If you want smart, funny, badass commentary on the nature of nursing today, go read Florence Is Dead. It's a brand-new blog, but already it's creating waves. The Diet Coke Incident has some of the most bloviating ridiculousness in the comments section that I've ever seen.
In case you couldn't guess, I agree with pretty much everything Dead Florence writes. The one place we differ is on the scrubs issue: she'd like to see professional dress for nurses, while I stand firmly on the side of scrubs. The primary reason for that, you understand, is that I cannot dress myself. Other than that one disagreement, though, I'm firmly in DF's camp.
Go check it out. I got very excited when I stumbled across it (can't remember for the life of me how that was, sadly). Give her some love in the comments section.
Sunday, September 06, 2015
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
11 comments:
Hospital provided scrubs that folk change into before hitting the floor win for infection control. Otherwise no difference.
You have got to be kidding.
That post on the Diet Coke "incident" is some of the most ridiculously overwrought and overdramatic nonsense ever posted on the Internet.
She says that one dude asking for a Diet Coke was such an awful experience, she hasn't stopped thinking about it for weeks. How can anybody take that seriously?
I think that's known as "hyperbole to make a point," Ninja. I understand exactly what she's saying--or trying to, at any rate--and it's the same thing that I said in the "patient satisfaction" post here a couple of days ago.
The emphasis on patient satisfaction at any cost has gotten so strong that it's threatening to overwhelm what nurses are supposed to be doing. And I totally get the attitude from the dad that she was talking about. It's the same sort of dismissive reaction that I've gotten from patients to refer to me repeatedly as "the girl" (as in, "Don't clean that up; the girl can take care of it").
ANYway, you don't have to like what I like. Vive les differences, kumbayaa, etcetera.
Considering she made a followup post insisting it was literally true, and has been saying the same on other nursing forums like allnurses and on Reddit, I'm pretty sure it is not hyperbole at all.
I completely agree that the insistence on patient satisfaction has gone way overboard. Out in the real world I am working hard to help get those regulations changed, and in my hospital I am working with the union to make sure such things don't affect our pay or promotions. Totally with you on that topic.
But still, if somebody claims to have been emotionally scarred by a request for a soda, I find it impossible to believe they have any kind of a clue at all. She's like a day-one new grad complaining that because she got her BSN, she shouldn't have to wipe butts.
Scrub Ninja, I have to agree with you. Her reaction to the request for a soda seems far out of line. I do get that we have days (weeks?) where we are run ragged and a simple request to go down the hall for one more thing is enough to set your hair on fire. But really? She asked them if there was "anything" she could get them. If they don't provide soda for patients or visitors at her hospital she could have simply said as much and followed up with where he could get one. A greater concern is her tone overall that sounds like she feels that certain jobs are beneath her, witness the dirty diaper left in the crib with the baby, Because she didn't like the mom's attitude. She shows incredible lack of judgement allowing it to remain in place WITH THE BABY! Would you leave poop and pee in a bedside commode at the bedside of a patient because you didn't like someone's attitude? Or because you feel it's the aide's job? On my floor, and many I've worked on, she'd be in a very lonely position because the aides would leave her to her own devices and only grudgingly give her help under duress. She may be the "senior" nurse on her unit, but as someone with 30 years of experience, about half at the bedside, I can tell you she needs to get a reality check and gain some maturity about her job. It ALL is our jobs and nothing is beneath any of us, even those of us with masters degrees.
Sorry, Jo, I'm not a fan.
It was fucking SPOT ON!
Senior nurses always tend to have this sort of behavior
Jo, I am a longtime fan of yours and former nurse blogger and OHMAGAWD I have never read a blog I disagree with more than this one. I was so excited. And then I read every post and almost threw my tablet across the room. Kudos to you for being able to stand it. I can't even.
I'd like to tell people it's all customer service in healthcare while I'm at the Hotel, but they'd fling poo and everything else at me. After years of doing whatever, they hate the idea of any power on the patient side (which they've had all along, anyway).
I can understand Flo, but personally, I do what it takes. And I tell people the way it is ("Don't leave that for me, the Hotel's most expensive housekeeper.") I take care of my housekeepers, so I hope that my clientele will too. One RN who had aspirations to higher things lost the Shangri-La job offer when he/she refused to help out while the housekeeper was on break and the family (rightly) complained (they also called the media).
Happiness is not about meeting all the demands but doing your best with what you have. I'm more than happy to be brutally honest with families if they push me to it.
And I serve it up with a smile. Because I give a d8&m. I'm your nurse.
sadly we have the same situation
best advice! thanks!
Post a Comment