The Human Condition: Nursing, harder than it looks

By Daniel Schnee on June 15, 2022.

Though I was raised by medical professionals I had not truly appreciated what they have studied and achieved until recently, when I assisted in a friend’s post-surgical recovery. Having been hospitalized several times in my life I have met a wide variety of nurses. But my own role as an ersatz nurse of sorts revealed to me the difficulty and thanklessness of what these women and men deal with on a daily basis.

First of all, even the simplest procedure involves more knowledge and protocols than I ever imagined. Nurses constantly make many, deceptively simple assessments with great ease. I discovered this while learning to administer an I.V. drips: taking 15 minutes where the average nurse would be finished in three minutes or less.

Secondly, the almost infinite patience they demonstrate while being verbally abused and their instructions ignored is incredible. One local Emergency Room nurse I met named Kathy is an absolute angel in her dealings with the public, even while being berated by loud, entitled, or callous patients. Kathy was gentle and kind to everyone: from sick, scared children to belligerent relatives, even when there was no one looking. She is wonderful and vital, and we cannot afford to lose the Kathys from the profession.

Thus, I feel it is our public duty to follow our own defined set of “professional” standards, as nurses are held to their own. If they have to grin and bear it during so much unnecessary verbal abuse for example, then I suggest we don’t dish it out to begin with, in order to help make our local hospital worthy of the Kathys who work there.

Also, it is extremely important to remember that ER staff perform “triage”, meaning they prioritize the most serious problems. It is not a first-come-first-served situation, so many people will arrive later than you but get admitted earlier. I once had to wait all night in a Toronto ER while practically half the city got in to see a doctor before me. My ailment? I thought that the massive panic attack I had might have been a heart attack. Those admitted before me? Several actual heart attacks, dozens of vomiting children, a player from a visiting NHL team (in his full uniform) with a possible fracture, and multiple psychiatric interventions.

At every step the nurses rightly unprioritized me, and my long wait was the result of excellent medical assistance… given to others that truly needed it first. Hospitals are also regimented, and your nurse often cannot do things until others have done something else first. Much of the time it truly is no one’s fault when things go slow. Proper medical practice and the legal system rightfully require hospitals to work safely, no matter the speed. So I suggest we remember that and be patient, for the sake of those that need to go ahead of us and the nurses that do not have time to explain why.

Nursing is way harder than it looks, and nurses are incredible people. Let’s show them appreciation by not treating them like garbage when we feel sick. Be kind and complimentary, and give them a chance to do their job… because after all they do for us they deeply deserve it.

Dr. Daniel Schnee is an anthropologist and jazz/rock drummer.

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