Image: © iStockphoto.com/brett lamb
Nurses hear it all: The good, the bad, and the (very, very!) ugly. From pushy patients to bossy doctors, nurses handle it all with grace. But there are some things that can get under the most tolerant nurse’s skin.
NursingLink staff members talked to healthcare professionals, one another and (of course!) nurses to find out what phrases or questions were most irritating. Ever felt like strangling someone with your stethoscope? Then you probably heard one of these 10 things.
10. “Helloooooo, Nurse!”
You’re not an object to be fawned over. You’re saving lives here! You don’t have time to be ogled. Luckily, younger generations have probably never heard the phrase, so you can hope that it will be phased out soon.
Okay. We get it. We’ve all seen the cartoons with the buxom nurse who is swooned over by a wolf, or a man, or an Animaniacs character. It wasn’t funny or original the first dozen times you heard it, and it certainly hasn’t made a positive impact 10 years later.
9. “Do You Only Date Doctors?”
Puh-lease. Anyone who has actually spent any time around a doctor knows that dating one is next to impossible. Crazy hours. Constant stress. Big egos. Who wants to put up with that? Plus, everyone knows you shouldn’t “dip your pen in the company ink.” Spending 12-plus hours with someone can make you form an incredibly close bond, but that doesn’t mean your co-workers will make the best significant others.
Anyone who asks a nurse this is clearly watching too much Grey’s Anatomy and needs their head examined.
8. “C’mon. Nursing is Just Like on TV!”
What were we just saying about people who watch too much Grey’s Anatomy? While medical shows are a great form of entertainment – tons of nurses watch them, too – that doesn’t mean they are an accurate portrayal of when hospital life is like. Nursing organizations have even taken up arms against nurse-centered shows like Nurse Jackie and HawthoRNe. Prior to these shows, nurses were almost never the focus of a medical TV show. Nurses were merely in the background emptying bedpans or taking orders.
But we know the truth. Nurses are the foundation of any good health system. They don’t have time to be the center of attention because they are always cleaning up a (metaphorical) mess a doctor has left!
7. “Nurses Take Orders From Doctors”
Nurses work alongside other nurses. They report to other nurses. They belong to organizations and unions just for nurses. Edie Falco of Nurse Jackie put it perfectly when she said “Doctors diagnose. Nurses save lives.” When it comes down to it, nurses are the ones in the trenches. Because they spend the most time with patients, they can be counted on to know when something is wrong or if a patient has made any progress.
Doctors and nurses may work side-by-side, but nurses are responsible for nurses.
image: © istockphoto.com/Sharon Dominick
6. “What’s Taking So Long?!”
Patients depend on nurses to keep their healthcare experience a positive one. But we all know that things can get hectic in the medical field. Emergencies and unpredictable accidents can happen on a daily basis which means patients may not always be seen when they thought they would. Having a patient gripe at you and ask “What’s taking so long?!” can be irritating, especially if you are trying your hardest to make sure everyone is taken care of. It’s in stressful situations like this that it’s sometimes easier to snap instead of calmly explain that you are doing your best.
And the top FIVE (drumroll please)…
Pages: 1 2
thanks for warning me lol
By Sarah on November 5, 2009 at 5:08 pm
I agree 100%, but would like to add #11 treating your nurse like a waitress or like the patient is staying at a 5 star hotel, you are in a hospital, I am your nurse. Like my favorite saying goes, “Do you want to talk to the doctor in charge, or the nurse who knows what’s going on?”
By c bender on November 7, 2009 at 9:06 pm
Thank you so much for the comment on the “I’m just a nurse” page…re: “I’m just an LPN”. I am so sick of people including fellow nurses (RN”S specifically) looking down on me because I am an LPN. I DO NOT want to be an RN. They do way to much paper pushing and supervisory duties. I became a nurse to take care of people. I love my job as a Hospice LPN.
By Andrea on November 13, 2009 at 10:26 am
Why the subtle insults toward doctors when comparing doctors to nurses? When someone asks me why didn’t go to medical school, especially since I had the brains and grades for it, I just say, “Because I do not want to do what a doctor does.” Doctors are great, but I like a nurse’s job.
By Angela on November 13, 2009 at 12:37 pm
I agree with Ben–it would have been more enjoyable to just read them on one page
(yes, scrolling down in better for me than clicking on 7 different pages)
thanks!
By Melanie on November 16, 2009 at 3:39 am
Thanks for the LPN comment. It made me smile.
By Shawnee on November 18, 2009 at 6:31 pm
I appreciate the follow up comment about other nurses not considering an LPN as a nurse. I have reminded several of my RN co-workers, who have made the comment” I am the only nurse here today ,” that I am also a nurse. I work on a Psychiatric unit and am the only one on my shift that can start an IV and also have med/surg experience which is needed frequently.
By Kathy on November 19, 2009 at 9:10 am
We have now “unpaginated” this article to bring it down to only two pages.
