Life as a nurse is not as funny or glamorous as it is on Grey's Anatomy or Scrubs. Ask the unappreciated hospital workers, and they will tell you it requires rigorous medical studies, long hours and not enough pay. Well, they say laughter is the best medicine (ok, nurses don't) so Bored Panda came up with a list of hilarious nurse and medical memes sure to tickle their funny bone.
From dealing with irritable patients or the patients that want to quote WebMD to you; to the unending stress for no money, these new memes are sure to brighten up your 10-minute break at the hospital and show everyone else that you should be a lot nicer to these unsung scrubbed heroes. Scroll down and don't forget to upvote the best memes!
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Some Things Never Change
All of theses are clearly not only for nurses
Load More Replies...It took an hour?! It's usually once I've logged into email, so almost immediately!
This is me as a mother of 2 yo and 4 yo. Every single morning. 😅😅
This is me as a mother of 2 yo and a 4 yo. Every single morning. 😅😅
Nursing has been a respected position longer than you may image. The 1st nursing school was established in India all the way back in 250 B.C. And while woman now dominate this field with only 5.8 percent of U.S males in the field in 2009 the first school only allowed men.
Spy Mode
The photographer took their pictures without getting their agreement and they're thinking about suing him/her
Load More Replies...Long Shifts
Tea break? what's that? is that like the fabled lunch break?
Load More Replies...The resemblance is uncanny. May they both live long lives and may the guy on the right get to play the guy on the left in what could be the best Pope Biographical picture ever...
This is a kids play. I worked 3 months in a row with only 4 days for rest in 2 different jobs. Don't you ever ask me am I crazy I lost 12 kg and sanity. P.s. I'm not a medic or a doctor, but I know the feeling.
Day three - is shattered, but will still try to smile. Some patients really need that.
The first nursing in the United States was the New England Hospital and Children, established in 1862. This was the first time women were admitted to join hospital staff and medical school, with the first nursing degree class graduating in 1873. The school still exists today, known as the Dimock Community Health Center.
What's Sun?
That reminds me of a drama I watched about a vampire who's a surgeon and his struggle not to drink blood. It was amusing
Load More Replies...We have to get revived by something other than coffee! Blood it is! Lololol
Testing Your Limits
Not a nurse, but us IT folks completely understand and share this sentiment with you.
As of 2016 there were 3.2 million professionally active registered nurses in the Unites States, and 19.3 million nurses and midwives as of 2011 according to the World Health Organization's World Health Statistics Report.
The Nurse vs. The Doctor
When we had our baby, he was fussy when it came to feeding. Gave me n my wife quite a scare, we were first time parents and clueless. the doctor just said it will happen. But the nurse, a young sweet lady on night duty was so helpful, she gave us tips n suggestions that really helped. I'll forever be grateful to that nurse.
That's why I always speak to the nurse...they usually have more of a grasp on what is happening...
As a nurse, I respected the doctors that knew to ask us nurses about their patient, before seeing the patient. The fact that they knew we were with them all the time, knew what was going on could only help them and the patient! Our assessments were spot on, and those are the doctors that asked us, what we thought. That showed respect for us and our profession, and made us feel like we mattered. Also, we saw and heard things the doctors didn’t! Patients didn’t tell them everything. Those docs knew this. The others? Swoop in , try and make us look bad, never read the charts or notes we wrote and consequently, were a******s.
In case someone wants to do some "research". https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/people/natalia-poklonskaya
Nurses in the NICU made it so I could leave every day knowing my twins were taken care of so I could go home and spend time with my 2 year old and take a shower and get a few hours of sleep. I never worried for one second that those nurses weren't taking care of them as if they were their own. Nurses took care of my mother as she died slowly from a blood infection that went to her brain. They bathed her and fed her and changed her. Nurses have been kind and caring to me during my last 3 hospital stays, to be honest you rarely see a doctor when hospitalized. Nurses are incredibly overworked and under appreciated.
