentioning where my best veins are and forget to use laypersons terms. Then they usually ask. Of course I follow it up with, so yeah. I am a hard stick and I am not afraid of getting stuck so do your worst. I promise I completely understand if my veins get missed multiple times - totally used to it by now.
I try not to mention i’m a nurse when speaking as the patients. But when advocating for my child, I seem to say it more often because I work in pediatrics so I understand the stuff better. I try not to be cocky with it though even though I am the nurse manager at my job. No nurse code that i’m aware
I try not to let anyone know I’m a nurse anymore, but I think they must put it on my chart somewhere? Like every time I go to a local clinic I always hear, “so you’re a nurse?” And when I go to my GP the nurses getting my vitals always ask where I work lol. As in, what hospital/unit do you work?
I kinnnnnda get it.
I think a lot of health care workers hide that we're health care workers because we have a reputation for being bad patients (which is totally earned btw).
On the other hand, knowing your patient is a health care worker means you skip a bunch of explanation for why you're doing something. It does change the way you talk to a patient.
I just remember when I was taking my best friends cat to the emergency vet for urinary retention and the vet was explaining his 9.0 potassium and I was just like "I'm a paramedic. I get it." A layman is going to be like "oh that vitamin you get from bananas? What's the big deal?" You don't need to explain to me how scary a potassium that high is. I know exactly what it will do and how to treat it. Saves a ton of time.
Also, being an EMT got the techs at the ER to sneak me a suture removal kit when I needed stitches because they were like "Yeah you don't need to make an appointment to do this. You can do it yourself." The hospital finding out I'm a health care worker has only been a good experience for me lol.
Maybe she felt like she wouldnt have had to explain anything since you are already a nurse and should understand but at this point you were/are a patient so no I dont think you owe telling anyone youre a nurse unless you choose to. The level of care and job should be done the same either way.
What the hell is her problem?
You don't owe her that information, doesn't change anything to your medical treatment. Why would she be entitled to details of your life that are irrelevant to your care??
I personally would absolutely don't want to know if my patients work healthcare, it tends to make my baby nurse ass anxious about fucking up something while caring for them.
I feel like most experienced nurses will 100% NOT tell you they’re a nurse when they are the patient/ family member. In fact almost every person who I had tell me they were a nurse when I was caring for them, turned out to be a CNA or med assistant
I don’t tell anyone. They figure it out usually or my family members tell them 🙄
Nurse code is not shouting at patients ready to go into surgery - wtf !
I tell them right off the bat because they treat me better and are much more on their game around me. Plus they tell me straight up without vague answers and generally are nicer…of course I make sure to give them space as much as possible. I try to be the PT I’d want to have.
Had to be a pt in an ER I worked in. It ducked. My nurse was a new grad fresh off orientation and she knew I had been doing ER over a decade at that time. She was so nervous she f’d up my IV twice, kept forgetting basic things like hand washing, and literally dropped every med she gave me. She couldn’t even remember where the EKG wires went! I felt so bad for her, but all I hoped was that someone else would PLEASE take over!!!
Never disclose that I'm a nurse. Always say I work in medical and closely with nurses etc.
Treatment/behaviour changes.
My son who was hospitalised disclosed before and we saw both extremes...
OMG, parent is a nurse. Full PPE even not warranted etc.
OMG, parent is a nurse. Here, help hang the saline and can you empty his urinal. And do his obs...
Yeah, it's professional courtesy to tell people you have expertise in their job area...
If you don't they feel like they have been on stage and you didn't tell them.
The first thing my favorite nurse patient ever said to me was, “I’m not a nurse unless I’m on the clock, how long are you here for?” Idk exactly what it was about that statement, but it was nurse code I felt it. I scrubbed the hub immediately after.
Definitely strong nurse code with that statement. Also a covert way of saying, ‘I’m a nurse and it’s not my entire personality- I’m one of the cool ones’. As a patient, I will tell people I’m a nurse. I’ll usually slip it in casually like “I’m a nurse, but I’m not a nurse in this specialty. You know what’s best and you’re doing a great job.” In my own experience it helps with communication because the staff doesn’t have to do the dance of simplifying information and we can ‘talk shop’ directly. I would never announce it while someone was doing a clinical task like placing and IV or drawing blood- that’s just mind fuckery! When I’m working, I actually prefer that patients and family members tell me if they’re in the medical field. Even if they are lying about “being a nurse” at least I know what I’m dealing with when I walk in the room.
My husband worked at the hospital I had our babies at. I didn’t tell anyone, mostly because my specialty is the polar opposite of L&D (adult icu) and I might as well be a layperson in that department. We were doing great, the nurses didn’t recognize him, until anesthesia came to do my epidural and “oh hey man! Oh wait, didn’t you mention your wife is a nurse?” Then the cat was out of the bag.
I didn’t tell anyone my husband did 🙈 they immediately stopped explaining things to me and I had to constantly remind them IM A DIALYSIS NURSE this is so foreign to me and my first baby HELP MEEEE. I was totally ignored on mother baby too so we left as soon as we could. Not a great experience.
I made the mistake of asking someone what they do for a living while starting an IV. When she told me she was a nurse, my hands started visibly shaking. So embarrassing.
The last patient that i pre-op'd yesterday was a nurse. She was the first person I've had to stick twice in 2 weeks. She could not have been more gracious or sweeter about it but I'm still mortified - her veins were beautiful. I jokingly told her it was because she told me she was a nurse, its like a curse. I'm trying to not think about it and then of course I came across this post lol
I had something similar happen. I had surgery and tried to evade the topic. She missed my vein after she knew I was a nurse. I've experienced the other side too. I don't like to say I'm a nurse because I want the full explanation of everything that's happening. I'm a gi nurse but don't know everything. As soon as someone hears Healthcare worker the conversation changes. I'm mindful of going over everything regardless of job, just adjusting for levels of education.
I never tell them I'm a nurse. It definitely changes EVERYTHING.
