Nurses Are People Too

Sometimes I feel like people expect perfection of nurses. They want us to be precise, perfect, and work with an almost robotic efficiency. I understand that we are dealing with peoples' lives, health, and general well being. However (and I may only be speaking for myself, here), I'm only one human person. I am not a robot. I am not perfect. I do make mistakes.

For example:
I have cared for a patient recently who came into the hospital for routine knee replacement surgery. This patient opted to have both knees done at the same time, which is quite common. She and her family were informed of the risks, signed the consents, and the process began. After surgery she had a few clotting issues and ended up with a clot in either side of her brain, essentially a stroke on both sides. Now, clots are one of the known risks of any joint replacement surgery. The patient, and her family, were well aware of this when they signed the surgery consent forms. Unfortunately, they feel that they were wronged in some way and are taking legal action against the surgeon, and consequently, the hospital. They are very closely monitoring the care of the patient while she does her course on rehab. They watch the nurses and doctors like hawks, ask completely unanswerable questions, and essentially expect perfection. Can I just say, it is very difficult to deliver good care, much less perfect, with an angry family breathing down your neck.

Now, don't get me wrong, I understand that this is someone's loved one. I understand that they feel wronged, uncared for, etc. What they are forgetting, though, is that nurses and doctors are only human. We're not mind readers. We're not robots. We're not perfect. A lot of the time I am one person trying to do a job that requires more than 2 hands. I do the best I can in the situation I am placed in.

I read on a lot of blogs people complaining about less-than-perfect performance from some healthcare professional or another: an iv stick hurt, the nurse was too slow getting to you, someone wasn't able to answer your question right away but had to research an answer. I also see people blaming all nurses for the deficiencies of one. We are not all the same. We are individuals with personalities, senses of humor, and different priorities. What is important to one of us may not be important to another. The one thing we all have in common, though, is this: We are all human beings with feelings that can be hurt. Please remember this next time you deal with a nurse.