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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

Why are some NHS staff unkept looking?

400 replies

BoozySuzie · 29/01/2008 17:33

I don't visit hospitals often thank goodness but I can't help but notice a lot of staff in hospitals are quite scruffy. Surely working in a hospital environment it is imperitive to be spotlessly clean and well groomed?? The Philipino nurses always look clean and tidy it's just our staff.

OP posts:
S1ur · 29/01/2008 22:18

look what

you've

started!

expatinscotland · 29/01/2008 22:20

I'm still wondering who is going around sizing up every single person they see.

Don't you have better things to occupy your mind?

I mean, you were in a hospital to visit someone, I assume, because if it was because you're ill enough to be there your utmost concern is the caregiver's performance, not their weight/hair/etc.

Remind me not to fall down in front of you!

QueenOfCards · 29/01/2008 22:28

AnneMayesR, No one is denying that nursing is stressful. But unless you have been in other jobs where it is bloody stressful (and believe me there are plenty) i don't see how you can be so absolutly sure that nursing is the most stressful job ever in the world

Plus like someone said, different people get more stressed than others in certain situations and while you may have burned out and given up nursing and know people who have gone from being cops to nurses and found it more stressful. I have known people who have yes found nursing stressful but have also found nursing rewarding. Yes it has shit pay (and thousands of jobs have that), yes they are overworked (thousands of people in other jobs are too) and yes they have huge responsibilty (as do thousands of people as well).

I think you need to open your eyes abit and look around at other peoples jobs and what they deal with everyday too and for shit money all just to support their family (as we all are.) In no way am i saying that nursing isn't stressful and with big responsibilty but my dp works 14-16 hrs per day without a sit down or a break either and he isn't involved with the nhs and he does get stressed and very very fucking hard. So don't say anyone who isn't a nurse doesn't know the meaning of stress and hard work because that is bullshit and plain fucking ignorant.

Being a mum is a job too, it's the ultimate job anyone can do and i suppose everyone on MN on the newborn threads don't know the meaning of hardwork and stress too eh?

MotherFunk · 29/01/2008 22:29

Message withdrawn

QueenOfCards · 29/01/2008 22:40

"I have to remember that when I am talking about nurses that they people I am talking to probably don't know what a nurse is...and think that the HCA who comes to take their Blood pressure and pulse is a "nurse".

I am not going to bother anymore because going on that last post i realise i am talking to a very igonarant person who is so full of own self-importance that i am wasting my time. "and think that the HCA who comes to take their Blood pressure and pulse is a "nurse". With that attitude, it's a good thing you aren't nursing anymore because you clearly think people are that stupid and probably beneath you!

QueenOfCards · 29/01/2008 22:42

My spelling is awful!

tori32 · 29/01/2008 22:43

AnneMayesR I completely agree with you. There are few jobs/professions that involve life and death as the result of a mistake. Example a tired nurse reads a drug chart as 120 digoxin when the antibiotic is 125 on the line below, but she has cross read it through being too busy and tired. Standard dose of digoxin being 60. Double dose leads to death if not treated quickly.
Another example. Nurse starts IV antibiotic drip, checks observatons then goes to other patients on medicine round which takes longer than planned as some meds not on trolley and required from pharmacy. Another patient wants the loo so she takes him, next patient vomits so goes for HCA to help, all are busy so she cleans up as best she can etc. Meanwhile, the patient on the IV antibiotics has developed a severe rash, airway has swollen and is now having a respiratory arrest. Crash team not quick enough, patient dies, Trust and nurse get sued because patients obs not checked as policy due to being understaffed. Nurse scapegoated and struck off register.

This will not happen in teaching.

AnneMayesR · 29/01/2008 22:47

It's true MF. People do not know who is a nurse and who isn't. This isn't their fault. It is the fault of the hospitals who put us all in the same uniforms and then forbid us from telling people how many nurses are on duty.

I never ever said nursing was the only stressful job out there. It has been officially rated as one of the worst by multiple studies.

You took my quote the wrong way. I never said that others were not stressed or working hard. I was saying that unless you have walked a mile in my shoes etc etc etc. I will not and sit around and take it lying down when peope like Boozy kick off and try to act like a nurse can just stroll down to the canteen and have lunch.

Am I really that confusing?

wheresthehamster · 29/01/2008 22:53

A nurse is responsible for her own actions but a teacher is responsible for 30 other individuals' actions so is stressful in a different way. If a nurse is dealing with one patient is it likely that a patient is going to stab another in the eye with a pencil because her back is turned?

Every job has different stresses. Don't lets fall out especially on a silly thread like this

AnneMayesR · 29/01/2008 22:53

Tori32. Do not think that they will not go after your for manslaughter. It happens in the USA and it is kicking off here. It is getting to be the new "in" thing to nail nurses for a crime now when they make an error. I know that in the USA all it takes is an aggressive DA.

