Now Ye're Talking - To a Nurse!

Dav

Hello all,

This week we have a nurse who's been in the game for almost 20 years. What do you need me to say about nursing - we all know what nurses do and there's a good chance several of us have been thankful for their care and attention on more than one occasion.

Oh yes, this nurse is a man

Dubwat

Assuming you work in a hospital and see a lot of illness and misery, does this impact on your own lifestyle? In other words, we all have to die of something. So do you live unhealthy and plan to go out early with a bang! Or live healthy and live forever...

Redser87

what do you think of Leo Varadkar as Minister for health?
You do such an important job, thank you!

easygoing1982

Have you ever had voilence (physical/verbal) directed at you.

Are you expected to put up with violence/disrespect from patients or would you be expected to press charges if necessary.

What is your relationship like with the doctors from consultants down to SHOs likewise with support staff cleaners/security

GLaDOS

Have you ever had to deal with a patient carrying an infectious disease that made you concerned for your own health?

Liam McPoyle

Ever had any sexy misunderstandings a la Carry on Doctor etc?

Lisha

Does it annoy you that nurses are now so busy doing paperwork that a lot of interactions with patients like blood pressure temps etc are now carried out by nurses aides?

What would you do to resolve the health system?

What do you hate most About nursing?

I'm A Nurse, AMA

Dubwat wrote: »

Assuming you work in a hospital and see a lot of illness and misery, does this impact on your own lifestyle? In other words, we all have to die of something. So do you live unhealthy and plan to go out early with a bang! Or live healthy and live forever...

I do work in a hospital, and for majority of career that's where I have worked, bar a few shifts in Nursing Homes, certainly witness a lot of misery and illness all right. To be honest I am not the picture of health, drink too much and don't do anywhere near enough exercise.

Vegetarian though, so maybe that's a bit more healthy??

So, live unhealthy and live forever.:pac::pac:

I'm A Nurse, AMA

Redser87 wrote: »

what do you think of Leo Varadkar as Minister for health?
You do such an important job, thank you!

This government wouldn't be my cup of tea politics wise but Varadkar is no better or worse than any of the recent Ministers for health, the cuts from austerity have been dire though, and there has been pretty much nothing positive for patients or staff for the last few years.

I'm A Nurse, AMA

easygoing1982 wrote: »

Have you ever had voilence (physical/verbal) directed at you.

Are you expected to put up with violence/disrespect from patients or would you be expected to press charges if necessary.

What is your relationship like with the doctors from consultants down to SHOs likewise with support staff cleaners/security

Physical violence comes round more often than you'd like, A+E staff would experience it but its actually commonplace on wards too. We get people who are aggressive for a whole host of reasons. Dementia, detox from drink or drugs, chemical imbalance from infection or just general arseholes. You can get hit, quite hard, when attending to some patients personal care, I've often see colleagues go home crying after a shift because they have been, to all intents and purposes, assaulted.

Pressing charges against someone with dementia isn't going to happen and it really isn't their fault. Its very hard seeing kids (mostly grown up children) of patients who were loving, lovely people look at their mums and dads after they've turned in to aggressive, violent, abusive people who have no idea who they are, its very sad.

Sorry, nearly forgot 2nd part of your question, relationship with cleaners and porters is probably closer than it would be with doctors. Mainly because you'll see a doctor for as little as 3 months, and at most a year, bar the consultants, cleaners and the like are all there as long as the nursing staff.

I'm A Nurse, AMA

ScienceNerd wrote: »

Have you ever had to deal with a patient carrying an infectious disease that made you concerned for your own health?

I think you definitely think twice and make sure whatever precautions are advised you follow, be it mask, ore gown and the like, but I don't think I've ever felt concerned for my health from that.

When you get a sharps injury it gives you pause for thought. Basically it means you give an injection to a patient and then stab yourself (accidentally I'd hope!) with the same needle. Its only ever happened to me once, from my own poor practice, when I was student nurse. You get numerous blood tests and wait the days to get the result, that makes you think. Plus you feel a tit for doing it.