Nurse Memes
"compliance" is more facetted than yes and no. Actually, the nurses need to cater often for tge doctors' failure on adressing patients' feae and concerns.
Very true - I've had tests where the doctor has announced information AT me and stalked off leaving the nurses to explain it.
Load More Replies...During this pandemic this meme is for anti-maskers. And yet they’ll go to the hospital when they get infected.
The patient has many rights, including the right to decline a treatment that will probably help them.
Even with millions of nurses around the world, there is still a global shortage of people in the profession. They represent 50% of the total shortage in health workers. The countries with the largest need for nurses and midwives are South East Asia and Africa.
Not Stressful At All!
respect to all the nurses out there! I think i can speak for a lot of people and say that we grealty appreciate you and what you do.
They forgot long term care nurses and community nurses, among others
Work vs. Salary
Must be hard staying in a room with smelly kids with the attention span of a goldfish.
Load More Replies...I hope that dude is saving that sharks life and not taking him out of the ocean
And that is the reason for (scrolling up...) ahh: "the total shortage in health workers"
I don't think comparing nurses efforts with abusing a sentient being does the nurses right...
Nursing is physically demanding. Nurses are more likely than construction workers to suffer from a back injuring during their shift. U.S workers in this field suffer the second highest number of non-fatal work-related injuries and the highest incidence of musculoskeletal injuries.
But I Just Did
(Check my daily notes). "Yep. Told you those exact details, 12 minutes ago."
Expectations vs. Reality
my brother's a nurse. the only thing I saw him ever do when he's home was sleep.
During my last hospital stay I had many incredible nurses but the one who stood out to me was an incredibly kind male nurse from Jamaica. He was so warm and friendly and extremely thoughtful. He also told me he had put 7 children through college!
Load More Replies...It all has something to do with the idea that having no clothes on makes you very sexy to a nurse. Wrong ! At a glance , She’s analyzing your neurological and hemodynamics state and has your diagnosis and treatment all planned out.
Nurses may be associated mostly with hospitals, but only 3 out of 5 nurses work in hospitals. Non hospital jobs include: nurse midwife, forensic nurse, nurse educator, school nurse, academic nurse writer, and legal nurse consultant.
Your Turn To Keep Them Alive
Actually it should read, "I kept the ingrates alive, and now I'm going to bed. If you know what's good for you,do call."
I opened my eyes and there were five nurses in my room. One was doing something with the IV and one was on the computer connected to something on me, one was cleaning me up, one was sitting beside me near my head counting and one was by the door near the end of the bed holding a phone on the wall and her hand near a red button. I looked at the other nurse man and asked wah and he said, "There you are". I said where did I go and then they gave me the morphine to stop the pain and I slept till morning with two nurses still by my side. Thank you for saving my life. I had gone into shock or something from the calcium that was fed me by drip so now I had to take it by mouth in very small amounts . How did they know? It was the middle of the night and I was alone when I fell asleep. How did they know I was having a problem and it made the entire floor of nurses to come to my aid. I will always be great full for their know how and what and when. WOW
That's Impossible
The on-shift supervisor does.That's because she's attempting to fill in and coordinate 60 charts in 10 minutes. Doctors' orders.
Load More Replies...Lol. You’re constantly tired, in pain, warm, hungry, thirsty, should go to the bathroom but who’s got the time, a nervous wreck trying to do everything at once while angry bc you slept 2 hours and work for 12 h but you’ve got to smile and be super nice to everyone you meet. And that stethoscope, haha sure it’s been stolen by some other nurse 7 h ago and she’s nowhere to be seen so you have to take the old one from the office from 1995. You also look like a drugged troll, sunken eyes and messy hair. And you don’t even know if you smell like urine or if it’s just stuck in your nose. 😅
Some nurses even work in prisons. In 1976 the Supreme Court ruled that prisoners had a constitutional right to health care - enter the correctional nurse. Just like the hospital this comes with risks, but despite what you think not from the prisoners. Correctional nurse Lorry Schoenly says that, "It's safer to work as a nurse in a prison than a nurse in an emergency room," explaining, "The bad guys wear color-coded clothes." Schoenly even states the patients are more appreciative,"Many of them are so happy to get services behind bars."
