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

[fledtoscotland]

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.

Oh and there was one a while ago where a doctor said she wished her 'Dr' title was included on her name badge because not having it was a bit confusing for patients.

She was quite quickly told she was full of herself...

I've had terrible experiences with nurses who were rude, nasty, shouted at me, rolled my eyes at me as I sobbed. I still have horrible dreams about being stuck in a hospital powerless and in pain and frightened with those people around me.

BUT I would never judge the whole profession just because I was so unlucky. I've seen my family members treated so well, with so much compassion. It must come down to the individual and I know the vast majority do a fantastic job. But I would rather die than go into hospital again and will having a home birth

Wish I could see, hopefully they show up on Active and I will happily defend!

Agree on that post there were nasty GP posts so I retract that, I was mainly referring to the attitude of the OP. Should have thought that one through!

Tbf, when fireman decided to strike for more pay there was lots of sniping about them all having second jobs anyway.

True, but if urses were to strike, let's face it... They'd be accused of the same crap they already are on a much higher scale. I don't think it's hard to see people going to rags and saying how it was their fault So-And-So died, which they already get.

No, I don't think nurses should be defended unilaterally, but I was horrified after a nurse admitted she had regular accidents weeing her tampon and the subsequent responses were lecturing about how many professions work X-Hour shifts, ignoring just how wrong that is.

I can't help but respect nurses (and I've met some REEEAAAL nasties with SN DS and my own issues) for the insane amount they work for next to nothing.

Off the top of my head, I honestly cannot think of another profession that expects professionals to be rudely told how lazy/useless/selfish/other crap they are, fainting from dehydration/hunger, being given a choccie and expected to be back in the emergency room in 20mins with wet undies and an aching bladder.

Frankly, I don't give a toss if a nurse eats some chips in front of NIL patient. We cannot expect nurses to be robots, which is why I defend them so strongly. Frankly, I don't want an exhausted, hungry, dehydrated, sleep deprived nurse being in charge of my care.

The situation isn't good for the nurse or the patient. I wish others could see the bigger picture too.

I also wish nurses weren't as bloody caring as they are!! If they weren't, they would strike. Thing is, they actually care about my health and happiness... So they continue to accept the abuse, wet themselves, faint, go hungry.

Frankly I think that makes a very dedicated worker.

Doesn't stop the loathsome misogyny though. But some people are just cunts who think they have a right to backtalk nurses (not including people with Dementia etc... And those out of anaesthesia, for whatever reason apparently my default is foul abuse Luckily every nurse has been gracious for my apology and later offer of choccies etc for putting up with me!)

Ahem... Sorry, ranty. That chip thread has me quite cross!

I still have horrible dreams about being stuck in a hospital powerless and in pain and frightened with those people around me.

Oh, I'm so sorry that you were treated that way. :( I've had appalling treatment when in the MH wing so I know how you feel. 'Jokes' (don't want to repeat) about me when they thought I was sedated, smacking me awake by my arm if they needed something, refusing to let me see a doctor I needed to because 'you're not that special SPTattooed,' and once a 'loving' sit down lecture on why I needed to put my unborn children up for adoption if I couldn't take care of myself! :(

But as you said, I also don't judge a profession as a whole because I'm not an idiot. The women who spoke and treated me that way were idiots. I won't sink to there level. Besides... If the NHS continues (which is sadly will) getting budget cuts, I don't want only the nasty ones left!! I support the NHS because I want the good HCP's to stay!

Swings and roundabouts on MN. There's teacher-bashing and GP-bashing gluts on here, too.

There are some fantastically dedicated and hardworking nurses. But (?especially in London) there are some awful, lazy, rude ones too. Nobody should generalise. OP, you can be proud to be one of the good ones :-) and we should all be thankful to you.

SpecialAgent,

"When even a poster on here (Larry) has tarred all of a mainly female vocation with a brush."

Let's try not to bring this back to your favourite subject and actually discuss the OP. This has nothing to do with sexism. It is to do with the culture within a so-called "caring" profession. To compare with the armed forces is disingenuous. The media is less interested in the problems with the armed forces not because they are men but because most of us will not be reliant upon them at any point in our lives, and certainly not in the direct manner in which we are reliant upon the medical profession.

