Saturday, March 29, 2008

Reality check please

I have striven, in the last decade, to reduce that place of judgment I sit in when I see or meet new people. I try, with thought and effort, to not pre-judge a person by looks, speech patterns, behaviors.
But there is a nurse at hospital one that I just can not stand. It is almost irrational, to me at least, that I should dislike someone so much just from watching his actions, listening to his comments.
I had a strong moment the other day, where i really wanted to go off on this guy.
All hospitals have codes they call out on the public address system. these codes let staff know if there is a fire, a heart attack, an emergent medical situation, potentially violent person, bomb threat, you get the idea.
We had a code for more man power called and this guy get weird.
He brought up a story that a person in Georgia shot and killed people at a local hospital. He starts ranting that in a call for more man power, bodies to show up at a location for a show of force or a potential work group to manage the situation.
He wondered, quite aloud, is rushing toward a place with a violent armed person might get more people hurt or killed.
I will admit he has a good point. BUT...
He was ranting in a loud voice at the nurses station where patients and patient families could hear him.
This bothered me on several levels.
One: Any person visiting a hospital has enough stress as is being in a strange, often smelly environment with worry and concern for their loved one. The last thing they need is to hear a hospital staff getting loud about an internal matter.
Two: He kept saying he would like to know if the person is armed so he can run away form the danger, not into it. Interesting. I try not to judge. If this man was from New York, he just completely dishonored every victim of 9-11. Further more, he expounded he would hide behind a refrigerator. Most nurses I know would shield their patients from further harm.
Three: I do not know this man's history, but I have run toward the violence to render aid to the fallen. His ranting upset me beyond what I felt it should.
K would tell me to put myself in his shoes, understand what his motivations are. In this case, I don't care to. I want to give him the benefit of the doubt. Maybe he has past traumas and wants to protect himself from ever facing the same again. Maybe he isn't getting laid. Maybe he lost a family member to violence.
But I just wanted to slap him.
I will probably talk to his supervisor on Monday and point out my concern of his loud voicing of the situation. But I just don't like the guy.
Oh, yeah, he is a charge nurse.
Shit.

Keep your corner of the world clean, that is all you can do. Hope the other guy keeps his clean. Do not be so surprised when the other guy doesn't keep his corner of the world clean.

C

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