Fast and efficient: These nurses usually appear strangely calm while moving 100 miles per hour. They seldom speak, but when they do, their words are short and direct.
These nurses zip in, do what they have to do, then zip out.
I liked this style best in the middle of the night when trying to sleep.
Warm Helpful & Caring: I’ve had lots of experience with this style of nurse. One such nurse, Gaylord, is a sweet woman. If I show up on the ward after a lengthy absence, she greets me with a giant hug.
One afternoon she had to give me an intramuscular Octreotide hip injection. Octreotide is very thick so the needle was quite large.
I must say, when Gaylord started crying because she had to give me that shot, I realized just how caring she is.
Knowledgeable and compassionate: These nurses exude confidence and control. On many occasions, nurses fit this category might make remarks about how a nurse on the previous shift messed something up.
This nursing personality believes the needs (comfort, safety & Medical) are their top priority.
Another nurse, Lorraine, fit’s the this style.
In 2009, I was hospitalized with very painful necrotic toes. It didn’t take long for me to discover that morphine didn’t work for me.
I needed something stronger, but because the doctor suspected I was a “pain-seeker”, she wouldn’t do anything else for me.
Then I had to have my toes amputated. As you might guess, it was very painful. This time, Lorraine advocated for me, insisting to the doctor that I was, in fact, in pain and the morphine wasn‘t helping.
Lorraine’s advocacy for me ensured my pain was properly treated. That said, Lorraine’s knowledge and compassion continue to give me great confidence in her abilities.
Lost, lazy, incompetent Some nurses make me nervous as can be. They stomp into the room, and struggle to get things right.
For example, some nurses have a difficult time setting up IV pumps. Some don’t know, for example, that most albumin bottles have ‘vent caps’ in their necks. Removing this cap allows air to flow into the bottle so the albumin can flow out.
I had one nurse stabbing the albumin bottle’s ‘spike-port’ with syringes; injecting air into the bottle. This eventually works, but the albumin bottle looked like a pin cushion and albumin dripped all over the top of the IV pump.
Some of these nurses don’t like answering nurse call buttons and act like they are doing me a favor when I ask for something like water, for example.
Occasionally, these nurses don‘t want to hear it when the patient trys to explain how something should be done.
The example of this is when I began explaining to nurses about opening the vent cap and they don‘t do it. After they leave the room I get out of bed and open it myself.
Obviously, this list of nurse types is not all inclusive. The idea I wanted to get across here is that the way each nurse cares for patients is a direct reflection the nurse’s personality.
What are your thoughts? Do you have any memorable tales about one or more nurses? If so, leave it in a comment.
