I must get this off my thoracic cage
Okay....being a nurse can be hard. Especially when you are a female nurse with male colleagues or subordinates. You see, a FEMALE nurse can do just about EVERYTHING to ALL patients, whether they'd be babies, adults, guys or girls. BUT, a MALE nurse has, what I like to call "the opportunity" to not care for ALL patients, and care for only SELECT patients, especially if it is per the request of the patient or family.
What I'm saying is, if there's a MALE nurse trying to give a FEMALE patient some kind of medicine that must be administered in "private" places, the MALE nurse automatically thinks he is exempt from giving it and delegates the duty to a FEMALE nurse, just because she is a FEMALE. Now, I'm talking about a MALE nurse working on my level, as a colleague...and I can understand that it benefits the patient, saves them from embarassment and whatnot...and it's on my level of care, so I am willing to do things like that...
BUT, I have a MALE subordinate working under me - meaning a NURSE ASSISTANT. He does not provide the level of care that I can do, but I can do everything that he does (since I'm the nurse). He is a wonderful person, and we have a good time at work, and on the whole, we are good at working together as a team. BUT, when it comes to him caring for FEMALE patients, he tends to back down from doing basic things - the things that he is skilled to do, and really, is required to do in his job as a nurse assistant. His reason for being is to provide the basic care for patients - feeding them, cleaning them, repositioning them, taking their vital signs - so that I can do MY job - which is to carry out and administer medical treatments ordered by the doctor.
Now, if he can't do a simple thing like help a female patient to wash up a bit in the shower, he automatically waits for me to do it. He knows he is my subordinate, so he doesn't TELL me to do it, but he HINTS at it. Now, I'm busy trying to pass meds on time, change wound dressings, and apply topical ointments, hang IV antibiotics, page doctors on the phone to take orders, and amidst my duties, he expects me to also help my patient to shower?
In my mind, I can't help but think - THAT'S WHAT A NURSE ASSISTANT IS FOR!!! Nurse assistants are supposed to be able to take care of all that basic care and basic needs stuff, so that nurses like me can carry on with our own shit.
The thing that really bothers me is this - he's not the only nurse assistant on the floor - there's another one working, and sure, she has her own patients to care for, but she's a FEMALE, and why can't my MALE nurse assistant ask the FEMALE nurse assistant to shower my patient? Why can't they work out some kind of deal, or be nice and help eachother out? They are at the same skill level, so, to me it shouldn't be a problem.
But no....that doesn't happen, 'cause I guess I didn't make it clear enough to my MALE nurse assistant that I was so super damn busy, and I should've suggested to him to have the FEMALE nurse assistant help him by doing it. I was hoping that he would kind of figure this out on his own, but alas, he didn't. So I ended up doing it.
This is just a professional rant - I have nothing against my MALE nurse assistant - he's a good-guy and I like him a lot, and we are friends...*sigh* I just have to let him know what I want him to do next time...I cannot assume that he will know what to do automatically.
Okay. The shit's been lifted off my thoracic cage. The End for now...
What I'm saying is, if there's a MALE nurse trying to give a FEMALE patient some kind of medicine that must be administered in "private" places, the MALE nurse automatically thinks he is exempt from giving it and delegates the duty to a FEMALE nurse, just because she is a FEMALE. Now, I'm talking about a MALE nurse working on my level, as a colleague...and I can understand that it benefits the patient, saves them from embarassment and whatnot...and it's on my level of care, so I am willing to do things like that...
BUT, I have a MALE subordinate working under me - meaning a NURSE ASSISTANT. He does not provide the level of care that I can do, but I can do everything that he does (since I'm the nurse). He is a wonderful person, and we have a good time at work, and on the whole, we are good at working together as a team. BUT, when it comes to him caring for FEMALE patients, he tends to back down from doing basic things - the things that he is skilled to do, and really, is required to do in his job as a nurse assistant. His reason for being is to provide the basic care for patients - feeding them, cleaning them, repositioning them, taking their vital signs - so that I can do MY job - which is to carry out and administer medical treatments ordered by the doctor.
Now, if he can't do a simple thing like help a female patient to wash up a bit in the shower, he automatically waits for me to do it. He knows he is my subordinate, so he doesn't TELL me to do it, but he HINTS at it. Now, I'm busy trying to pass meds on time, change wound dressings, and apply topical ointments, hang IV antibiotics, page doctors on the phone to take orders, and amidst my duties, he expects me to also help my patient to shower?
In my mind, I can't help but think - THAT'S WHAT A NURSE ASSISTANT IS FOR!!! Nurse assistants are supposed to be able to take care of all that basic care and basic needs stuff, so that nurses like me can carry on with our own shit.
The thing that really bothers me is this - he's not the only nurse assistant on the floor - there's another one working, and sure, she has her own patients to care for, but she's a FEMALE, and why can't my MALE nurse assistant ask the FEMALE nurse assistant to shower my patient? Why can't they work out some kind of deal, or be nice and help eachother out? They are at the same skill level, so, to me it shouldn't be a problem.
But no....that doesn't happen, 'cause I guess I didn't make it clear enough to my MALE nurse assistant that I was so super damn busy, and I should've suggested to him to have the FEMALE nurse assistant help him by doing it. I was hoping that he would kind of figure this out on his own, but alas, he didn't. So I ended up doing it.
This is just a professional rant - I have nothing against my MALE nurse assistant - he's a good-guy and I like him a lot, and we are friends...*sigh* I just have to let him know what I want him to do next time...I cannot assume that he will know what to do automatically.
Okay. The shit's been lifted off my thoracic cage. The End for now...
Co-workers can't read our minds, unfortunately. I wish some of mine could ... but then again, sometimes I think bad thoughts. So maybe not. *muhahaha*
Want me to partake of the work venting? I wish the teacher in our class would slow down sometimes - because when he goes too fast for the kids who don't read as well as most, then the mentors (that's me) must pick up the slack and spend a lot of time going over everything again with more than one student who is lost. That's very irritating. *sigh* When I'm the one teaching the class I try to keep everyone together, and if I have to backtrack a bit I will. It saves me patience and hair later on.
Posted by
sabete |
7/25/2006 04:53:00 PM
Yes, go on ahead and vent ^_^
Sounds like the teacher needs to be reminded that not all kids learn at the same speed. And it must make the kids feel awful when they know they aren't following along like the others or as fast as the teacher is going...I know it would make my self-esteem go down several notches :(
Posted by
ronnie |
7/26/2006 12:47:00 AM