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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To be fed up with the nurse-bashing going on here this weekend

164 replies

fledtoscotland · 14/07/2013 23:25

Just that really.

Most of us are hard working people who do our best to remember everyone's name and not eat kettle chips when we should have a broom up our arses to ensure we don't slack

I just want to be treated with respect as I do my patients and do my job.

OP posts:
Sirzy · 15/07/2013 09:12

Most of my recent experiences with nurses are through the peads department at my local hospital and I am yet to come across a nurse who wasn't fantastic and willing to go the extra mile. I have on numerous occasions wrote to the chief exec to praise individuals or the whole team.

TheOriginalSteamingNit · 15/07/2013 09:12

And don't talk to me about kettle chips: my memories of post natal suturing are bound up, Proust-like, with the smell of the cheese and onion crisps the (at least non-actual-needle-wielding) nurse was eating in the room while that went on.

Some nurses are amazing, logically enough, as some people are. My colposcopy team were all brilliant. Some are not at all amazing, and most, like most people, are basically doing a really good job which does not, however, preclude observations and comments from those for whom the job is being done.

That's not bashing, and I'm concerned that some nurses are determined to read it as such.

Fairyloo · 15/07/2013 09:12

Is mumsnet where you get your self esteem from?

Does it really matter that some people have a differing opinion about nurses

Jeez

Lighthousekeeping · 15/07/2013 09:16

I'm just in the middle of three weeks of nights. Last night I heard that there's a good chance that our night/weekend pay is going to be slashed to 25%. Who's going to want to do the crappy shifts then with a smile on their face?

diddl · 15/07/2013 09:16

I agree that there's obviously good and bad-as with any profession.

I think one of the problems is that the bad we hear about is neglect-as with the pps relative.

And of course, it's directed towards sick, vulnerable & even dying people-so can never be acceptable.

Patients without water, unable to reach buzzers-just not on at all.

GrumpyKat · 15/07/2013 09:16

I've spent a lot of time in hospital in the last couple of years and all the nurses I've come into contact with have been unfailingly ace. I have received great care from compassionate HCPs at every turn.
Just saying.

Fairylea · 15/07/2013 09:18

I think good nurses can completely change someone's experience of being in hospital.... when I had my dd 10 years ago I had an awful labour and all the staff were absolutely awful to me.. when I had ds 13 months ago I was so scared, I had moved to a completely new area and was petrified the whole nursing experience would be the same.

I fought to have an elective c section but once surgery began they discovered I had undiagnosed placenta previa. Very scary, lost 3 litres of blood etc, 3 transfusions. Care back on the ward was absolutely amazing. The nurses took wonderful care of me and ds..I couldn't have asked for more.

They were absolutely rushed off their feet the whole time, yet managed to raise a smile and did their best in what was a very stressful situation (I literally nearly died).

I think like all people, you get some bad eggs but no one should generalise.

I wrote to the nurses at Norwich and Norfolk hospital to thank them and sent flowers. They were wonderful and restored my faith in the nursing profession.

Fecklessdizzy · 15/07/2013 09:19

I've got no problem at all with anyone saying " Please call me Mrs Wotsit, not Hun ... " If that's what they prefer, but it's the ignoring of the big picture in favour of whinging about petty details that gets my goat.

Ask to be called by your title/ go and get your own kettle chips! Don't run down a whole profession because of a minor niggle

TheOriginalSteamingNit · 15/07/2013 09:21

They shouldn't have to ask not to be called hun... that's an awkward thing to have to do, especially if you're feeling ill or frightened.

Could anybody point to the posts, particularly on my 'sweetheart' thread, where 'the whole profession' was 'run down', please?

Sirzy · 15/07/2013 09:25

Patients should be called mr/mrs/miss until they tell the staff otherwise. No need for anything else.

KellyElly · 15/07/2013 09:26

There are good nurses and bad nurses as there are good and bad in any profession. If people have had a bad experience then they will be vocal about it. Nurses are not above criticism just because they have a difficult job. I doubt anyone tars the whole profession with the same brush.

Fishandjam · 15/07/2013 09:28

I am in hospital right now. The nursing staff have been almost universally superb (though stupidly understaffed because it was a weekend Hmm). All except one who came charging into my room having ignored the huge red "STOP: INFECTION CONTROL" sign on my door, and therefore without mask or gloves. Twit.

