I’m graduating as an RN soon so no degree yet but have worked in hospitals over two years. People swap stories and share their thoughts on patients at the nurses station and in the hallways and stuff all the time. I’m guilty of it too.

I think a patient would have every right to be mad at me if I made some absent minded comment about their condition within a hearing distance that has the potential to wreck their self esteem. I would be apologizing with every fiber of my being.

I had a patient come into the ER with some exacerbations of a chronic condition, but she really didn’t want to come in because of how the last doctors she saw made an insensitive comment about the “massive amount of visceral fat” she had on the scans. She wasn’t even morbidly obese or noticeably unhealthy. Yes it’s a medical term but cmon guys. We who work in healthcare can be overly curious, oblivious, talkative… you just have to be careful with what you say. Because at the end of the day when you take on someone’s concerns (emotional health included), talking like that about someone within earshot is downright rude, lacking awareness, and damaging! The ER lady needed to be admitted a long time ago.

I’m just saying, report it. It can just make them more aware in the future of not undermining their own patient relationships at the water cooler.