AIBU to think I don’t singularly have the power to fuck up the ward?

[PeachPRC]

disclaimer: I KNOW it’s ‘unreasonable’ to say the q word as a HCP. My question is whether or not it’s actually literally stupid of me to say that word, ignoring the superstitious element of it.

A relative has taken a place on a nursing course starting soon and it got me thinking about my own nursing degree many years ago.

as a student I made the hideous mistake of saying ‘it’s quiet this afternoon isn’t it?’ and had my head bitten off by multiple registered nurses (for non HCP; mentioning that ‘it’s quiet’ is a mortal sin because that apparently ensures that the ward will suddenly become unmanageably busy). I hadn’t realised until then that mentioning the Q word was an absolute no no and I laughed along and apologised.

this happened maybe 3 times (in different departments in 2 hospitals so no overlap of staff). Honestly, by the 3rd time, I said the Q word on purpose just to see the reaction of everyone else. Each time, I was scolded by the staff because they insisted that me saying that word would ruin the rest of the shift by somehow making it become very busy. I said it once at approx 9am and by afternoon still had a (until then very pleasant) nurse giving me filthy looks across the treatment room. The first time I said it as an ignorant student I was properly told off, almost shouted at, by experienced nurses.

I have nursed for approx 20 years and know now that no one should ever say ‘quiet’ but that’s only because you’ll have your face snapped off by other nurses/ doctors, not because I genuinely think the myth of invoking a bad shift is true. This post isn’t about the jokey ‘haha don’t say that word!’ colleagues, it’s about the staff that TRULY believe that saying a word out loud can ruin a shift. I’d love to hear the reasoning behind that!

To this day, I’m still so surprised that HCP GENUINELY believe that a colleague saying the word ‘quiet’ out loud can wreck the shift and I’d love to know if another HCP can explain why they think that?! I nearly didn’t bother posting this because I assumed I’d get lots of ‘OP don’t you dare ever say that again 😉’ posts, but I’m interested in responses from HCP who truly believe the Q word can destroy a good day. Because as far as I’m aware, that’s a ridiculous thing to think.

Not for you maybe…….🤪

indeed. 20 plus years in this job has confirmed that the superstition is bullshit, so why would experienced nurses/doctors go along with it?

I guess hospitals can blame their current inability to cope by saying members of staff keep saying the w word

YANBU

Not a HCP but i would be concerned to think that well educated staff, entrusted to look after patients, would genuinely believe that uttering a word has the power to wreak havoc - causing illnesses and accidents across a local area to punish the speaker who dared say it.

obviously not referring to people who are only joking about it.

q word, not w word

Mentioning the q word instantly ends your wonderful, well deserved, rare opportunity for breathtaking space.

I took (calls) a drowning, stabbing, shooting, hanging and then delivered a baby in one shift
My manager made me move desks and then I got a plane crash
He went "I give up, shit magnet"

Oh my god, people actually believe this stuff.

Educated people!

"Tempting fate" 🙄

You probably sent me to them. Damn you.

🙃

pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31852676/

Laugh at them for their total lack of evidence based practice.

Pah. That’s a rubbish study. So many limitations and it’s about microbiologists! 😂

Because they are always famous last words in my experience.

@JellyStoneS sorryyyyyy
I was out shopping once on a day off and someone just dropped in front of me. On the plus side there was a defib so I used it. The paramedic was a bit stunned when he turned up to find a successful ROSC

I get it, if your having a nice quiet shift ( often rare) you don’t want to jinx it by saying it’s quiet …. Simple !

What does a “not-quiet” microbiology shift look like? A really resistant klebsiella plus an E. coli? 🤣

(sorry microbiologists)

Yes, educated people who have experienced the sudden surge/ influx of patients after that word has been uttered, on an otherwise calm day !

i knows it’s common. And I know it doesn’t go down well with people but my point is that I don’t get WHY otherwise intelligent people freak out at heating a word

Look, if it's quiet enough for someone to say the word, then it's unusually quiet. Which means according to regression to the mean, it WILL return to 'normal' or worse soon. So it will get busy.

It's also a community with a culture. I don't run around shouting MACBETH in theatres either.

FWIW I never say it either and I work in housing. In shelters, if anyone said it, we'd be knee deep in ODs and threats in ten minutes.

Never heard it (hospital worker for over 30 years) in anything but a jokey context. So obviously our experiences have been different. But then I didn’t go round deliberately trying to wind people up using any particular word, hospital work is stressful enough without that.

I’m doing a bank shift tonight and this is the genuine text exchange between my husband and I…

it makes no logical sense but I just can’t bring myself to do it. I’d never chastise someone super seriously over it though.

I work in a school. I once walked into the Nurse's Office and said "boy it's quiet in here today" and she was NOT happy with me. I know to never do that again. But its like when we are in our room and someone says "the kids are being good today (or quiet)" You know you just jinxed it LOL

It's the same on the admin side of things. God forbid someone says 'the phones are quiet today' almost guaranteed to make the next couple of hours will be one call after another.
And having come from a theatrical training background I still prefer saying break a leg to people rather than good luck.
But I also would never walk under a ladder or look at the moon ov r my shoulder in a mirror or hold a horseshoe pointing downwards.
I am really quite superstitious,.figure it can't do any harm but not really sure it helps either.

As a patient I will now make the effort to say it when at appointments just to piss people off.

I work in ICU and loathe the stupid bullying nonsense that goes on around a word.

If you’re stupid enough to think saying a word causes someone to arrest you’re too stupid to work in health care.

YANBU, real belief in any superstition by someone who is responsible for life or death situations is a bit alarming. Jokey adherence can be a good way to help create common bonds and cope with adversity (which, I hear from nurses, commonly comes in the form of far too much work to feel like you can provide a safe level of service), so I can see a point to it in that sense. But really telling someone off because you have an irrational fear of a word is unprofessional and really nasty.