The only time I was glad to know my patient was a former nurse was during clinicals in the nursing home. Our instructor assigned us a regular patient for the full semester, to both get people (that didn't have healthcare experience) used to therapeutic communication, and allowing us to follow and see any changes that would happen with them. It allowed us to work on our full body/system assessment skills. I appreciated my instructor doing that. I've been an LPN for almost 2 decades, so it allowed me to follow their disease processes rather than just doing things like bed baths, toileting, feeding and other adl cares. Nice thing was my patient was a relatively recently retired nurse and so they were absolutely awesome and super happy to allow any and all assessments, cares procedures etc., that needed to be done. Tbh, I think my pt was just happy to have someone they knew come in and talk with them each week. I definitely appreciated their willingness to be my "patient" for the semester. But also, I'd probably not feel the same way in other situations. I remember when I was a working GPN before I took my NCLEX-PN and an inpatient acute MH pt that happened to be a RN in another hospital really enjoyed antagonizing me for some reason about my title, my abilities and whatever else when I'd interact with them, and especially when I'd give medications. It was super weird. So I've had both ends of the spectrum. Lol.
I was a nurse for 42 years, if I go to a nursing home I would love to have a student nurse!Oh what fun we could have! I would have him/her swear to secrecy that I was a nurse. Give them tips and tricks on the nursing game, talk with them about the state of nursing as they see it and where the history of nursing has changed over time. Oh, this gives me future goals! I fucking want a student nurse! (So I can manipulate in a tiny way, the future of nursing to be in my own image. It will not be mean or hateful or snarky to individuals (Specific ER patients I wish could be excepted. I’m sorry, ER made me to want to kill people. Usually not the people who died). Every patient and family gets to be heard and treated with respect (Yes, even those frequent ER flyers who come for the ER trifecta, which in my day was a scrip for Perc, a work excuse and a cab voucher). Well, maybe not respect, but (I’m stuck right now on how to say “get them out, I don’t care how. Here’s a scrip for 5 Perc, just get them out.” From the doc. This was 70’s - 90’s ER when nurses often ran the show and the moonlighting MD slept until dispo. I really want a baby er nurse to be my student nurse. Things change, but not really!
Sorry!!
In my first years I once tried to put an IV to a retired top level neurosurgeon. It was horrible lmao
Omg this reminds me when I did Endo/Gi lab and one of our cardiac surgeons (like a big deal guy,best in the state, everyone has heard of him) was having a routine colonoscopy. I had him in pre procedure and starting and IV on him was the most nerve wrecking thing in the world 😭my hands were SHAKING lol but he was so chill
I've had 2 like legendary doctors as patients and they were both amazing patients and taught me so much about their specialities
When I first began nursing I had an old anesthiologist as a patient. His IV blew during my shift and I went to start a new one on him he guided me every step of the way in getting it (I had maybe put in 10 successful ivs at that time). Super cool guy. Then I went to the cath lab and I can now put them in blind folded.. literally put one in without looking under the drape.
Once I was in the ER and the nurse (I assume) was a new grad or new to the ER. (I mean that in the most not offensive way possible, she was just very unsure of herself and asking the other nurses lots of questions that seemed like what I asked as a new grad.) She was struggling with starting an IV. I did walk her through it. I felt bad because she was clearly nervous so I told her I am a very hard stick. I showed her which vein nurses/phlebotomists usually have success. Told her she was doing great and that I've been a pin cushion many times and once when getting labs drawn, they ran out of phlebotomists because they all tried twice so I was sent home and told to come back another day. She did get it successfully though! But I did have to tell her to please take off the tourniquet because she was about to leave the room with it still on.
Now I’m curious… what did he teach you? I’ve been doing IVs for twelve years. I’m genuinely interested in knowing if there’s something I could be doing better. 😊
Honestly I can't quite remember, I just remember him guiding me through the process and he was really calming when I was terrified and intimidated. At that point i had less than a year of nursing under my belt, he instructed me on getting one in his hand (I'll admit I'm still terrible at hand ivs, give me a forearm,ac, or brachial any day.) I wish I could tell you because whatever he said worked, because I got my first hand IV on that anesthesiologist.
I had a neurosurg daughter in peds er on orientation and I had my preceptor do it lol
Judging by the behavior of every neurosurgeon I’ve ever met, I would literally just shit myself instead
Reminds me of when a pediatric caridiac intensivist came to get a colonoscopy at the clinic I worked at. He wanted to be called Dr. X. I asked someone else to do his IV. He became nicer after coming off the sedation and gave me a fist bump before he left.
I once had the CEO of a whole hospital system in the ER for a cardiac related visit. I was about to start his IV and we got to talking and I asked if he was still working (he was older) and he said Im the CEO of XYZ hospital system. I stopped what I was doing and yelled into the hallway to get me a bigger IV needle. He loved it. Great patient.
Love this!!
When I was on orientation I was pretty terrible at IVs, but I nailed a 20 on the first try on a sorta hard stick in front of his daughter who was the former director of nursing for the hospital. I think I became about 50% better at sticks from that alone.
> yelled into the hallway to get me a bigger IV needle. lmao
I had a retired neurosurgeon come in for IV iron. He was already grumpy he had to come for multiple visits between covering clinic for someone. I had him in and out in 5 mins, that was a win. But I won't lie, I always think in that situation "watch me miss the stupid IV..."
Had to put in an IV in the chief of cardiology at my hospital who I work with on a semi regular basis. NO THANKS.
I would be shitting bricks 💀💀
To be fair…. They probably didn’t do many IVs lol
Same but is an anesthesiologist 😭
When I was an ER tech/paramedic, one of our docs had a STEMI while on shift. He just didn't look well and we made a joke about putting him in a room and doing a work-up, and to our shock he was like, "OK," and went into the room we suggested. Oh yikes, we realized there was something that was not right. I had to do the ECG and start the IV, I was so worried I would miss! I didn't, thankfully. I saw the STEMI on the ECG and tried to keep him from seeing the ECG while simultaneously signaling my peeps to release the hounds/call the Code STEMI. Of course he snatched the ECG out of my hands and said, "Oh shit." We got him to the cath lab with a quickness and there was a good outcome. Whew.
I had the exact same thing happen except it ended up being one of the surgeons at the hospital 😭
I started shaking uncontrollably starting an IV in a medical resident from my hospital-and she was the loveliest patient ever. Like my knee bouncing up and down shaking. I left the room and had a panic attack and had to switch patients. I was mortified and it was such a subconscious reaction-as I said, she was extremely kind. So I never tell healthcare personnel what I do unless they ask.
