They say nursing is one of the most trusted professions. I believe this. You can pretty much walk into any room, but your hands on someone, hand out pills, inject medications and tell someone about their prognosis....Without them even questioning it.
Sometimes It blows my mind how quickly I will walk in and introduce myself and soon after that I've seen them naked and handed them medications out of my pocket and they are okay and trusting with this experience.
It's not like I walk in and lift people's hospital gowns for any old sake. Usually after I introduce myself I do a full body assessment, which is required of us. Well the only way to do this is to see most everything...Especially if you are going to assess skin. Skin is everywhere. Or I've also had patients open up and be like ... "Does this look normal?" They are very trusted in me to not judge. I guess for them it feels safe to ask and be seen. We see people so vulnerable and at their absolute worse. Maybe that in some sense makes them hopeful to trust us and they hope we will not let me down or inflict more pain when they are so very vulnerable.
I feel sometimes people are too trusting...Especially when it comes to diagnostics exams or medications. I notice sometimes when I begin to teach them about an exam or medication they brush if off and tell me "You are the nurse, whatever you think I need to do or have, I will"... They accept any medication from me or let me inject any medication into their IV's or skin without thinking twice about it. I imagine if this patient was me or my family member I would want myself or people I care for to know more about what it happening with their bodies.
Usually I educate the patient in this moment... I don't write it off, just because they aren't asking questionts doesn't mean I don't have a duty to let them know what is happening to their body or what a specific test is for. One reason you have to communicate things is it could come back in a law suit and bite you in the ass...You can't just do something to a patient without saying anything about it just because they don't seem to care...In court all they are going look at is what you did or didn't tell the patient about what you were doing. If patients seem bitchy or come across like they don't want to hear another word out of my mouth I usually sum it up quickly and let them know I'm here if they need to talk or have questions.
Frequently when giving medications patient's just seem so relaxed...Like they want me to shove everything in a cup and give it to them to swallow. No questions or buts about it. It blows my mind.