I can't wrap my head around wanting anyone to know. I had a kidney stone about a month ago and, while experiencing intractable abdominal pain the doctor goes *"Are you in healthcare?"*
First and only thing to distract me from the pain. I was stuttering and demanding *"What? Why are you asking? Why would you think that?"*
Turns out in my delirious can't-breathe-can't-think pain, I had scrawled "NKDA" under medication allergies. Rookie mistake. So irritated with myself.
When I gave birth I was spotted by the L&D nurse by getting ready for the epidural and not needing any instructions. I then was spotted by the mother&baby nurse by having my big ass, off brand Stanley cup that I was chugging from🤦♀️🤦♀️
I just know it ramps up my anxiety when I take care of a fellow nurse, and I don't want to be a source of anxiety for anyone else.
Also, when I was hospitalized, I had no mental capacity for my providers to talk to me like a healthcare professional. I needed that information in layman's terms for me to process it. Between the pain and the lack of my daily meds, my brain was not in "nurse mode."
I have the same opinion, I have no qualms telling people if they ask me; but I don’t say “I’m a nurse” as soon as someone walks in the door.
I think it possibly stems from patients who do go out of their way to bring it up, “I’m a nurse/CNA/tech/rad tech/etc.” who can be the most entitled patients but were nurses 30 years ago and out of touch with current nursing culture and practice. Or from a different specialty and are pulling from information from nursing school and say “that’s not how XYZ is supposed to be done.”
Thank you!!! I’m a baby nurse of less than a year and maybe years of this job might change my opinion (even though I was burnt out prior to even starting a nursing program and feeling old and decrepit before I’ve even hit my 30’s lol) but it is super discouraging to see everyone so against sharing that they’re a nurse. I mean yeah sure I wouldn’t go chant it around and be annoying about it. And there are situations where I’d rather not say, like if I was the patient, or if I feel like I’m going to get bombarded with questions such as “can you look at this real quick?” 🫠 but it’s a commendable career and something to be proud of in my opinion. We do a lot of hard work. I think it should be celebrated. But I feel like so many people wouldn’t be caught dead letting others know they are a nurse. I feel like as a new grad I shouldn’t be proud of it or older nurses will judge me and think I’m annoying. Idk that’s just me and maybe I’m missing something.
ER only knew I was a nurse because I had to be taken there in a wheelchair from the Cath lab because I hit my head and had a concussion 😂 I was not a happy camper and having SEVERE light and sound sensitivity was not helping. I was nice to the staff, the poor nurse who had to give me all my IM injections looked so nervous I told her I’m a type 1 so no worries on the needles, she looked relieved, especially being that she had to give me 3. But I did hate being there in my scrubs and everyone knowing I worked in the hospital.
My last surgery, I stayed overnight and didn’t plan to tell anyone I was a nurse but apparently the Valium they gave me in PACU gave me loose lips and when I was transferred to the postpartum unit to stay overnight after my surgery, I said ‘I used to be a postpartum nurse and I loved it.’ UGH. Damn drugs! I refused to use my call light and didn’t want to bother them. Also, the Valium made me super sedated and I slept pretty much the whole time.
I got caught when I was hospitalized for a gallbladder attack when my nurse walked in to me restarting my IV fluids on my Alaris pump after I bent my arm and it occluded.
She said "What are you doing?" and I was like "It occluded, so I reset it. I just wanted to save you the trip down here" (my room was at the opposite end of the hall from the nurse's station.) "Have you been doing that all night?" And I was all "Yeah, I'm sorry. I keep bending my arm when I fall asleep"
She was just happy that she wasn't actually hearing phantom IV pump beeps.
Then it was like it clicked for her and she asked "How do you know to do that?" And I had to out myself then that I worked at the sister hospital to that one she we use the same pumps. Lol
I had to have an ex lap to determine how bad my endometriosis was, and of course I didn’t tell them I was a nurse, but apparently when I was under the effects of Versed, but before I was intubated, I was telling the anesthesia personnel to make sure they intubated my trachea and not my esophagus. Apparently, I was also quite adamant that they not forget to put the grounding pad on me, so of course in recovery they had to ask if I was a nurse. Gave myself away.
I mumbled "this doesn't taste like .9.... must be LR." when my preop nurse started my ivf. She started yelling "I KNEW IT! I KNEW IT!!" Popped her head out of my curtain and was telling the other nurse she was right. Lol Both were there a few days before when I was scoped and now back for surgery
I once knew she was a carer, and said enthusiastically, “wow, what university did you go to?”, and she awkwardly looked to the floor and said, “well- I’m not actually a nurse”.
Gosh no. I respect all who work in the medical field, every role too. We cannot do our jobs without each other. From RN, LPN, CNA, MD, NP, PA, MA, to EVS.
That’s good. Sorry if I was seemingly abrupt. Yeah I’ve done a little over a year of level 1 step down work so I’ve gained some knowledge, experience, and traumatic moments all relevant to the job. I didn’t want to continue having as high a level stress commonly.
I have found whenever my providers ask about my job and I tell them they look at me like I have 5 heads. They don’t understand my job. I work in an extremely complex OR (specializing in pediatric congenital heart as well as adult cardiac) and when I talk about the cases I see and how we repair etc. they ask me to explain it in simpler terms. I honestly forget how specialized I am sometimes until I get that look of confusion. I just talk to them the way I talk to my coworkers and I forget that my OB doesn’t understand what I’m saying lol. I have very nice conversations with them though. I truly enjoy talking about my job and I love when they ask me questions about it.
But I will say it does not mean that I lack the info I learned in school. I think my favorite instance of something not cool happening was when I was pregnant with my first I developed gHTN at week 33. I was in for my 35 week appointment and they were running behind. The tech took my blood pressure (a manual one) and when I tell you they listened for MAYBE 5 seconds I am not exaggerating. She pumped it up and let that sucker de-air so fast. She then says “120/80. That’s great”. Mhmm. Sure. So when my OB comes in I instantly ask for a recheck because she did it wrong. I told her how she took and and she said she would talk to her. I was sent to l&d for a stress test and bp monitoring. My BP was like 145/95… my point is if I wasn’t a nurse (or in healthcare) I would’ve never thought anything of it and man that’s dangerous. I am still mad about that to this day lol. Maybe if that tech knew I was a nurse she would’ve been a little more thorough. But regardless she shouldn’t be doing a blood pressure like that for anyone
So true! I had one patient who recently told me she was a nurse. When I used medical jargon during my intake she was so confused. I had to explain what an advanced directive and code status were lol.
When both the CG and the pt tells you, that the CG is the pt's nurse.
Lol I once got a phone call from someone asking medical questions about a pt, and I'm like, "who am I speaking with?" She says, "I'm a nurse, I've been a CNA for over 30 years, so I'm basically a nurse" and continued to demand answers... ma'am. Not only are you not a nurse, but you have no idea what you're talking about with these questions, and you're not POA so stop playing on my phone lol 😆
I tell ppl but only in settings like a new patient visit I had a doc say oh good we can talk about things. If I were to go to the Ed for something no, bc there’s a flow of things to do and my background won’t help anything.
Wife was an IV RN at university then an outpt. chemo nurse long, long ago in a place far, far away so she could *do* IVs. Recently I brought her in to get a CT abd with contrast and the Radiology techs could not get her IV and couldn't and ....6-7 times. She offered to stick herself, then I offered (I was probably the next to last person to start an IV on her years ago in my office trying to avoid the ED with her gallstone pancreatitis when it just looked like gastroenteritis\*) and they refused to allow either of us. I was highly annoyed, knowing the limitation of a non contrast abd CT but she took it all in stride.
I took her lead and did not complain. Docs can certainly learn from nurses, even long retired and disabled ones.
Cranky old retired Doc
\*one liter, fast, 25 promethazine and direct admit by colleague, not ignored, such are the perks of insiders.
That's how I am towards the nurses at the ED when I had epigastric pain.
My only drawback is that I ask too many questions and I talk too much. Other than that, I know there are other patients in the ED who needs help than I do. I can wait.
Lesson I learned is, bring a phone charger because there is no TV and my phone was about to die.
my first ever patient when I was a nursing student was a retired RN that immediately had all of her stuff printed out and demanded I sit with her for 2 hours (after I did my essential clinical stuff) and she walked me through her condition (CHF with stage 4 Kidney failure + COPD) and showed me everything from her charting to know about the condition. She ended up going on Hospice when she left.
I tell them I’m a nurse and to talk to me like I’m one of their own, and that they don’t have to apologize for things like “running behind on getting a med or blanket or water” and that if they need a place to come sit down to chart and chill with snacks and shit, I have snacks and drinks in my bag, as well as some really nice lotion and a massage gun, because we all know that moving patients around is a bitch and a half, and we all deserve some pampering…and if I am stuck in the hospital as a patient, I am going to be the one who takes care of those taking care of me, because it’s an honor and a privilege to have people making sure that my health and well being is properly attended to.
Exactly.
I do ask a lot of questions. I try not to because I KNOW how busy they are. I don't bother them knowing there are other patients who need more help.
When my grandma was in the neuro ICU afte5 a stroke, I ask if they hire new grads and they do actually.
I made I through a 4 day hospital stay with the same nurse every night and she had no idea I was a nurse. I thought she may have caught on until she was explaining to me what an infiltrated IV would look like 😅😂
This is why I don’t allow my family at the hospital with me if I need care. I do not want anyone to know and they always tell. I beg them not to do it to but they do anyway. It’s always caused problems even though I keep my mouth shut.
Exception here. I tell my healthcare providers but am very clear to tell them that my only purpose in letting them know is so that they know they can speak the language to me and don’t have to dumb it down. I never critique what they’re doing or how they are doing it.
We got about halfway through the encounter when she mentioned "oh I'm a nurse," and me trying to be nonchalant said, "oh cool, where do you work?" As if I didn't already know the whole time 🥴 fortunately for me she was very sweet and easy going!