I have been taken to task on my statement that most nurses condescend to the elderly. I clearly do not know most nurses. However, my mother has spent quite a bit of time in hospital over the last year or two and has been horrified about how she has been ignored and virtually sneered at by the nursing profession. Five years ago I saw my father, in heart failure, be allowed to (not) sleep in a chair for many nights as he could not breathe lying down. And I have seen the treatment of elderly people in a ward that my wife (briefly) stayed in. Little of it could be described as caring. I may not know "most" nurses but I feel I have seen a large enough sample as to make a judgment.

Admittedly, most of what I have seen is in London and SE England. So, maybe it is different elsewhere....

Are we reading the same threads? The way I read it the vast majority of posters perceive Nurses as Angels who can do no harm and may not be criticised and literally could be excused any kind of behaviour because they are so overworked.

Now personally I think this is a bad thing as it means the rotten apples are permitted to get away with their bad practices.

Hats off to all the amazing kind, caring, hardworking nurses (def some on these threads and I have two nurse friends who I would entrust my family to) but just lets not pretend the bad'ns don't exist.

Of course you can give nurses gifts vatta (possibly not a car or something that might look suspicious) where do you think the kettle chips came from?

Also to all the nurses who say they don't have time for a wee during a 12 hour shift... That's wrong and it should be changed. That is not doing yourself, the patients or the profession any favours. What can be done about this? Anyone..?

larry I have seen exactly what you described up North (own family, devastating) and in the Midlands (where I briefly worked).

I think a culture can take hold of a ward/hospital.

Elderly care seems particularly prone to this. IME.

Kettle Chip anyone?

It could be worse, fledtoscotland.

Imagine how the bankers feel.

Let's try not to bring this back to your favourite subject and actually discuss the OP.

Uhm you don't know my favourite subject is, so... Yeah?

I'm so sorry your parents were treated so poorly Larry. :( That is horrid. Did you make complaints? (I did when I was treated poorly in hospitals)

Although I must nitpick and say the reason we have an army is we do depend on them them for our lives. Perhaps not right now, but that's the reason that vocation exists. I certainly wouldn't want untrained men/women in the army any more than untrained doctors/nurses/firemen... I depend on them for my life as well.

Salt & Vinegar please Patty

not trying to be antagonistic, and larry I am really sorry that your parents were treated so badly and I really do hope you complained, but how should your df have been allowed to sleep if he couldnt breath laying down? A lot of the patients on the ward I am on have to sleep virtually sitting up as following heart failure the fluid sits in the lungs which is what makes breathing difficult and causes major complications.

Badlad - how do nurses & bankers compare? Maybe I'm being dense but they aren't the same and I'm talking about posts this past weekend on MN

Diva,

He should have been given the cheap and readily available diuretics which any doctor (or nurse) knows is standard for those with congestive heart failure. Funnily enough, when a consultant bothered to turn up around mid Monday and prescribe them, he was able to sleep fine within about 24 hours. And when he asked for sleeping pills, he should have been given them in the interim. He was already in his 80s and able to weigh up the risks for himself.

This is not purely a nursing failing, as clearly they could not have prescribed what he needed. However, they could easily have called someone in or explained to him the issues like an adult when they realised his distress. Instead they patronised him and told him it was all in his head.

No, I never complained. My mother, although she is old and infirm, is a champion complainer in her own right and my father is now dead, so it is a little late.

But, as my mother said, much as you want to complain and demand to be treated decently, you are very vulnerable physically and don't want to upset those who can easily do you harm. And you never know when you might have to go back under the care of the person about whom you have complained.

She just avoids the NHS as much as possible now.

thanks for answering larry, that is disgusting that he didnt get the diuertics, in fact so rare that a patient on our ward doesnt have them that it didnt occur to me as a possibility. I am so sorry that happened

I will remember the mum one, am moving to the maternity hospital in a few weeks.

I've posted on the "Kettlegate" and I say it again - most nurses, MW, HV and doctors I've met have been/ are fantastic and I'm so grateful for their amazing attitude, knowledge, care and love.

big thank you to all of you, you know who you are!

( hands out lemon cake and strawberries)

I do wish though that the medical profession would treat carers with a bit more respect sometimes. I once had a doctor say to me "well you can pick his prescriptions up cant you" he had already assumed that i couldnt be bothered by his tone.
Because carers happen to claim benefits i think that some (though not all) people in the healthcare professions look at us as scroungers until it comes to the time where they want a bed freed up. I do realise these situations and attitudes are rare but they do happen.

I also find it interesting that ATOS and the healthcare professionals working for them hardly warrants a mention when thousands have lost their lives after being found fit to work by them.