Why do doctor's hire inept nurses?

Toggle sidebar Toggle sidebar
P

PowerMacG5

Diamond Member
Apr 14, 2002
7,701
0
0
So I go to the doctor today to get the stitches out of my ankle from my surgery. I go to the doctor in something called a CAM boot (no idea what CAM stand for, so don't ask). Last week I went to the doctor and he took off my plaster half cast, and changed it for my current boot. The stitches get taken out fine, no problems there. Now, the nurse comes back in with my new cane, and boots my boot back on. She puts it on obscenely tight, which I figure is normal to limit my mobility in the ankle. So I am now supposed to start walking again. So, I get down onto the floor, and I feel this sharp searing pain in my ankle, which I wasn't expecting (because of the nature of the surgery). So I thought it was normal. The woman tried to show me how to use the cane, but couldn't remember how you were supposed to (bad or good foot first), so she had to ask the doctor. I could not walk with the cane because of this searing pain. So I left still using my walker, and putting pressure on my ankle ever so slightly. So now I'm at home, and I realize what was causing the pain. The boot has Velcro straps on it, and the bottom most one was digging into my ankle whenever pressure was put on it. So after I loosen the boot, and get it comfortable, I am able to walk fine with the cane, and I only feel the pain I expected. Don't nurses have to have special training before they can work in a doctor's office? I am just mad because no one realized that it was because she tightened the boot too much. I just wanted to vent. All in all though, my road to recovery is pretty good. I should be going back into school on Monday, and as the doctor said, the cane should be used to help me walk, and move people out of my way :p. Well, that ends my rant.

Cliff notes:
1) Go to doctor to get stitches taken out. All goes well with that.
2) Nurse puts my boot on way too tight, which caused me serious pain when trying to walk.
3) Nurse tries to teach me to use cane, but doesn't know how, must call doctor in to show her first.
4) I get home, and realize the pain is caused because she tightened the straps too tight and it was grinding into my wound.
5) Pissed off because a nurse didn't know how to use the cane, or put my boot on.
 
XMan

XMan

Lifer
Oct 9, 1999
12,513
49
91
Originally posted by: KraziKid
So I go to the doctor today to get the stitches out of my ankle from my surgery. I go to the doctor in something called a CAM boot (no idea what CAM stand for, so don't ask). Last week I went to the doctor and he took off my plaster half cast, and changed it for my current boot. The stitches get taken out fine, no problems there. Now, the nurse comes back in with my new cane, and boot my boot back on. She puts it on obsenely tight, which I figure is normal to limit my mobility in the ankle. So I am now supposed to start walking again. So, I get down onto the floor, and I feel this sharp seering pain in my ankle, which I wasn't expecting (because of the nature of the surgery). So I thought it was normal. The woman tried to show me how to use the cane, but couldn't remember how you were supposed to (bad or good foot first), so she had to ask the doctor. I could not walk with the cane because of this seering pain. So I left still using my walker, and putting pressure on my ankle ever so slightly. So now I'm at home, and I realize what was causing the pain. The boot has velcro straps on it, and the bottom most one was digging into my ankle whenever pressure was put on it. So after I loosen the boot, and get it comfortable, I am able to walk fine with the cane, and I only feel the pain I expected. Don't nurses have to have special training before they can work in a doctor's office? I am just mad because no one realized that it was because she tightened the boot too much. I just wanted to vent. All in all though, my road to revoery is pretty good. I should be going back into school on Monday, and as the doctor said, the cane should be used to help me walk, and move people out of my way :p. Well, that ends my rant.
Click to expand...

It likely wasn't a "nurse", but an orthopedic technician. World of difference.

 
S

Spoooon

Lifer
Mar 3, 2000
11,563
203
106
I have to laugh at your spelling of hire.