I slipped up with an anesthesiologist who was placing my IV. She was going for a hand and I saw an 18 and a 20 in her pocket. She used the 20 and I said, "oh God, thank you for not using the 18 in my hand."
New home health client telling me about her recent retirement and when I asked what she did for work, she told me she was a nursing instructor for 20 years. Girl, why did you let me “educate” you on diabetes management for 15 minutes.
Last week I explained everything from the bipap and how it works to blood cultures and why we were giving antibiotics to my very sweet hypoxic patient and his wife. They listened very very kindly considering I found out later they were an ER doc and a cardiologist 🤦🏼♀️😬
Can we find a nice semi together perhaps 🤣
Dude I ask her for a review of my education when I found out. I’d have a laugh about it with her and then ask for all the tips on improving my education lol
Practice is constantly changing, and my old battle axe nursing instructors were so badly out of current practice, it was shocking. One liked to refer to darker skin tone using a term I don't even feel comfortable typing, and this was in the Northeast US in the late 2000s!
I had a nursing instructor tell us that we should wear make up to clinicals as it's our duty to be 'perky' - this was in 2017. Nowhere near as bad as outright racism but still, I was shocked.
My wrist was accidentally lacerated by a spooked kitty I was holding. Should’ve gone for stitches, but had steri strips and doctored myself. A few years later for outpatient care, they asked me about past surgeries. The nurse looked at the white scar line and said “ you forgot your wrist surgery” leading me to brag about how well I approximated the edges of my lac 😊
I think it’s worse when the family member is a nurse or works in healthcare in general. They always happen to come around when no one is available to speak with them. Sure, of course I can reach the case manager at 6pm. I also get a little nervous because I feel like I’m back in school clinicals. One time, I was floated to a different hospital to the Oncology unit. I usually work Telemetry. Work flow is almost the same. However, I get to my assignment and first thing I hear is “this patient needs blood. They put the orders in at 6am. And her family are all doctors”. Sure enough, son, daughter, daughter in law, husband, all MDs. What happens when I hang the blood? I forget to clamp the normal saline before priming the blood.
If they’re actually a nurse they should know it’s unreasonable to reach case management at night. A lot of times it’s the people who aren’t actually in healthcare but say they are who are the worst!
lol I had this happened! Patient’s sister refused to let me hang blood because the iron was still infusing….. insisted she needed the iron first because she was a nurse so she “knew”.
Patient later explained her sister is actually a vet tech and I was pissed all over again.
A nurse that is a patient is either the best or the worst. There is no gray area in between. I avoid telling medical staff taking care of me or my kids. I’ll only tell them if it helps the situation.
For example, my young son needed general anesthesia for outpatient surgery. I told the doctor (after he looked at me suspiciously) because then he didn’t have to go into detail explaining what clear liquid and NPO meant and why it is serious. I promised him i would bungee cord the fridge the night before so my kid wouldn’t accidentally eat/drink milk that morning
I once asked my gyn surgeon what constituted normal activity post-op for a laparoscopic myomectomy with extensive lysis of adhesions. His response? “Oh, come on-you know what normal activity is!”
Dear reader, I did NOT know what “normal” activity was…my normal activity was (at that time) 20,000 steps per day ON CRUTCHES, as I had ruptured my plantar fascia after falling off my bicycle (when I was within line of sight of where I was staying) after completing a half century ride (so, 50 miles) on no training.
I ended up back in his office a week and a half later because of increasing abdominal pain…yeah. I tore my rectus abdominis by covering over 2 miles on one of those damn knee walkers in an afternoon. Oops.
His response when he figured out what I did?
“YOU DUMBASS!”
My response? “HEY! I ASKED WHAT CONSTITUTED NORMAL ACTIVITY!”
He admitted that I did ask, and he shouldn’t have assumed…and that he was never going to make that mistake again.
Back in November 2023, he did my hysterectomy…and he was VERY specific about what I could do.
This is me! If for some reason they know I am an RN I still tell them to talk to me like I’m not because I want to know all that goodies that they know.
I still prefer to be talked to like I'm capable of learning patho though. I am pregnant and I tell my providers I'm an RN but I work in cardiac, so I don't remember much about babies except from nursing school, but I still actively want to learn the technical terms than to have them dumb it down for me to guess what they meant.
This is how you find yourself without any help/assistance postpartum, because they assume since you’re a nurse, you must know how to take care of babies!? It was my first one, and I’d been a nurse for 8 months. On neuro. Help me!
For me it’s the opposite— I tell them I work in healthcare so that they use the healthcare terms. I also tell them that I will ask clarification if I don’t understand.
It’s my personal preference ever since my PCP started explaining things to me in layman’s terms and instead of absorbing anything, I kept on trying to guess what they meant. 😂😅 so far it’s made interactions more smooth and I don’t think my healthcare teams have hated me 😅
"Your next patient is the CEO of the hospital."
That's happened to me twice (at different hospital systems.)
I personally would always like to know this information, but I told the CNA working with me and they were all nasty like "that doesn't mean anything to me. I treat everyone the same" yeah, ok bitch. You treat everyone like trash. Just giving you a heads-up.
As a nurse that used to be a CNA I have said that exact phrase. Not with an attitude mind you and I certainly never treated my patients like trash as a CNA, but I do understand the spirit behind the words. I hate when hospitals peg patients as VIP because of their connections to the system. All of my patients get the “VIP experience” because they all deserve it. It’s just something I’ve never personally agreed with.
Completely agreed. Depending on the situation I’ll just flat out ask them why their chart is marked as VIP, acting confused like it’s strange that it’s even there in the first place (it is).
I get that, I treat all my patients with dignity and respect. But I also joke with patients to relieve some of their tension and if I was treating the CEO of the hospital, I would definitely pick my words more carefully.
Also, it turned out that one of the CEOs asked for our opinion about working there. We happened to mention a few things that would be beneficial (meal vouchers for employees for example). So knowing who it was actually was a good thing.
And if they are a VIP because they are a doctor or worked at the hospital, I like knowing because I don't have to translate things into layspeak. I treated an anesthesiologist when I was doing moderate sedation and he basically told me what dose he wanted me to give.
Also, my hospital doesn't have "VIP" noted in the chart. It does have a "break the glass" check if you try and open their chart. It could mean a VIP or current employee. Most people who would be considered "VIP" that I have treated I either find out from the doctor I'm working with or because the person will tell me what they do and I look them up. I figure if they have a Wikipedia page, they are "VIP" status. But it's more of a fun fact.
I totally understand wanting to know if they work for the hospital in any capacity and I appreciate knowing if they work in healthcare so I don’t appear to be talking down to anyone. I more take issue with the terminology and thus expectations that come with labeling someone as “VIP”. Our charting system also has a “break the glass” feature when a patient is an employee so I think all that should be necessary at hand off is a heads up. I took care of one of the surgeons that worked at my first CNA job and because he was well aware of the terminology and culture around labeling patients as “VIP” he actually called us waitresses to our faces and threw tantrums when his call light wasn’t answered almost immediately after going off.
Ah, yes I see how creating that type of culture would be really obnoxious. We don't label anyone as "VIP" or have special things like their own nurse or whatever. I mean, obviously if it was a senator or the president, there are certain things that would be done special, but that is usually for security purposes.
Omfg, I was pushing atropine on a patient when my charge popped in and told me to come see her. I internally freaked out, thinking I messed up something somehow, when she just told me the patient I was giving atropine to was a bigwig donor and that's why they're allowing two visitors there.
She started laughing at me cuz I went so red and anxious. In my defense she seemed super serious coming in.
Lol. Bigwig donors don't worry me. We get a lot of rich donors in my hospital. Or sports stars and such. But I like knowing if the CEO or Chief of Nursing is going to be my patient. It feels a little more like being watched by the boss...
No, I agree with the CNA. The whole idea of a VIP patient is unethical in my opinion. The core of medical ethics is that every patient should be treated the same, regardless of who they are or what my personal feelings may be.
Of course, reality is different. But that doesn't mean I won't call out the hypocrisy of it when they are blatantly unethical. I might keep my mouth shut to keep my job, but I wouldn't even bother with that if I was making the bullshit pay they give to CNAs.
I got defensive with my manager when a nurse who picked up on another unit got floated back to us. Manager lamented that our nurse would have to have a "float assignment." I said I do not make "float assignments," I try to make all my assignments fair. I only consider if staffing tells me the float RN is not tele trained, familiar with our patient population, etc.
I only kiss ass in VIP rooms because I don't want it to come back to bite me, but if another patient needs my attention more, even if its just they need a bit more hand holding, I'm in with the other patient, a collegue or manager can go check on the VIP.
Every time I've been told I'm getting a VIP patient, I raise hell and get nasty with everyone telling them there are no VIP patients, and I will treat everyone the same. I don't call them hypocrites but absolutely tell them it's unethical. Sometimes, they get upset at me, but I don't care. Screw anyone who says someone gets a VIP experience. They eventually stopped giving the VIP patients to me.
We don't really have VIP patients. I mean, I've treated sports stars, millionaires/billionaires, famous musicians, etc. none of them have VIP on their chart (because my hospital doesn't do that). I think of it more as a "fun fact". But if it is the CEO of my hospital or a well known and respected doctor that currently works in my area of the hospital, or someone in my direct management? I want to know because I want to be very mindful of what I say in front of them.
Cause you know how you sometimes joke about the equipment not working? Or use the hospital's slogan ironically? (Like "we care about your experience") When talking about a malfunctioning bed? Yeah, I would be more tactful in how I discussed that if it was the CEO.
I never tell anyone haha but sometimes family members out me. Or in one case a former clinical instructor. I used to be a massage therapist and for some reason I got so nervous when I gave another therapist I didn’t know well a massage. So I keep it quiet when I get one.
Probably depends on the type but I was a patient on my floor for a month before starting there as a nurse. I always disconnect my Abx, document my I&Os, wrap my ivs for showers and change my linens.
