Weekly Handover (2)

And now, the second edition of our weekly round-up from the nursing blogs. You can nominate a blog for future editions by e-mailing zarathustra at mentalnurse dot org dot uk

I think I’ll make this easier by dividing the blogs up into categories according to nurse role.

Student Nurses

The Oracle is having more trouble on placement.

Yesterday I had my personality- all that is me- shredded. Not by my mentor, but my link tutor. Nurses on my ward have reported me to her as being abrupt, rude and over confident (not with the patients, with the other nurses. I find that surprising, as most of the time I am terrified on the inside. Maybe I just hide my insecurities well?) They see the doctors and consultants as a kind of unknown entity- and the fact I have the ability to go on over and question them about my patients condition and treatment plan baffles them. I have never been afraid of gaining clarification or asking questions. I find it worrying that this is seen as something to be frowned upon. I’ve been told that there is a time and a place for asking questions- and I have to learn when this is. (While studying to be a nurse seems like a perfectly good time, to be honest!) I’m pretty sure that although I can be a social retard at times, I’m intelligent enough to know when I should and should not be asking questions.

Why any of the above is supposed to be any kind of disciplinary offence is a bit of a mystery to me. The words “know your place, peasant!” spring to mind.

Didn’t Want to be a Doctor has had lectures on humanistic psychology.

We got onto the Carl Rogers bollocks idea of: ‘When do you feel most empowered? Who empowers you? How do you stay empowered?’*

The above (and below) asterisk information may be quite flippant, but it’s half true. I empower, as I believe in myself. Maybe this is a good example of self-realisation in the Maslowe sense. It’s certainly concerned with my personal ideas being in step with the image I portray. So, I empower myself. What helps? Being flippant, to be honest. And being in the thick of things. I’m a male nurse working in the adult sphere. I’m pretty rare, and it’s a big challenge, and that gets me out of bed every morning more than the 8:30am showing of Frasier.

Also from Didn’t Want to be a Doctor, some thoughts on the House of Lords report on immigration.

Britain has always used cheap foreign labour. We probably will continue to do. In this case (i.e. the modern world) I think people should be able to come from wherever they want as long as they work and pay taxes. It’s a dog eat dog world, and if someone who doesn’t even speak English as a first language can get a job over some lazy fuckhead from this country, then power to them.

The establishment sending out mixed messages doesn’t help, though. Not to sound hypocritical, but I’d prefer it if more nurses spoke English as a first language. But thanks to the government’s poor preparation and ‘reap-what-we-didn’t-sew-from-other-countries’ strategy on nurse recruitment, that doesn’t look likely any time soon. So less immigrants, except for nurses and who else, I wonder, House of Lords?

A&E Nurse

Speaking of Carl Rogers and humanistic psychology, Mouse Thinks is struggling with the concept of unconditional positive regard.

I reminded them of their whereabouts and warned them to moderate their language. “No, I fucking won’t” says chav number one. Chavs numbers two and three have gone very quiet and are looking at their scruffy trainers. Chav number one obviously thinks he is the boss here. He is wrong.

“There are sick people here. They do not want to be disturbed by your foul language and juvenile behaviour” I say, giving him one last chance.

He blows it. “I’m not arsed” he says.

I bring myself down to his level, both physically and metaphorically. “Well that just makes you a selfish little twat, doesn’t it?” I say in a low voice. He is outraged that I have offended his person with such a defamation, incredulous that I could insult his character in such a way. His mouth flaps open and his lips are trying to form words but no sound is emitted. As he stands there like a goldfish with nicotine-stained teeth I send him on his way: “Now the three of you better fuck off out of my department and crawl back under whichever shitty rock you came out from because until you learn some manners, you will not be treated here.”

Nurse Practitioner

It Shouldn’t Happen in Healthcare considers anger management.

Anger management in Primary care is a bit of a nightmare. I have had several patients requesting anger management. There really seems very little services available to these patients. Mental Health trust, which appear grossly under resourced, state they can help for the related depression and anxiety, but have no facilities that actually focus on anger management.

Should mental health services offer anger management? I’ve got a few thoughts of my own on that subject, and may do a post on this issue in a couple of days once I’ve marshalled those thoughts.