A
female
age
51-59,
anonymous
writes:Im going into hospital soon for small surgery and worried the staff andnurses will treat me badly? The surgeon and anaesthetist know I'm a nurse as my own Dr told them! so now all the staff and nurses will know I am a nurse, I cannot even hide that!As a nurse I would never treat a patient badly..or be rude or nasty/snarky. I treat all with respect..no matter who they are but am very worried worried they'll be bitchy or ignore me, as im a nurse, they will know it.. and they may judge me also as I live alone.(I have no family nearby or friends I can rely on.)"she doesn't have anyone" ' she's alone and isolated" etc nasty comments.. I have heard made about patients... How to behave so they will be ok,? of course I will be polite and nice, wont complain or tell them what to do/be rude, as some patients I have seen do.. and.. unless anyone mentions it I WILL NOT TELL THEM I AM A NUTSE..BUT NO DOUBT THEY WILL ASK, as It will be on my file/notes. Nurses can be bitches to other nurses..big time bitches ( im not but have seen it) I have seen them treat nurse who are patients with sarcasm, act lke they need no help and wont help them, and they avoid them..I am nervous enough about the surgery and worried I'll be treated badly.. Reply to this Question
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female
reader, anonymous, writes (27 July 2016): Be strong be brave be wise and put a smile on your face and a spring in your step. Laugh and the world laughs with you Cry and you cry alone.
A
male
reader, anonymous, writes (27 July 2016): I was married to a nurse who ultimately had to have a radical hysterectomy and she went to a hospital in an adjoining county because of her fear of the nursing staff finding out she had cervical cancer. So your fears or not unfounded.
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A
female
reader, Tisha-1  +, writes (27 July 2016):
 I’d be sure to make eye-contact and smile with every nurse you meet. I’d say something like, “I’m so happy to know as a fellow nurse I have you looking after me.”
“It’ll be so wonderful to be able to pass along how well I was cared for to my doctor and the hospital!”
Basically get them on your side.
As for the comments about people living alone, well, isn’t that part of patient care followup, to know that their ongoing care is being handled.? Someone sending you home would need to know that you have no one to look in on you, after anesthesia. It’s not a negative judgment, if you are alone and isolated. Are you alone and isolated?
“I’m so used to being a nurse and on the other side of delivering health care that I’m really nervous! *smile* Please can you help me get through this and to the other side with my sense of pride in being a nurse intact? *smile*”
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A
male
reader, Dodds  +, writes (27 July 2016):
 Hey try to be strong and stay composed. All will be well. It's surprising and funny that nurses can be seen universally in such dim light. My country is no different. But you will be ok. Take heart, and try do for yourself whatever you can muster the strength to do after surgery while recuperating. Good luck!
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A
female
reader, alaska005  +, writes (27 July 2016):
I can understand how you may be feeling anxious about the other nurses, I am a nurse too and I know some nurses can be quite bitchy but I've always found it easier to treat a patient who is a nurse themselves as they understand you better.
I wouldn't worry about the other nurses they shouldn't treat you differently. The only thing I have seen fellow nurses getting annoyed about is if you acted as if you knew better than the nurse treating you other than that most nurses have preferred treating another nurse, I hope I've helped in some ways.
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A
female
reader, CindyCares  +, writes (27 July 2016):
 I think that you worry more than you should. Note that I am not saying " you worry about nothing " because unluckily the possibility of not receiving the best possible assistence you would have right to, is always a possibility, whether you are a hospital patient or a hotel customer or an airflight passenger etc., but I doubt that these nurses would go out of their way to treat you poorly just insofar you are a nurse too.
I do not doubt that nurses can be bitchy and mean to each other *on the job * - same as teachers can, or bank clerks can, or ..anybody who works with colleagues. On the job there are professional and personal envies, competition for promotions,different ideas about how the job needs to be done...but you will be there as a patient, not as a colleague. And good , or just decent, nurses treat all patients the same.
You, for istance, I bet you don't care if your patient is a rockstar or a panhandler , right ? You do your job in the best , kindest , most efficient way no matter who the patient is and what he does for a living.
Hopefully, and logically, these nurses too will know how to act professionally toward their patients, uncluding you.
I am not saying that I can promise you they will all be angels of mercy- just that you have no more reason to worry about being treated well, than when you go to your bank to cash a check, or to a restaurant to have dinner. If you do not receive adequate treatment, it's not because you are a nurse and they have an ax to grind with nurses- it's because not all people know how to do their job properly. But most DO know, so ... let's look at the half full glass, not the half empty one.
As for being pitied because you live alone, well, obviously you can't prevent people from thinking anything they want, or even from commenting behind your back. There's nothing you can do about that- except, not worrying and not caring about it. If these people think this way,- it means they are behind their times, they are stuck in the past. Noewadays there's absolutely nothing strange with living alone , and / or far from family. Do you know, for instance , that in Milan, which is a big city of almost 2 millions people , one third of the households are one -_person households ?...
Best wishes for a fast recovery.
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A
female
reader, Abella +, writes (27 July 2016):
 when I've gone to hospital I take my super pretty nighties.
I sit back and enjoy being looked after nicely and I ask the nurses, "what do you need me to do now?"
The Nurses love being the ones in charge, I have always found.
I bring a puzzle or two or a colouring in book and coloured pencils.
Also I find that nurses love it when you clarify with them first about anything I need to know and I read all the booklets in the side drawers.
Where I can compliment something or someone I do so. Such as if the lunch or the dinner was especially nice I let the person who removed the tray know to be sure to compliment the chef.
Saying thank you, where appropriate, for caring treatment is always appreciated, I find. Nurses are human like anyone else. Plus I only press the bell when I utterly have to.
And I try not to be a nuisance in any way.
Keeping my area on the little table at the side of the bed always tidy and clothing all hung and not in a pile at the bottom of the wardrobe cupboard also goes down, it seems.
Also I take along zip lock bags for any washing that needs to go home. and then those bags inside another bag.ds we
It has been my experience that if you treat the nurses really respectfully that they are lovely back.
I find that the nurses always make nice comments about my nighties (They are over the top and pretty with guipure lace etc).
I prefer to never use sleeping tablets and even if in hospital I always refuse them. However if you do want one then do ask for it before the nurse completes her rounds - where the nurses dispenses any such medication. It is a pain and an inconvenience for the nurse to have reopen the secure storage of medication for one patient.
Things I have noticed that drive Nurses to distraction are the following, in no particular order:
Constantly pressing the button for the nurse for what seem like inconsequential requests or questions
Patients with nighties or pajamas that are too long for them - causing a tripping hazard. Even if a loved daughter bought them with love - if they are too long they are dangerous.
Patients where their visitors are too noisy and stay too long beyond the end of visiting times.
Patients who use abusive words to nurses. No one comes to work to be abused.
Patients who leave the bathroom in a complete mess with towels left on the floor etc..
Patients who do not want to use headphones and do want to watch the TV where the sound is too loud
Patients who want to play noisy computer games in bed and thus disrupting other patients.
I have rarely suffered a nasty nurse save for one, when I was a new mother, where she slapped my breasts from side to side and told me I would never successfully breast feed. I did breast feed three babies and I am glad I persevered.
Please feel free to add your own pet hates if it will help you to recall the things that drive your to distraction as a nurse.
Hope all that help?
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