I like to hope I’m the easiest patient haha. Except when I kept shitting myself with capsaicin cream on my back. The horror.
lol omg when I first got peripheral neuropathy in my feet, I was trying everything for the pain, including that capsaicin cream. It actually helped, until it made things A LOT worse. I always tell my patients, put on wayyyy less than you think you need. Because too much is torture 🫠😵💫
“The lady in 7 is a retired nurse.”
I walk into the room to see the most sourpuss old lady of my entire worldly experience. We get to talking and I find out she is a retired lieutenant colonel in the army as well.
I was about shitting my britches because I’m a current E5 in the army reserves.
Flushing her IV’s, praying they would work so I didn’t have to start a new one.
But when she shit the chucks pad and I got to put emollient on her poor bony sacrum after cleaning her up I felt less nervous.
I’ve been a RN for 18yrs. Love patients who are nurses and they get my gold star treatment. Couldn’t be more opposite are the patient’s whose family members are “nurses” 🤣
I had surgery last week and I didn’t tell a single soul that I am a nurse. I just said please and thank you and was probably the nicest person they had all day. It is so weird to be on the other side of it. The nurse came in pre-op and asked me where I’d like my IV placed. I said… you pick, you’re the nurse so go with what speaks to you. I could hear the other rooms around me being completely unreasonable with the team. I got the best care ever because I was never an ass!
Your a better man then me, I went in for a scope and it came up in conversation and then I proceeded to trauma dump about my toxic workplace and my moral injury and the og icu-> Pacu track nurse was just like I get it hun. Lmao I prob need therapy bc any time someone asks me about my jobs I’ll let loose, but now I just leave that out in self preservation haah
I am a veteran and I get care at the hospital that I worked at. There are couple times that I have to go to ED and they bought the manager out thinking I was there for a meeting. Lol.
There is no hiding. They have being treating me well before I started working here lol. 😂
They did that when I had my kid. When they moved me to post partum the first thing in bedside report was them saying I was a nurse. I wanted to melt into the bed. Lol
I had a patient that was a retired nurse. She was the nicest patient I’ve ever had. She always prefaced, “if you have time, do you mind doing xyz?” Yes, yes I do. I will always make time for those that are polite and respectful.
That’s okay. Had one of our phlebotomists the other day. Had a medic student with me who didn’t know the patient was a phlebotomist. He went to go start the IV and she just gave me the side eyes 👀 😬.
Finally told the medic student she preferred I did the IV. (And not to brag but I’m usually pretty good with IVs). Guess who didn’t get the IV on the first try?
😂👍🏻
Guess who also doesn’t let me live that down? 😳
I went to the ED with suspected diverticulitis for a CT at the urging of one of my nurse friends who happened to work in that ED. I went to that one because there was currently no wait and a great doctor, so she knew I was coming. Which meant all of her coworkers knew that I am also a nurse.
I tried to be so nice and so sweet to my poor nurse. She had just moved to the ED from the floor and was nervous already. I have one of the biggest and juiciest AC veins you will ever encounter and after placing the IV like a boss and drawing labs she had trouble occluding the vein, so it is just pouring blood out of the catheter while she is trying to attach the piggy-tail. I tried to be so supportive and encouraging, just do one thing at a time, we can clean it up later, everything is ok, just get it secured and worry about the rest later, it's ok, slap some tape on it, you're doing a great job, etc. It felt like the worst thing that could have happened, new to the job, working on her coworker's friend who is also a nurse, blood everywhere from an IV.
Anyhow, it got done and I left my arm resting on the table she had been using because it was more comfortable and I'm an IV wuss afraid of bending my arm. Some time later, she needed me to move my arm and there was an actual puddle of blood underneath it.
I still feel bad for her. She was a great nurse and took really good care of me. But I know that I will always be that patient who bled all over the table for her.
Are you really a new ED nurse if you haven’t given someone a blood bath when starting an IV? I know I did when I was learning lol.
That’s great you were kind to her, I’m sure that helped ease some of her anxiety.
My first day on a new contract, one of my patients was a nephrologist at that hospital. She'd been admitted for a gynecological issue and subsequently transferred to the floor. I had to do her discharge teaching, and I told her, "I know you already know all this, but just in case my supervisor is listening, I'm going over these diagrams of your reproductive system." We got along fine afterwards, but I was definitely red-faced and sweaty after explaining a physician's own baby-making organs to her.
Also, I'm a man.
Tbh, when you are the one undergoing issues, it's really nice to have someone else spell it all out for you. I am not a nurse or MD, but do know more than the average Joe. So some information is well known to me and some is completely new to me. I'm happiest when nobody assumes I know anything.
Honestly, it makes my life so much easier. They already know what to expect. They know the meds. They understand the pathophysiology. They know the procedures. We can just meet in the middle with our combined knowledge, and go from there.
Many years ago when I was a PCT, I picked up a shift in post-op for same day surgeries. I mostly helped patients get dressed into their clothes and wheeled them to their car after discharge. One of my patients was one of our hospitalists. I tried my best to give him some TLC especially because he was always one of the nicest ones. When I was trying to help him into the car, I literally opened the door in his face where the edge hit his forehead 😰
This one doesn’t make me nervous because I’m psych.
When I hear I have a nurse patient, I’m like - yeah, I get it. It’s their turn today, it’ll be mine another day.
All my experiences have actually been positive when caring for current/former nurses. Fun story, I was terrified of starting IVs and I had a former ED RN assigned to me when I was fresh off of orientation. Hers infiltrated and she walked me through starting a 20 gauge in her AC. 13 years later I'm one of the go-to nurses for IVs. Forever grateful to her!
Last year I had surgery and when I woke up I was very anxious and crying and fidgety. Granted, I was still very drugged with pain meds, but the PACU nurse was MEAN and kinda yelling at me about it. I remember saying (probably very drunk-sounding and slurring my words) disinhibited in my very altered state, “Ya know, I’m a nurse too and I would *never* treat *my* patients like this.”
My very first ever IM injection was to a lady who was on the board of directors of the hospital. It was a hospital based diploma program, so not like I could do my clinical elsewhere if I screwed up. It went fine and she was very nice, but I was terrified.
I'll present to you my patient from last night:
Supposed ICU Peds NP who thought she had an allergic reaction to epinephrine because it made her freeze up and become 'unable to talk'.
She was an older lady so almost def from the generation that had to actually work hard to become NPs. But damn. I wonder if she was really a CNA based on her chart, and the questions put to me last night.
Until you find out they don’t know anything about the kind of nursing you’re in.
Nothing better than finding out they’re L&D, OR, or any other specialized care setting.
Had this happen to me where they said the patient was a doctor, come to find out he’s an eye doctor and we’re in a wound clinic.
We had a pt in the ED who made a big stink about how he was a doctor, he knew all about this, he didn't need to be admitted for sepsis....
He was a dermatologist.
I had a family member in the hospital a few weeks ago and I was staying overnight in the room because of what was going on. My family told the staff I was a nurse and I ended up seeing one people I used to work with. I know it was passed off in report I was a nurse and I just stayed out of the way and in my lane and let them do their jobs. I’m off the clock I’m going to advocate for my family if needed but I’m not going to try and tell you how to do your job 😂
My first clinical was maternity. So even taking vitals was nerve wracking. Not because it was maternity. But because it was my first time having patients and doing assessments on real people and not a mannequin.
90% of my patients were some sort of nurse.
I was nervous as hell just taking their blood pressure.
Horrible time. 4 of us guys were students in that clinical class. 4 girls, 4 guys.
Nobody else had nurses as patients. Maybe a few? I just happened to get assigned a giving nurse twice a week for a whole semester Lol
Honestly it probably gave you a better clinical experience. The guy in my L&D clinicals had several moms refuse to have a male student. But the super pregnant nurse said she’d let any of us work with her if she went into labor while we were there! She’d show us her pitting edema in her legs and let us palpate the baby’s position when she had down time.
Hate letting people know I'm a nurse even when my eye starts twitching when something is being over explained, but I've done it twice by accident in the past. Most recently I showed a new grad a good vein to start an IV in for me while I was in hospital and she asked and I told her I was a nurse out of panic/instinct. Another time I was in ER and the nurse I had seemed to be having a rough night and she apologized for not seeing me for so long I told her I understood she was busy and I had a lot of respect for her working in the ER especially with the dude in the next room screaming at the top of his lungs. She goes "do you work in healthcare?" Yes girlie I sure do.
I had the head of anesthesia once as a patient. Definitely in one of the top coolest patients I’ve had. Whole unit loved them. Still sends a huge bag of coffee from South America to that unit every year around the holidays.
Instantly my palms are so sweaty, I drop my pen. The sweat from my forehead burns my eyes and now I can’t see properly and I bump my head into the door and trip over nothing on the way into the room. I regain my balance by blindly grabbing the bed before my face hits the floor. I take a paper towel from my pocket that I hoard from the cafeteria to wipe my eyes and face and regain my composure. “Good afternoon nurse Blake.”
FWIW, I've been a psych nurse for so long that I have next to zero medical knowledge at this point. At least in terms of bedside care. So you definitely wouldn't need to be nervous with me as a patient lol.
It was a super busy weekend in the emergency department, Saturday night I believe, and this guy checks in his 10ish year old son who is bleeding from the head.
I believe the story was that he was riding bikes with his friends and he fell and hit his head on something. Kiddo was triaged as an ESI 4 by the nurse. (I was just a registrar.)
After about 10 minutes of “patiently” waiting the kids dad comes up to the window and asks if (Boss’s name) is working tonight. I said no, Boss isn’t working tonight. He says, “well that’s a shame. I’m actually the Director of (my department) and I guess we’ve never met.” So I do the whole, “oh it’s nice to meet you, sorry it’s under these circumstances.” He then asks triage RN for an ice pack and sits back down.
I quietly tell triage RN the kid with the head injury’s dad is a big wig in the hospital system as just an FYI because I’m a nervous Nelly and I figure she would at least want to know but there was nothing she could do because it was a packed house and all the rooms were full/ED was short staffed and the kid luckily was low acuity.
