I Am a Nurse, Not a Robot

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When a patient arrives in hospital for whatever reason they have a major need, the need to be cared for and safe, as a nurse the desire to meet that need is great, however nurses are human and not mechanical robots, so what happens when a patient arrives into your care and you find you are not on the same wavelength with your patient? Horror of horrors you have opposite chemistry, there is a spark but if allowed to flare could be detrimental to the relationship of nurse and patient, what do you do? How do you cope?

Firstly you must put aside all prejudices, take a deep breath and function professionally, the patient may not be in your care for long but may give you enough ammunition to shoot down your career for life, tread carefully. If there is an obvious clash of personality you must report to senior staff that you have an issue and feel unable to give your best, maybe they can move the staff about, if you are the senior member with the issue, make the move yourself, don’t feel you have to struggle through, you may not be able to perform with a clear mind and also might give the wrong impression to your junior staff.

What happens when a patient dies? In short, life for the nurse moves on, we are encouraged not to befriend patients but natural law will make us take to a person and their personality, it cannot be avoided, it is the nature of the human species. When a nurse loses a ‘favourite’ patient, there maybe a lot of activity in the laundry storage room, nurses cry, nurses get hurt, nurses get frustrated, surprised? Why? Nurses are not robots, they have feelings.

As a patient if you feel you cannot relate to your allocated nurse, try not to antagonise or annoy, this can be upsetting for all, try not to make small errors a big deal, nurses are not robots. If you feel your care is suffering because of the personality clash then you must speak to another member of staff.

As a relative who may have noticed there is a personality clash you too should approach another member of the nursing team, try to avoid voicing your opinion to other members of the visiting public or other patients on the ward, hostility and spiteful comments can create a mountain of problems when a quiet word in the correct ear can achieve the desired result.

The sad fact of life is that we are all human and cannot live in another’s’ company for long periods at a time, we need our own space to think and breathe, in hospital patients cannot achieve this and the nursing staff do not have telepathic abilities as said before, they are not robots, therefore if you as a patient have a problem that needs resolving or a need to fulfil, don’t expect your nurse to know if it is not visibly obvious, tell them.

The world is a place where it is okay to sue if it offends or interferes, nursing patients has changed and the care given can be affected if the nurse feels they are being watched in the hope they make a mistake and a solicitor can be called in, sad but true, things need to change, the world has become a modern, mechanical place and the nurse has become, actually the nurse has become nothing, they have always been carers for the sick public, the nurse will never be or become a robot.

“Let whoever is in charge keep this simple question in her head – (not, how can I always do this right thing myself, but) how can I provide for the right thing to be always done?”

- Florence Nightingale