I'm A Nurse, AMA

Business Cat wrote: »

Ever had any sexy misunderstandings a la Carry on Doctor etc?

God, all the time, not a day goes by when I haven't groped a colleague, or been groped by one, male or Female, I'm not fussy.


No, not really but I do like a good Carry On film, the standard of patients they had on their wards would be most nurses dream, i.e. feck all wrong with them, walking/talking/self-caring patients!

I'm A Nurse, AMA

Lisha wrote: »

Does it annoy you that nurses are now so busy doing paperwork that a lot of interactions with patients like blood pressure temps etc are now carried out by nurses aides?

What would you do to resolve the health system?

What do you hate most About nursing?

I worked in the UK before Ireland and you're first point is truer there than my current hospital here in Ireland. We have one Care Assistant on our ward of 29, so in reality we still do all the regular obs and personal care as well as all the paperwork.

Resolving the Health System? I'd reopen all the community beds that have closed, I'd reopen all the ward beds that have been closed, I'd reintroduce all the care hours and respite weeks that have been cut from families caring for people at home. I always marvel at how people cope with looking after physically very demanding patients or dementia patients at home, yet their help has been slashed to ridiculous degree, they struggle to cope and either them or the loved one they are looking after (or both) end up as a patient in an acute bed. Seems an odd way of "saving money" to me.

Don't know how you'd pay for it all, I would personally raise tax levels but that would be as popular as the infectious diseases discussed earlier in thread.

I hate the management! I hate that most new bit of paperwork that gets added is usually to protect the hosiptal/HSE from litigation and not for the patients benefit. I hate that every job that is deemed no longer for a certain profession or that service is withdrawn, all of a sudden becomes a nursing job. eg, there's no porter to collect contrast for a CT scan, so either a nurse goes to get it, or the scan isn't done, or the kitchen shuts 2 hours earlier so if a new patient needs tea and toast, that's now a nursing job etc etc.

whiskeyman

Have you , or any of your colleagues confided in you, misdiagnosed a patient, where that patient then went on to become v ill or died?

I can only image this happens more than we think and I really feel for the medical staff in these situations, as they always have their patients wellbeing as priority.

I'm A Nurse, AMA

whiskeyman wrote: »

Have you , or any of your colleagues confided in you, misdiagnosed a patient, where that patient then went on to become v ill or died?

I can only image this happens more than we think and I really feel for the medical staff in these situations, as they always have their patients wellbeing as priority.

As a nurse I don't diagnose, but absolutely I have seen people initially diagnosed with one condition and it turns out to be another, that is the nature of medicine I think. People are annoyed when medics are vague about conditions but that's part of the reason.

It actually happens both ways though, where initial presentation of conditions looks grave and turn out to be completely treatable.

KKkitty

Can you automatically switch off as soon as your shift is over or do some patients cases stay with you?

I'm A Nurse, AMA

KKkitty wrote: »

Can you automatically switch off as soon as your shift is over or do some patients cases stay with you?

I try very hard to switch off, but some cases stay with you allright, both the good and the bad. You grow very attached to some patients, but being honest, you also dread some patients as well. I give the impression to my colleagues that I switch off better than I actually do, no idea why, but I always have. I find the family life at home a great way of switching off, that and a beer watching the telly!

KKkitty

For a time I googled every single twinge and pain and of course Dr. Google came back with scary results. Do people come in after looking up their symptoms online and thinking the worst a bit?

I'm A Nurse, AMA

KKkitty wrote: »

For a time I googled every single twinge and pain and of course Dr. Google came back with scary results. Do people come in after looking up their symptoms online and thinking the worst a bit?

