To report this nurse?

[TheDonOfWinterville]

Went to visit elderly relative in hospital this afternoon and on the same ward another elderly lady was in bed. She rang her buzzer and I heard one of the care assistants say to a colleague "ignore it, she's been doing it all day, attention seeking" 😳 So the buzzer was ringing for another 10 minutes or so. Eventually the care assistant came and snapped "what do you want this time becAuse we're busy". The lady replied that she needed to make a call but couldn't reach her phone so the caret passed her her phone and walked out. A while later the lady pressed her buzzer again and a nurse came in and said "is it important because we're very busy" 😲 The lady said something about wanting her socks putting on which the nurse begrudgingly did for her. Just before we left the lady pressed her buzzer and the first carer came charging back in, turned off the buzzer, snapped "sorry, we're busy now" and walked out!!!!
So anyway as I left I spoke to the qualified nurse and said I felt the lady had been treated unfairly and it worries me that my relative may be reluctant to ask for her if this is the way patients are treated so the nurse sAid "I'm sorry but when you have buzzers going off in every room, the phone ringing and patients in genuine need of assistance it does get irritating when someone presses their buzzer every 5 minutes just to ask you to pick up bits of tissue or tell you that their coffee is cold. " she went on to hand me a pals leaflet and told me to complain about the lack of staff!! Aibu to actually complain about the staff that WERE on duty?

There is no way in the current climate that any nurse in an acute hospital could possibly be able to sit at the nurses station flicking through magazines all day. Not sure your source of information is entirely reliable.

How does one begrudgingly put socks on?
YABU and also YANBU

It's shit. It really is. 10 years ago, that lady wouldn't have been pressing her buzzer out of loneliness or boredom or for trivial matters because chances are there would have been a lot more staff-patient interaction.

The fewer incessant buzzer pressers are hard on a ward (even back then) you can have people precariously balanced on the loo, bleeding patients, and literally no cover to supervise these people but you still have to check the buzzer in case it is a priority need, only to find someone is stuck on their crossword.

Usually, if a nurse doesn't try to resolve the issue at point of contact, or refer you to their ward manager and recommends PALS-they WANT you to complain. Trusts don't give a shiny shit about staff opinions, but they do care about bad publicity.

Horrid for all involved really

How does one begrudgingly put socks on?

With lots of tutting and huffing and eye rolling ime.

Reading this, I'm just so relieved to have left my ward job last year.
No excuse for rude behaviour and if I'd seen that on my shift, the person concerned would be spoken to very quickly - but no excuse either for permitting such awful working conditions for staff.
12.5 hour shifts - usually longer, impossible workloads, staff shortages, never any praise or encouragement, just criticism.

Staff turnover was horrendous and we were heavily reliant on agency staff.

I would never encourage anyone I know to go into nursing . It's sad.

Totally agree with bikerlou. Every nurse will recognise the patient who buzzes every few minutes for things that maybe to most of us don't seem that important (such asking for tissues to be picked up off the floor etc). I am not referring to the OP's example here. These patients are a minority and most likely are frightened or anxious, they don't mean to be annoying and can't see that everytime they ring the buzzer for something so small the nurse or carer that comes can't attend to someone who really needs something urgent. There is no excuse for rudeness though and I think if nurses suspect that the patient is this way inclined they should take the time to talk to the patient and explain that resources are scarce and that they can't always come immediately when the buzzer goes so perhaps it is best to maybe ring once every two hours so that the little needs can be attended to and only in between if they are in pain or need the toilet or something urgent. Hospital ward staffing levels are disgracefully low and many nursing unions have been trying in vain to do something about it for sometime. The sad reality is that even if you have the best nurses in the world looking after you you may not get the level of care and attention you deserve. If people feel strongly about this they can do something about it by getting politically clued up and supporting nurses and doctors in their political battles. Most of us actually do have the patients best interests at heart despite what the daily mail says.

I wonder if the people who feel it could be done better would like to give it a go?

Yes spend one day there, shadowing an HCA, then make your decision.

I'm an ex HCA. What's upsetting is that you know what work you're not doing whilst you're pandering to someone's every whim. It's the patients you know who are dirty and uncomfortable, who aren't being washed, changed or fed because this one has you running back and forth to pass her a pen or a tissue when her visitor is sitting next to her and she's quite able to get them herself anyway (not this scenario but one I remember). It's a hard feeling to describe. You don't want to be rude. You've tried asking nicely. You've tried being a bit firmer. Then you get a bit like you would when you've asked your 5 year old to stop jumping off the window sill onto the sofa for umpteenth time.

