This doesn’t make for good reading I am in good health at the moment but I am getting on .
No, but having spent thousands each year & over 3 years, getting an academic qualification. Would you want to to spend your life handing out bed pans? And are academic qualifications the way to draw in the best people for the job?
The reality is, due to government policies & constant demoralisation. The nurses that were there because they wanted to nurse, have either left or become demoralised. What is left is largely those who are there for the career.
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So who do you suggest should respond to bedpan requests Gee3?
Gee, when I was at the Brompton, none of the surgeons or nurses were emotionally involved with me, why would I expect them to be?
They did their specialist job and that’s all they concentrated on, and boy did they do it well…their training shone through, I knew they knew what they were doing, 
…give me that any day…
Some had a bedside manner some didn’t, who cares as long as they did their job…I didn’t go to hospital to be treated emotionally, I went to get my heart sorted and repaired, job done.
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That is part of the problem. Is emptying a bedpan a suitable for a role for a BSc graduate? This is what happens when politicians mess with something that was working just fine. Would you want to spend between £17,000 & £25,000 per year, for 3 years, to end up emptying bed pans?
The reality is, nurses have a lot of paperless paper work to do online, plus are constantly made to do pointless online courses in work time. Thier role is now largely away from things like bedpans, with nursing support staff largely taking on the role of direct, non medical patient care.
When my mum and f-i-l and m-i-l were hospitalised I thought the nurses and doctors were amazing.
On a personal level I came across a ward-based midwife from hell with my 3rd child, my daughter.
She treated all of us there like idiots and said seriously quite rude things to people. She herself was in her 20s and child-less at the time.
I heard later that she had been ‘moved on’ to another hospital. I seriously hope she learnt some humility along the way
In many aspects of day to day nursing, a so called bedside manner is far from a nice extra. It is an essential part of the job. How does a nurse pick up how the patient is doing that day, if they cannot communicate with them properly? Good care, stems from good communication & good communication involves both verbal & non-verbal interaction.
A very big percentage of poor medical outcomes in hospitals, stems from poor patient, staff communication. A blood test or an x-ray may be able to pick a lot of things up. But failing to listen, to communicate fully. Leads to missed opportunities & missed diagnosis.
The best Doctors & the best Nurses are ALWAYS the ones that communicate best. Conformation bias & availability error are at the root of most medical misdiagnosis issues & most miscarriges of justice too. It is the result of not questioning, listening fully & then thinking.
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They don’t do that though do they? That is why they have nursing aides.
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Which time? I’ve been hospitalized quite often and most experiences have been good. Once experience was a complete nightmare
Tell us about it Bratti … 
My bedside manner doesn’t mean what your bedside manner means.
A bedside manner to means, being nice and caring also polite.
When I had my open heart surgery, after surgery I couldn’t talk let alone move, there was a nurse at a station right next to my bed, she was trained to pick up on any problems I had and I had quite a few, she was not “ emotionally “ involved with me is what I meant, she was doing her specialist job.
I didn’t go to hospital to be supported emotionally, I went to be supported after surgery and it’s complications by trained specialist nurses and surgeons, they are there to do the job.
So for me picking up on complications after surgery is not a bedside manner, it’s been a big part of their training, a bedside manner to me either comes naturally or it doesn’t.
So, you and I both look at a bedside manner differently, which is fine.
My specialist nurse emptied my bed pan all the time she was with me, amongst other things that I can’t mention.
So yes they do empty bedpans,
Even in icu you have a specialist nurse who does everything, they work their socks off all night with me as I had quite a few complications.
Wow Pauline, I didn’t realise you’d had open heart surgery. That is serious!!
Without wishing to go ‘off thread’ could I ask you how long ago was that & how are you now?
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Just over 3 years thanks Carol, I’m doing ok, but I’ve started getting palpitations again, the repaired mitral valve was a success, Mr Anthony De Souza was my surgeon, I have some sort of cage or wiring that hold my breast bones together ,the sternum I believe it’s called, I’m always worried it will work it’s way loose.
…anyway I’m still alive!.
Plenty of nurses didn’t have what I call a bedside manner, but boy they knew their specialist subject, and picked up on all my complications, I had lines everywhere, plus they were monitoring my heart from their nurses station, quite a few times the surgeons were called out in the early hours of the morning.
The scarring has healed beautifully and a reminder.!
Is that serious? Does it mean you will have to have more surgery?
Depends how often I get them, so everything is being recorded in my diary,my consultant told me to ring her direct if I’m worried, I haven’t reached that point yet,
I will have to have another heart scan to see how the mitral valve is doing.thanks for asking and caring…
Reading your posts on here I wouldn’t have believed what you’ve been through, you’re so full of life!!
You take care now. 
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I’ve experienced good and bad in the NHS. To be fair I think the system is broken…it limps along because of people making it work despite the system. Of course there are different levels of dedication and efficiency thats the same in all services.
Strangely Nurses are called Nurses because they Nurse & not managers, as managers sit in an office & do paper work. The role of the nurse within a hospital setting should be to provide for, either directly themselves, or as part of a wider nursing team the daily care & needs of the patient. This could involve feeding those unable to feed themselves, administering medication, changing beds, incontinence pads etc & enabling basic dignity issues such as toileting.
If any nurse feels themselves above providing care which enables the dignity of a patient, then nursing is not a role they are suitable for. And if a nurse feels their role is simply to tell others to do the dirty &/or menial jobs, then they need to learn about the basics of their job.
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Not in Australian hospitals they don’t, that’s why they have nursing aides.
They are skilled staff and are wasted doing menial jobs, you don’t have to be a manager to have valuable skills. That is a very English, reminiscent of the 'Tradesman’s Entrance" way of thinking
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