You get A LOT of googling from patients and their loved ones, understandable enough, but its for good reason Boards isn't mad on allowing medical advice, people seem happy to take some randomers experience or advice on a range of ailments over their gp, or doctor or shed load of health professionals, particularly if said randomer happens to be in America, that always seems to give the person more believability and credibility. There is often a load of suggested tests they feel they should have, and can be an issue if they don't get them. Or particular treatments.

"Well I know you said my leg wont grow back, but this man here in Michigan said he got his to grow back by soaking it in bacon fat" or words to that effect.


Nurses are fairly bad for diagnosing themselves with the worst thing it could possibly be, a headache is in fact a brain tumour, persistent cough is TB or Lung Cancer etc etc. Little bit of knowledge can be a dangerous thing.

KKkitty

I'm A Nurse, AMA wrote: »

You get A LOT of googling from patients and their loved ones, understandable enough, but its for good reason Boards isn't mad on allowing medical advice, people seem happy to take some randomers experience or advice on a range of ailments over their gp, or doctor or shed load of health professionals, particularly if said randomer happens to be in America, that always seems to give the person more believability and credibility. There is often a load of suggested tests they feel they should have, and can be an issue if they don't get them. Or particular treatments.

"Well I know you said my leg wont grow back, but this man here in Michigan said he got his to grow back by soaking it in bacon fat" or words to that effect.


Nurses are fairly bad for diagnosing themselves with the worst thing it could possibly be, a headache is in fact a brain tumour, persistent cough is TB or Lung Cancer etc etc. Little bit of knowledge can be a dangerous thing.

Do you approve of the internet having medical information online so freely then?

I'm A Nurse, AMA

KKkitty wrote: »

Do you approve of the internet having medical information online so freely then?

It doesn't bother me either way, I think before the internet there was a "well your aunt Betty had a boil like that and it turned out it was the plague" type thing.

No harm in people having the information, I'd question whether some are bright enough to actually filter through all the noise to get to the signal though. That's what's good/bad about the internet, its for everyone, there's no entrance test or educational standard or class barrier, its for all of us, including planks like me.

stop animal cruelty

Worst thing about your job?

leinster93

If you were back 20 years would you go the nursing career route again?
Looking at it from the perspective of the number of hours you have to work each day and the remuneration you get.
With this in mind would you advise a young person to opt for nursing as a career path in Ireland?

I'm A Nurse, AMA

stop animal cruelty wrote: »

Worst thing about your job?

It changes.

The worst thing about my job at present though is the horrendous overcrowding, coming on to a ward with 2, 3 or even 4 beds or trolleys on the corridor of my ward. No curtain, no call bell, no table, no room in notes trolley, no folders for nursing notes and no dignity for these patients. Caring for these people in any decent, meaningful way is nigh on impossible. This isn't a winter pressure thing either, its been going on since last Spring!

I'm A Nurse, AMA

leinster93 wrote: »

If you were back 20 years would you go the nursing career route again?
Looking at it from the perspective of the number of hours you have to work each day and the remuneration you get.
With this in mind would you advise a young person to opt for nursing as a career path in Ireland?

Honest answer? No, I would not do Nursing again. Though I absolutely still enjoy looking after people, meeting some of the best characters you'd ever come across and hope I make my little bit of a difference, the same as everyone else does. It has over the last few years increasingly become a grind, and as I said earlier, any little job or task that has slipped through someone elses net by default becomes a nursing task. I think management respect nurses less and less (even though some are supposedly still nurses), its run on constant audits of this, or surveys of that, new form for this, or new protocol for that.

The financial side of things is OK, not going to plead poverty because its a decent wage I'm on now, I'm at the top of my scale. Different for the newly qualified coming through now, who are significantly worse off than I was at that stage of my career, if they are on relief (like most newly qualifieds in Ireland), they are treated poorly with regard to shift patterns and what they are expected to do. I am lucky enough to be long enough in the tooth to tell them to f*ck off (in more polite terms) if they aksed me to do the ridiculous shifts they get the young ones doing. Like an 11 to 11 shift, where its probably nearer to midnight by the time they get off then start in at half 7 next morning for a long day, then onto a Night the following day, complete head wrecking stuff, and they only do that because the management are too lazy to sit down and work out decent patterns for all the relief staff.