If you want to get rid of another HCA, go ahead complain. I won't be going back to fill the place for love nor money (probably for the best).

The structure of care in many wards needs to be changed if patients require a degree of personal rather than nursing care , it is ridiculous and unproductive to expect a nurse to be finding phones and picking up tissues. It would be far more sensible to employ ward assistants to ensure patients had drinks, ate their food, had their phones, were helped to the toilet etc.etc.

A neighbour was in a very expensive care home, the place was filthy, thick dust on shelves, no washing up liquid to wash up the cups at her tea station etc. One day when we visited she was seated in her chair (special and extremely costly chair brought by relatives which she was unable to get out of unaided, she was very frail) and the call button had been left next to her bed, completely out of reach. The call button was very sensitive however, when we gave it to her it buzzed if she moved it, but surely better false alarms than a fragile patient unable to raise the alarm.

Albertherberthawkins

vocation
və(ʊ)ˈkeɪʃ(ə)n/Submit
noun
a strong feeling of suitability for a particular career or occupation.
"not all of us have a vocation to be nurses or doctors"
synonyms: calling, life's work, mission, purpose, function, position, niche.

I don't know if you are a nurse but if you are and see it as a 'profession' only, perhaps you shouldn't be.

Older patients (frankly all those with little experience of hospitals) expect a nurse to help with personal care. It is a shock to find they can't and don't. That, on top of a feeling of hopelessness, worry and loneliness , can contribute to needy behaviour.

Thanks for the careers advice schmoo, and the English lesson.
The problem is that 'vocation' has been used as a weapon against nurses if ever they complain about working conditions, pay, attitudes from the general public....
One can be suited to, and devoted to ones career and also want to be treated fairly and with respect as a professional. Doctors or lawyers for example are not as often put in their box with the old 'vocation' card.

Yawnyawnallday
Exactly. I know there are nurses who are dedicated and work extremely hard in often difficult circumstances, but there are those who seem to lack empathy and, quite frankly, would seem to be in the wrong line of work.
I would think many old people (perhaps feeling very vulnerable and/ or close to death) are terrified, in need of reassurance etc.
I'm sure an awful lot of money is wasted in the NHS. It seems insignificant but my loved on who cleans in a hospital says she goes around turning off taps, switching off lights and says there is often heating on in unused clinics in the middle of summer... Perhaps better management of funds would allow funds to be better channelled...
As I said, there are excellent, dedicated, overworked nurses and lazy, disinterested, feckless nurses...

I wouldn't go back to nursing for love nor money. Paid a pittance and shockingly poor working conditions. Not even any job satisfaction because you cant give the care you want to give.

Of course there are good nurses and bad nurses as in any profession there is a mix. I dislike the old vocation card as really, to be honest it's patronising. Like the old 'nurses are angels' thing. Doctors don't have to put up with such patronising bollocks.

And the crisis in the NHS goes way beyond small economies such as turning the taps off tbh.

AlbertHerbertHawkins

I agree with much of what you wrote in your last post, but I would never class nursing as a profession only. It is surely a vocation too? I would class any medical calling as a vocation., whether doctor, nurse or consultant. Saying that, I would expect doctors to be attracted by big bucks and to see their role as a well-paid profession rather than a vocation. Nurses know that the pay is not good and, despite how hard some of them work, the responsibility is not as great.
I have to say - albeit in my limited experience - that I have personally come across apathetic, lazy nurses but never an apathetic, lazy consultant. I'm just speaking as I find.
Being a nurse and expecting decent pay and working conditions should not be mutually exclusive, I agree but there is no excuse for the behaviour of the nursing staff in the OP's post. If you're that unhappy, get out of nursing, surely...

AlbertHerbertHawkins I would imagine it would add up in hospitals across the country.

A lot of ex nurses/ HCA's on here.
Interesting that there seems to be the assumption that if you do the job because you have a vocation, you are somehow prohibited from expressing a view concerning the low pay and awful working conditions.

Hedge i wouldn't say that having a vocation as a nurse precludes fair working conditions and decent pay. By no means! However, as a nurse, you surely should not allow your dissatisfaction and frustration (however reasonable) at unfair treatment impact on your attitude/ treatment of patients.