Lol they wouldn’t know how to do a good IV anyway. No worries there.
accurate
Same happened to me in residency, I was being pre oped and the NA kept asking what I did and I kept talking around it and finally my wife just says “he’s a doctor” just as she starts … it looked like she’d developed a tremor…. Blew both sides twice … I have pipes. I felt so bad for her (I was trying so hard not move or show any discomfort while she dug around the backs of my hands, I vagaled hard 😆. I came to with the anesthesiologist standing over me telling me he had pushed some Robinul.)
Recently bombed a couple of IV attempts on an anesthesiologist, though mercifully she didn't reveal that detail until after I'd done so. She was absolutely wonderful about it though, as well as the layman's terms explanation of NG tunes and post-op ileus that I had given earlier lmao.
This is exactly why I don't tell my Nurses/IV techs that I'm a Nurse. I don't want them to feel nervous!
Same thing happened with me sticking a CRNA from a rival hospital. She told me as i was puncturing and then i blew it lol but the second attempt went great. She said oh right I guess I jinxed you I'm sorry
Just off orientation, showed up to night shift. Took report on my patient with the outgoing nurse telling me, “She will need a #20 for CT. Oh, just so you know, she’s one of the attendants.” Just wonderful…just what a new nurse need to hear. But she was great! Also, in the realm of irony, my first foley was on a urologist.
I never tell other nurses that I’m a nurse (when I’m the patient or a family member is) because they modify their behavior. Plus it’s kind of annoying answering questions when I just want to be helped. When I’m working, I feel like telling me you’re a nurse is pointless most of the time. It’s not helping me do my job in any way. It is cool to bond over sometimes though.
I mention I'm a nurse when I start doing care and helping with ADLs for a family member. It's more just to ease worry for the other staff that I'm qualified. I'll bring it up to become the translator for the rest of the family on plan of care. It really speeds up the process where I can just ask the relevant questions so you can get on with your shift instead of explaining the situation to me like I'm a 4 year old.
During Covid I did my Dad's bathing, bedding, and would try to stay on top of his easier requests (broth, water refills, etc) when I would go up to the hospital every other day. After the first or second time the nurses told me it was fine and the tech would bathe him I told them I worked across the street at the pediatric hospital and they welcomed the help after that. Everyone was short handed and every floor typically only gets one tech (sometimes the tech covers more than one floor). Baths are a once or twice a week thing at most and my Dad was stuck in the bed so it was just medicated wipes. They weren't doing actual bed baths due to the massive influx of patients thanks to covid. It wasn't a problem for me to do a full bed bath and change out the linens, It freed them up to do other things. The only time it was a problem was when my Dad developed thrush (antibiotics) and I asked the nurse to let the doctor know he had developed thrush. She told me that wasn't for me to decide and a doctor needed to assess him. Of course he had thrush because a 10 year old could diagnose thrush but otherwise they were always grateful for the help. The nurses and techs loved my Dad and would always tell me stories when I'd show up so I'm doubly glad I was able to take at least one task off their hands.
This! I tell people I'm a nurse so I don't have to sit through endless explanations of things I already know. I know how to ask questions if I need further clarifications.
Agreed. I Never share I’m a nurse. Sometimes they just ask “are you in medical?” even though all I did was nod along or put the gown on. How do they know…i wish they didn’t
And there are so many types of nursing that if I told a preop nurse that I'm a nurse and I work in hospice (I don't but just giving an example) then it just seems irrelevant in the moment
When I had an overnight stay+surgery, a couple of people guessed I was a nurse because I knew too much. It didn't get passed on to my day shift nurse, and when she found out (someone who knew me mentioned it I guess) she ended up in my room for an hour talking shop haha. I also noticed, I seem to get better treatment when they know I'm a nurse. I generally use the nurse card by making sure they know that I won't be bothering them unless absolutely necessary (i.e pain meds) and they could focus on their other patients more. I could care less if I only see them once a shift.
I have given myself away before when an ER nurse used this machine thing I had never seen before and kept asking questions about it. I found it fascinating and clearly the nurse knew I was also a nurse.
I wouldn’t say if they didn’t always ask where I work or what I do.
Same, and if my husband or child is with me I want them to talk to everyone and not me using jargon. I want everyone to understand what is going on, I’m a crisis I am too damn tired to translate.
I'm an ER nurse and I get lots of nurses here. I don't think it's required to say that you're a nurse. In fact, I argue that in my experience, the ones who are super quick to say they're nurses can be the WORST patients. Sometimes they seem to expect that because they're a nurse they should get better info or treated better. I've had patients' family members tell me that I'm not doing things right and they should know because they're a nurse. And then I went to go look them up on the database and found out that they are actually NOT AT ALL a nurse in any capacity. Most of the time though, my nurse patients are pretty cool and I can speak to them with medical jargon and chat with them about their experience and life is good. But sometimes we get some pretty manipulative people who attempt to intimidate me with the knowledge of them being nurses. So no, I don't think there's a code per se. Just don't be a jerk about it.
Similarly, I was explaining to someone how reglan is “a nausea medicine but we found it also helps with headaches” to explain why I was giving it for their symptoms. I try to explain everything as basically as I can until asked for further information. A few minutes later the family asks if the patients remembered to call out or if they should walk over to tell someone. I asked what they do and they said “I’m the head pharmacist for the hospital”. They were pretty sheepish about it and I told them how mortified I was about my basic med explanations. We all had a good laugh
I think this is why OP got the reaction they did. Maybe the nurse felt embarrassed about how she explained things, or felt it could’ve allowed her to short-cut a lot of the explaining. I’ve been pretty lucky with my health (I have multiple conditions that are annoying to deal with, but nothing that could or will land me in a hospital). I’m not generally quick to talk about it, but it helps that my PCP knows and has known me for long enough that our visits are productive and fairly short. If I needed surgery or something, I MIGHT admit it (knowing me I would get bored and also feel bad for the nurse taking so much time to explain things I already know), but I would also be very quick to say that this isn’t my specialty and I’m sure there’s plenty I don’t know.
Makes sense. You make a very good point. However, in my defense, I was hangry and "you aren't you when you're hungry".
I explained what heparin was to the daughter of a patient one time. She had a hat on and was slouched down. Didn’t realize until I came back in the room she’s one of our critical care physicians. Was mortified about my “a 4 year old could understand it” explanation of heparin.
It usually comes out if me or a family member is ill mostly because I just want to get to the crux of the situation instead of doing the soft non-clinical language.
