Support Workers. I'm not going to make a blanket generalisation about them as - what's the point? Generalisations are rubbish.
The handful of individuals I'm thinking of our representative only themselves, not some group they belong to. They are, however, support workers. And that information is relevant for the conversation.
The same SW who sneered at me for not offering up my chair this morning (see earlier post) I will refer to as miseryguts. She is politely referred to as 'old school'. A bit like the BNP are referred to as 'a bit old fashioned', in my opinion.
She's the sort of SW who makes sure the patients are out of bed as early as possible, whether they like it or not. This is not for their own good, but to make the beds. Which seems selfish to me given it could probably wait a while, especially when it comes to bad sleepers or lethargic patients, but whatever.
Today I overheard miseryguts and another SW in the staff room talking about how they hadn't received enough help through the day, particularly from another student. Students, let's not forget, are studying nursing. The nurse in question insisted they needed the student's help, and nurse's orders are paramount, surely?
I'm all for helping out with tasks traditionally assigned to SWs, but they take a backseat to important nursing duties. That's why we were made supernumerary in the first place and why I may, in some cases, refuse to leave one job for another.
I think I can handle the sneering, bitching wrath of miseryguts.
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Yep. I've met support workers like that too. Fuck 'em, basically.
Not that I have any problem with support workers per se. There's some excellent ones out there doing a shitty job for rubbish pay, and I take my hat off to them. Generally I find that the problem ones are all too often the SWs who've been there since the late Triassic and think they know it all. Rather like your SW.
Just so you know, once you're qualified and acting as nurse-in-charge of the ward, you'll find dealing with stroppy staff will cause you far more stress and headaches than the clinical problems ever will. Something for you to look forward to.
Ha. Certainly something different to look forward to.
This time around, at least, I have my mentor who will back me up because they know I'm generally trustworthy. Once I'm acting-in-charge I'll just have to put my mean face on.
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