'She apologized': Nurse practitioner tries to pull rank and ignores patient warnings from fellow hospital workers, instantly regrets it when patient delivers her karma

Author image for Isabella Penn
Isabella Penn
May 1, 2025 5:00 PM EDT

Nurses have it rough out there. A lot of us can relate to long shifts, short tempers, and even shorter staffing, but nurses have to deal with people on another level that most of us can't even fathom. If you've ever caught an episode of HBO's new show The Pitt, you know exactly what I'm talking about. It really highlights the grim reality that a lot of nurses have to put up with on a daily basis — especially patient meltdowns. Whether they're getting screamed at by a family member or physically dodging a bedpan, The Pitt does a solid job showing just how gritty and thankless the job can be.

But while most nurses are overworked saints just trying to survive their shift, every now and then, you get one who lets their title go straight to their head. And in today's story… well, this nurse had karma coming, and the patient had no problem delivering it.

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  • One thing that’ll never earn you respect in the workplace is acting like you’re better than everyone else just because you’ve got a fancier title, an advanced degree, or a higher paycheck. At the end of the day, everyone’s there to do their part. And if you ignore the experience and insight of your coworkers, well, don’t be surprised when it comes back to slap you in the face (pun fully intended).

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  • Around 15 years ago, I worked as a contract nursing assistant for a hospital. One of my jobs as agency CNA was I had to manage a room called the "restraint free room". Mostly because I was a big, tall dude. But also
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  • because I was agency and the other CNAs HATED it and the full timers had their clique and agency ain't in it. Reason it was called the "restraint free room" is because the facility had strict rules on restraints and only used them as
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  • absolute last resort. Preferring to put them all in a small room with someone watching them and redirecting them. But sometimes, you'd just get someone in there that ped off the nurses.
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  • One night, I got one of these guys. He did not want to wear his CPAP machine. Helps him with sleep apnea and probably. needs it. But he HATES it because it's bulky as h I, the straps sk, and he could not toss and turn in it without waking up. That
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  • plus being stuck in a hospital for two weeksand being stove up drove him nuts. In my training as a CNA, I was always told a patient can deny treatment and go AMA except in certain cases like they are a danger to themselves or
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  • others or they can't make decisions because of some legal or medical condition. Being of somewhat right mind after talking with him, he had the right to not wear the thing or have his concerns about it addressed. I did try to convince him to wear it. It
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  • IS my job. But when he got agitated, I said he had a right to do it and I mentioned I'd have to chart this. He agreed and we were cool. And this should have been the end of it. I chart patient is refusing to wear CPAP, nurse informed. Most
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  • places I had worked, it was no problem. Someone with a higher paygrade can handle it. Or ignore it. No need for a big deal. Then a Nurse Practitioner, the charge nurse, and the floor nurse I was under
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  • enter into the room at like 4 AM and flick lights on. Nurse practitioner is PED. For those unaware of the culture of medicine, think of it like hierarchies of tribes each with it's own hierarchy and shared language. In
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  • nursing, a Nurse Practitioner is only rivaled by an anesthesia nurse, even outranking nurse managers. Almost on par with lesser doctors but not in the doctor tribe. And have enormous autonomy and perks. At the absolute bottom are nursing assistants. While
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  • essential, we are expendable and do the dirtiest work and spend the most time with patients. She starts berating the floor nurse then looking in my direction. "These people" (meaning nursing assistants. ie: ME) "are
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    via Getty Images For Unsplash+

    This image is for illustration only, and the subjects are models; the image does not depict the actual subjects of the story.

  • supposed to make SURE the patient is wearing the CPAP. It's their JOB. And YOUR job to make sure they do this. Are you just sitting here being lazy?" All of this in front of the patient, of course. Along with another poor patient
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  • that just kept falling out of bed, waking him up! "Mam, you are a nurse practitioner with years of experience and education. If you could show me your technique to do this, I'd be much in your debt.
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  • After all, CNA school is only a month long school. Mind?" She grabs the CPAP. Goes over. "Here, Mr Whatever, you need this" and tries to put it on.
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  • SMACK! I think that slap could be heard all the way to the nurses station. The Nurse Practitioner's glasses went flying. And in a flurry of activity, code called and a squad of other CNAs and a nurse with a large dose of
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  • emergency tranquilizer march in. Stab him in the bt, and he is in 5 point restraints and out of my room because, well, no restraints in the "restraint free room" I turn to the Nurse Practitioner after the chaos.
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  • "If one of your RNs wrote non compliant, you would not say they are lazy. You would respect their assessment. Why should this be different for a CNA? When I chart this, I don't do this because I want to lay out. I do it to
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  • inform the proper people while making sure my patient is safe and I am safe. She looked up. still probably seeing stars. Nodded and apologized.
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  • I never had crop from her the rest of my tenure there and even had me help fix a laptop she had with a simple repair. Not all revenge has to be malicious. Sometimes it can be educational.
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  • Imguran Kudos that this turned into a learning lesson for the NP.
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  • Intelligent-Bad-6286 I'm a nurse, a psychiatric nurse at that, so I know firsthand how quickly things can go sideways with certain patients. My motto has
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  • always been: "Trust the CNAs." You are the ones who spend the most time with patients, do the heaviest work, and often know the unit better than anyone else. Yet, the hierarchy in healthcare is broken. Doctors
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  • and nurse practitioners often refuse to listen because they believe their degree makes them superior. Nurses can fall into this mindset too, even though we all know we couldn't do our jobs effectively without the support of CNAs.
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  • This needs to change. Putting your trust in the CNAs can be the difference between having a good shift on a calm floor, and dealing with disgruntled, unruly patients.
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  • When I'm precepting new nurses, I make it a point to emphasize how important it is to trust and listen to their CNAs, because you are our eyes and ears on the floor.
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patient employee satisfying job nurse medicine hospital doctor petty revenge entitled people karma medical workplace sick karen entitled people
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