Tread lightly my friend. Someone once told me that "nurses are the only species who will eat their young to save themselves". They can make or break you. They can have more power than you think.
If the chief nurse if on your side, cool, but I would not as a volunteer engage or go out of your way to make this person totally hate you. Do what you are there to do, let the chief nurse take care of her, and do your best not to make anymore waves than you have.
Trust me, even as an attending I still have my run ins with nurses who totally hate me for no reason. Gotta pick your battles and when they are taking care of your patients, many times it's easier to bend for the sake of the those at their mercy than fight every day.
Just my two cents
OK. I am a RN. Have been one for quite some time. Not all nurse are like this. . .trust me. But those that are. . . watch out! They can make your time there miserable if they want to do so. It's wrong, and it's sucks, and it does more harm then good on the whole of things, but it is what it is. Nurses do eat their young (even though those in higher up places or in administrative ivory towers hate the use of that expression--I feel it's b/c they don't want to deal with the reality of it.), or whoever they feel is a threat somehow. Seriously. Some will get you for being too attractive or charming. Some will get pissed at you for being too smart. Some will get you for being a patient advocate. And some just like to think they are big crap and push others around when they can get away with it. Again, please do not think all nurses are like this.
Unfortunately there can be enough of them to make it feel that way sometimes. Sometimes these people need to be reminded --if the hospital is a teaching facility. Some need to be reminded that we're all supposed to be on the same team. And some don't give a crap about any of that and are more of a PITA than a number of troubling patients. Be sweet and try not to be resentful. Eventually a good portion of them will come around. But jump in when you can, just be careful about it. It's a hard thing to juggle.
Also, there are some nurses that are just super protective of their patients and their level of accountability. Those folks haven't learned to be flexible yet. They may not be total biatches, but they just can't seem to let go of control or being as overly controlling as possible. And some haven't learned that not everything is worth making a big crap over or battling over.
But yes, the nurses do have to protect their patients, and they can be part of the system of checks and balances. Things do get missed. . .more times that people think or want to admit. An astutue and experienced nurse can save the patient's arse and yours, believe it or not. But that doesn't mean they shouldn't take your volunteering and future goals seriously. I think it's a confidence-building thing. Maybe I'm wrong. IDK. Seriously. I just think people have to be groomed and supported in the role they are growing into, rather than undermined or discouraged. But then again, I have a different approach as an adult educator compared with some that are pleased to treat others as children. These folks know little about supportive learning for adults. But I also just realized something. You posted as a pre-med and not a med student. That's even more of a step from outside of things.
Anyway. Good luck, and don't give up. You don't have to kiss arse. Just try to figure out the dynamics--is he or she really worried and being protective over his/her patients--or are there other issues afoot? How can you soften the relationship for the benefit of everyone--win/win?
Final thought that reflects what others implied. OK, if a patient gets worked up, overstimulated, a ton of things, there are times when more people do make the situation worse, even thought those people aren't trying to make it so. Now, who do you think has to deal with calming that patient--especially when they have a boatload of other patients for which they are responsible? The nurse. You yourself said she had half the ED pts. Don't know what that's about, but people that don't work the role of the nurse is such situations really don't realize how overwhelming and demanding the job can be. Being a nurse is worse than playing educated waitress and politician. You have to deal with and please multiple disciplines, families, and patients all at once. It can be a huge pain in the butt job for more reasons that I have time to discuss.
OK, an overly simplified example would be going in and waking up an irritable baby that took a good chunk of time to sooth and get to sleep--and the nurse still has 10 or more pts to deal with--some of them much sicker than the irritable baby--or the irritable baby may end up being a trainwreck straight out of the blue. On top of that, there is a TON of customer service stuff that nurses have to incorporate nowadays. It may often be a good thing, but it can definitely add extra burdens to the nursing staff. Remember, these nurses are not supposed to be glorified nurse's aides. They have to deal with patients on vents, transvenous pacers, traumas, people on vasoactive drips and drugs--there are many things to deal with for many patients--all of which have to be monitored and documented to the standard of care that is demanded.
I don't know if this person was a bully. I DO know that I've worked with a number of nurse bullies. Their approach and attitude suck, and there is no excuse for it. But as long as a nurse has legal and professional responsibility for her/his patients that are within his/her scope of practice, you have to take that seriously. Some volunteers want to be nice and give and do things that are really medically contraindicated for patients as well. There is no way an ED physician can hang with the patients as much as a good nurse can-- that is, when he or she is not overworked or working with poor nurse-to-pt ratios or major crash scenarios. So, the nurse does have a level of protector/advocate--and he or she also has to deal with the patient's problems--and needlessly adding to them, regardless of how inadvertent or well-intentioned, can be a problem--for the pt, the families, other pts, and the nurse/nurses/docs...etc.
Stand back and look at it again from outside yourself. Yes. Maybe that person is a bully, maybe not, or maybe it's some combination of things and factors. I agree with the other person above. The us versus them mentality is almost always counterproductive.
This is from someone lower on the totem pole--but not weak about it. Everyone knows a good structure involves a sturdy foundation.