Reality Is Different Here
This is the same with reading and book series when you are like following it along waiting for the next book etc. then people who are starting the new series try to have intelligent talks about it and tell you where you are wrong...
This is actually super frustrating about being in nursing school. We're taught specific ways of doing things, and told that it MUST ALWAYS be done like this. Then we go to our clinical sites where it is NEVER done that way.
I don't mean to disrespect anyone with years of experience as a nurse but, surely, as science progresses, some procedures are bound to change. For example, the clitorus is no longer stimulated to "cure" hysteria.
Yep. I always loved it, when the new, 4year degree, BS nurses would Co e in, and we 2 year nurses were the ones training them! The difference is mainly administrative knowledge, and things like that. They don’t get as much time doing actual patient care and problem solving. Yet, the degree gotthem more money. I went in to nursing to take care of people, and help heal them. Not to progress up the power ladder! Never had an interest to be anything else, but a nurse that did direct patient care. Saving lives mattered, not who was who and how much they made, and wanted their job. I just wanted to do the work, and care... saving lives, is a passion, not being a paper pusher.
There is the industry standard (drilled in school), then the corporate (hospital/medical group) expectation, then individual manager (charge nurse/doctor) practice. It is important to know the practices of your work place, and implement them. If anything is outdated or dangerous to the patient, then you need to address that through the proper channels.
Nurse Memes
I badly broke my wrist in a motorcycle accident when I was 24. As I was lying in the trauma ward, the surgical intern, who had probably been on shift for 14+ hours, explained my x-ray by saying "Your knuckles are here. They're supposed to be over here."
That is something that annoys me. The tech knows what things look like, generally, and can give a rough guess as to what things look like instead of us having to wait days for a radiologist to look at it and then contact our personal doc and then for them to contact us(and it's usually the nurse anyways). *sigh*
I had an ultrasound tech tell me I was so impacted with gall stones that she was amazed I was walking and did it without pain meds.
Some nurse once told me if I could move it, it wasn't broken. By the time I got my pinky checked by a doctor, it would have had to be rebroken to have a chance of getting it straight again. Never could play the piano quite right again. But this was in a psychiatric hospital so things might be different.
Got told the same thing so often... They just want you to shut up. They, being parents, neighbours, nurses...
Load More Replies...Weird how this makes me feel more queasy than a blood and gore picture would
I’m betting if you saw an actual picture of the flesh you would change your mind.
Load More Replies...A report from the Journal of Advanced Nursing found that newly licensed nurses work 12-hour shifts, close to half work overtime and more than one in 10 have a second job. And while a 12-hour shift may not seem like a lot to those in the medical community, nurses in Saudi Arabia would disagree. In the Middle East country nurses can unofficially work only 8-hours of their 12-hour shift - sorry patients you're on your own.
I'm Off Duty
No one is a paramedic after 2 beers, either - but some people sure think they have magic healing hands.
This reminds me of me and another nurse-friend I know, at a softball tourney, when someone gets smacked in the head with the ball --- and we've had a beer or two!
Perfectly Fine, Thanks
I've known several nurses who've had kidney and bladder problems due to holding it in too long.
I admit, I vomited on my doctor's shoes. He had the gall to ask me, "And how are WE doing today?" The nurse wasn't that stupid.
Load More Replies...Nursing is backbreaking work that more people need to join according to The World Health Organization who states: For all countries to reach Sustainable Development Goal 3 on health and well-being, the world will need an additional 9 million nurses and midwives by the year 2030.
Just Like In The Movies
HAHAHAHAHAHAH- i never see 3 doctors in one room, unless it's a teaching hospital
One could make a long Bored Panda list on how TV hospitals differ from real ones.
The nurse is the handmaiden (sorry gentlemen) of God aka the doctor.