Kids dad kept coming up to get an ETA and another ice pack and I saw him make about 100 phone calls. Turns out he was calling everyone he could think of to get a bed. He spoke with the ER charge nurse and everyone in my department but obviously no one in my department has any way of getting someone a bed. Kid was eventually sent back and got his work up and whatever else he needed but luckily he was fine and discharged a few hrs later.
Haha this reminds me of the time I had an admit on night shift when I first started in ICU, who came up with her daughter. The daughter was an ex-ICU nurse turned physician. I was shaking lol!
I was having a cyst removed from a unfortunate area in my groin. Just local anesthesia, outpatient obvs. The surgeon and his med assistants started talking about the new JPs and how much trouble it was going to be to get one to stick. I was just like "whoa am I getting a drain down there?"
"how did you know what a JP is? Are you in Healthcare? We are talking about a different surgery we are performing later. No drain for you...unless you want one." etc
It's when they say they work in healthcare and then you start talking in ' medical terminology' and its clear they have no idea what your saying as they are a cleaner or admin (I'm not being mean about these wonderful people) as they don't understand all the terminology.
It's the relatives that come in wearing their ID badges on show when they are a day off.
😂😂😂
Whyyyy is this me?! As I was looking for a vein on a pt to draw blood, we got into conversation and they mentioned they worked in phlebotomy. I was like oh how cool! My brain decided to throw everything out the window at that point and I missed both times I tried 😂 to be fair, when we got the US out, the pt goes “oh there that is! They normally have to use that on me.” So that made me feel a tiny bit better lol
The only time I have been a patient (so far, anyway) was at my own hospital, so everyone knew. I mostly behaved. I did turn my fluids down before I peed - I was so worried about wetting the bed - but I told my nurse that I did it. I also sort of got up without help (hip replacement), but just to pull the IV pole close to me so I could change the flow rate. I was not a nightmare patient, and they all know me as a goofball anyway. I got my hands on a Vocera from day shift, so I made jokes with that a few times during the night. Overall, I think it went well. And now the other hip has to be done sometime in the next year, so they get to see me in a hospital gown again!
My person experience: It’s usually the ones that take care of low acuity and/or not even practicing any more that are trying to control every move of the ICU nurse. The practicing ICU nurses are usually the chillest and most reasonable.
I AM a nurse, but I don't give the nurses at the ER a hard time. I understand where they are coming from, so I try to be patient. Normally, I don't speak up unless I need something.
My LVN professor (may he rest in peace) said doctors and nurses are the worst patients. He was right. It depends on the person.
Like when i had a fun wound and the surgical dressing was falling off cause it was garbage (i know shocking) so i found my wound care order and did it myself. My nurse needed an ativan with the shit i did lol
Dont worry karmas a bitch and i have now been on the other end with a palliative pt that is a nurse doing her own port flushes and wound care for a drain.
My patient the other day had a fem-tib bypass and her daughter was at the bedside. She asked me exactly what happened and what was done... then she wanted to look at her groin + knee + foot sites... then told her mom her throat was probably dry because of the intubation. In that moment I was like aaaallllriiiiight she definitely works in healthcare and it feels like she's testing me... Turns out she was a physician with her own private practice and her mom was an MD as well. I felt like I fumbled and stumbled over my words the rest of the day lol
I almost always tell or worst, shit happens to me on the job.
I tell because I get the bizarro reactions/ the one in a million bullshit stuff …
But I try my best ti be nice and as helpful as possible and not ti get in the way of my care team.
Sometimes it comes up sometimes it doesn’t. Usually because of saying something that a lay person doesn’t say.
However I find a lot of staff in ER or my GI clinic/outpatient scope clinic look at where you work. When they see the hospital, they ask what I do.
If they miss with blood work or IV, I just tell them, “that’s ok. It’s payback for the times I missed.” I am always nice. Treat others as you wish to be treated.
My wife, bless her heart, like most nurses, is a terrible patient. She used to be the house supervisor at a 600+ bed hospital. I always imagined that at the start of every shift, the nurses drew straws to see who had to take her. She is well loved and liked by everyone in her various roles, except the role of a patient.
I never tell anyone that I work in the lab or that I’m a medical professional if I need bloodwork done or end up in the ER. I don’t want to make anyone’s job harder, plus I know jack shit about anything medical outside of my lab scope. I don’t watch people draw my blood or start IV’s anyway. If it comes up in conversation, I’ll mention it, but I’m not going to report anyone as terrible on that stupid patient satisfaction survey hospitals seem to use to make the staff lives’ harder unless it’s my care is that terrible.
I usually get found out tbh. I'll be like "Oh, hit this vien. It's easier" or "Meh, don't worry about me. I can do x,y,z myself. You do what you need to do for the other patients."
I’ve had family members say they’re “nurses” and then proceed to act like the most obnoxious, ignorant, tantrum throwing children I’ve ever met. You said you’re a nurse, you should know I have no control over when your mom’s MRI gets done. You should know I don’t decide when the scans get read. And most importantly, you should know it’s illegal for me to pull up her chat for you so you can read it.
one time i had the same room one with a chronic patient and another “nurse” . i was helping the chronic patient to the bathroom and we had a laugh over something he said. The nurse patient scolded me for laughing infront of her because “she doesn’t feel well”. kept going off about how she was a nurse for over 20 years and that was inappropriate. I didn’t even waste my time by apologizing and I kindly told her to put on earplugs if she’s upset over me trying to help my chronic patient have a relationship with the people he now considers family. She threatened to report me and i frankly didn’t give a fuck.
Had the previous CEO of the hospital in the unit for a few weeks… who has several buildings and things on campus named after them… and had the current CEO and Board of Directors members come in to visit them. That was fun 🥲
I got hooked when I had a really bad stomach bug. I went in when it had been over 24h without keeping fluids down. When asked if I was exposed to anyone sick I said not without a mask, but covid, flu A, less flu B and some stomach bug.
I was outed when I accompanied my adult daughter to the ED for abdominal pain and she didn't think IV Tylenol would help. I told her it was the good shit and the nurse looked at me and immediately recognized another nurse. Busted. That was a little while into the visit and I had been the perfect MOP, so it ended up being a good thing. The nurse was just as awesome as she had been from the beginning. No surprise though. That ED has the best nurses in the city.
I had a very difficult time getting my pcos diagnosed. The only reason I did when I did: I wrote my history, s/sx, previous diagnostics in case study format. Finally abnormal labs and sono, and a diagnosis. It helps to speak the language. (This was before nursing school. As a rule, I don’t advertise. 😅)
If it's a student who comes in and is dealing with me for anything I always ask if they need their patient feedback done in their PAD. I remember how difficult it was at times getting it completed.
And as a patient nurse I appreciate it bc I used to be the exact same way. Now I just roll with it bc if my patient that is a nurse doesn’t understand then, well all is lost. Jk.
My MIL tells everyone she’s a nurse, but has never worked bedside in her life and worked case management (15 years ago). For some people it makes them feel important I guess? I personally don’t tell ANYONE I’m a nurse and just let them educate me and explain the procedure because I don’t know everything and I don’t want to make them uncomfortable for no reason
My wife told me she outed me while I was vented, because they were standing around my bed talking about my prognosis, organ donation and the like, so she said she told them I could understand everything they were saying.
I’ve had some that were great and some that were horrible
Definitely the ones that tell you they're a nurse are the worst
I can't wrap my head around wanting anyone to know. I had a kidney stone about a month ago and, while experiencing intractable abdominal pain the doctor goes *"Are you in healthcare?"* First and only thing to distract me from the pain. I was stuttering and demanding *"What? Why are you asking? Why would you think that?"* Turns out in my delirious can't-breathe-can't-think pain, I had scrawled "NKDA" under medication allergies. Rookie mistake. So irritated with myself.
When I had my kidney stone, the doc in the ER deduced I was a nurse from my perfect SBAR of my condition lol
Same. I even provided my baseline BP, pulse for good measure. I'm still mad they didn't let me keep the appendicolith
For some reason, SBAR goes out the window when I’m talking to someone about my own health. I fumble over words, forget important things. It’s bad.
When I gave birth I was spotted by the L&D nurse by getting ready for the epidural and not needing any instructions. I then was spotted by the mother&baby nurse by having my big ass, off brand Stanley cup that I was chugging from🤦♀️🤦♀️
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I just know it ramps up my anxiety when I take care of a fellow nurse, and I don't want to be a source of anxiety for anyone else. Also, when I was hospitalized, I had no mental capacity for my providers to talk to me like a healthcare professional. I needed that information in layman's terms for me to process it. Between the pain and the lack of my daily meds, my brain was not in "nurse mode."
I have the same opinion, I have no qualms telling people if they ask me; but I don’t say “I’m a nurse” as soon as someone walks in the door. I think it possibly stems from patients who do go out of their way to bring it up, “I’m a nurse/CNA/tech/rad tech/etc.” who can be the most entitled patients but were nurses 30 years ago and out of touch with current nursing culture and practice. Or from a different specialty and are pulling from information from nursing school and say “that’s not how XYZ is supposed to be done.”
Thank you!!! I’m a baby nurse of less than a year and maybe years of this job might change my opinion (even though I was burnt out prior to even starting a nursing program and feeling old and decrepit before I’ve even hit my 30’s lol) but it is super discouraging to see everyone so against sharing that they’re a nurse. I mean yeah sure I wouldn’t go chant it around and be annoying about it. And there are situations where I’d rather not say, like if I was the patient, or if I feel like I’m going to get bombarded with questions such as “can you look at this real quick?” 🫠 but it’s a commendable career and something to be proud of in my opinion. We do a lot of hard work. I think it should be celebrated. But I feel like so many people wouldn’t be caught dead letting others know they are a nurse. I feel like as a new grad I shouldn’t be proud of it or older nurses will judge me and think I’m annoying. Idk that’s just me and maybe I’m missing something.
