Translate

Thursday, January 31, 2013

assholes and bullies

There are two kinds of people who come into the ER that I can't stand: assholes and bullies.

Being a nurse, you learn pretty quick that there are people in this world who make an art out of being an asshole. Asshole type #1: Their life is shit and you, the nurse, are going to pay the price for their shitty life. All of that bullshit therapeutic communication they taught you in nursing school isn't going to work with them..

Asshole type #2: This type has an exaggerated sense of their own importance. Everybody is supposed to cater to their every whim. They are more important than the other lowly patients.  If things don't go how they want them to go, look out.

Then there are the bullies. The verbally abusive who sometimes threaten the staff. I have absolutely zero tolerance or patience for these people. Especially those who threaten physical harm.  Ah can you say....SECURITY!

Here's the thing about nurses, assholes and bullies. As a group we put up with them, many times feeling like we have no choice.  True that, they have to get medical care too.  What gets me about a lot of nurses are two things:
1) They feel sorry for people like this.  Oh....they must have had a rough life...
2) They allow themselves to be abused, threatened without doing anything about it.

When I have a asshole patient, sorry folks, I avoid them. I do what I have to do and I don't go in their room unless they put the call light on or do my periodic checks. Now some of you would say, well, why don't you talk to them, maybe they are scared...no, sorry.  I do not have time for people like this.  I won't subject myself to it.

With bullies, I do two things:  If someone is verbally abusing me, I tell t em to stop, tell them it is unacceptable, and if they don't, I leave the room and come back later. If they threaten me physically, I call security.  Just like in a domestic abuse situation, I do not deserve to be treated this way.  I won't be. Again I avoid them, doing only what is necessary.

Perhaps some of you think I am being a hardass. Nurses are supposed to care and understand. Bullshit. Nurses are their to provide care and be treated respectfully.  End of story

11 comments:

Anonymous said...

Good for you! There is never a reason to accept abuse. My best example- one day in the ER a female patient asked for a cup of coffee. I told her I would get it when I had time (we were really busy- shock, huh?. As I was returning with the coffee- about 22 minutes after it was requested- I was approached by her husband who PUNCHED ME IN THE NOSE! There were cops in the department who immediately grabbed this guy, cuffed him and arrested him. This guy was amazed that he was arrested and his excuse was that I made his wife wait for "service". I told him I was a RN, not a servant, dealing with life and death and, to my knowledge, no one ever died for lack of coffee. I did file charges by the way for assault.

girlvet said...

good for you. What an idiot. I hope your weren't seriously hurt.

Rain23 said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Anonymous said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
EDNurseasauras said...

Amen to that.

Anonymous said...

I understand your point of view, but what about the patients who are not, as you put it bullies, and assholes? My grandfather was in the emergency room, he was kind and patient and all the nurses treated him horribly. He was so scared to be left alone that he begged our family not to leave. What do you call that? My grandmother was in the a different hospital 15 years prior to that and we caught a nurse mistreating her. She wasn't even coherent. So what is the excuse you have for that? You say your patients are the bullies and assholes, yet your on here commenting, cursing and calling your patients names. As I see it your the bully. You are correct you chose this profession and you are here to provide a service. But these patients are in a scary situation, in a cold room with people they do not know, they are alone. As patients we should put ourselves in your shoes, but as nurses you should put yourself in ours. What was the reason for you choosing this profession? Was it to help people? You should revisit your reasoning, and then rethink if you still feel the same way. If not I would suggest you find a new profession.

Debbie said...

👍🏻

Debbie said...

👎🏻

Anonymous said...

An earlier post already said this better than I ever could but what about the people that are not as you see it bullies? What's your excuse for treating them poorly then? Sure, some patients are downright awful but there are so many stories of innocent patients being horribly mistreated at hospitals, from nurses having a condescending attitude for no apparent reason, to dismissing a patient's pain/telling them that they're faking it, to downright insulting a person's character based on their race, sexuality, economic status, etc. And I hope you understand this but there is a difference between a patients throwing a fit because you got them the wrong flavor of juice vs them asking you to be kind. I don't care what other assholes you've seen that day, you can't take that anger out on someone who doesn't deserve it.

Yes nurses are supposed to care and understand. I mean sure, technically you can go into nursing without actually caring for people and have zero emotion and all, but in no way are you providing good care for your patients because you don't see them as full human beings and that person will avoid future care because of mistreatment. You're a nurse, but not a GREAT nurse

If you wanna be a bully just for being the sake of being a bully, then choose a different career path.

toatea said...

source officielle Dolabuy Hermes en savoir plus réplique louis vuitton répliques de sacs consultez ce site Loewe Dolabuy

toughson said...

look at more info y0u11l9n64 high quality designer replica replica bags nyc l0n71j9u45 important site y6j45i7k10 replica ysl replica bags from korea replica bags delhi replica gucci bags e8p57s9i32 replica bags philippines