By Miriam Bookey on November 20, 2009 at 2:48 pm
This is a site FOR nurses, but this list (save for #3) appears to be advice geared toward the layperson NOT in the field. It would be great to have other types of lists/articles/humor more relevant to nurses, eg., What Not to Say to Doctors/Patients/Families, Patients Say the Funnies/Sweetest Things, etc.
By Terrie on November 25, 2009 at 8:43 pm
Oh! I love that idea! We’ll do it.
By Miriam Bookey on November 27, 2009 at 6:23 pm
Thank you for the comments on the LPN’s, I am an LPN and get looked down upon all the time. My nurse mananger would rather send me home, and run everyone ragged, than to have an extra licensed nurse on the floor. I work in a medical ICU and have been for almost 8 years. I love this!!!!! LPN’s are direct care nurses, why do people feel we are not real nurses??????!!!!!!!!!! I LIKE BEING AN LPN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
By Cindy on November 29, 2009 at 6:16 am
i am a registered nurse and today we had a skills fair and we were told by a pt therapist to have a waitress mentality when it comes to customer service!! we are not waitresses we are medically, mentally, emotionally trained individuals that can save your life. im not sorry to say that a waitress has no clue as to what we do. obviously neither does the world!
By dnurse on November 30, 2009 at 4:02 pm
I would like to add “Who is waiting on me today?” or “This is the nurse waiting on me today”. Hopefully this will drop with the aging of our population. It make me grind my teeth even when it is said with a smile.
By Nancy on December 2, 2009 at 5:20 am
I absolutely love this! I am a Registered Nurse and would never be a Doctor they do not have the flexibility I have! As a Nurse I can work in any environment. This profession allows me to work from home, can a Doctor do that? NO! A Nurse is not a waitress. Yes, we do serve our patient’s, but we do so much more. We are advocates, Doctors simply Do Not advocate. As Nurse’s we do need to advocate for ourselves as well. We also need to mentor the new nurse(s) to assure that their career is successful. It is our responsibility to be role models. We need to guide and recruit people into our profession. If the misconception of our profession is in the public it is our own fault.
By Michelee ,RN on December 18, 2009 at 8:26 am
i also wanna say thanks for the LPN comments. We are under appreciated, especially in the hospital. After working in acute care, med surg, and nursing homes for the past 10 years I was already fed up. I now do Private Duty as an LPN, which I actually prefer as to working my but off and being downgraded. Yes, LPNs are nurses too.
By Joe Ann on April 21, 2010 at 9:20 pm
I loved the LPN comments too. I taught at an LPN program for a while. I heard from an RN educator “LPN’s belong in a nursing home. They have no place in the current hospital setting. I’m glad your organization is phasing them out!” I don’t know why she feels this way. I have had several LPNs recognize changes in OUR patients that I (as a greener than grass RN who worked as the only RN) did not recognize & they saved the patients! I don’t know what I’d have done without them….they saved many lives while I “learned the ropes” out there
By Angela on April 22, 2010 at 11:39 am
I also like the waitress comments. Boy do I feel like a waitress most nights….we have a LOT of patients demanding items all night as if they are calling for room service! I had a patient complain about not getting a very specific soda one night while we were in a code! Management seems to be pushing the waitress attitude more and more; I was not a great waitress in nursing school….
By Angela on April 22, 2010 at 11:42 am
“They don’t have time to be the center of attention because they are always cleaning up a (metaphorical) mess a doctor has left!”
This statement is demeaning to the whole health care team.
I work in an busy ICU, MDs, RNs, PTs, RTs, SW, spiritual, ward clerks and hospital assistants work so close together that everyone is on a first name basis with everyone. I would trust the team with my life, as they would trust me (I always get compliments on my compressions). They look out for us and we look out for them. I hate the phrase “Behind every doctor there is a nurse to save his ass”. Any nurse who says they have not made an error in their career is a liar just like any doctor who says they haven’t.
Anyways, another phrase I hate is “Are you my nurse tonight/today?”
No, you have not hired me as a personal nurse, but I will be the nurse looking after you tonight. (well that’s what I say in my head, I just say the last part of the sentence).
By Chris on April 23, 2010 at 6:56 am
I have a problem with the waitress comments. sorry i have worked as both a waitress and a nurse. both are honorable professions and take special people to fill those shoes( i am a better nurse than i was waitress but i respect the wait person). I am an lpn working on rn. i chose to work as lpn b/c i love patient care. i have no problem calling a doctor when needed nor using my judgement when asked what have you already done for him/her prior to calling. i work in a small hospital so on any given day i may deal with cardiac,respiratory, pediactric, geriatric, psychiatric or terminal patients. I’ve also done nursing home, private duty, and home health nursing. Neither area required less skills than the other. All of them together helped to make me a better nurse. i introduce myself as my patients nurse for the night–that’s my choice of introduction. i am there b/c they CHOSE to be cared for in the hospital i work at rather than go to the next hospital.
By Lynn on July 18, 2010 at 9:18 am