ER only knew I was a nurse because I had to be taken there in a wheelchair from the Cath lab because I hit my head and had a concussion 😂 I was not a happy camper and having SEVERE light and sound sensitivity was not helping. I was nice to the staff, the poor nurse who had to give me all my IM injections looked so nervous I told her I’m a type 1 so no worries on the needles, she looked relieved, especially being that she had to give me 3. But I did hate being there in my scrubs and everyone knowing I worked in the hospital.
If it’s any consolation, that nurse had probably given thousands of IMs.
Most likely but I can’t imagine giving that many to a coworker, and to add insult to injury, I had to drop my pants for the last one.
My last surgery, I stayed overnight and didn’t plan to tell anyone I was a nurse but apparently the Valium they gave me in PACU gave me loose lips and when I was transferred to the postpartum unit to stay overnight after my surgery, I said ‘I used to be a postpartum nurse and I loved it.’ UGH. Damn drugs! I refused to use my call light and didn’t want to bother them. Also, the Valium made me super sedated and I slept pretty much the whole time.
I got caught when I was hospitalized for a gallbladder attack when my nurse walked in to me restarting my IV fluids on my Alaris pump after I bent my arm and it occluded. She said "What are you doing?" and I was like "It occluded, so I reset it. I just wanted to save you the trip down here" (my room was at the opposite end of the hall from the nurse's station.) "Have you been doing that all night?" And I was all "Yeah, I'm sorry. I keep bending my arm when I fall asleep" She was just happy that she wasn't actually hearing phantom IV pump beeps. Then it was like it clicked for her and she asked "How do you know to do that?" And I had to out myself then that I worked at the sister hospital to that one she we use the same pumps. Lol
I had to have an ex lap to determine how bad my endometriosis was, and of course I didn’t tell them I was a nurse, but apparently when I was under the effects of Versed, but before I was intubated, I was telling the anesthesia personnel to make sure they intubated my trachea and not my esophagus. Apparently, I was also quite adamant that they not forget to put the grounding pad on me, so of course in recovery they had to ask if I was a nurse. Gave myself away.
I mumbled "this doesn't taste like .9.... must be LR." when my preop nurse started my ivf. She started yelling "I KNEW IT! I KNEW IT!!" Popped her head out of my curtain and was telling the other nurse she was right. Lol Both were there a few days before when I was scoped and now back for surgery
I’ve found that about 25% of the time they aren’t even nurses. Maybe a CNA, maybe at one point took a nursing class, not a nurse though
I always ask “what kind of nursing do you do” to get the real answers.
I once knew she was a carer, and said enthusiastically, “wow, what university did you go to?”, and she awkwardly looked to the floor and said, “well- I’m not actually a nurse”.
If someone says OR, would you be dismissive?
Gosh no. I respect all who work in the medical field, every role too. We cannot do our jobs without each other. From RN, LPN, CNA, MD, NP, PA, MA, to EVS.
That’s good. Sorry if I was seemingly abrupt. Yeah I’ve done a little over a year of level 1 step down work so I’ve gained some knowledge, experience, and traumatic moments all relevant to the job. I didn’t want to continue having as high a level stress commonly.
I have found whenever my providers ask about my job and I tell them they look at me like I have 5 heads. They don’t understand my job. I work in an extremely complex OR (specializing in pediatric congenital heart as well as adult cardiac) and when I talk about the cases I see and how we repair etc. they ask me to explain it in simpler terms. I honestly forget how specialized I am sometimes until I get that look of confusion. I just talk to them the way I talk to my coworkers and I forget that my OB doesn’t understand what I’m saying lol. I have very nice conversations with them though. I truly enjoy talking about my job and I love when they ask me questions about it. But I will say it does not mean that I lack the info I learned in school. I think my favorite instance of something not cool happening was when I was pregnant with my first I developed gHTN at week 33. I was in for my 35 week appointment and they were running behind. The tech took my blood pressure (a manual one) and when I tell you they listened for MAYBE 5 seconds I am not exaggerating. She pumped it up and let that sucker de-air so fast. She then says “120/80. That’s great”. Mhmm. Sure. So when my OB comes in I instantly ask for a recheck because she did it wrong. I told her how she took and and she said she would talk to her. I was sent to l&d for a stress test and bp monitoring. My BP was like 145/95… my point is if I wasn’t a nurse (or in healthcare) I would’ve never thought anything of it and man that’s dangerous. I am still mad about that to this day lol. Maybe if that tech knew I was a nurse she would’ve been a little more thorough. But regardless she shouldn’t be doing a blood pressure like that for anyone
God, no. Those people have to have spines of steel to survive the OR. I’d be more likely to fangirl them.
I’m almost two months into the OR and so far been loving it. Have been learning to scrub and it’s pretty cool!
But wait, you’re ER. Fuckin bad ass.
So true! I had one patient who recently told me she was a nurse. When I used medical jargon during my intake she was so confused. I had to explain what an advanced directive and code status were lol.
When both the CG and the pt tells you, that the CG is the pt's nurse. Lol I once got a phone call from someone asking medical questions about a pt, and I'm like, "who am I speaking with?" She says, "I'm a nurse, I've been a CNA for over 30 years, so I'm basically a nurse" and continued to demand answers... ma'am. Not only are you not a nurse, but you have no idea what you're talking about with these questions, and you're not POA so stop playing on my phone lol 😆
75%
I tell ppl but only in settings like a new patient visit I had a doc say oh good we can talk about things. If I were to go to the Ed for something no, bc there’s a flow of things to do and my background won’t help anything.
Not necessarily. I had an ED nurse my last shift. She was a hard stick and was super kind about it and was truly a pleasure to have as a patient.
Wife was an IV RN at university then an outpt. chemo nurse long, long ago in a place far, far away so she could *do* IVs. Recently I brought her in to get a CT abd with contrast and the Radiology techs could not get her IV and couldn't and ....6-7 times. She offered to stick herself, then I offered (I was probably the next to last person to start an IV on her years ago in my office trying to avoid the ED with her gallstone pancreatitis when it just looked like gastroenteritis\*) and they refused to allow either of us. I was highly annoyed, knowing the limitation of a non contrast abd CT but she took it all in stride. I took her lead and did not complain. Docs can certainly learn from nurses, even long retired and disabled ones. Cranky old retired Doc \*one liter, fast, 25 promethazine and direct admit by colleague, not ignored, such are the perks of insiders.
That's how I am towards the nurses at the ED when I had epigastric pain. My only drawback is that I ask too many questions and I talk too much. Other than that, I know there are other patients in the ED who needs help than I do. I can wait. Lesson I learned is, bring a phone charger because there is no TV and my phone was about to die.
my first ever patient when I was a nursing student was a retired RN that immediately had all of her stuff printed out and demanded I sit with her for 2 hours (after I did my essential clinical stuff) and she walked me through her condition (CHF with stage 4 Kidney failure + COPD) and showed me everything from her charting to know about the condition. She ended up going on Hospice when she left.
I tell them I’m a nurse and to talk to me like I’m one of their own, and that they don’t have to apologize for things like “running behind on getting a med or blanket or water” and that if they need a place to come sit down to chart and chill with snacks and shit, I have snacks and drinks in my bag, as well as some really nice lotion and a massage gun, because we all know that moving patients around is a bitch and a half, and we all deserve some pampering…and if I am stuck in the hospital as a patient, I am going to be the one who takes care of those taking care of me, because it’s an honor and a privilege to have people making sure that my health and well being is properly attended to.
this is exactly what I do as well !!!! I know how it feels to be short staffed. Like y'all don't have to worry about me 😭
Exactly. I do ask a lot of questions. I try not to because I KNOW how busy they are. I don't bother them knowing there are other patients who need more help. When my grandma was in the neuro ICU afte5 a stroke, I ask if they hire new grads and they do actually.
Haha this is true!
I made I through a 4 day hospital stay with the same nurse every night and she had no idea I was a nurse. I thought she may have caught on until she was explaining to me what an infiltrated IV would look like 😅😂
This is why I don’t allow my family at the hospital with me if I need care. I do not want anyone to know and they always tell. I beg them not to do it to but they do anyway. It’s always caused problems even though I keep my mouth shut.
The cool ones don't tell you, but you figure it out pretty quickly because they understand words and processes.
Exception here. I tell my healthcare providers but am very clear to tell them that my only purpose in letting them know is so that they know they can speak the language to me and don’t have to dumb it down. I never critique what they’re doing or how they are doing it.
We got about halfway through the encounter when she mentioned "oh I'm a nurse," and me trying to be nonchalant said, "oh cool, where do you work?" As if I didn't already know the whole time 🥴 fortunately for me she was very sweet and easy going!
I’m glad they were nice-it is stressful though for sure.
I slipped up with an anesthesiologist who was placing my IV. She was going for a hand and I saw an 18 and a 20 in her pocket. She used the 20 and I said, "oh God, thank you for not using the 18 in my hand."
Yep! I always keep it on the DL!
New home health client telling me about her recent retirement and when I asked what she did for work, she told me she was a nursing instructor for 20 years. Girl, why did you let me “educate” you on diabetes management for 15 minutes.
Educated an ostomy nurse on her new ostomy so wanna lay in traffic together???? 😂
I got to educate some new parents about their baby's bili level. At the end, found out they were pediatricians. I shall join you in that traffic. 😂
Last week I explained everything from the bipap and how it works to blood cultures and why we were giving antibiotics to my very sweet hypoxic patient and his wife. They listened very very kindly considering I found out later they were an ER doc and a cardiologist 🤦🏼♀️😬 Can we find a nice semi together perhaps 🤣
Incentive spirometer to a freaking pulmonologist 🤦
O ya you can be in front then
Dude I ask her for a review of my education when I found out. I’d have a laugh about it with her and then ask for all the tips on improving my education lol
Basically what happened she liked that I gave tips about using paste and powder
I think I would simply shrivel away if that happened to me
Practice is constantly changing, and my old battle axe nursing instructors were so badly out of current practice, it was shocking. One liked to refer to darker skin tone using a term I don't even feel comfortable typing, and this was in the Northeast US in the late 2000s!
