Nurses…The Cannibals of the Medical Field?

Recently, I had the pleasure of attending a class required of my profession.  It was a refresher of sorts, specifically focused on the heart.  How it works, it's specific rhythms, and most importantly, what to do when things get a little out of whack.

As a med-surg nurse (meaning that I don't take care of kids, babies, ICU patients, or emergency room patients) there are situations that I encounter on a daily basis, there are situations that I encounter every and now and then, and then there are those situations that I've been trained about but have never actually encountered.  I have to be trained on basically everything in the event of "what if."  So refreshers are great…they remind me of what I already know and have maybe become complacent about, and they also remind me that things can take a turn when caring for a patient, and it's my responsibility to know what to do.

So I'm in my class, and we're discussing a situation that is common in the ICU setting, but isn't common on the med-surg units.  In fact, the situation we're discussing is one that I've never seen or been a part of in all my 12 years of working in the hospital.  It's not that it doesn't happen, it's just that the patients are either already in the ICU, or it happens on my days off (dodged the bullet).  So, having never been in this particular situation, I asked a question.  I was answered, rather condescendingly, not by the instructor of the class, but by a fellow nurse taking the class.  I instantly bristled.  How am I supposed to know the in's and out's of a situation that I have never encountered?  I don't work in the ICU, so I shouldn't be expected to know what an ICU nurse knows.  And I shouldn't be treated as less intelligent because my knowledge base is different.  Although my question may have sounded stupid to someone who encounters this situation quite frequently, I thought it was a legit question coming from someone who doesn't.  I myself, am far from stupid.  And honestly, I think the stupid nurses are the ones who don't ask questions, the ones who think they know all the answers.  Actually, stupid isn't quite the word I'm looking for…more like dangerous.