Inept nurses are safer than inept doctors. I remember this girl I knew who was told she had menangitis by one of the doctors at the campus hospital. She got freaked out, saw a real doctor, and was told she had the flu. :D
 
P

PowerMacG5

Diamond Member
Apr 14, 2002
7,701
0
0
Originally posted by: X-Man


It likely wasn't a "nurse", but an orthopedic technician. World of difference.
Click to expand...

Well, I'll try and find out when I go for my follow up in a month, because even my mother was shocked when I showed her what was wrong; and how much pain I was feeling while trying to walk. I should have felt relatively little pain because the good part of heeling has already taken place, and now the physical therapy is taking place. The nice thing is that now that the boot is adjusted, I actually have slightly less pain than before my surgery, which means that something went right. My everyday pain before the surgery was a lot.
 
P

PowerMacG5

Diamond Member
Apr 14, 2002
7,701
0
0
Originally posted by: Spoooon
I have to laugh at your spelling of hire.

Inept nurses are safer than inept doctors. I remember this girl I knew who was told she had menangitis by one of the doctors at the campus hospital. She got freaked out, saw a real doctor, and was told she had the flu. :D
Click to expand...

Whoops with the hire :eek: (never claimed to be good with english/grammar). Well, I guess an inept nurse is better than an inept doctor, but neither are good.
 
Squisher

Squisher

Lifer
Aug 17, 2000
21,204
66
91
You hear all kinda reports of a shortage of nurses, so I would suppose that a bunch of people that do not possess the basic predisposition to nurse are doing so out of desire to enhance their pocket books (not a bad thing) at the expense of their desire to do well (that would be the bad thing).

Hence, it's hit and miss when it comes to nurses. Good ones are worth their weight in gold.
 
B

BooGiMaN

Diamond Member
Jul 5, 2001
7,955
0
0
Originally posted by: Spoooon
I have to laugh at your spelling of hire.

Inept nurses are safer than inept doctors. I remember this girl I knew who was told she had menangitis by one of the doctors at the campus hospital. She got freaked out, saw a real doctor, and was told she had the flu. :D
Click to expand...

same here a freind of mine had 104 degree temp and was diagnosed with menangitis...they put her on antibiotics that she was allergic to and almost died..went code blue in the ER, turns out it wasnt menangitis....the kicker is she is a nurse at that same ER
 
W

Windogg

Lifer
Oct 9, 1999
10,241
0
0
What I am going to say is probably going to scare the living crap out of people.

I work at a university and my department has been outsourced to a for-profit company. It is still part of the university but run just like a company. This company does its best to cut cost, treat students like an assembly line commodity, and pay bonuses to upper management. Sad to say but the people that couldn't cut it as computer tech and now gravitating toward healthcare. Those that couldn't secure a Windows system, properly install RAM, and have less aptitude than a rhesus monkey are now training to be medical coders, nurses, and operating room techs. I kid you not when I say most people fail the basic skills assesment exams during the admission process. Example:

Which of the following is a Sexually Transmitted Disease (STD)?

A) AIDS
B) Pneumonia
C) NAACP
D) RAM
E) OB/GYN

I kid you not when I say that 1/2 of the people get that one wrong. Since this department is not for profit, commision based sales people (admissions no longer handled by the university) do their best to gloss over the ineptitude of most applicants. Many highly qualified instructors have left because most students are unteachable. Those that are vocal about the changes are simply fired for some silly reason like "Attendance sheet not submitted on a consistant basis" even though every knows that is BS. Somehow that sheet got "lost" on the way to the administration side. The wages they offer way below those that left so qualified people do not fill the vacant positions. One new instructor (a hot babe) quit after one day because the students were so stupid and the classes so dumbed down, she just left in disgust. The programs were so rushed that everything was done in a shoddy way. The "labs" that were setup did not meet any state or federal standards for safety. Syringes were often discarded with regular garbage. Medical equipment and sample drugs are often left in the open or in unlocked cabinets. To add to the shock, this school is actually typical or the fly-by night and hastily put together programs springing up all over the place.