If you really care about people then Nursing still has its rewards but if Healthcare continues the way its going here, and across the water in the NHS, I think the idea of being a nurse on a ward will be an increasingly hard sell.

I'm A Nurse, AMA

Just paid my annual registration retention fee, so I am still officially a Registered Nurse. Great to part with money.

ectoraige

Have you specialised in any particular areas? Does being a male nurse present any obstacles?

NotCominBack

Why is a female nurse called a nurse, and a male nurse called a nurse?

Is it true that if I go to copperfacejacks I'm a dead cert to find myself fighting off the nurses (reason for point one above)?

Lisha

Hi. Serious question I'm not messing.
A friend of mine that works with troubled teens swears that the full moon brings out the crazy in people.
Have you ever thought the same? Or found a&e's to he busier or patients just more difficult to manage at times?

Are essential services like psychiatric service as poorly funded as it seems like? In my experience mental health services are underfunded understaffed and insufficient
Is that upsetting when you know patients are not getting enough care due to lack of funding ?

I'm A Nurse, AMA

ectoraige wrote: »

Have you specialised in any particular areas? Does being a male nurse present any obstacles?

Not specialised in any area, just a ward nurse, did elective Orthopaedics for several years which I loved, Trauma and Ortho then which was very hard work, then for majority of last 10 years I have been on a Surgical Ward (though currently less than a quarter of our patients would be surgical)

No real obstacles caused by being a male Nurse, some women don't want a man caring for them, personal care can be an issue, but that's fine, I completely respect peoples decisions (though they are happy for male doctors to go rooting about as they wish). Its a stereotype of Men in Nursing that they are destined for management. We don't have a single Male off ward manager. Another stereotype would be male nurses are lazy, complete balls of course. Work ethic is not effected by what sex you were born or choose for yourself. You are also sometimes expected to move the heavy patients because you're a man.

I'm A Nurse, AMA

NotCominBack wrote: »

Why is a female nurse called a nurse, and a male nurse called a nurse?

Is it true that if I go to copperfacejacks I'm a dead cert to find myself fighting off the nurses (reason for point one above)?

Do you mean why is a male who is a nurse called a Male Nurse? That's a minor irritation to me. I often get asked how long have I been a male nurse, usual reply is 5 years a Female Nurse, then I got bored and became a Male Nurse.

No idea about copperfacejacks, never had the joy/horror of going there, but I can tell by reading your post you will be fighting them off with a sh*tty stick.

I'm A Nurse, AMA

Lisha wrote: »

Hi. Serious question I'm not messing.
A friend of mine that works with troubled teens swears that the full moon brings out the crazy in people.
Have you ever thought the same? Or found a&e's to he busier or patients just more difficult to manage at times?

Are essential services like psychiatric service as poorly funded as it seems like? In my experience mental health services are underfunded understaffed and insufficient
Is that upsetting when you know patients are not getting enough care due to lack of funding ?

So, all nurses I know think the full moon brings out the crazy in people, I actually have an app on my phone that I check to see when an actual full moon is, just to reassure myself that the big round moon isn't "quite full". In reality of course its bullplop. There is a lot of superstition in Nursing too, you won't often hear a nurse say what a nice quiet day or night it is, for fear of world war 3 breaking out. I have a load of superstitions which are all a bit OCD (not belittling that condition which full blown is horrendous) but if I don't do these certain things I think I'm going to have a terrible shift. Even if, after doing all these things I still have a terrible shift, I go home thinking, god that was bad, but imagine how bad it would have been if I didn't do my stupid rituals.
Don't work in psychiatry but I know they are struggling as bad as everywhere else, hard out there at the minute.