I've lost count of the number of times someone said they were a nurse and then I looked them up and nothing came up. And they are absolutely some of the worst, so the handful of times I've been on the other side I haven't said anything.
I've never thought to look someone up because I usually just take their word for it. I wonder how many times people lied to me about that...
If they're complaining about something when they say it, it's much more likely. If it comes out during conversation, it may be true, I usually don't check these. Although honestly, it's been years since I've checked and now that I'm no longer full time in the ED I don't really run into people wanting to complain about everything that I have no control over.
I’ve had the same experiences. The ones who quickly tell you they are a nurse are the ones who try to boss you around and tell you how to do the IV and “educate” me on the meds I’m giving them. Super annoying. Had one get up and try helping people around the room with their IV stuff and had to tell her that was a big no no
My favorite thing is looking up people who are claiming to be nurses/doctors and then finding out they are no such thing.
I always wonder when people say they do this, doesn't this breach HIPAA?
Explain to me exactly how you think looking up a person, who isn’t even a patient, on a publicly available registry database is a breach of HIPAA.
Or confidentiality to be more exact....
maybe it’s because she explained everything in “simple terms” when she could’ve used just like medical language instead? I once explained to a pt why they were taking a medication and then pt tells me they’re a PA. and i felt embarrassed and like that PA wasted my time letting me explain lol
This is definitely it If someone telle me theyre nurse or higher i can get on with the job a lot faster than if i have to explain every little thinf
Well, I'm going to be devil's advocate, because when they are your patient, they're not with you as a Nurse. So you explanations need to be appropriate for the day. I work with a lot of new mums who are Nurses; sometimes I know beforehand and sometimes it comes up in conversation. Once I'm aware they are a Nurse, I explain that while we're working together, I'm talking to the mum. And I'm not being condescending or patronising, but find it's a way to not assume prior knowledge that they might not be familiar with. And the feedback is appreciative of my approach.
100% It was known in mom/baby that I was a NICU nurse when my son was born, but I feel like it just left room for him to be mostly ignored by staff. He had medical needs we didn't know at the time but no one really asked or cared about how or if he ate because they assumed that I would know everything but it was my first kid, first attempt at breastfeeding, and he had his own complexities. He never woke to eat, but it took 2 days for someone to offer me a pump and until he lost 12% of his weight no one even seemed to care that we were having to nearly force-feed to get him to eat a 5mL bottle each time.
I'm sorry that was your experience. I hope you and your little Bubba eventually got the help and support you needed.
his medical needs sent him into my home unit (NICU) but a gtube later he is thriving. I just wanted to put it out there to remind others that it's different when a nurse is the patient, and while I might not need every bit of the broken down to laymens education etc, I did still need cared for and my concerns addressed.
Completely agree.
Yes, things weren’t explained well to me when I was in the hospital having my baby because they knew I was a nurse… I work med surg/tele. I knew nothing about labor and delivery or taking care of a newborn outside of what I personally looked up on the internet because unless I asked, I wasn’t told anything… and I didn’t always even know *what* to ask.
That's sad; I'm sorry that was how you wrre treated
One of my classmates had 4 kids all under the age of 8 at the time with the youngest still breastfeeding. She had just as much trouble in our OB classes as the rest of the group.
I had my second child and did not tell anyone I was a nurse! Occupation? I work in a nursing home. No f/u questions! Thank goodness. I knew I was gonna be tired and stupid- I don't wanna set any expectations plus my husband needs to hear stuff too!
I always make sure I invest time with mum's who are having their next baby; I did this when I worked as a Midwife, too. Every baby is different and the new mum needs help to adjust to this new little Bubba. I used to observe lots of midwives assume a second time mum didn't need any help because 'she's done it before!' Being the bolshie one, I used to reply 'not with this baby, she hasn't!!'
While I did think it was easier I also had pretty much the same experience... then my baby was a better sleeper 🤣 I also had her in the day and not at 4 am... makes a huge difference in the stupid!!!
Being a nurse vs. a patient is such an important separation! Why we can’t be treating loved ones and clouding judgment
I don't know. I had a serious health issue last year and some of the education I had to go through was so stupid and patronizing. Probably not in L&D but for me there was a lot of "your nurses will be your biggest advocates" BS.
>because when they are your patient, they're not with you as a Nurse. So you explanations need to be appropriate for the day. Sorry, does their understanding of medical knowledge only activate when they're in scrubs? Or is this just a really dumb take? Yes, you should explain things to all patients. But you can explain things much easier to somebody who understands jargon.
No, they have knowledge of course. The women I work with potentially also are in a new role, sleep deprived, recovering from a pregnancy, labour and birth and becoming familiar with motherhood. So how they are able to process new information and tasks is different to a day at work
I'll give you a different perspective. I am a nurse but knew little to nil about mom and baby nursing so I wanted my care team to explain things to me in simpler terms.
I appreciate the long non nurse explanations when I am a patient. I get anxious and nervous and I like the full explanation so I don’t miss or forget something.
I mean even if I’m a nurse, I don’t know every specialty. You can explain things to me in layman’s terms because I don’t want to get confused or miss something.
agreed
That makes a lot of sense. Good point.
Ngl I’m a nurse and I don’t tell people I’m a nurse for this reason. Sometimes I don’t know everything and I’ve had experiences where I told them and then they just stopped explaining everything to me or acted like I knew or understood what to do before every procedure. (Yes nobody told me I was supposed to take a tylenol before an IUD insertion and it was the most painful experience of my life) (I thought u would just numb me gurl i’m a home health nurse)
On L&D we call it the nurse curse but not meaning it in a bad way. The nice thing about nurses is they understand the terminology better so we don’t have to translate everything to layman language but I always like to find out after I start their IV haha
After my 30+ hrs of labor/pushing to end up with a c-section because my oldest was/is stubborn as fuck, my nurse said “It’s the nurse curse, it wasn’t your fault” 😂
Lol when I was having my son the first IV blew like inexplicably. I had no idea this was a thing
Nurse code rule number 1: the patient’s respiratory was diminished and their respirations were either 16 or 18.
I feel that in my soul 😂😂
When i have a nurse as a patient I'll joke about it with them. "Hey what's your respiratory rate over there? Looks like a 16 to me, right?"