They Always Know Better
Or "My husband is not in pain. Giving birth to a baby, well thats a pain"
I am trying to get my daughter to start answering her own questions when asked. She stares at me and I tell her she needs to learn to speak up for herself.
I've done this once for my girlfriend only because she wasn't going to say what was going on with her.
Reminds me of a joke about the pain scale from 1 to 10: 1 should be, "Oh, I admit I'm suffering a tad." 10 should be the amount of pain you hope is being inflicted on Hitler's nutsack.
Wives are the worst! They not only know their husband's pain, but also whether they're hungry, thirsty, what they want to eat and drink, when they have to sleep, what they're supposed to wear and to watch on TV.. It goes on and on.. Seriously?! Get yourself a pet!
I’m sure husbands have been the same way as all. But regardless, I can image spouses are the worst. But then again it makes me wonder, why are the husbands not speaking out?
Load More Replies...After an operation I had when I was eight, the nurse said she was going to take off a plaster (which was holding up something in my arm I'm dumb I don't know what it's called) and she started pulling gently. Then my DOCTERESS MUM came over said "NOPE!" and RIPPED it off me!! The pain haunts my dreams sometimes...
Even with all the work hazards, work hours and pay nurses are still appreciated by those they serve. In a 2016 Gallup poll, Americans ranked nurses as the most trustworthy when asked about honesty ethical standards of people in various professions.
In Hopes Of Staying Alive, Stick To Your Diet
Try post CAGS when their family brings in greasy fish and chips for them !
The Google Doctor
Yes because searching the interwebs for half an hour surely outweighs a 10 year study. I'd say let the patient have the treatment he has found on the internet. If it fails; Too bad, so sad, never mind, next patient!.
Sometimes you do find sth! It's about how you talk to your doc about it
Load More Replies...I'm a pretty big anti-antivaxx person, but sometimes the patient does know more than the doctor. Like when I've had a condition twice as long as she's been a doctor, it's supposedly 1 in 100,000. They say the name in Med school and go about the next, more important disease! Even the older neurologists I've seen don't really know much about it. So going in knowing something, most things, about my condition is being a good advocate for myself, and possibly others thatmight have it.
I used to have frequent upper respiratory infections. If it got too bad, I would go to the ER. I would tell them I needed a breathing treatment. They would give me one and treat my other symptoms. One day, a new doctor fussed at me, telling me I didn't know what I needed; I was the patient, he was the doctor; he would decide what I needed. Then he asked what my symptoms were and gave me a breathing treatment. I thought that was very rude, but then I heard his interaction with the next patient. A lady was arguing with him, telling him she didn't want antibiotics for her infection because she had read online that they will build up in your body and kill you. She went on to tell him that she was using essential oils because of an article she read online. He explained why essential oils would not work and if she didn't take the antibiotics, she would probably die. She still argued with him.
Many anti-vaxx bugnuts read stupid sh*t on the Internet about vaccines and autism, or the dangers of vaccines. They think that reading dodgy c**p makes them instant experts.
Know Your Facts
Just in case you were wondering and may not already be aware: both medications contains Paracetamol (aka Acetaminophen).
And for some reason they have added it to the hydrocodone I take daily.
Load More Replies...It's like people who swear they are allergic to MSG while they eat an entire bag of Doritos.
Just to put it out there, they do make a percocet without the tylenol. My mom is prescribed them from her pain management doctor. She can't have tylenol because she has Hep C and tylenol messes with your liver, if you take too much, and having Hep C, which also affects the liver, she don't need the tylenol. I believe the brand name is Roxycodone, which is just the oxycodone.
The Tylenol makes it Percocet. And unless things have changed since I worked in a pharmacy, the name brand Roxycodone wasn't available in Missouri, but oxycodone, the active ingredient in both Roxy and Percocet, is available, and is lovingly called the hill billy heroin because of all of the abuse.