Absolutely get annoyed about conditions patients are in now because of cutbacks. Few examples. We no longer provide night dresses or pyjamas for patients, we have paper gowns that people who have no one end up in for months on end. We rarely get towels in linen deliveries so we use pillowcases to dry people, we aren't given soap or shampoo in regular stores now, we can get the tiny tubes (like you get in hotels) if you order them, after a couple of days. We don't get talc any more, trivial thing, but a bit of powder is great to help dry someone, especially when you are using your pillowcase to dry them. We don't get shaving foam (we do get razors, if ordered, the worst I have ever used) so end up begging off other patients for a loan.

At the end of a weekend we will have no pads left, or sheets, so a Sunday night will usually see nurses going from ward to ward on the scrounge. Ambulance cutbacks mean if a patients is fit for discharge, you wont get them home until the next day because the ambulance service now need a full 24 advance notice. If a patient has an appointment in another hospital for 9, there is zero, ZERO chance of gettting them there on time, and on occassion the other hospital won't then see them. Theres a few examples of what p*sses me off, and sorry for the rant!

evolving_doors

Do you think your immune system is more resilient than any of your non nursing friends/family?

Any 'when kinky luvin goes bad' cases ever cross your path?:pac::pac::pac:... seriously though!

worded

I'm A Nurse, AMA wrote: »

So, all nurses I know think the full moon brings out the crazy in people, I actually have an app on my phone that I check to see when an actual full moon is, just to reassure myself that the big round moon isn't "quite full". In reality of course its bullplop. There is a lot of superstition in Nursing too, you won't often hear a nurse say what a nice quiet day or night it is, for fear of world war 3 breaking out. I have a load of superstitions which are all a bit OCD (not belittling that condition which full blown is horrendous) but if I don't do these certain things I think I'm going to have a terrible shift. Even if, after doing all these things I still have a terrible shift, I go home thinking, god that was bad, but imagine how bad it would have been if I didn't do my stupid rituals.
Don't work in psychiatry but I know they are struggling as bad as everywhere else, hard out there at the minute.

Absolutely get annoyed about conditions patients are in now because of cutbacks. Few examples. We no longer provide night dresses or pyjamas for patients, we have paper gowns that people who have no one end up in for months on end. We rarely get towels in linen deliveries so we use pillowcases to dry people, we aren't given soap or shampoo in regular stores now, we can get the tiny tubes (like you get in hotels) if you order them, after a couple of days. We don't get talc any more, trivial thing, but a bit of powder is great to help dry someone, especially when you are using your pillowcase to dry them. We don't get shaving foam (we do get razors, if ordered, the worst I have ever used) so end up begging off other patients for a loan.

At the end of a weekend we will have no pads left, or sheets, so a Sunday night will usually see nurses going from ward to ward on the scrounge. Ambulance cutbacks mean if a patients is fit for discharge, you wont get them home until the next day because the ambulance service now need a full 24 advance notice. If a patient has an appointment in another hospital for 9, there is zero, ZERO chance of gettting them there on time, and on occassion the other hospital won't then see them. Theres a few examples of what p*sses me off, and sorry for the rant!

It's like a 3rd world country !

I'm A Nurse, AMA

Gebgbegb wrote: »

Do you think your immune system is more resilient than any of your non nursing friends/family?

Any 'when kinky luvin goes bad' cases ever cross your path?:pac::pac::pac:... seriously though!

I'm not sure about my immune system, living with kids who are human gem factories any mere adult doesn't stand a chance, regardless of profession.

When kinky luvin goes bad sound like soon to be documentary on tv3. You do get cases, genuinely had a man who had arrived in hospital in full dinner jacket and bow tie , covered in straw. He'd been to local swinger's "get together" and had a vibrator, still on, shoved up his bottom. He was completely unshamed of this, which was surprising but admirable in a way. Had to go to the scope room to get it removed.

