Nursing Judgement does not equate a Nurse's judgement

I wish I had the luxury of time to be so judgmental. Really, all I can deal with is the multitude of tasks I have to take care of for the patient and the hundred other things I have to do at the same time. Not long after the bombings in Boston, I read an article about the health care providers who treated the victims, and one nurse said something about how she didn't think she could have cared for the bomber who was caught. I remember my very distinct reaction was, "It wouldn't even enter my mind." I'd be like, finish giving me report already, I got $@&! to do! To a very small degree, I can back this up as I work for a large urban facility and have perpetrators of crime as patients with enough regularity to know that I just don't have the room in my brain to get moral in regard to my patients. A patient is a patient; if they need their BP Meds, an Accucheck, a dressing change, and are complaining of pain with an active pain med order, then they are going to get their BP Meds, Accucheck, dressing change, and dilaudid, whether or not they raped someone last night, because I have got $@$! to do for sweet old granny next door, and I can't take care of Granny without taking care of Con. And I'm not necessarily taking care of Granny before I take care of Con, because I do not necessarily have that luxury. If it will get my $@$! done faster or more efficiently, then okay, but if taking care of Con first accomplishes that, then I take care of Con first. All of the nursing care that needs to get done already fills my brain. If it didn't, then I might be judgmental, I don't know. It's a non-issue. Too much $@&! to do to think about it.

Well said OP. I 100 percent agree. There are many things I don't agree with but who am I to judge. My job, my call is to provide the best quality care and to be compassionate.

My hubby (a cop) told me a story about a car chase with a DUI/hit and run suspect who was also suspected of vehicular homicide. Both the cop and the suspect crashed with injuries. Both were taken to the ER. Of course the uniform was off in the hospital, all the nurses knew was this guy was there because of a DUI MVA that killed somebody. The treated the cop like crap. They delayed answering call bells, delayed pain meds, made snide remarks within his hearing...until a whole bunch of uniforms showed up to visit him and see how he was doing. As soon as the nurses figured out who he was, he got the royal treatment.I was appalled at this. Nurses have a responsibility to give equal treatment to EVERY patient, no matter what they think of them. You don't give substandard care because someone may have done something awful, and you don't treat them like kings because they did something good. I've cared for leaders of charitable organizations, and I've cared for child molesters. All received the same treatment to the best of my ability. You cannot expect zero bias, as nurses are human after all, but you were correct in saying we need to do our best to check our judgment at the door. Thank you for sharing this.

Could not agree more!! (P.S. I loved solneeshka's response! TOTALLY can relate!!)

Thank you for a very important article. I strongly agree.

Amen. Every human being deserves compassion and competant care, simply because they're human.

Love this and agree!

Working in an ER is hard due to the fact that your have to take care of the child and the child molester sometimes at the same time. We had a 5 month old baby who was drugged and died due to aspiration due the caregiver propping a bottle up and leaving the child unatteneded. The caregiver delayed calling EMS when she found the child unresponsive. Later that day the child giver came in with chest pain. That was a very hard time for all of us, but the nurse who was assigned to the lady did a great job, although reserved while assessing her and doing the protocol for chest pain, we all with held our temper and comments until later and met to discuss what happened and how to and how not to respond in that situation. Nursing is hard at time because we are human. But I love Nursing and am glad even on my worse days that I am a nurse able to help people.

nice article. thanks for the post..

Just wanted to say, this is a great article!

Spot ON!