Questions About Nurses (Q&A)

I've been asked 5 questions about my interactions with nurses. I have had many dealings with the medical system over the last half of my life. So I decided to answer them here on the blog instead of my YouTube tag channel. Here they are, feel free to use the questions for yourself.

1. What is your opinion on nurses who work in hospitals?

I just got out of the hospital and a number of them where in charge of my care. They where all attentive and caring people. Yes, they do actually talk about people behind their back (I know 2 nurses personally), but when dealing with you, they are very professional and treat you with respect. To be honest, at least where I live, they are very overworked and I can’t understand how they don’t just loose their minds on some of the people the need to deal with. I have a great respect for them.

2. Do all nurses treat their patients well?

Not always, there was one in a care home my mother was in, and she was a hellish person with the worst possible attitude for the health care industry. She was angry at the world and very willing to mouth off at patients. However in my entire 57 years of life, she is the only one that was a jerk. The rest where rather pleasant and some where very cold, but did not mistreat people.

3. Why do nurses ask male patients to get their clothes off?

Because that is their job. They are there to help treat you and to prepare you for examination and treatment. Rather often when you are in a situation like this, you need to remove your clothing or part of your clothing to be examined or treated. A good example is surgery - it is kind of difficult to operate on a person when they are dressed, it also brings in a heightened risk of infection if you are not nude.

4. Has a nurse been inappropriate to you?

Never. I’ve been in the hospital many times in the last 25 years or so and I’ve also been to clinics that you mostly end up seeing a nurse for the treatment you need in that clinic. Not one of them has done anything inappropriate at all. Now they do tend to have to handle parts of your body at times that you may not feel comfortable being handled, but this is not inappropriate touching, it is needed for your treatment or preparation for treatment. Also not once has any health professional I have had dealings with said anything I felt inappropriate at all.

5. Why do nurses open a window when someone dies?

Good luck with that in most modern hospitals, as the windows don’t open. Now in the old days there was a belief that opening a window will help the soul to travel to heaven. This was not just nurses, but when people died at home, a person would often open a window. In modern times this just doesn’t happen anymore.