You wouldn't have known it was there but for a gentle hum and tiny vibration of his abdomen. Soothing in a children's toy, less so in 50 odd year old man.

There was also a young woman who'd been a bit too rampant with her rabbit and did quite a bit of damage internally, she was in hospital 4 or 5 days as I recall, but thankfully she didn't do permanent damage. She was a good deal more reticent about her predicament which was completely understandable.

You hear loads from the lads in A and E , or ED as they like to call it. The usual things shoved where they wouldn't normally be expected to be shoved. Light bulb, vacuum cleaner, bottle, or when people insert bits of themselves in holes that turn out to be smaller than they first thought. So if you've heard a story along those lines, pretty good chance it's true!

I'm A Nurse, AMA

worded wrote: »

It's like a 3rd world country !

It certainly feel's more like that now than it did 4 or 5 years ago. People seem so accepting of it though, particularly about being looked after on a corridor, which gives me mixed emotions. It's great that people are so stoic to put up with it, but also a bit sad there's not revulsion and disgust that it's allowed to happen and people aren't angry enough to complain and shout from the roof tops like they are with households charges or water charges.

lctake2

Have you worked in a hospital where there are medical students being trained and do they bother you or any of your colleagues? I've gotten very mixed reactions from the nursing staff, some have taught me so much and are so helpful and others make you feel like you're only there to get in their way.

I'm A Nurse, AMA

lctake2 wrote: »

Have you worked in a hospital where there are medical students being trained and do they bother you or any of your colleagues? I've gotten very mixed reactions from the nursing staff, some have taught me so much and are so helpful and others make you feel like you're only there to get in their way.

Yep we have medical students at the hospital I work in. You can't generalise about what I think of them as you are all different. Some I like and look forward to hopefully seeing them again as excellent doctors and some are obnoxious, self important arseholes who will probably be just the same when they qualify.


When there are 3 or 4 doctors on a ward round, plus 3 or 4 students, then physically you absolutely are in the way. Hard not to be with all those people in a small space crowding round a bed. I don't think that's what you mean though, short of shrinking there is nothing you can do about that situation.

I don't mind having students round the ward, but I do object if they go into my patients without asking me and start questioning them or go through medical notes without asking. This may sound territorial but let me give you one example of why I'm like this.

The sadder the case history, often because of its complexity, the more interesting a case it makes for students so imagine how someone who had been told they have no further treatment options, within 5 minutes is being asked by 2 students all about his illness and how long he's had it and can they prod and poke him. It's happened, I don't doubt they said who they were, or what they wanted, but I do doubt that he was in any shape of mind to take it all in, would you be? If they'd have asked me, I'd have asked them to maybe wait a while, or choose another patient. Not too much to ask.

The same as if they want to look at medical notes that they ask, so I'm not chasing round to look for them so when the physio or OT or SALT or dietician wants to see them they are where they are supposed to be or I know who had them. This isn't just a student thing, but is one thing that gets on my goat with some students.

You have horrible people in all walks of life, including nursing, so if you show a nurse some common courtesy and they are still horrible, and make you feel like you're in the way, ignore them, you've done your best and rest assured, their fellow nurses probaby think they are nasty pieces of work too.

God luck with rest of your training too by the way.

NotCominBack

Is working in a hospital really like Scrubs?

I'm A Nurse, AMA

NotCominBack wrote: »

Is working in a hospital really like Scrubs?

Never worked in the US so who knows what those zany dudes and dudettes get up to, but I'll guess no.:D Maybe they have a lot more time on their hands though.

I know one comedy that pretty much nails healthcare here and the UK, it was called Getting On. Very funny, was on BBC 4 for a couple of series, shows up the ridiculousness of healthcare and hospitals beautifully!

There are a lot of funny people in nursing (in all senses) though, definitely good to have a laugh to release some of the stress.

sunbeam

Do you think there is a lot of bullying and/or backstabbing among colleagues in your profession?

