You ever have one of those days? You know the kind I’m talking about. It’s the one where from the moment you walk in the door you know it’s gonna be a shift from hell, and there’s not much you can do other than pull yourself up by your boot straps and hit the ground running. You put on your big girl panties, or big boy drawers, and suck it up, buttercup.
In nursing bad days happen, bad things happen, and you just go with it. You pull together as a team and make the most out of a difficult situation. That’s what makes nurses awesome. Grace under fire.
So when you ask the surgery team how the patient is doing that’s headed your way, and they say, “according to doc he’s the sickest patient in the hospital,” you wince, but then you put your gloves on and stand by.
But still, despite the fact that nurses do what must be done to get the job performed well, there’s still certain phrases that a nurse hears, and they do not like at all. Some they may even hate to have someone utter.
So, do any of these make you cringe?
1. “Your patient is a train wreck!”
2. “You’re charging today.”
3. “It’s your turn to get pulled.”
What about:
4. “Lab is on the line with a critical value.”
Or:
5. “We’re gonna be short-staffed today.”
Which isn’t cool if you also hear:
6. “You’re patient is a bit confused.”
Come on, is there really such a thing as a bit when trying to keep someone from falling?
Or:
7. “He drinks about a six pack.”
Which means at least half a case, right?
And sometimes:
8. “You have a patient family member on the line.”
Ok, this isn’t always cringe-worthy, but when it is you know it.
Kinda like:
9. “His family is very involved.”
Or:
10. “Her family is a little needy.”
Yes, I’ll be honest. I’m probably that family member.
But hopefully not this one:
11. “There’s some family drama going on.”
But all that is better than hearing this:
12. “There’s no family to speak of.”
Which makes it hard in some unfortunate cases when you hear:
13. “Yep, she’s a full code.”
Regardless, you never like to hear overhead:
14. “Code blue.”
Then there’s the ugh-worthy:
15. “You’ve got an admission coming from the ER.”
Which is only trumped by:
16. So and so “just called in sick.”
And you never want to hear a patient say:
17. “I have a really low pain tolerance.”
Cause that’s a challenge, right?
Especially if they add:
18. “I’m allergic to everything but Dilaudid.”
But that’s never as bad as:
19: “We have a mandatory meeting this week.”
Which is right along the lines of:
20. “Ahh, I’m also gonna need you to go ahead and come in on Sunday too.”
But we’re pretty used to that.
Keri Estepp says
Then there’s always the “q” word. Can barely stand to hear it in a regular conversation. Here goes…….. “Quiet” ?
Jennifer says
How about “you will have a easy night, or he/she is a easy patient won’t give you a lick of trouble”. Really?!! What may have been a easy night was just ruined.