Related: Caregivers, Caring, Communication, Embarrassing Moment, Humor, Morale, New Nurse Tips, Patient Advocate, Patients

Leslie Gibson’s patient had gotten the boot from her nursing home. The 96-year-old crotchety woman commonly assailed nurses with bare-knuckled blows. Once home, neighbors witnessed the elderly woman’s emotional crash—and called in Leslie, a visiting nurse at the time, for support.

When Leslie first met her cranky patient, she saw that pain, anger, and confusion shrouded any vivacity that might have once been present.

Leslie had a [...]

Related: Balance, Caregivers, Caring, Charting, Communication, Delegation, Expectations, New Nurse, New Nurse Tips, Patient Advocate, Patients, Prioritizing, Teamwork

Reports, charting, administering drugs, assessments, tidying up, more charting, and more reports—and no meaningful interaction with the patient.

Suzanna’s first year was a nightmare.

Suzanna, a new nurse on a pediatric ward, didn’t like having to live by the laundry list of to-dos. She was most fulfilled spending time with patients, making sure both their emotional and physical needs were met.

The bottom line: You can’t be a [...]

Related: Boundaries, Caregivers, Caring, Communication, Compassion, Confidentiality, Doctor-Nurse Relationships, New Nurse Tips, Patient Advocate, Patients, Prioritizing

“I don’t think we should continue heroic measures.”
“I want a third opinion!”
“That’s not the way the last nurse did it.”
“My sister needs more water, more pain medication, and clean sheets…now!”
“How long does my son have to live?”

Questions. Capricious emotions. Absurd demands. More questions. And plain cold criticism. Often serving families of patients is more taxing than treating the patients. Kathy Quan, a veteran nurse [...]

Related: Boundaries, Communication, Doctor-Nurse Relationships, Learning, New Nurse, Respect

I was a Family Practice nurse for a doctor just out of residency. She was young and sweet (just like me), still had some learning to do (okay, just like me). We had three exam rooms, and her office was in one of the hallways, and my work area was in another part of the small building.

When the doc would finish with a [...]

Related: Assertiveness, Bureaucracy, Communication, Complaints, Confidence, Conflict, Doctor-Nurse Relationships, Doctors, Management, Mindset, Mistake, Nurse Relationships, Nurse Support, Patient Advocate, Power, Professionalism, Stereotypes, Teamwork

Doctors and nurses have been trained to be suspicious of each other.

So writes Suzanne Gordon, author of Nursing Against the Odds (Cornell UP, 2006). And while this has historical roots, it is particularly dysfunctional today. In this RealityRN interview, Gordon describes the complicated relationship between nurses and doctors—and gives practical advice for nurses to help remedy the situation.

RealityRN:  Describe the history of nurse/doctor relationships.

Suzanne [...]

Related: Assertiveness, Communication, Confidence, Doctor-Nurse Relationships, Doctors, Expectations, New Nurse, Nurse Relationships, Patient Advocate, Patients, Professionalism, Respect, Stereotypes, Success

Suzanne Gordon, author of Nursing Against the Odds (Cornell UP, 2006), says new nurses need to train others for respect. Here are four tips to do just that:

1. Introduce yourself in a professional manner.
When you introduce yourself to doctors, don’t say, “Hi, I’m Susie.” If you want to be respected as a nurse, you shouldn’t be “Susie in the angora sweater” or “Cheerful, smiley Susie.” [...]

Related: Communication, Delegation, Management, New Grad, New Nurse, New Nurse Tips, Problem Solving, Seasoned Nurses, Success, Teamwork

Don’t complain—problem-solve. That’s only one of several bits of advice on how new nurses can counter some of the surprises of real world nursing:

Surprise #1: Presenting problems to your supervisor

New nurses often say, “I’m overworked. I don’t have this, and I don’t have that.” Instead they should be more straightforward: “Here’s the problem, and here are some of the resources I might need.” Or “Can [...]

Related: Assertiveness, Authority, Communication, Confidence, Conflict, Doctor-Nurse Relationships, Doctors, Emotions, Fear, Management, New Nurse, Nurse Relationships, Patient Advocate, Patients, Professionalism

It was the ninth hour of a 12-hour night on Labor & Delivery when my fourth patient presented with complaints of vaginal bleeding.  Exhausted, I told myself this had to be another worst-case scenario—probably placenta previa or abruption.

I initially performed a comprehensive review of symptoms and thorough patient history, which I presented to the resident. He was a cocky first-year resident, just starting his first [...]

Related: Attitude, Caregivers, Caring, Communication, Compassion, Complaints, New Nurse Tips, Non-Verbal Language, Patient Advocate, Patients, Professionalism

On the day of his surgery, Mr. Grumpafagus, the quintessential grouchy old man, was wickedly crabby. He griped about the cold food, the stiff bed, the spin on television, government conspiracies, and the overpaid doctors.

Most nurses avoided him, busying themselves with pre-op. Even the anesthesiologist warned Mallory, a second year surgical nurse, “Watch out for this one.”

Earlier, Mallory had picked up that he was in [...]

Related: Communication, Confidence, Delegation, Doctor-Nurse Relationships, Fear, Leadership, Learning, New Grad, New Nurse, New Nurse Tips, Nurse Support, Patient Advocate, Problem Solving

“No, these results are not normal. We know what’s normal.”
The words of Tommy’s parents dripped with condescension.
A second-year nurse on the peds floor, Anna was gaining confidence every day. But this was a blow. Her patient Tommy, who suffered from Nephrotic Syndrome, had been tested. Anna assessed that the results fell within a normal range. Years of dealing with the chronic illness, however, had made [...]