Have you ever seen a colleague treat a patient or patent's family member in a bullying/aggressive/demeaning way? If so did you intervene?

Do you think that there are any major difference in terms of expertise or attitudes between younger nurses with their four year degree level training and older nurses who would mostly have gone through the more traditional hospital based training?

Call Me Jimmy

What's your opinion on the attitude of the patient towards their illness and how it influences their recovery? Obviously a good attitude alone won't cure cancer, but have you seen anything notable in this regard?

I'm A Nurse, AMA

sunbeam wrote: »

Do you think there is a lot of bullying and/or backstabbing among colleagues in your profession?

Have you ever seen a colleague treat a patient or patent's family member in a bullying/aggressive/demeaning way? If so did you intervene?

Do you think that there are any major difference in terms of expertise or attitudes between younger nurses with their four year degree level training and older nurses who would mostly have gone through the more traditional hospital based training?

Do I think there is bullying? Yes, there probably is, senior managers bully newly qualified in my opinion in to doing horrible shift patterns, (in fact there is no discernable pattern) as I've discussed before. Backstabbing? There are people who don't get on with each other and won't be glowing when discussing them. No worse than any other work place I've worked in and I try not to get involved. I had 7 years working before I ended up in nursing and the politics of a ward are the same as an office or a building site or factory floor.

I have seen inappropriate behaviour toward a patient, it was reported and got as far as the nursing board who made their decision after about 8 months! (anyone can see their rulings actually if your interested, on their website). I know of a couple of care assistants sacked and one nurse who was struck off. Any nurse who wants to keep their registration should report abuses, otherwise your culpable in that abuse.

It's not uncommon for raised voices to occur, from all sides. I try very hard not to, because, being honest, it's easier to be non confrontational and even if you feel you are in the right, shouting loses you any credibility. I have mentioned what I consider to be not great nursing (lazy or rude etc rather than abuse etc) to my ward sister, but I'm not a charge nurse, nor do I want to be, so it's up to them what action they take.

The training one is interesting, I have a diploma in higher education which I got over 3 years of project 2000 in the UK so not the old school you're probably talking about. Old school enough though! I have no intention of getting a degree either. Most of my colleagues have their degree, mostly achieved later on their career.

The confidence of the students coming through now is very different even from my day in the 90s. There is a feeling amongst my colleagues that they are trying to run before they walk and sometimes the confidence falls into over confidence. There should be an expectation that their knowledge and particularly practical skills, might not be as good as someone in the job for years. Some newly qualified or students nearly qualified don't seem to see this. Alarm bells ring when they go through a whole day without asking a question about something because the rest of us are still asking questions of each other ALL THE TIME. The other thing I see, most students are looking at what specialist area they want to get into, and plotting how they'll get off the ward before they are even on them. Ward nursing is seen as last choice.

I think, maybe I'm wrong, that the degree course is making an increasing minority of wannabe Junior doctors as much as it is good nurses, they can talk a good game but personal care, or talking with the patient is pretty much the last thing they want to do.

You do get nurses at the other end of their career who have no interest in learning new techniques or ideas and they are probably just as bad. I like learning new stuff on the ward but I'd rather pull out my own teeth than use up my free time writing essays or doing research.

I'm A Nurse, AMA

Call Me Jimmy wrote: »

What's your opinion on the attitude of the patient towards their illness and how it influences their recovery? Obviously a good attitude alone won't cure cancer, but have you seen anything notable in this regard?

I think a positive attitude helps in recovery, but I completely understand how cancer or terminal illness can sap positivity and sometimes it does the soul good to wallow a bit. It should be completely allowable to feel sorry for yourself, at least for a while. Because cancer is a f*cker and there is no good way of getting over it, you see just how much it can ravage a human over the years they come to the ward and sadly you see the end of their fight at times too.