Load More Replies...Sometimes people have an unrelated reaction while on a med, and assume it was the med. They might not be being stupid, just ignorant. I am actually allergic to things and the doctor tries to give it to me anyways. I've had nurses save my life when a doctor insisted I didn't know what I was talking about with my allergies. One nurse in my local hospital yelled at the doctor saying, "She's not lying. I was on duty when she had a reaction to that!" I am so grateful she spoke up for me. I probably wouldn't have died that time, but the reaction is no fun.
I told three people before outpatient surgery that I had a bad reaction to codeine and Tylenol didn't agree with me. So, they sent me home with a prescription for a combo of codeine and Tylenol (I don't remember what it was called). Didn't now until I got home and googled it. Had to go back to hospital for unrelated reason and said I couldn't take what they gave me. They gave me a different prescription. Went home and googled it. It was codeine and aspirin. So, I just took ibuprofen.
I hate it when that happens. You're already sick/unwell and you have to go back to get the right meds. I'm allergic to penicillin. It says on all my charts not to give me penicillin. I go to the pharmacy with my prescription and they ask me why I'm getting such-and-such a medication; it has penicillin in it. Darn-it, doc! My pharmacy calls the doctor and gets them to fax something else over, but then I have to sit there and wait or come back later.
Load More Replies...Easy Breezy
my wife lost a kid when she was pregnante because she was forces to work nightshift. and 2 of her colleague as well.
I'm truly sorry to hear that. Hope you guys are doing fine now.
Load More Replies...Good Luck With That!
If you're dosing patients just to make them easier, you should not be a nurse. My sister is an RN who's received public thanks by her patients, and she's also been known to yell at the Residents who overdo the meds. Haloperidol is NOT a casual drug, it's too damn heavy for reckless use.
Sweetie, this isn't a medical advice article. It's humor. Anyone who knows anything about Haldol knows this.
Load More Replies...Man, I wish they would just go ahead and knock me out when I have to stay overnight at the hospital. I don't want be here, you don't want to be here; just knock me out. Lol.
when i was in the hospital the nurses kept waking me up when I was trying to sleep
I know, right. I went under for surgery one time, about halfway through, there was some kind of complication where they decided it was best to bring me out of it. As soon as I was conscious enough to move, I yelled, "Shut the f**k up, I'm trying to sleep!" I do not remember doing that. But, to be fair, they kept waking me up while I was sleeping before the surgery, so...
Load More Replies...The holy trinity of 'shut the F*** up'. Nighty-nite. This is for the frequent flyers. No, you don't use them casually, for sure...
If I ever knew a nurse is drugging a member if my family without reason, just to make them "easier", there would be hell to pay
Knowing how annoying my family is, I would just nod and say, "I feel ya."
Load More Replies...Double Dare You
I'm glad yours were! We had a patient sail one right through the top part of the nurses station door once. So many tried, but he hit the bullseye's! 🙃
Load More Replies...Question to someone with experience: are psychiatric wards as bad as TV says they are?
Context: I've been suicidal in the past and want to make sure that I don't get myself into a hell of a situation
Load More Replies...Rewarding Moments
This is what got me to go into special education specializing in the emotionally impaired students. I seem to be able to gain a rapport with them while I've been subbing, so I look forward to doing it full time!
Load More Replies...But, wait--is it a GOOD thing if the difficult patient likes you? Or is that saying something about you? [Said in jest. When I get along well with a real asshat, coworkers will joke "takes one to know one".]
That was my speciality. The trick is to LISTEN to them, really listen. And, to reinstill their trust. Most are afraid, but ashamed to show it so they become problem patients. Therefore, nurses avoid dealing with them and don't really want to go into their room to be verbally abused by them. This creates more distrust and more fear. You start with giving them extra attention, answering their call light ASAP, getting their pain meds quickly so they know you care that they hurt, and after a couple or three shifts, they are a whole new person!
The Family Members
Particularly when they want to tell what they learnt from the internet doctor.
And all of them wailing while doing a death watch on a comatose patient. (The collection surrounding the woman next to my mother...)
And a woman is in labor and 20 relatives are in the room yakking it up. Why is this permitted?