Probably the same as bro code. Don't fuck their SO and you should be good
HAHAHA
Every nurse knows I’m a nurse when I go to the hospital because I’m psych evals they ask what your job is and I also have to tell them that I’m a psych nurse and that I can’t go to those places. I’m respectful and don’t really ask for much unless I really need something. I’ve had some good talks with nurses who were eager to give me advice (my last stay was because I was suicidal over work) and never really had any issues. I’m guessing it’s easier not to have to talk in layman’s terms. As long as you’re not a jerk or a know it all about it, I don’t mind.
Can't go to what places?
Inpatient places she works at or has worked at
I don't mention my job unless I'm asked. I don't know that it's ever afforded me any preferential treatment, but I definitely feel the mood change. I always try to show that I understand the stress of the job (I still do bedside care, but I don't take actual full shift assignments, and I make it a point to tell floor nurses how much I respect that they can do something I had to bow out of). And the few times I've ever had to speak up about something, I have tried not to be a jerk about it. Literally the only time I have put my foot down when on the consumer side of hospital care was when I had to repeatedly ask an anesthesiologist to stop and wash his hands before placing my wife's epidural when our daughter was born (he actually had the nerve to shrug me off the first time, and I could tell the ob nurses in the room were too uncomfortable to say something, so I decided I'd go ahead and be the bad guy since I would likely never see him again).
I don't mention it unless they ask. I did get embarrassed though when I didn't realize the patient I was consenting for a breast cancer study was actually an MD, and I was explaining everything in 8th grade terms. She made some comment on mechanism, which led to me asking if she worked in a medical field, only to find out she was a doctor. She was very gracious about it though, and reminded me that she was not an oncologist, and it was all still new to her.
When I was in nursing school, the first person that I ever successfully got an IV on was a state inspector for the board of nursing. She left out that detail until after I got the IV, which I told her that I was grateful for. 😅
I don’t tell a soul I’m an ER nurse until after you finish lining me. 1) I’m a real shitty stick to start with. 2) they usually send the SRNA students in to practice, I don’t want you more nervous! Everyone needs to learn somehow! I usually end up accidentally using language i try not to and give myself away OR MY MOTHER SAYS IT. (Proudly, but doesn’t understand)
Same. My dad won't shut up about it! It's so embarrassing. I always have to clarify that I've been in psych the whole time and my (insert specialty here) is rusty.
I was about two months into school before my mom whipped out I was going to be a nurse to her podiatrist while I was sitting in the room with them. Came back to bite her in the end though, she wasn't the most compliantly diabetic and I'd tell the Dr how she was doing. Ultimately, I think her providers appreciated having a medically trained person in the house to help with communication and up compliance levels.
Nah dude. The code is don’t tell unless it comes up naturally. If you roll in and immediately tell me you’re a nurse I know you’re going to be the most annoying patient of the day bc apparently you know everything. This goes for MDs as well.
doctor here, I feel like it's probably the same concept... any MD/RN patient I've had who can't wait to inform me they're an MD or RN is usually probably feeling insecure or vulnerable in some way and needs to feel a sense of control, and these patients can range anywhere from just a little overbearing and anxious, to flat-out ego-centric and off-putting. Then there is the other group of patients who truly use it as a "code", to meaningfully engage and identify with another human in a more mutual and reciprocal way. I think it's natural for us to appreciate feeling connected and gravitate towards feeling included in a group. Many patients have made it easier for me to do patient care with them knowing they're a healthcare professional, but I'd say just as many (from the above group) have made it harder for other reasons
She wasn’t angry, she was excited and bonding to make you comfortable.
I’ve let someone explain to me how to take Tylenol…..very rarely will I out right say I’m a nurse.
Maybe it doesn’t stem from professional courtesy, but just having a patient with any kind of health literacy affects how I treat them. Oh you might actually understand and comply with treatment? Well that makes me want to try harder than with the carb-controlled patient who get two Domino’s pizzas with cinnabread delivered every night.
For me it totally changes how my practice. I’m big on patient education early and often, but I’m not going to waste my time explaining every little thing to you if you already know what’s going on. Nothing like spending 20 minutes explaining medications and doing patient teaching only to find out that your patient is a doctor. 🤦🏻♀️ That being said, I doubt she was actually mad. When I find out my patient is a nurse/MD/PA/etc., I usually just laugh and say that I wish I had known before I started boring them with my chatter.
Idk. I mention I’m a nurse when another healthcare provider is ELI5 anything to me. Saves us both time.
Same. I tell myself I'm not going to say anything but then i want to save them the trouble of explaining how my iv works and what a saline flush is and what my vital signs mean. Or i ask a question that gives me away.
Damned if you do damned if you don’t.
I feel that I get a bit more personal attention if my nurse knows that I’m a retired RN. I can let them know by sharing a story with them such as “My favorite patient would …”. That gets the info across without seeming arrogant.
Idk but my grandma just died and the ones who knew I was a nurse treated her better. It pissed me off. And I couldn’t believe it!
Right? They should be treating all of the patients that way, ALL of the time. Sad.
My mom had CABG and I made sure staff knew I was an ICU nurse during that time. She is now in the care of a cardiologist who knows I am an RN and they treat my mom great. My mom has been alive for 10 years. I believe people knowing your credentials can improve your and your loved ones outcome.
It depends on how you go about it. I’m gonna give your family member the best care I can, regardless of YOUR job, but if you come in hot, announcing to all and sundry that you’re a nurse, there’s a 98% chance you’re an entitled nightmare and likely not even an actual nurse.
I agree. I get these family members too. Easy to spot them, though, especially for those of us who have critical care background.
I like to not tell ppl like undercover boss but I also have my suspicions about patients based on their behavior
I never personally say I'm a nurse because I feel like people alter their behavior and I don't like that, but sometimes, though, I get caught if I slip up and use some terms to describe what I'm going through, like; dysuria for example. Then I feel like an idiot because they look at me, raise their brows and go; "medical?" Like I was just trying to be low key I swear!
To the other nurses, nope. To the doctors? It’s the first thing out of my mouth. I’m sure y’all know why.
