User Post: 5 Things You Should NEVER Say to a Nurse

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  Posted by Katie B Fri Jul 17, 2009 11:55am PDT

  To number 7. My husband was a paramedic and always preferred working with the Nurses than the Doctors.

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  Posted by msf Fri Jul 17, 2009 12:10pm PDT

  I can not stand it when they act like you have to do everything for them{toileting}, when they are quite capable of doing themselves, then they say well,it is what you get paid for, or How about a massage, foot rub, the list goes on and on and on. I am ready to help with things when needed but if you come in with an infected toenail and expect me to bathe you then your just plain crazy!!!!

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  Posted by Rowdygirl Fri Jul 17, 2009 12:19pm PDT

  My sister is a tech (kind of like an aide, but not a nurse).. in a rehab hospital. Her favorite is "waitress, waitress"... yes, it has happened more than once.

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  Posted by MrsKlingonPasadena Fri Jul 17, 2009 1:05pm PDT

  Nothing wrong with #1

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  Posted by MrsKlingonPasadena Fri Jul 17, 2009 1:05pm PDT

  I mean #10

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  Posted by Beverly Fri Jul 17, 2009 2:07pm PDT

  What I love is where ever you are (this has even happened in a bar) people find out your a nurse and they start to share their medical history. Complete strangers have told me their bowel habits or tried to show me a rash!!!! I've thought about wearing an "off duty" sign!

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  Posted by li h Fri Jul 17, 2009 2:45pm PDT

  I am a nurse and manager and I must say how people treat nurses most of the time is with a feeling that they are inferior to their Doctors. The hard truth of the matter is nurses are the ones that identify the problems with patients and alert the physcian. They are not like on tv. They don't work in every unit as in Charlie's angels but they are angels. It is sad to say I wouldn't want my children to grow up and be a nurse. It is a job with little respect in and out of the hospital setting. The pick up lines from men are obnoxious and worse yet you get called by neighbors and friends about questions they should be calling their doctor about.

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  Posted by maxee Fri Jul 17, 2009 2:59pm PDT

  and from the consumer side of things.....

  dont talk to me like I am a five yr old in kindergarten - save the baby talk for Peds, and dont ask how WE are doing since I am the only one in the hospital bed, and if you feel you must smoke on break wash your hands - I dont want to smell it on your clothes or hands when you are with me doing your job, and just b/c youre in my room attending to things doesnt imply that youre automatically invited into the conversation....that I may be having on the phone or with visitors.

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  Posted by Samx Fri Jul 17, 2009 4:11pm PDT

  What gets me is, when they are FAT - it lets me know that they can't take of themselves therefore they are not allowed to touch me. I have the freedom to choose who puts their hands on me.

  Smoking? Are you kidding me? They are in the health care business, not the out to destroy my smell senses.

  Again, personal perception is 9/10th real.

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  Posted by desiree Fri Jul 17, 2009 4:33pm PDT

  what do you do when you have some young student nurse who is trying to learn i get it... but when they need to take blood and they screw it up and now you are in pain the patient more than necessary! yes they have a senior nurse with them but sometimes they say its ok try again! serioulsy no, i want to say that intern needs to stop and you need to do it!!

  i have seen this happen plenty of times. its happened to me- in the middle of the night after having a baby all i need is more pain! mu husband was even afraid when he saw a baby come into to get blood. Or

  my sister has rare blood disorder-not cureable has bad veins, and horrible with needles. needless to say when she gets sick, she has to literally demand a senior nurse, and the smallest needle(i forget the name), and can only have a i.v. inserted in a certain part of her arm- near the middle. nurses want to put in lower arm or by her wrist or hand. the nurses think she's being unreasonable and say were going to try it here and realize hey she's right it needs to be done exactly how she said! after they have made her cry, scream, and hurt her and caused unnecessary excess bleeding, and brusing(she bruises very easily. 1 time they tried in the hand and she ended up with a golf size swell on her hand- she couldn't move her hand after the nurse couldn't get the i.v. in.

  SO what do you do then to make the nurses understand shes not just whiny!!!

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