Lottapianos · 15/07/2013 09:28

I've been cared for by really lovely nurses who were extremely professional and did a great job. I've also had nurses who were awful - one actually made me cry during a blood test, and I am an NHS worker myself and have had loads of blood tests, so I'm not remotely intimidated by the procedure. So they're just like any other profession, some are wonderful, some are awful.

One thing is for certain - absolutely none of them are 'angels' Hmm I find it so patronising when people describe nursing staff this way - doctors, physiotherapists, speech and language therapists, radiographers etc never get described in this way. People who do a good job in healthcare professions do so because they are very hardworking human beings who genuinely care about people and also have well-developed common sense. Not because they have any kind of superpowers.

Fecklessdizzy · 15/07/2013 09:29

Fair enough, Nit, I was really responding to this OP about feeling got at rather than the other " Sweetheart " thread which I skipped through.

I'm not bothered at all by pet names but I appreciate that some people hate them and feel demeaned and that when you're scared and ill it's not the best time to be asserting yourself.

There was a bit of general nurse slagging going on on the kettle chip thread, though.

Fishandjam · 15/07/2013 09:30

Oh yes, and they asked me what I preferred to be called.

Original poster
fledtoscotland · 15/07/2013 09:32

Sirzy - why should they be called Mr/mrs/miss unless otherwise told? Obviously very elderly patients come from a different era of manners and I always respect that but I'm hardly going to call someone my own age Mrs X when she's calling me Fled rather than Mrs Scotland. Much in the same way I don't call them Love or Darling.

I'm aware all professions are under scrutiny but my OP was talking about this weekend on mumsnet! It was slightly lighthearted and no, I wouldn't change my job despite being physically attacked/spat on/screamed at/threatened/reduced to tears by the sheer nastiness of the general public. I don't rely on MN for my self esteem.

OP posts:
Hamwidgeandcheps · 15/07/2013 09:39

V close friend is an a & e nurse. She deals with horrifying things every week. I couldn't do it Hmm they work v hard and have to deal with v challenging situations

ilovechips · 15/07/2013 09:42

As soon as I saw this thread title my heart sank tbh - starting a thread saying oh I'm sick of nurse bashing is almost certainly just going to re hash the issues of the other threads!

Can we not just accept there are good and bad in every job? By far the biggest issue is finance - the NHS is on its knees. Also, some people will have distorted views, often because of shocking experiences within healthcare - there is nothing we can do about that, the only way to change perception is to hope the bad apples get weeded out, and the rest of us carry on doing our best and hope that people don't have to experience that bad "care" again.

thegreylady · 15/07/2013 09:45

As I said on the other thread my mum would have loved to be called by an endearment instead of the formality of Mrs xxxx
I have had wonderful nurses and some breathtakingly awful ones but the profession as a whole deserves nothing but respect. I was a teacher :-)

motherinferior · 15/07/2013 09:51

Try being a journalist. According to the Received MN Wisdom we rank somewhere below recidivist paedophiles in our morality.

It wasn't a nurse-bashing thread. It was a thread about being treated with dignity by HCPs.

And now I'm going back to writing a feature for Nursing Standard.

SpecialAgentTattooedQueen · 15/07/2013 09:56

today a did so all are

^

That's what I find annoying about this weekends nurse bashing, and when I see teacher bashing etc.

Being annoyed at a/a few horrid professionals? Reasonable. Whining about the profession as a whole? No.

TheOriginalSteamingNit · 15/07/2013 09:58

But who has 'whined' about the profession as a whole? And where have they done this? As I say: one poster on the kettle chips thread was vocal about the care she had seen lacking - that's the only one I can think of.

Invitation is still open for examples of broad generalizations about nursing.....

Cocodale · 15/07/2013 10:02

I've missed the anti nurse stuff this weekend been too busy working, as a nurse of 20 yrs I feel very sad about it all. You get good and bad in all lines of work. In my particular area palliative care, there has been a huge amount of change but I know I put in 100% and my fabulous colleagues do the same no matter what.

Nanny0gg · 15/07/2013 10:06

fledtoscotland I'm not elderly (almost, but not quite) and I don't want you to use my first name unless you ask me. I don't know you!
I'm more than happy to use your name and title - I wouldn't expect to use your first name either.

TheOriginalSteamingNit · 15/07/2013 10:11

I've missed the anti-nurse stuff too, despite starting and posting on a thread about one aspect of nursing which I wondered whether nurses might think twice about...