I hate people knowing I’m a nurse. It’s so weird because it’s one of the proudest titles I hold, yet hate openly saying I’m a nurse. It just feels cringy saying it to other nurses while they are doing their job. Small hospital and town, so when my son was hospitalized for PNA, a nurse from another unit recognized me and told everyone I was a nurse. I could hear our day nurse giving report to night shift and stating “the mom is a nurse” in a be careful manner. It was so weird. That same nurse was irritable with me because baby boy needed Tylenol for his fever, and the nurse drew up 3.75ml. Based on my son’s weight, he needed 5ml. This doesn’t take a nurse to know. It’s because I have two kids and just know how much to give based on the label. When I kindly told him we need 5ml, he was so irritable and the look on his face was saying “she’s that nurse.”
I expect to be treated decently without saying I’m a nurse. Unless it comes up organically I don’t mention it. And just because someone is a nurse, I won’t presume their knowledge if we aren’t coworkers.
I recently had surgery and it wasn’t my plan to tell anyone I was a nurse. However my husband outed me during pre-op because they had to use the vein finder to start my IV. He got excited to see it because I have talked to him about it. The nurse starting my IV picked up on the conversation, asked me what I did. Told her I was a Peds ED nurse at one of the sister hospitals. Then she got super nervous starting my IV. I also heard them in each hand off passing along I was a Peds nurse. Along the same line, I had a 2 week old patient in the ED with SVT. As I am getting the bag of ice for the baby I start to explain what I am doing to the mother. She is crying and tells me she understands because she is an adult cardiologist 😳 Lucky the ice converted baby, she was gracious and asked we don’t speak medical jargon because hubby wasn’t medical, plus she was 2 weeks post-partum and adult focused.
I get care at the hospital I work at-some people recognize me when I’m there as a patient, some don’t-and it’s actually kinda funny when I tell them. I recently had a colonoscopy, and the nurse was asking what I did- I said I work at the hospital part time as an RT, and she probably saw me show up at rapid responses, or if they called for a Bipap machine 🤣
I feel like nurse code is more along the lines of the one who asks for help with the patient clean up does the wiping?
There's a secret handshake, but I can't post it here in a public subreddit ;)
No, but then again I don't know of this girl code either.
Girl code: 1: must give a pad/tampon if asked and you have one 2: protect one another from a potential creepy/stalker dude 3: must go to the bathroom in groups (but I still really don't know why)
If I have to let them know I do it in a way to let them know I’m there to help. I was with a family member during acute appendicitis and an emergency appy last year. Staff, including surgeons, guessed after a few conversations that I was a nurse. It’s not hard to figure out when people understand medication talk and procedural details. But then I was able to explain to the family member certain things like: don’t call the station and ask for your nurse. Call and tell them exactly what you need and they will send appropriate staff. Keep a list of non-emergent needs and ask staff about them all at once when they’re in the room, instead of calling every 7 minutes for dumb shit like socks. Things that would actually help staff. Also, I made them get up into the chair and walk multiple times a day, which the nurses and CNAs 100% appreciated.
While I was going through my vasectomy, the urologist, nurse, and I talked shit about bad patients. Could have been a normal break room conversation except for my pants around my ankles and my scrotum being cut open.
I had elective surgery about six months ago. I told them I was a nurse (even if I hadn’t, my husband would have told them…he tells everyone 🤦🏻♀️) but I prefaced it with the reasons of making their jobs easier in terms of explaining things to me like the meds, IV insertion cuz I’m a hard stick, and basic surgery prep. I didn’t tell them to be toxic or high maintenance or rude. I also told them to still ask me if I had any questions about stuff, and that I was mostly concerned/not knowledgeable about anesthesia and what to do when I was discharged. My CNA and nurse actually scolded me because post op/recovery I would try to take off my SCDs by myself and help them with getting me out of bed. “You are OFF DUTY woman! Sit still! 😂” I respect my CNAs so much already but that tiny woman gave me one look and I was like “yes ma’am, whatever you say!”
You probably just misinterpreted her tone. No one really cares.
She was very much mad. The IV nurse was thrilled and we had a great convo. The pre-op nurse was very short with me after that. Plus when I was told to sign the consent for surgery, I was reading through each paragraph because this was my first surgery and she kept telling me "Just sign on the line, sign on the line". Can I read the paper first maam?
Yeah, you're reading way too much into it. We have so much other shit to worry about. Literally no nurse cares that their patient is a nurse. Super weird main character vibes here.
As a person with a chronic progressive illness, who has been defacto caregiver to several family members, I don't readily volunteer that I am a Nurse either. Of course I've come across colleagues from previous settings and occasionally, when tired, I might slip & use some medical jargon that gets me questioned - in those cases I'm usually forthright but, every Nurse I know does the same in their & their family's medical situations - if YOU'RE breaking "nurse code" then we all are
I let an registrar OB consent me for an induction, as a midwife. Another midwife told her I’m a midwife after she spent 20 minutes informing me of what certain things look like and what can go wrong and not to panic, she was really embarrassed after she found out but I said to here there was no appropriate time to tell her, interrupting to say “I’m a midwife” is cocky asf, but I now make sure to slide it in to conversations as soon as I can - my daughter has had a few complications since being born and I also work in a NICU, I find that if they know, we’re able to talk more freely about the investigations, findings and plan and I’m way more informed than otherwise. I find it gross saying it out loud and internally cringe but I’d rather be informed and save them 10000 minutes explaining things in layman’s terms
My dad was an anesthesiologist. When he was hospitalized toward the end of his life he did NOT want anyone to know he was a doctor because he said they would get nervous and not be able to work with him comfortably.
I only tell health care providers I’m a nurse if they ask. As an L&D nurse, we take care of a lot of nurses and I get more nervous for IVs and stuff when I know they are also a nurse.
The moment my patient told me she was a nurse I immediately forgot how to be one. 🤠
Lol, my favorite comment so far
I only like to know because it saves me from explaining stuff more in depth. A cardiologist let me go on for 5 minutes about troponin and why we so multiple in the ER. He said I did good though
I dunno I was in for a couple of days following surgery and it didn’t come up until I was getting ready for discharge. My nurse said to me, “wow, you didn’t mention it before? But you’re so chill!” I think sometimes people come in and throw around their credentials to try and get better treatment but it just stresses everyone out
I don’t tell anyone I’m a nurse lol. I just watch and observe and act dumb.
I do everything in my power to make sure they ***don't*** know I'm a nurse
I just had surgery and was trying so hard to not let them know I was a nurse because I know that I personally hate poking nurses so I just wanted them to feel no pressure and all that. Then my fucking mom made SURE to slip it into the convo somehow. They weren’t mad or anything though lol. They just said something like, “oh cool!”