Yet the trusts refuse to hire enough nurses and leave the nurses with an overwhelming number of patients and any visitor to a hospital thinks that they can just interrupt a nurse and make a demand expects the nurse to drop what she is doing. I don't think I ever go more than 5 or 10 minutes without an interruption, usually from a relative of one of my many patients. I want to help these people but are nurses not allowed to have more than 5 minute slots to get their work done.... especially with this kind of accountability?

AnneMayesR · 29/01/2008 22:56

Where'sthehamster.

When people are ill they get confused. Most patients on a general medical floor are like this. I have had one patient pull another's central lines out. I have had patients attack eachother. One woman with an electrolyte imbalance went completely off her rocker and sprayed another patient with air freshner right in her face....victim was a COPDer and ended up in ITU.

We have had confused patients push another out of bed, stab at eachother. A nurse is responsible for the safety of all her patients and this stuff will be going on whilst she is trying to deal with another down the hall who is crashing. So yes she is responsible.

AnneMayesR · 29/01/2008 22:58

Oh gosh, and you should see what the ETOH detoxers get like. One bit into the blood transfusion of another and was drinking it. And I am the lone nurse looking after 30 of these people...1/3 to 2/3 this confused. Yes I am liable if anything happens.

MotherFunk · 29/01/2008 23:02

Message withdrawn

tori32 · 29/01/2008 23:03

wheresthehamster I have friends who are teachers and they all say they would not do my job for love nor money. This is because of the peoples lives aspect and life or death.I also don't know many teachers who regularly forgo their lunch breaks and other breaks and only have 6wks hols per year.
AnneMayesR I am well aware of the legal situation in nursing and was backing you up whole heartedly, having been a nurse on wards, in theatres and in the Princess Marys Royal Airforce Nursing Service until 2005, then back into the NHS (where I trained) from 2005 until 2006.

AnneMayesR · 29/01/2008 23:05

No point made as far as I can see.

Other than the truck driver example how likely is any of that stuff? Hospital nurses have it all day, except on the rare days where they are well staffed and have stable patients. Depends where you work.

Nasa could fall asleep and aliens could invade and kill us all. Why don't you add that to your list.

AnneMayesR · 29/01/2008 23:06

Coolness Tori. .

tori32 · 29/01/2008 23:08

MotherFunk You seriously are missing the point. If any of the people you mention die it would be tragic, however, if they live they will not lose their jobs, be struck of the professional register etc. The worst that could happen is that they lose a driving licence. You are being rediculous!

bookwormmum · 29/01/2008 23:12

I work in a hospital but I only do 7.5 hours a day, sat a desk most of the time. Most of the medical staff I see are very well-groomed. Towards the end of their shifts they might look a bit ropey but I think I would after 12 hours on my feet and few breaks. In fact I know I would . In my dept, if staff look unkempt or dirty then they're sent home. You can't have dirty looking domestics .

tori32 · 29/01/2008 23:15

PS A nurse is not just responsible for her own actions but must cause no harm through any act or omission. This is for every patient. Going to the toilet whilst understaffed/ getting a break can lead to an act or omission occurring when you have nobody to care for your patients for that period of time.
My examples given are to explain how that can happen.
A teacher would not be held responsible for a pupil attacking another pupil, the parent would. They may get a bollocking for leaving a class unattended but would not lose their job.

smurfgirl · 29/01/2008 23:27

Honestly in my trust nurses both pee and eat lunch, sometimes they eat lunch at 4 and only go until they are desparate but they do eat and wee!!

(and i know who staff nurses are!)

AnneMayesR · 29/01/2008 23:58

Smurf there are probably people in my trust who would say that. They work in outpatients or pre-assessment clinic. I have had shifts where I have had a full on 30 minute lunch break. They are few and far between.

MotherFunk · 30/01/2008 00:36

Message withdrawn

MotherFunk · 30/01/2008 00:40

Message withdrawn

AnneMayesR · 30/01/2008 07:47

A child minder cannot take an unsafe number of kids. A childminder can refuse to take anymore than 6 or 7 kids at a time. So that reduces the risk that something will happen. A nurse is forced to take on way too many patients at one time with no say, and is still responsible.

AnneMayesR · 30/01/2008 07:50

"You think that is someone was knocked down/attacked/fell out a ride/ran a plough into a barn there wouldn't be serious consequences? They wouldn't be fired?!"

But those people are not forced into those situations everyday when they go to work, all day. We do not make truck drivers try to drive 10 trucks at a time.

How likely are you examples anyway. A nurse already has multiple people who are trying to die on her. It's much more likely for things to go bad in a hospial.

A farmer could drive his plow into a barn and hurt someone..but it is so unlikely and it isn't like he will be forced to drive 20 plows at once with faulty breaks. Then he might start hitting the stress levels of a nurse.