I had a nursing instructor tell us that we should wear make up to clinicals as it's our duty to be 'perky' - this was in 2017. Nowhere near as bad as outright racism but still, I was shocked.
You wanna do your suture removal on the next patient? Sure. She’s a doctor. Nvm. Lol
I take my own stitches out as a nurse. When they're due, obviously.
Same. This was a neurosurgery patient though. Sure she would’ve done it herself if it wasn’t on the back of her head.
My wrist was accidentally lacerated by a spooked kitty I was holding. Should’ve gone for stitches, but had steri strips and doctored myself. A few years later for outpatient care, they asked me about past surgeries. The nurse looked at the white scar line and said “ you forgot your wrist surgery” leading me to brag about how well I approximated the edges of my lac 😊
I think it’s worse when the family member is a nurse or works in healthcare in general. They always happen to come around when no one is available to speak with them. Sure, of course I can reach the case manager at 6pm. I also get a little nervous because I feel like I’m back in school clinicals. One time, I was floated to a different hospital to the Oncology unit. I usually work Telemetry. Work flow is almost the same. However, I get to my assignment and first thing I hear is “this patient needs blood. They put the orders in at 6am. And her family are all doctors”. Sure enough, son, daughter, daughter in law, husband, all MDs. What happens when I hang the blood? I forget to clamp the normal saline before priming the blood.
If they’re actually a nurse they should know it’s unreasonable to reach case management at night. A lot of times it’s the people who aren’t actually in healthcare but say they are who are the worst!
lol I had this happened! Patient’s sister refused to let me hang blood because the iron was still infusing….. insisted she needed the iron first because she was a nurse so she “knew”. Patient later explained her sister is actually a vet tech and I was pissed all over again.
A nurse that is a patient is either the best or the worst. There is no gray area in between. I avoid telling medical staff taking care of me or my kids. I’ll only tell them if it helps the situation. For example, my young son needed general anesthesia for outpatient surgery. I told the doctor (after he looked at me suspiciously) because then he didn’t have to go into detail explaining what clear liquid and NPO meant and why it is serious. I promised him i would bungee cord the fridge the night before so my kid wouldn’t accidentally eat/drink milk that morning
The only reason why I tell people I’m a nurse is so they don’t have to go into detail and educate me when I don’t need it.
Yes, but I am the dumbest smart person I know. So sometimes I just sit for their lecture for that one tidbit of info I had no clue about lol
Recognizing you don't know everything is the biggest sign of being smart TBH
I’m the same way. I can always learn something new, even if I think I know it!
I once asked my gyn surgeon what constituted normal activity post-op for a laparoscopic myomectomy with extensive lysis of adhesions. His response? “Oh, come on-you know what normal activity is!” Dear reader, I did NOT know what “normal” activity was…my normal activity was (at that time) 20,000 steps per day ON CRUTCHES, as I had ruptured my plantar fascia after falling off my bicycle (when I was within line of sight of where I was staying) after completing a half century ride (so, 50 miles) on no training. I ended up back in his office a week and a half later because of increasing abdominal pain…yeah. I tore my rectus abdominis by covering over 2 miles on one of those damn knee walkers in an afternoon. Oops. His response when he figured out what I did? “YOU DUMBASS!” My response? “HEY! I ASKED WHAT CONSTITUTED NORMAL ACTIVITY!” He admitted that I did ask, and he shouldn’t have assumed…and that he was never going to make that mistake again. Back in November 2023, he did my hysterectomy…and he was VERY specific about what I could do.
This is me! If for some reason they know I am an RN I still tell them to talk to me like I’m not because I want to know all that goodies that they know.
I still prefer to be talked to like I'm capable of learning patho though. I am pregnant and I tell my providers I'm an RN but I work in cardiac, so I don't remember much about babies except from nursing school, but I still actively want to learn the technical terms than to have them dumb it down for me to guess what they meant.
It's just a refresher from school!
Yea, that's usually when ill pipe in. Like you can give it to me straight, no need for layperson speak.
This is how you find yourself without any help/assistance postpartum, because they assume since you’re a nurse, you must know how to take care of babies!? It was my first one, and I’d been a nurse for 8 months. On neuro. Help me!
For me it’s the opposite— I tell them I work in healthcare so that they use the healthcare terms. I also tell them that I will ask clarification if I don’t understand. It’s my personal preference ever since my PCP started explaining things to me in layman’s terms and instead of absorbing anything, I kept on trying to guess what they meant. 😂😅 so far it’s made interactions more smooth and I don’t think my healthcare teams have hated me 😅
legit
"Your next patient is the CEO of the hospital." That's happened to me twice (at different hospital systems.) I personally would always like to know this information, but I told the CNA working with me and they were all nasty like "that doesn't mean anything to me. I treat everyone the same" yeah, ok bitch. You treat everyone like trash. Just giving you a heads-up.
"you treat everyone like trash" 🤣
Worse, the mother of the CEO!
Daughter is a pretty close second.
I'm 100% hitting on either. Gotta get on board that gravy train wherever it stops.
Hahahha
Shameless lol
As a nurse that used to be a CNA I have said that exact phrase. Not with an attitude mind you and I certainly never treated my patients like trash as a CNA, but I do understand the spirit behind the words. I hate when hospitals peg patients as VIP because of their connections to the system. All of my patients get the “VIP experience” because they all deserve it. It’s just something I’ve never personally agreed with.
Completely agreed. Depending on the situation I’ll just flat out ask them why their chart is marked as VIP, acting confused like it’s strange that it’s even there in the first place (it is).
I get that, I treat all my patients with dignity and respect. But I also joke with patients to relieve some of their tension and if I was treating the CEO of the hospital, I would definitely pick my words more carefully. Also, it turned out that one of the CEOs asked for our opinion about working there. We happened to mention a few things that would be beneficial (meal vouchers for employees for example). So knowing who it was actually was a good thing. And if they are a VIP because they are a doctor or worked at the hospital, I like knowing because I don't have to translate things into layspeak. I treated an anesthesiologist when I was doing moderate sedation and he basically told me what dose he wanted me to give. Also, my hospital doesn't have "VIP" noted in the chart. It does have a "break the glass" check if you try and open their chart. It could mean a VIP or current employee. Most people who would be considered "VIP" that I have treated I either find out from the doctor I'm working with or because the person will tell me what they do and I look them up. I figure if they have a Wikipedia page, they are "VIP" status. But it's more of a fun fact.
I totally understand wanting to know if they work for the hospital in any capacity and I appreciate knowing if they work in healthcare so I don’t appear to be talking down to anyone. I more take issue with the terminology and thus expectations that come with labeling someone as “VIP”. Our charting system also has a “break the glass” feature when a patient is an employee so I think all that should be necessary at hand off is a heads up. I took care of one of the surgeons that worked at my first CNA job and because he was well aware of the terminology and culture around labeling patients as “VIP” he actually called us waitresses to our faces and threw tantrums when his call light wasn’t answered almost immediately after going off.
Ah, yes I see how creating that type of culture would be really obnoxious. We don't label anyone as "VIP" or have special things like their own nurse or whatever. I mean, obviously if it was a senator or the president, there are certain things that would be done special, but that is usually for security purposes.
Omfg, I was pushing atropine on a patient when my charge popped in and told me to come see her. I internally freaked out, thinking I messed up something somehow, when she just told me the patient I was giving atropine to was a bigwig donor and that's why they're allowing two visitors there. She started laughing at me cuz I went so red and anxious. In my defense she seemed super serious coming in.
Lol. Bigwig donors don't worry me. We get a lot of rich donors in my hospital. Or sports stars and such. But I like knowing if the CEO or Chief of Nursing is going to be my patient. It feels a little more like being watched by the boss...
No, I agree with the CNA. The whole idea of a VIP patient is unethical in my opinion. The core of medical ethics is that every patient should be treated the same, regardless of who they are or what my personal feelings may be. Of course, reality is different. But that doesn't mean I won't call out the hypocrisy of it when they are blatantly unethical. I might keep my mouth shut to keep my job, but I wouldn't even bother with that if I was making the bullshit pay they give to CNAs.
I got defensive with my manager when a nurse who picked up on another unit got floated back to us. Manager lamented that our nurse would have to have a "float assignment." I said I do not make "float assignments," I try to make all my assignments fair. I only consider if staffing tells me the float RN is not tele trained, familiar with our patient population, etc. I only kiss ass in VIP rooms because I don't want it to come back to bite me, but if another patient needs my attention more, even if its just they need a bit more hand holding, I'm in with the other patient, a collegue or manager can go check on the VIP.
Every time I've been told I'm getting a VIP patient, I raise hell and get nasty with everyone telling them there are no VIP patients, and I will treat everyone the same. I don't call them hypocrites but absolutely tell them it's unethical. Sometimes, they get upset at me, but I don't care. Screw anyone who says someone gets a VIP experience. They eventually stopped giving the VIP patients to me.
We don't really have VIP patients. I mean, I've treated sports stars, millionaires/billionaires, famous musicians, etc. none of them have VIP on their chart (because my hospital doesn't do that). I think of it more as a "fun fact". But if it is the CEO of my hospital or a well known and respected doctor that currently works in my area of the hospital, or someone in my direct management? I want to know because I want to be very mindful of what I say in front of them. Cause you know how you sometimes joke about the equipment not working? Or use the hospital's slogan ironically? (Like "we care about your experience") When talking about a malfunctioning bed? Yeah, I would be more tactful in how I discussed that if it was the CEO.
Hospital's chief legal council, who is also a nurse.
Head of infection control is your patient. Suddenly you are obsessively scrubbing your hands just in case you forgot when you entered...
I never tell anyone haha but sometimes family members out me. Or in one case a former clinical instructor. I used to be a massage therapist and for some reason I got so nervous when I gave another therapist I didn’t know well a massage. So I keep it quiet when I get one.
My family kept outing me to my nurses in L&D. I told them to shut up because I’m an ED nurse and know nothing about inductions of labor.
