Have you ever wondered why people get away with abusing nurses? I'm talking about all types of abuse here: physical, verbal, emotional, and even sexual abuse. What people say and do to nurses in a hospital, they would never dare, think of, or get away with doing in any other setting to anybody else. Only in a hospital can you get away with and not get arrested for kicking, punching, slapping, biting, or pinching a person. It's one of the very few places where your racial attacks and any other type of verbal abuse will not get your ass in trouble. And if you ever felt like grabbing a nurses' boob or ass - just come to an ER.
You'll say it's a risk you take going into the nursing profession. To which I'll reply - don't you take the same risk becoming a bus driver, school teacher, server, flight attendant, or any other profession that involves working closely with people? Some might argue that hospital and especially ER patients are often in a vulnerable state due to pain, uncertainty, loss, etc and an altered level of consciousness and can not, therefore, be held responsible for their actions. To which I'll reply - does the inebriated state allow a pub patron to throw a pint glass at a bartender? I mean, this is the risk you take going into bartending, right? You know you'll be surrounded by drunk, stupid, bordering on retarded, people on a daily basis. You know that alcohol makes some people aggressive. So after some drunk asshole throws a half-full pint of beer at your head, do you duck just in time to avoid a nasty lac to the forehead and possibly a concussion, wipe the beer off your face, and keep serving Mr. Asshole? After all, Mr. Asshole is intoxicated, right? Well, I don't think you will. You'll call security and/or police and get Mr. Asshole arrested.
Will a bus driver not stop the bus and call the cops after some douche of a passenger spits him in the face? Oh, absolutely he will! Will a flight attendant keep serving you suspicious looking cardboard-tasting sandwiches with a smile on her face after you call her an "ugly b*tch" while at the same time trying to feel her up? I doubt it.
As nurses, we have to deal with all these examples of human assholery and stupidity on a daily basis. It's a rare shift in ER when you don't get abused in one way or another. And we keep on going. We ignore the rude remarks, tell people to either behave or leave, or, in the worst case, call security and have patient Asshole in room 14 restrained and sedated. All the while we keep on taking care of you, giving you pain meds, feeding you tuna sandwiches (even making sure they haven't expired), and giving you clean clothes when you are sober enough to get your ass home (because you either pissed yourself or all your clothes are covered in so much vomit you can't wash it off in the bathroom).
No wonder nurses burn out and have a high potential of turning into jaded b*tches over time. If you treat us like shit don't expect to be treated with compassion and a smile when you come to ER with some ridiculous bullshit complaint. I might smile at you, but not because I empathize with your suffering or feel happy to be your nurse. No. I smile at you because I think you're an idiot (I would openly laugh in your face but then I might get in trouble).
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