The thing that saddens me most about this, is I've seen is happen dozens of times as an inpatient and I'm not shocked. Generally on medical wards a huge majority of the patients are elderly and a large percentage of them are confused or frightened. Yes the HCP are busy but I've seen elderly women crying because their blankets have fallen to the floor and are now scared to press the buzzer because they have been told off. I've seen patients left for 40 mins+ without care, crying out and told to wait. I have had to get out of bed (when a falls risk) and help fellow patients to put their dressing gowns on, to get to the loo, to eat their dinner, to pour a drink. I have seen a number of women told to "go on a pad" rather than be helped to the toilet or given a bed pan.

The nurses I have mentioned my concerns to have me declining care after I raised my issues and I was more or less told off each time.

Yes there are shortages, yes it is disgusting but the lack of compassion and empathy displayed to me and my fellow patients on every ward I have been on in the past 18 months has been nil. Requesting care or even a cursory glance beyond the 4 hourly temperature taking, BP and drugs is see as a major inconvinence.

I agree with those who feel that nursing is not just a profession. It is (or should be) a vocation, just as any other profession which requires passion for the job and the people you work with, In addition to certain skills and knowledge.

Some people who view these careers as purely a profession concern me, I have met many who are more concerned about their career progression than the people they work with.

But doctors are extremely focused on progressing their careers and are not criticised for it or told that they should put up with x, y,z because they have a 'vocation'.They, rightfully, expect to be treated with dignity, fairness and respect as professional. A bit of parity of esteem and respect would be nice.

I wish that hospital trusts would allow volunteers to be on certain wards like the elderly care ones . Yes everyone would have to be CRB checked and given a day of training but the help they could give would be so helpful in exactly the scenario of repeated buzzers for non nursing care . Under the nurses guidance could help with meals if no problems other than dexterity .
Put socks on ,adjust a pillow all the little things that make a difference .
Let the nurse get on with her workload . Guess insurance may not allow this idea though .
I left nursing after being burnt out completely . So empathise with both sides .

I don't blame that nurse one little bit for being frustrated with that patient. And I absolutely would NOT complain. How about, as an able-bodied adult visitor in the ward, you ask if there's anything you can do to help - like sit with that elderly patient, or re-fill her water jug?

I don't have many positive things to say about my sil, but I always remember how kind she was to other patients in the ward my db was on, years ago.

And when I was flat on my back in hospital after major surgery a few years ago, and unable to do pretty much anything for myself, I used the buzzer as sparingly as I could and always apologised if I was being a nuisance. I also thanked them for anything they did for me. I don't think I've ever seen a group of people work as hard as the staff on that ward did. They were like wind-up toys, buzzing around the place.

So I'm afraid that threads like this really piss me off.

I am a nurse , I have worked acute medical/surgical wards for 14 years . To describe the average 0715 - 2015 shift as firefighting would be a massive disservice to those still doing it . It is tough and the vast majority of the people I have worked with have tried their utmost best to give the care people deserve .
I have been fortunate that I have only needed hospital care when having my children . I would like to thank the lovely midwife who dealt with rascim and delivered my son . I would like to thank the midwife who delivered my daughter and because of her expertise I only experienced a graze , and the HCA who apologised profusely that she could run me a bath , but couldn't stay with me because they were so busy , DH helped me instead . A massive thank you to everyone who ensured that both DS2 and myself are here and alive and well , including the HCA who helped me when i woke up in a pool of urine because during the emergency someone forgot to inflate the balloon on the catheter so it fell out when they transfered me from trolley to bed . It didn't bother me that I had to wait because you were being harrassed by another mother who was kicking off about the lack of wifi , because as she so rightly pointed out 'she was here first ' . I will never forget how lovely and kind you were to me when still in a state of shock , without a baby by my side and smelling strongly of wee , you gently changed my bed and my nightie and brought me the best tasting cup of tea ever .
I would also like to thank the ambulance crew , the Dr's and nurses and various technicians invovled in saving DH's life , you were all bloody marvellous , without you lot the miserable bugger wouldn't still be here .

I won't defend staff whose behaviour is consistently unacceptable.
But the current working conditions make even good, caring people sometimes behave poorly.
By way of example, I worked with an HCA who was competent, caring and great with patients.
One day I heard her speaking to a patient in an impatient, sharp manner. Totally unlike her.
We chatted- she was basically completely exhausted and knew herself that the job was now affecting her health. She was upset herself to have behaved like that and knew it was wrong.
She left for another job a few months later.
That was another good person lost.