What scares me is when these dumbasses did IT, their screw ups inconvenience people. Screwups in the medical field lead to lost lives. Everytime I goto a doctor's office, I ask where the aide graduated from. If the answer is not satisfactory, I walk out. My life is not worth it.

Needless to say, the department I head is not that much better. I will probably not be with this "school" much longer.
 
Pliablemoose

Pliablemoose

Lifer
Oct 11, 1999
25,195
0
56
Why do doctor's hire inept nurses?
Click to expand...

Your doctor has an inept nurse because she's cheap & they don't want to pay the $ to hire a good one.

(I've been a nurse for 17 years, trust me, I know what I'm talking about)
 
N

NuclearFusi0n

Diamond Member
Jul 2, 2001
7,028
0
0
You should have said something about the "sharp searing pain." How the hell is she supposed to know something is wrong?

genius.
 
P

PowerMacG5

Diamond Member
Apr 14, 2002
7,701
0
0
Originally posted by: NuclearFusi0n
You should have said something about the "sharp searing pain." How the hell is she supposed to know something is wrong?

genius.
Click to expand...

Hey genius, read again. The doctor said it might just be because it is overly tender from not being used in two weeks. I'm sure it's normal for some people to have that much pain when first using a weight bearing limb after 2 weeks of non-use because of surgery, I just didn't think mine would cause that. And as I found out, it was just because of the inept nurse.
 
P

purepolly

Senior member
Sep 27, 2002
630
0
0
I'm shaking my head in disbelief here.

From my personal experience, it is extremely difficult and highly competitive to get into most nursing programs (ADN or BSN) today. For my particular accelerated BSN program there were over 300 applicants for the 30 slots, and each applicant needed to have a bachelor's degree and the appropriate prereqs done prior to starting the program.

The local CC (ADN program) had over 600 in house candidates alone, nevermind applicants from other schools, for 60 spots. There were people with GPA's of ~ 3.9 who were wait listed for the past fall semester.


 
A

adelphi

Banned
Dec 28, 2003
564
0
0
in my hospital in brooklyn, the agency nurses are all imports from phillipines

too bad they're raisins, not grapes
 
P

PowerMacG5

Diamond Member
Apr 14, 2002
7,701
0
0
Originally posted by: DurocShark
Just think: Some of those nurses become "Nurse Practitioners"!!!
Click to expand...

Oh dear. Hopefully this woman decides to retire before she seriously screws something up. Hopefully because of the chaffing there is no damage to my achilles, but just think, because of what this woman did, it could have jeopardized my surgery, and may have caused a need for corrective.
 
P

PowerMacG5

Diamond Member
Apr 14, 2002
7,701
0
0
Originally posted by: Pliablemoose
Originally posted by: purepolly
I'm shaking my head in disbelief here.

From my personal experience, it is extremely difficult and highly competitive to get into most nursing programs (ADN or BSN) today. For my particular accelerated BSN program there were over 300 applicants for the 30 slots, and each applicant needed to have a bachelor's degree and the appropriate prereqs done prior to starting the program.

The local CC (ADN program) had over 600 in house candidates alone, nevermind applicants from other schools, for 60 spots. There were people with GPA's of ~ 3.9 who were wait listed for the past fall semester.
Click to expand...

I'm not, I've seen nurses kill people.
Click to expand...

Wow, thank's for your input Pliablemoose, including your first one in this thread. Thank's for being honest (no matter how brutally honest it is).
 
ScrapSilicon

ScrapSilicon

Lifer
Apr 14, 2001
13,625
0
0
Originally posted by: NuclearFusi0n
Originally posted by: Windogg
Which of the following is a Sexually Transmitted Disease (STD)?

A) AIDS
B) Pneumonia
C) NAACP
D) RAM
E) OB/GYN
Click to expand...

None.
Click to expand...

correct...where's the author of this test..? and where's my sheepskin for passing the med exam..? :)p.s. which state was the test for..? :p
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

TRENDING THREADS

COMPANY
RESOURCES
FOLLOW
Top Bottom