Age isn't a guide to how well someone is going to get over something either, there is just as many old patients who do well post an operation or infection as there are young patients. There's a nursing mantra that "pain is what the patient says it is", basically everyone has different pain thresholds, and can cope better or worse with setbacks. You see sprightly 90 plus year olds with all their faculties walking out the ward after big surgery and that always give you hope, and they aren't all tee-total, non smokers, we had a lady who still smoked 10 a day, and had her sherry every night but was fit as a fiddle well into her nineties (don't advise you smoke though, it is bad for you, it says so on the packet) and was coping with a stoma bag with no problems which was fantastic.

Incidentally I think the "pain is what ...... etc" can be quite hard to believe at times, particularly when a patient is sat there chatting to a visitor and you ask them for a pain score, 0 being no pain, 10 the worst you've ever had, and they'll say, ooh, about a 9, and what's for tea? :rolleyes: (<--- I use this very expression from time to time at work too)

Lisha

Do you agree that hospital food is simy horrendous and brutal from a nutrition point of view ?

I'm A Nurse, AMA

Lisha wrote: »

Do you agree that hospital food is simy horrendous and brutal from a nutrition point of view ?

I think its very hit and miss, and probably more miss than hit. I don't think the type of meal we order for patients (like a high calorie meal which in theory comes with extra butter and glass of milk) looks any different to a "normal" meal. There is a disconnect between what we ask for, and what the patient gets.

A cup of tea and biscuit they used to get in the evening is gone since the cutbacks, more often than not, even simple things like replacing the water jugs aren't done, so as we do the drug round we are in the kitchen as much as the ward getting water or glass of milk or extra butter. The girls in the kitchen have a set time allotted to each ward, then they're gone, so we do the supposed "extras" like giving them a drink!
Supplement drinks increasingly get added by dieticians because calorie intake targets are being missed, often by miles.

I trained in North London, and here's a top tip if you find yourself in an ethnically diverse part of the world, and eat meat, order the Kosher or Halal dinners, they are usually shipped in from outside catering and always looked and smelt delicious!

Gaspode

After this long at your career, would you recommend nursing to a young person or tell them to look elsewhere?

I'm A Nurse, AMA

Gaspode wrote: »

After this long at your career, would you recommend nursing to a young person or tell them to look elsewhere?

It's a tricky one, it hasn't always been this bad, so being positive I have to think it will improve again, I have 25 plus years to retirement so it had better!

It can still be a fulfilling career, and if you're any good at it, you'll make a positive impact on people's lives who are otherwise in a bad place.

If conditions were to continue as they are now I could never, in good faith, recommend nursing as a career.

sunbeam

What did you find were the greatest differences between working in the UK health system versus the Irish one?

I'm A Nurse, AMA

sunbeam wrote: »

What did you find were the greatest differences between working in the UK health system versus the Irish one?

I never dealt with any private patients in the NHS, that's one difference, no "he can get an MRI tomorrow and he has to wait a week" because of who has insurance and who doesn't. That is really jarring.

The healthcare assistant to nurse ratio is also very different. Ward of 32 in UK had 3 nurses, here it's 5, 6 in the morning. Healthcare assistants in UK did a lot more, minor dressings, removing sutures, removing catheters etc. Had doubts about that level of Care they were allowed to do myself since they had no registration to worry about.

When you went for a job in UK, you were interviewed by ward manager so they chose nurses they thought they could work with. Here they get zero say who is employed on their ward, you get interviewed for the hospital (actually think its whole area now) and have joy of relief for months on end.

Diversity of patients was different, and had more dealings with different religions over there but patients tend to be similar wherever you see them.

sullivlo

Do you get grossed out by any of it? Like the bodily fluids and cleaning of them?

I was having a colonoscopy recently and the nurse said "don't worry, we've seen it all" - have ye really?

Do you ever become attached to patients?

What's the most annoying family member / visitor you have encountered?