When I have been hospitalized, I vacillated between wanting to keep silent about my status as a nurse vs being open regarding my profession. My preference is to keep quiet until I am acquainted with nurses who will be providing care. The reasons for this are complex, but if you are a nurse, you understand.
The Background
As patients, we have had a tough reputation. We may be expected to be among the worst of the most demanding, difficult patients on a unit. We are anticipated to pepper our providers with rigorous questions, possibly timing them on rounds and medications, and keenly observing handwashing and/or sterile technique when caregivers enter the room. Novice nurses may be afraid of being "watched" if they are assigned as our nurses, and more experienced nurses may hesitate to engage because they are busy.
But do we measure up to the cliché?
The Reality
Unfortunately, we often do. As one blogger described in Your Nurse Friday,nurses know what to do for themselves but often neglect to follow through, such as calling to have a breast lump examined when it is first discovered. Nurses may know the statistics on breast cancer and may even counsel patients on specific actions, but they still neglect to treat themselves with the respect they would advocate to community members.
