patients lives being left at the mercy of abusive nurses

[bob84]

i would like to know what people think about this. have you ever experienced problems whilst being in hospital? did it make you feel vunerable or helpless? did u have the opposite experience?are you on the nurses side? i would be grateful for any feedback as i am currently researching this area thank you

[China Doll]

Abusive nurses? Where exactly? Are you referring to Nurses in private care? NHS? What area are you researching exactly? Are you talking about Nurses from within this country or Nurses trained overseas where there could possibly be cultural barriers as opposed to abuse? Is the type of abuse you're referring to physical or mental (shouting at patients etc..)? Apologies to answer with questions but just wanted more clarity.

Nurses generally do a fantastic job under enormous pressures within the NHS which include, financial, staffing, long hours, unhelpful doctors/consultants (not all of them before any doctors start shouting at me) and inordinate amounts of paperwork. However, despite these working conditions most Nurses go out of their way to ensure the best possible care for their patients.

I think your question is slightly misleading in the sense that anyone at the hands of abuse in a medical setting will feel vulnerable and helpless. If you're sick enough to be in hospital the chances are you will be feeling like this to an extent anyway.

I would say as with any job/company that you will always have the odd bad apple.

[spk]

Hi Bob,
I was in hospital with meningitis about 10 years ago, really really sick for a long time and had both good and bad experiences. I remember 2 absolute opposites, one nurse who helped me so much when I was coming round one day and another nurse that was really horrible telling me she was going to shove a tube down my nose unless I started eating, was genereally on a power trip with lots of stuff. I think nurses are like anything, you get good and bad, but when they are good they are amazing and when they are bad they are truly awful. I have nothing but respect for nurses in general though they have an incredibly hard job

[OBonio]

As far as I can tell, there are 2 types of nurse. Type 1s are truly caring individuals and want to help others and Type 2s who just do it as a job.

Type 1 will typically bend over backwards for a patient and family, work late and prefer to be patient facing than in management.

Type 2 will typically go in, do their hours, pay lip service to the patients and families unless they are looking to get into mangement. Either way, they will not put a patient ahead of themselves.

[spk]

Wardminter my health care was private too but I still encountered a nasty nurse. Just because you pay for it doesnt necessarily mean they are any nicer

[spk]

Okay no need to shout ! Jees touchy arent you...

[bednobs]

what kind of research are you doing?
I think being in hospital would make anyone feel vulnerable and helpless

[Nummy]

i agree with Obonio...there appears to be two typres of nurses. But they are all incredibly overstretched. When my father was in hospital he was put in a side room behind the nurses station so they could keep an eye on him. However i went into visit him and his catheter had leaked all over the floor and soaked his pyjamas. When i went i complain....it took me 5 minutes to find a nurse, who apologised and said they would come back straight away....15 minutes later i had to go chasing again. Turns out there were only 3 nurses on the whole ward, looking after nearly 30 beds of geriatric patients and two were caring for an old man who taken a turn for the worse, leaving one nurse to do all the running around, cleaning up, etc for the whole ward. You can't get angry at the nurses when it's a situation like that. And they were the proverbial angels when my father was taken into hiospital for the last time, they knew he wouldn't be coming out. and they were fabulous with him me and his visitors.

[bellbelle]

Im with you Bob84, there are far too many nurses just in it as a job and i dont think thats good enough. If you dont like people you shouldnt be in the job. My father was in hospital for a while a couple of times and i seen the way they treated him and others in the ward. The only way to ensure your loved one is having the correct care is to be in the ward with them 24/7.

[RATTER15]

Apart from waiting 14 months to spend one night in hospital for a sleep study, and then kept awake all night by gulls screaming though the window and nurses checking on me every hour on the hour. I have always found the Nurses to be 100% caring and enthusiastic. But I can see all of your points though.

[helsbels71]

i am a student nurse and would never treat patients or families with disrespect. Yes nurses are busy but it doesn't take much time to be polite and make sure everythings ok. my experience as a student and as a visitor when my nan was in hospital is that some nurses are very rude and i have no idea what they made go into the caring profession but seeing the way they spoke to my nan and other patients is something i always remember when i'm at work i never want to be like that.

Some doctors, nurses also treat students like crap too so it's not just the patients.

[bellbelle]

Oh Ratter!! Your sitting on the fence lol!!

[RATTER15]

I'm not sitting on the fence lol, just happen to be very close to one of the best Hospitals in the country. I have told the ups and the downs.

If I had to give them a plus or a minus it would most definitely be a very big plus for the Doctors and Nurses and a minus for the management and funding etc.