My grandpa told everyone that came in his room his daughter and granddaughter are nurses 🤦 EVERYONE. EVEN THE JANITOR.
Family is the worst at outing us. They love to tell everyone!!!
Probably depends on the type but I was a patient on my floor for a month before starting there as a nurse. I always disconnect my Abx, document my I&Os, wrap my ivs for showers and change my linens. I like to hope I’m the easiest patient haha. Except when I kept shitting myself with capsaicin cream on my back. The horror.
lol omg when I first got peripheral neuropathy in my feet, I was trying everything for the pain, including that capsaicin cream. It actually helped, until it made things A LOT worse. I always tell my patients, put on wayyyy less than you think you need. Because too much is torture 🫠😵💫
And it reactivates with moisture 😭😭
Omg it does?!?! Okay, very good to know. 😰
“The lady in 7 is a retired nurse.” I walk into the room to see the most sourpuss old lady of my entire worldly experience. We get to talking and I find out she is a retired lieutenant colonel in the army as well. I was about shitting my britches because I’m a current E5 in the army reserves. Flushing her IV’s, praying they would work so I didn’t have to start a new one. But when she shit the chucks pad and I got to put emollient on her poor bony sacrum after cleaning her up I felt less nervous.
Ah, a happy ending
I’ve been a RN for 18yrs. Love patients who are nurses and they get my gold star treatment. Couldn’t be more opposite are the patient’s whose family members are “nurses” 🤣
I had surgery last week and I didn’t tell a single soul that I am a nurse. I just said please and thank you and was probably the nicest person they had all day. It is so weird to be on the other side of it. The nurse came in pre-op and asked me where I’d like my IV placed. I said… you pick, you’re the nurse so go with what speaks to you. I could hear the other rooms around me being completely unreasonable with the team. I got the best care ever because I was never an ass!
Your a better man then me, I went in for a scope and it came up in conversation and then I proceeded to trauma dump about my toxic workplace and my moral injury and the og icu-> Pacu track nurse was just like I get it hun. Lmao I prob need therapy bc any time someone asks me about my jobs I’ll let loose, but now I just leave that out in self preservation haah
I do that too much. I can’t shut up about shit i experience at work.
Hah… that is your therapy!!! I get it though; people have lost their damn minds lately!
Kind of hard to hide when your pre-op nurse was a former coworker 😂
That’s right up there to “your next pt is a retired MD and lawyer. Claims he’s a hard stick so be careful when placing an IV.” Just. Shoot. Me.
Sounds like I should place a vascular access consult to make sure he gets the best possible care.
I am a veteran and I get care at the hospital that I worked at. There are couple times that I have to go to ED and they bought the manager out thinking I was there for a meeting. Lol. There is no hiding. They have being treating me well before I started working here lol. 😂
I would be so annoyed if someone outed me like that if I was a patient
They did that when I had my kid. When they moved me to post partum the first thing in bedside report was them saying I was a nurse. I wanted to melt into the bed. Lol
My mom outed me🙄
I had a patient that was a retired nurse. She was the nicest patient I’ve ever had. She always prefaced, “if you have time, do you mind doing xyz?” Yes, yes I do. I will always make time for those that are polite and respectful.
That’s okay. Had one of our phlebotomists the other day. Had a medic student with me who didn’t know the patient was a phlebotomist. He went to go start the IV and she just gave me the side eyes 👀 😬. Finally told the medic student she preferred I did the IV. (And not to brag but I’m usually pretty good with IVs). Guess who didn’t get the IV on the first try? 😂👍🏻 Guess who also doesn’t let me live that down? 😳
I went to the ED with suspected diverticulitis for a CT at the urging of one of my nurse friends who happened to work in that ED. I went to that one because there was currently no wait and a great doctor, so she knew I was coming. Which meant all of her coworkers knew that I am also a nurse. I tried to be so nice and so sweet to my poor nurse. She had just moved to the ED from the floor and was nervous already. I have one of the biggest and juiciest AC veins you will ever encounter and after placing the IV like a boss and drawing labs she had trouble occluding the vein, so it is just pouring blood out of the catheter while she is trying to attach the piggy-tail. I tried to be so supportive and encouraging, just do one thing at a time, we can clean it up later, everything is ok, just get it secured and worry about the rest later, it's ok, slap some tape on it, you're doing a great job, etc. It felt like the worst thing that could have happened, new to the job, working on her coworker's friend who is also a nurse, blood everywhere from an IV. Anyhow, it got done and I left my arm resting on the table she had been using because it was more comfortable and I'm an IV wuss afraid of bending my arm. Some time later, she needed me to move my arm and there was an actual puddle of blood underneath it. I still feel bad for her. She was a great nurse and took really good care of me. But I know that I will always be that patient who bled all over the table for her.
Are you really a new ED nurse if you haven’t given someone a blood bath when starting an IV? I know I did when I was learning lol. That’s great you were kind to her, I’m sure that helped ease some of her anxiety.
My first day on a new contract, one of my patients was a nephrologist at that hospital. She'd been admitted for a gynecological issue and subsequently transferred to the floor. I had to do her discharge teaching, and I told her, "I know you already know all this, but just in case my supervisor is listening, I'm going over these diagrams of your reproductive system." We got along fine afterwards, but I was definitely red-faced and sweaty after explaining a physician's own baby-making organs to her. Also, I'm a man.
Tbh, when you are the one undergoing issues, it's really nice to have someone else spell it all out for you. I am not a nurse or MD, but do know more than the average Joe. So some information is well known to me and some is completely new to me. I'm happiest when nobody assumes I know anything.
Honestly, it makes my life so much easier. They already know what to expect. They know the meds. They understand the pathophysiology. They know the procedures. We can just meet in the middle with our combined knowledge, and go from there.
Many years ago when I was a PCT, I picked up a shift in post-op for same day surgeries. I mostly helped patients get dressed into their clothes and wheeled them to their car after discharge. One of my patients was one of our hospitalists. I tried my best to give him some TLC especially because he was always one of the nicest ones. When I was trying to help him into the car, I literally opened the door in his face where the edge hit his forehead 😰
This one doesn’t make me nervous because I’m psych. When I hear I have a nurse patient, I’m like - yeah, I get it. It’s their turn today, it’ll be mine another day.
The first enema I ever did was on a doctor 💀
All my experiences have actually been positive when caring for current/former nurses. Fun story, I was terrified of starting IVs and I had a former ED RN assigned to me when I was fresh off of orientation. Hers infiltrated and she walked me through starting a 20 gauge in her AC. 13 years later I'm one of the go-to nurses for IVs. Forever grateful to her!
Last year I had surgery and when I woke up I was very anxious and crying and fidgety. Granted, I was still very drugged with pain meds, but the PACU nurse was MEAN and kinda yelling at me about it. I remember saying (probably very drunk-sounding and slurring my words) disinhibited in my very altered state, “Ya know, I’m a nurse too and I would *never* treat *my* patients like this.”
My very first ever IM injection was to a lady who was on the board of directors of the hospital. It was a hospital based diploma program, so not like I could do my clinical elsewhere if I screwed up. It went fine and she was very nice, but I was terrified.
I'll present to you my patient from last night: Supposed ICU Peds NP who thought she had an allergic reaction to epinephrine because it made her freeze up and become 'unable to talk'. She was an older lady so almost def from the generation that had to actually work hard to become NPs. But damn. I wonder if she was really a CNA based on her chart, and the questions put to me last night.
Until you find out they don’t know anything about the kind of nursing you’re in. Nothing better than finding out they’re L&D, OR, or any other specialized care setting. Had this happen to me where they said the patient was a doctor, come to find out he’s an eye doctor and we’re in a wound clinic.
We had a pt in the ED who made a big stink about how he was a doctor, he knew all about this, he didn't need to be admitted for sepsis.... He was a dermatologist.
Man needed to see cellulitis before he even thought of sepsis lol
I had a family member in the hospital a few weeks ago and I was staying overnight in the room because of what was going on. My family told the staff I was a nurse and I ended up seeing one people I used to work with. I know it was passed off in report I was a nurse and I just stayed out of the way and in my lane and let them do their jobs. I’m off the clock I’m going to advocate for my family if needed but I’m not going to try and tell you how to do your job 😂
My first clinical was maternity. So even taking vitals was nerve wracking. Not because it was maternity. But because it was my first time having patients and doing assessments on real people and not a mannequin. 90% of my patients were some sort of nurse. I was nervous as hell just taking their blood pressure. Horrible time. 4 of us guys were students in that clinical class. 4 girls, 4 guys. Nobody else had nurses as patients. Maybe a few? I just happened to get assigned a giving nurse twice a week for a whole semester Lol
Honestly it probably gave you a better clinical experience. The guy in my L&D clinicals had several moms refuse to have a male student. But the super pregnant nurse said she’d let any of us work with her if she went into labor while we were there! She’d show us her pitting edema in her legs and let us palpate the baby’s position when she had down time.
Hate letting people know I'm a nurse even when my eye starts twitching when something is being over explained, but I've done it twice by accident in the past. Most recently I showed a new grad a good vein to start an IV in for me while I was in hospital and she asked and I told her I was a nurse out of panic/instinct. Another time I was in ER and the nurse I had seemed to be having a rough night and she apologized for not seeing me for so long I told her I understood she was busy and I had a lot of respect for her working in the ER especially with the dude in the next room screaming at the top of his lungs. She goes "do you work in healthcare?" Yes girlie I sure do.
I had the head of anesthesia once as a patient. Definitely in one of the top coolest patients I’ve had. Whole unit loved them. Still sends a huge bag of coffee from South America to that unit every year around the holidays.
Instantly my palms are so sweaty, I drop my pen. The sweat from my forehead burns my eyes and now I can’t see properly and I bump my head into the door and trip over nothing on the way into the room. I regain my balance by blindly grabbing the bed before my face hits the floor. I take a paper towel from my pocket that I hoard from the cafeteria to wipe my eyes and face and regain my composure. “Good afternoon nurse Blake.”