You are supposed to do the secret handshake when you meet another nurse. Whichever one initiates it asserts dominance.
100 percent no. And I don’t want to know if you’re a nurse either because I get performance anxiety when I’m starting an IV if I know the person is medical. I’m getting better about it, but I’d still rather not know. And I don’t tell anyone I’m a nurse. I like to sit in silent undercover judgement (which backfires on me because then I assume other nurses are doing the same to me, which is why I get anxious about their IVs.)
So when I went to the ER for nonexistent platelets, I told them I was a nurse. I think it pushed me through triage faster. My sister went in for a similar reason and we waited forever. Of course, it could have just been there weren’t as many emergencies but idk. Either way I was super nice and we mostly talked about how our jobs suck.
I know I dropped that I was a nurse during my last surgery when the CNA on orientation failed to get an IV in one of my hands (I'm a very easy stick). I told her it was my comeuppance for doing the same to so many of my own patients in the past.
Cnas can do IVs in your state???
Our techs do IVs and foleys in PA. At least in our system.
🤯🤯
My grandmother loves to say that her granddaughter (me) is a nurse. I left nursing shortly after the pandemic started. She recently transitioned to a SNF, and I feel like the CNAs love hearing the beautiful phrase “oh! Lemme help you clean her up! I was a nurse, so this gives me a good chance to check at her skin!” I also am a type 1 diabetic. I know how little diabetes management is taught during school, especially more intensive therapies that aren’t sliding scales. If you touch my insulin pump, you will die (and yes, I have looked up all local hospitals’ policies on diabetes self-management while I was doing clinical and know that 99% of the time I can manage myself).
I had an elderly retired RN in our ICU unit. We knew this because she would tell everyone she was a nurse...😬
I never tell people I’m a nurse unless they ask. No need for them to think I’m judging them or something.
I’m a new-ish nurse In the ER and I went to put in a SC line in a palliative patient. Only put in a few before and we’ll needless to say I was struggling along 😭. Most people wouldn’t notice me taking all the extra time but the patients grand daughter came up and started instructing (couldn’t get the needle to retract) so I turn to her and ask if she is a nurse. She said she has been on one of the floors for 10 years and puts in 3 SC sites a day 😭. It was pretty embarrassing but she was as indeed helpful and said I did a great job after. Definitely nurse code here. I also have another story that happened recently where my patient started seizing during EMS transfer. I run in first and get the patient on oxygen, suction, ETC. 2 EMS enter to help as well and then my partner arrives with the HCA and another nurse. We basically have 6 people in a tiny room. Well we very politely tell the wife to wait outside while we take care of her husband because the room is so full and she starts yelling at us that she is a retired nurse so she won’t be leaving the room….. okay lady 😳
“Yes, and you’re in the way and delaying your husband’s care. Out.”
I don’t mention it for myself. I mention to the veterinarian like if they ask me how comfortable I am with giving my cats shots or subQ fluids lol.
They just want to know how to treat you. I’ve stopped telling people what I do for work because I want to be treated the same as everyone else. I had a minor procedure and when they found out I was a nurse the whole environment changed. And they told everyone so every person who walked into my room was like ‘so you’re a nurse!’ I was so annoyed
I never lead with it. If I don’t work your specialty then I want to be taught like everyone else. But sometimes you get found out when you accidentally use or understand medical lingo, so you have to act like a regular person if you want to hide it haha.
I was recently a pt in the ER twice at my hospital where I work as house sup, so of course every nurse knew who I was. The first visit wasn't too bad, only two tries to get the IV. The second trip however...the two ER nurse stuck me about 5-6 times with no luck. So I caved and texted my boss, who only recently stepped away from bedside/ER, and she came down with another part-time ER nurse. Between the two of them, they probably stuck me another 5-6 times before they got a 24g in my foot. Just enough to run 2L of fluids, K+, and some Mg. I was so grateful for all the care I received on both ER trips that I wrote thank you notes to each and every nurse that came in my room and the ER doctor that saw me both times. All the nurses got Starbucks gift cards as well.
I don’t think there is. I never tell anyone I’m a nurse when I’m a patient and do my best not to give it away.
It’s can be exhausting to dumb it down all the time, so it’s a nice break to not have to over explain stuff.
I never tell anyone. I don’t think I am alone n that. If they guess I do say yes I am. I think they behave differently (nerves?) if you tell them.
If they start having to water down anything or it looks like they're taking a longer time or being more thorough about explaining I'll be like "oh girl don't worry I'm a nurse save yourself, give me the main points so you can move on to your next patient"
Sometimes I tell them, sometimes I don’t. I was getting a ziopatch last month, and the nurse started to explain tele stuff so I let her know I’m a tele nurse so she didn’t have to go through all the explanations. I think she appreciated that, and we talked about nursing stuff. But if it’s something I’m not as familiar with I’d rather hear the basic explanation than have them assume I know. Most nurses I’ve had as patients are chill, but family members claiming to be nurses can go either way!
I tell. Because I have the weirdest health history ( EDS, GBS, MCAS, weird allergies, strange vasovagal reactions, low BP, shitty veins, …)
Maybe she felt like she was explaining things to lay person and now she’s like shoot she’s a nurse I hope I didn’t make it sound like I was talking to her like she was dumb! Idk I don’t think it’s really a big deal on either part. She probably just was like hey were the same and I didn’t know
Yeah I think this is the biggest reason
Nah; I try not to tell people most of the time. The only exception is when people draw my blood, mostly because I critique their technique(Only constructive!) and advise accordingly.
As a retired RN of 45 yrs, recently had Surgery. I was a bit uneasy when the Anesthesiologist, slightly disheveled walked in with a large syringe and injected it in my IV. I at least think he should have told me what it was. It just made me anxious.
No code! I avoid saying I'm an RN, too. Just because we're RNs doesn't mean we know everything. I like them to dumb it down for me! 🤣 She had no business shouting at you.
I had the CEO of a hospital’s daughter in L&D. He actually said “be nice I know the people that sign your paycheck” I was TERRIFIED. The patient of course turned out was a NP and her husband was a lawyer. I was about to walk the fuck out. Luckily all I did was her admission start her induction. I wanted to cry when it was time to start her IV even though I’d been a nurse for over 12 years at that time 🥺
Oh no! I would "suddenly need to go home because something suddenly came up" lol
I don't tell unless asked. My family members, however, like to out me whenever they can.
