Comments on: Gettin’ Kicked Off The Carpet

By: Kathy

Kathy — Wed, 20 Oct 2004 04:15:05 +0000

I’m a nurse too and have to agree with you on both counts. I don’t scream “Attorney” when I enter his office. Use the call bell.

Also the privacy issues, I cannot barely take a break so I generally try to eat and document at the same time (in an outpatient clinic now)–yet people still try and come up behind me and look at my computer screen. Doesn’t anyone know how to say “excuse me?” anymore?

Just to add a pet peeve, nurses on other floors who will not take report for a transfer or admission. What do they think? that the admitting doc will change his mind?

By: Pedro

Pedro — Tue, 19 Oct 2004 14:42:25 +0000

I work in emergency and visitors are my number one pet peeve. I don’t know why people think that when I call a patient to the door I want their whole extended family and entourage to come back too. You should see the looks of amazement and hurt when I tell them all to go have a seat in the waiting room. I wonder if they are all welcomed back to the examination room to hang out when they visit their PCP. (Silly me, assuming that people seek medical attention anyplace besides an ER.)

Another peeve is when people demand to know why “that person got called ahead of me”. A lot of my coworkers explain that that person is being seen first because they’re having an asthma attack or chest pain and you have a discharge from your penis/vagina or something else that can wait. This is all a violation of privacy and I don’t offer any explanations other than to explain that people are seen in order of perceived seriousness, not arrival time.

It’s always “that person got a sandwich, why can’t I eat?” (as if it’s a restaurant). I’m often tempted to show them someone on a ventilator and ask “do you want one of these too?”.

By: Stephanie Tate, RN

Stephanie Tate, RN — Tue, 19 Oct 2004 10:58:27 +0000

Great blog! Well designed! Came upon it purely by accident but I intend to visit more often! I want to get the book “Complications” advertised on your site–I had never heard of it until now.

By: John

John — Sun, 07 Mar 2004 03:20:39 +0000

Don’t forget. Patients see many individuals in a hospital: Doctors (primary, Interns, Residents) Support person, technicians, Phelbotimists, Nurses aides, LPNs, RNs, volunteers, etc. They see these people for maybe 5 – 10 minutes max that cover multiple shifts. When you don’t feel well, its hard to remember everyone’s name. Typically they remember their primary doctor. But after that, its a fog of support people who come and go. Using the word “Nurse” is a well known and understood way to get help. And since patients do not understand the environment as healthcare workers, I see nothing wrong with using the word Nurse to get help or attention.

By: Caryn

Caryn — Sun, 29 Feb 2004 17:04:17 +0000

I wonder if signs on the desks that say something like, “Restricted area; only medical personnel allowed behind desk/in carpeted area/within ten feet of desk” would help.

I haven’t been a CCU patient, but I can’t imagine yelling, “Oh NUUURRRSSEE!” down the hallway, either. That’s what the call button’s for, right?

This strikes me the same way as the kids who only call their teachers, “Teacher.” Your teacher is a whole human being who has a name. So is your nurse. So is your doctor, and your bus driver, and your UPS guy, and and and.

Huh. I guess it’s also a pet peeve of mine. Use my name, dangit. Or if you forget it, which is totally understandable, ask again. I’ll tell you.

When I was in the hospital, each nurse would introduce herself to me when she first came into my room. That was nice, but the one who wrote her name on the whiteboard right under the TV was absolutely brilliant. Then I didn’t have to remember, “Is my nurse today Barbara or Virginia? They both were blond and had accents,” when I was also freaked out about having had abdominal surgery and trying to figure out what to do with this insane little baby and on narcotics and being poked and prodded every ten minutes from 6 am to 6 pm.

By: bill reith

bill reith — Sun, 29 Feb 2004 13:12:28 +0000

The comments about the carpet make a lot of sense to me, though I think that coming ‘in’ might just mean a desire to be closer to the person I’m talking to. But the part about ‘nurrrrsee’ — golly, I would have assumed thats what you’d want. I sure wouldn’t call out ‘hey you’ — doesn’t sound at all right to me. But if thats what you want, how would you let someone know? Can’t think of an easy way, short of an ‘orientation sheet’ (Don’t step behind the counter; its a restricted area. If you want to call a nurse, ‘hey you’ or their name, if you know is, is the preferred method.’ See? It starts sounding all awkward and lawyerly….

None of which should be taken to mean that you don’t have the right to work as you wish, to control your area, and to be called the way you want. I just can’t think of a graceful way to get the word out.

By: Caryn

Caryn — Sun, 29 Feb 2004 13:10:30 +0000

Good on you for being able to stay light-hearted about it. I would bet a lot of people just don’t think about the information that’s available in the nurses’ station. Or other patients’ privacy. And of course, as a visitor, they’re entitled to know everything about the patient who’s in your unit, right?