"And you think I don't know that?"

Tweet

My 5 level 3 nursing learners were once again assigned in Ward 3, handling 9 clients at 2 per student, while one who had one client was assigned as medication student nurse. A client was diagnosed with Acute Coronary Syndrome R/O Acute Myocardial Infarction, and we noticed that his blood pressure was low at 90/50mmHg since yesterday. This was endorsed properly to the staff nurse, so she should be the one to refer the client to the resident on duty. This morning, the BP of client RR was still at 90/50; the staff nurse then told me that we should add a side drip of Levophed to keep the blood pressure within normal range. I called my student to prepare the side drip at the nurses’ station. I asked how many microdrops should the side drip flow, and one newly-hired staff nurse answered 10mgtts/minute. What irked me though was her comment that “Levophed actually increases the blood pressure”, so I replied with a sarcastic tone of “Yes, I know that”. She immediately apologized and kept on saying SORRY to me. She blushed. Although we health care providers should be humble in dealing with the patients under our care, that does not give one the privilege to show-off and be boastful. We learn through continuing knowledge and we must not get a standstill in our brains. It is so unbecoming of a person to say she knows many things that others don’t know. Humility, like patience, is a virtue of a health care provider. How do you deal with people who assume they know more than you?