Request Time Is Over
Have hospitals print this out and hang them on every wall. So Nurses can point to it, smile and go home.
Me vs. The Patients
I was in the hospital five times last year. It is a running joke between nurses and patients that if you need rest, the last place you will get it is the hospital.
so true, I had a heart attack and my nurse woke me up to tell me my blood pressure is low so don't get out of bed to use the restroom without calling for help...I was 50 plus years old....thank you for waking me up now I have to pee 😂😂😂
Load More Replies...Then there is the running joke that a hospital is no place for a sick person--
I'm a pediatric nurse working the overnight shift, this is so true 😂
Everything Is On Fire All The Time
This meme has lots of colour to it 💗 Lol just realized its a cartoon.
It Sure Is Quiet
NEVER, EVER SAY THE Q WORD!! You just showed everyone your inexperience...
In emergency rooms it's taboo to talk about how quiet things are.
When I first saw this my mind went to "What did you do this time, johnny???"
The look you give as a Paramedic bearing end of shift, decide it's safe to go get a restaurant breakfast and the waitress says "oh it must have been a quiet night if you have time to come in for breakfast" . Go ahead, sit in the truck because here comes that call.
NEVERR SAYYY THEEE QQQQQQQQQQ WORDDDD, EVER!!!! Every one at my work use to no me as the one who hates the Q word lol as nine times out of ten, once that word is spoken especially on a emi unit, all holy hell breaks loose, end that's day and night shifts!
I remember that I once had a class that was often very chaotic, but one day I remember we were all being quiet for once. One of the teachers said "It's very quiet in here.. a little too quiet.".. one of the kids starting banging on the desk.
As one currently stuck in a hospital bed, I can appreciate these memes. I needed a laugh today. :)
Nurse is the job I respect most: those people make some hard work, make our lives better, get to be insulted by terrible patients and still get paid as if they were doing nothing. They must have a true vocation not guided by money. By the way, increase nurses' wages, they deserve it!
Most nurses are truly called to that type of job (the one's I work with) I see some cry with their patients, they truly care about the welfare of others.
Load More Replies...In this post there were originally 119 memes why did they have to get rid of so many??? Like I don’t even care if they’re not funny I want MEMES!!
When the patients thank god instead of the doctor. doctor: That'll be 3,000 dollars for the surgery and also 1,000 dollars for no "thank you"
Nurses work hard. Understood. They are unappreciated and underpaid. True. But why bash doctors?
Don't think anyone is trying to 'bash' doctors. More pointing out the unrealistic portrayal of doctors and nurses on TV. I've been a nurse/midwife for 43 years. I have the utmost respect for doctors. Our jobs are different but compliment each other. But I do laugh when I see how doctors are portrayed on TV. They don't have the time to do all the things they supposedly do on TV in real life, and we nurses don't expect them to either!
Load More Replies...As one currently stuck in a hospital bed, I can appreciate these memes. I needed a laugh today. :)
Nurse is the job I respect most: those people make some hard work, make our lives better, get to be insulted by terrible patients and still get paid as if they were doing nothing. They must have a true vocation not guided by money. By the way, increase nurses' wages, they deserve it!
Most nurses are truly called to that type of job (the one's I work with) I see some cry with their patients, they truly care about the welfare of others.
Load More Replies...In this post there were originally 119 memes why did they have to get rid of so many??? Like I don’t even care if they’re not funny I want MEMES!!
When the patients thank god instead of the doctor. doctor: That'll be 3,000 dollars for the surgery and also 1,000 dollars for no "thank you"
Nurses work hard. Understood. They are unappreciated and underpaid. True. But why bash doctors?
Don't think anyone is trying to 'bash' doctors. More pointing out the unrealistic portrayal of doctors and nurses on TV. I've been a nurse/midwife for 43 years. I have the utmost respect for doctors. Our jobs are different but compliment each other. But I do laugh when I see how doctors are portrayed on TV. They don't have the time to do all the things they supposedly do on TV in real life, and we nurses don't expect them to either!
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