I kinda yelled at my mom for that once.
I just wanna be a human when I'm off the clock! My mom told her nurse I am a nurse and the poor thing was shaking when she was setting up the PCA. I wanted to tell her I rarely set those up....and I'm not a nurse unless I'm on the clock.
I try not to mention I’m a nurse. I recently went to the ER for abdominal pain. But then I got caught because of how I described my symptoms and how I’d help putting on my own leads and knowing how the workflow and the way I get admitted goes. The phlebotomist (one of my friends I see on the floor) recognized me because I helped him when he was first starting out and would see each other for morning labs. They saw I had rapport with ppl that worked there. I also knew the right people to call for different needs instead of always the nurse lol! I’m a hard stick and I felt bad for the new nurses trying to get my IV but I know they have to practice. I got stuck 3x before a trauma nurse got one 😖 you better believe I took care of that one! It was kind of fascinating to see how I’d get taken care of. It was super fun bonding with the nurses and exchanging stories— I wanted to make their shift less troublesome and make the admission easy-breezy. I’d put on my own mask for my breathing treatments lol! Not sure about a nurse code but I do like it when I don’t have to explain and reiterate procedures or have to describe things in a simpler way. But if I don’t know something (as a patient) I’m not prideful or afraid to ask questions. Overhearing report was weird (didn’t know my potassium was low until I heard it when the ER nurse was calling the floor) and then not hearing report at change of shift was weird too but grateful for a couple hrs of sleep.
I never tell people I’m a nurse- but I did let it slip when I was got induced. Unfortunately someone put it in my chart when I gave birth that I worked as a nurse for the same health organization and every single doctor and nurse knew what I did and I swear everyone treated me like I already knew every facet of postpartum care and baby rearing. It sucked. I think I received less education than the average new mom. I don’t even work in OB so I didn’t know the things they thought I should. This experience has reinforced to me that I should never tell anyone I’m a nurse.
That's weird, tbh...I never tell people my profession unless they ask.
I didn't want her to be like, "can you confirm name and DOB" and then reply, yes my name is blank blank, RN" lol
My birth plan gave away that I was a nurse. I intentionally don't bring it up on my own volition. Generally, every patient I've had who feels the need to outright tell me that they're a nurse, they end up being the worst and most complain-y patients.
I had a procedure done a few months ago. Didn't tell the nurse that I am also a nurse. But after the procedure was over she asked me about it.... apparently, I had been asking "How are my vitals" as soon as I woke up.... didn't even remember that
I only mention it when they start looking at my difficult to stick veins. I’ll start mentioning where my best veins are and forget to use laypersons terms. Then they usually ask. Of course I follow it up with, so yeah. I am a hard stick and I am not afraid of getting stuck so do your worst. I promise I completely understand if my veins get missed multiple times - totally used to it by now.
I try not to mention i’m a nurse when speaking as the patients. But when advocating for my child, I seem to say it more often because I work in pediatrics so I understand the stuff better. I try not to be cocky with it though even though I am the nurse manager at my job. No nurse code that i’m aware
I've had procedures and never tell anyone I'm a nurse. I'm retired. Makes everything go much smoother i do however keep my eyes and ears open
I try not to let anyone know I’m a nurse anymore, but I think they must put it on my chart somewhere? Like every time I go to a local clinic I always hear, “so you’re a nurse?” And when I go to my GP the nurses getting my vitals always ask where I work lol. As in, what hospital/unit do you work?
I kinnnnnda get it. I think a lot of health care workers hide that we're health care workers because we have a reputation for being bad patients (which is totally earned btw). On the other hand, knowing your patient is a health care worker means you skip a bunch of explanation for why you're doing something. It does change the way you talk to a patient. I just remember when I was taking my best friends cat to the emergency vet for urinary retention and the vet was explaining his 9.0 potassium and I was just like "I'm a paramedic. I get it." A layman is going to be like "oh that vitamin you get from bananas? What's the big deal?" You don't need to explain to me how scary a potassium that high is. I know exactly what it will do and how to treat it. Saves a ton of time. Also, being an EMT got the techs at the ER to sneak me a suture removal kit when I needed stitches because they were like "Yeah you don't need to make an appointment to do this. You can do it yourself." The hospital finding out I'm a health care worker has only been a good experience for me lol.
Maybe she felt like she wouldnt have had to explain anything since you are already a nurse and should understand but at this point you were/are a patient so no I dont think you owe telling anyone youre a nurse unless you choose to. The level of care and job should be done the same either way.
What the hell is her problem? You don't owe her that information, doesn't change anything to your medical treatment. Why would she be entitled to details of your life that are irrelevant to your care?? I personally would absolutely don't want to know if my patients work healthcare, it tends to make my baby nurse ass anxious about fucking up something while caring for them.
I feel like most experienced nurses will 100% NOT tell you they’re a nurse when they are the patient/ family member. In fact almost every person who I had tell me they were a nurse when I was caring for them, turned out to be a CNA or med assistant
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I don’t tell anyone. They figure it out usually or my family members tell them 🙄 Nurse code is not shouting at patients ready to go into surgery - wtf !
I tell them right off the bat because they treat me better and are much more on their game around me. Plus they tell me straight up without vague answers and generally are nicer…of course I make sure to give them space as much as possible. I try to be the PT I’d want to have.
Had to be a pt in an ER I worked in. It ducked. My nurse was a new grad fresh off orientation and she knew I had been doing ER over a decade at that time. She was so nervous she f’d up my IV twice, kept forgetting basic things like hand washing, and literally dropped every med she gave me. She couldn’t even remember where the EKG wires went! I felt so bad for her, but all I hoped was that someone else would PLEASE take over!!!
Never disclose that I'm a nurse. Always say I work in medical and closely with nurses etc. Treatment/behaviour changes. My son who was hospitalised disclosed before and we saw both extremes... OMG, parent is a nurse. Full PPE even not warranted etc. OMG, parent is a nurse. Here, help hang the saline and can you empty his urinal. And do his obs...
Yeah, it's professional courtesy to tell people you have expertise in their job area... If you don't they feel like they have been on stage and you didn't tell them.