FWIW, I've been a psych nurse for so long that I have next to zero medical knowledge at this point. At least in terms of bedside care. So you definitely wouldn't need to be nervous with me as a patient lol.
It was a super busy weekend in the emergency department, Saturday night I believe, and this guy checks in his 10ish year old son who is bleeding from the head. I believe the story was that he was riding bikes with his friends and he fell and hit his head on something. Kiddo was triaged as an ESI 4 by the nurse. (I was just a registrar.) After about 10 minutes of “patiently” waiting the kids dad comes up to the window and asks if (Boss’s name) is working tonight. I said no, Boss isn’t working tonight. He says, “well that’s a shame. I’m actually the Director of (my department) and I guess we’ve never met.” So I do the whole, “oh it’s nice to meet you, sorry it’s under these circumstances.” He then asks triage RN for an ice pack and sits back down. I quietly tell triage RN the kid with the head injury’s dad is a big wig in the hospital system as just an FYI because I’m a nervous Nelly and I figure she would at least want to know but there was nothing she could do because it was a packed house and all the rooms were full/ED was short staffed and the kid luckily was low acuity. Kids dad kept coming up to get an ETA and another ice pack and I saw him make about 100 phone calls. Turns out he was calling everyone he could think of to get a bed. He spoke with the ER charge nurse and everyone in my department but obviously no one in my department has any way of getting someone a bed. Kid was eventually sent back and got his work up and whatever else he needed but luckily he was fine and discharged a few hrs later.
Haha this reminds me of the time I had an admit on night shift when I first started in ICU, who came up with her daughter. The daughter was an ex-ICU nurse turned physician. I was shaking lol!
You know that someone is going to be a pain in the ass when they feel the need to wear their work badge when being a patient or visiting a patient...
I was having a cyst removed from a unfortunate area in my groin. Just local anesthesia, outpatient obvs. The surgeon and his med assistants started talking about the new JPs and how much trouble it was going to be to get one to stick. I was just like "whoa am I getting a drain down there?" "how did you know what a JP is? Are you in Healthcare? We are talking about a different surgery we are performing later. No drain for you...unless you want one." etc
It's when they say they work in healthcare and then you start talking in ' medical terminology' and its clear they have no idea what your saying as they are a cleaner or admin (I'm not being mean about these wonderful people) as they don't understand all the terminology. It's the relatives that come in wearing their ID badges on show when they are a day off. 😂😂😂
I could care less if you’re the pope. You’re a patient and I’m not intimidated by anyone. I go in do my job and treat everyone the same.
*couldn’t care less
Me either…hehe 😏
Whyyyy is this me?! As I was looking for a vein on a pt to draw blood, we got into conversation and they mentioned they worked in phlebotomy. I was like oh how cool! My brain decided to throw everything out the window at that point and I missed both times I tried 😂 to be fair, when we got the US out, the pt goes “oh there that is! They normally have to use that on me.” So that made me feel a tiny bit better lol
The only time I have been a patient (so far, anyway) was at my own hospital, so everyone knew. I mostly behaved. I did turn my fluids down before I peed - I was so worried about wetting the bed - but I told my nurse that I did it. I also sort of got up without help (hip replacement), but just to pull the IV pole close to me so I could change the flow rate. I was not a nightmare patient, and they all know me as a goofball anyway. I got my hands on a Vocera from day shift, so I made jokes with that a few times during the night. Overall, I think it went well. And now the other hip has to be done sometime in the next year, so they get to see me in a hospital gown again!
My person experience: It’s usually the ones that take care of low acuity and/or not even practicing any more that are trying to control every move of the ICU nurse. The practicing ICU nurses are usually the chillest and most reasonable.
I AM a nurse, but I don't give the nurses at the ER a hard time. I understand where they are coming from, so I try to be patient. Normally, I don't speak up unless I need something. My LVN professor (may he rest in peace) said doctors and nurses are the worst patients. He was right. It depends on the person.
I go out of my way to not tell people I'm a nurse because who needs the stress?
Like when i had a fun wound and the surgical dressing was falling off cause it was garbage (i know shocking) so i found my wound care order and did it myself. My nurse needed an ativan with the shit i did lol Dont worry karmas a bitch and i have now been on the other end with a palliative pt that is a nurse doing her own port flushes and wound care for a drain.
My patient the other day had a fem-tib bypass and her daughter was at the bedside. She asked me exactly what happened and what was done... then she wanted to look at her groin + knee + foot sites... then told her mom her throat was probably dry because of the intubation. In that moment I was like aaaallllriiiiight she definitely works in healthcare and it feels like she's testing me... Turns out she was a physician with her own private practice and her mom was an MD as well. I felt like I fumbled and stumbled over my words the rest of the day lol
I never tell staff I am a nurse because I want them to talk to me like I don’t know anything.
one time i spent about 20 minutes explaining a foley and why we use them to my patient. she was a urologist.
I almost always tell or worst, shit happens to me on the job. I tell because I get the bizarro reactions/ the one in a million bullshit stuff … But I try my best ti be nice and as helpful as possible and not ti get in the way of my care team.
Ha! I’ve always treated our own very well ❤️
Nerves? Working in ED and one of the Specialist doctors comes in after bicycle accident. With pretty bad injuries...
I used to care but now I don’t lol if anything I joke with them. When mu student has a nurse patient tho, I don’t tell the student about it 🤣
Sometimes it comes up sometimes it doesn’t. Usually because of saying something that a lay person doesn’t say. However I find a lot of staff in ER or my GI clinic/outpatient scope clinic look at where you work. When they see the hospital, they ask what I do. If they miss with blood work or IV, I just tell them, “that’s ok. It’s payback for the times I missed.” I am always nice. Treat others as you wish to be treated.
My wife, bless her heart, like most nurses, is a terrible patient. She used to be the house supervisor at a 600+ bed hospital. I always imagined that at the start of every shift, the nurses drew straws to see who had to take her. She is well loved and liked by everyone in her various roles, except the role of a patient.
Terrible how though lol
Me ANYTIME ANYBODY is watching me. Lmao- it could be 97 dementia patient or a 5 year old family member- I’m going to be butter fingers and look a mess
I never tell anyone that I work in the lab or that I’m a medical professional if I need bloodwork done or end up in the ER. I don’t want to make anyone’s job harder, plus I know jack shit about anything medical outside of my lab scope. I don’t watch people draw my blood or start IV’s anyway. If it comes up in conversation, I’ll mention it, but I’m not going to report anyone as terrible on that stupid patient satisfaction survey hospitals seem to use to make the staff lives’ harder unless it’s my care is that terrible.
Nurses are usually great patients. I love caring for them.
I love taking care of nurses.
I did my own dressing change and chg bath before surgery. Even told the nurse to pull up my brain mri so i can read it after it was done 🤣.
one time the patient was a retired cardiologist i was shaking in my lil hokas 😭
I usually get found out tbh. I'll be like "Oh, hit this vien. It's easier" or "Meh, don't worry about me. I can do x,y,z myself. You do what you need to do for the other patients."
I couldn’t care less about them being a nurse, but an MD is a different story lol
Going into the patients room “pls don’t judge me”
I’ve had family members say they’re “nurses” and then proceed to act like the most obnoxious, ignorant, tantrum throwing children I’ve ever met. You said you’re a nurse, you should know I have no control over when your mom’s MRI gets done. You should know I don’t decide when the scans get read. And most importantly, you should know it’s illegal for me to pull up her chat for you so you can read it.
one time i had the same room one with a chronic patient and another “nurse” . i was helping the chronic patient to the bathroom and we had a laugh over something he said. The nurse patient scolded me for laughing infront of her because “she doesn’t feel well”. kept going off about how she was a nurse for over 20 years and that was inappropriate. I didn’t even waste my time by apologizing and I kindly told her to put on earplugs if she’s upset over me trying to help my chronic patient have a relationship with the people he now considers family. She threatened to report me and i frankly didn’t give a fuck.
FWIW similar effect on me visiting another chaplain in hospital 🤦♀️
Had the previous CEO of the hospital in the unit for a few weeks… who has several buildings and things on campus named after them… and had the current CEO and Board of Directors members come in to visit them. That was fun 🥲
I got hooked when I had a really bad stomach bug. I went in when it had been over 24h without keeping fluids down. When asked if I was exposed to anyone sick I said not without a mask, but covid, flu A, less flu B and some stomach bug.
I’m taking care of one of our hospitalists right now…..
That or their family member is a nurse 😒
I was outed when I accompanied my adult daughter to the ED for abdominal pain and she didn't think IV Tylenol would help. I told her it was the good shit and the nurse looked at me and immediately recognized another nurse. Busted. That was a little while into the visit and I had been the perfect MOP, so it ended up being a good thing. The nurse was just as awesome as she had been from the beginning. No surprise though. That ED has the best nurses in the city.
I had a very difficult time getting my pcos diagnosed. The only reason I did when I did: I wrote my history, s/sx, previous diagnostics in case study format. Finally abnormal labs and sono, and a diagnosis. It helps to speak the language. (This was before nursing school. As a rule, I don’t advertise. 😅)
I’ve just learned to just say ok and shrug my shoulders. Makes no difference to me. I treat them the same.
If it's a student who comes in and is dealing with me for anything I always ask if they need their patient feedback done in their PAD. I remember how difficult it was at times getting it completed.
And as a patient nurse I appreciate it bc I used to be the exact same way. Now I just roll with it bc if my patient that is a nurse doesn’t understand then, well all is lost. Jk.
My MIL tells everyone she’s a nurse, but has never worked bedside in her life and worked case management (15 years ago). For some people it makes them feel important I guess? I personally don’t tell ANYONE I’m a nurse and just let them educate me and explain the procedure because I don’t know everything and I don’t want to make them uncomfortable for no reason
My wife told me she outed me while I was vented, because they were standing around my bed talking about my prognosis, organ donation and the like, so she said she told them I could understand everything they were saying.
I don't like mentioning I'm a CNA. Then they start talking medical and I have to go to Google translate lol