By Eunice Owa

Nursing is one of the professions I love, seeing them in their white gowns, neatly packed hair, their smartness and all. As much as I love this profession, I am beginning to feel hostile towards humans wearing the uniform. In most hospitals, I have heard, seen and received the worst attitudes from the nurses especially the female nurses. Public hospitals have the highest record of nurses with bad attitudes towards patients. Nurses are to have good and positive attitudes towards the patient's care in order to provide quality care and improve outcomes for the patients.

These are the categories of poor attitudes of nurses towards the patients.

CHEWING GUM NURSES; These nurses are mostly found at the reception. "Good morning ma" she will reply to you with (pop! Krastas!) Good morning what can I do for you? Her jaw is so much in work that she takes much time to reply to questions and inquiries, this is usually irritating and so unprofessional, it's not a hotel reception, it's a hospital reception.

JUDGMENTAL NURSES; These nurses are still one of the few that encourage stigmatization. Tell them you have STD and their face will form another shape, have a miscarriage due to severe abortions done in the past and you will hear things like "please your tears are not needed when you were busy flushing your babies, who did you cry out to?" Hmm! Such audacity!

FAVORITISM NURSES; Well, these types of nurses are so common. A patient will be on the waiting line to see a doctor for 2hours and then someone walks in, you will notice the beams on the nurse's face as he/she greets the new patient and ushers him/her directly to the doctor without considering those that have been sitting for hours. They could do it because the person is a family, friend, lover or someone that gives gifts or tips. I have witnessed a lady who walked out of a hospital amidst tears because someone who came after her was attended to and no apology or explanation was given to her, even though she looks so much in pain, she swore amidst tears never to visit that particular hospital.

AGGRESSIVE NURSES; I am actually scared of this type of nurses, their tone of voice is always high pitched, you will think that you are their worst enemy, they are so rude and impatient, they can start running test on you without giving you reasons and if you dare to ask, they will spew rude comments to you.

I HATE MY JOB NURSES; Nurses in this category are really a headache to deal with because they do not have passion for the job, they are always tired, running away from task contributing to poor mismanagement of patients, don't be surprised that they don't show patients concern or talk to their relatives rudely for pampering the patients too much.

GOSSIPING NURSES; Gossiping nurses are so common in public hospitals, one would think they have no patients to attend to, it's not their lunch break but in the wards, you will hear their laughter and discussion and there is some patient who could have an attack due to their outburst. This same type of nurse gossips about patients having one illness or another and are not worried if those concerned can hear them.

LAZY AND SLOW NURSES; Have you had a lazy and slow nurse attend to you before? Well I have, they will complain about their pen is too far, they will give excuses to waste your time, they will keep counting the numbers of patients they need to attend to, frowning when the number seems large, some will even stylishly escape from their duties.

POOR CLINICAL NURSES; These are the most dangerous type of nurses, one would think they didn't go to school to study, they handle things in the wrong way, mix up tests, etc. I went for a test and the nurse said she will need my blood, she drew out blood in different places on my skin and then she will say I've not gotten your vein, I had to asked another nurse to help me out seeing that I will soon pass out and the other nurse did it in less than a minute.

Nurses' professional attitudes to patients include a positive attitude, compassionate patient interactions, teamwork with the family of the patient, health workers, and integrity, professional responsibility or sense of duty, etc. If all nurses will exercise these professional attitudes, patients will enjoy a high quality of care and in turn, it will help in their quick recovery.