]I've only been a nurse for 3 years, but I'm afraid I am completely burned out. I find myself wanting to do a public service announcement on how to be a good patient. I am sick to death of patients and patient's families complaining that daddy had to wait 20 minutes for a cup of coffee while I've been in the middle of a code. I'm sick of seeing family memebers out in the hall giving me the "stare down" like when am I going to come in their room (half the time it's not even my patient). Had a daughter of a patient the other day (an RN at that) and wanted to know why daddy didn't get shaved today. Well, lets see...we were working 3 nurses short, I had been there for 16 hours and I had 3 very critical patients that were very time consuming. You just don't always have time to do everything. I actually had one man blast me as soon as I hit the door about how he had been waiting 30 minutes for a cup of coffee. I explained to him that I had been in a code down the hall. He didn't care. I asked him if he were in a crisis situation would he want me stopping to get someone else a cup of coffee before coming to his aid? Family memebers want ot sit by the bedside and pester the crap out of the nurses and patients 24 hr a day, but God forbid they actually lift a finger to help their loved ones get a drink of water of get on to a bed pan. I often feel more like I'm working in a 5 star hotel rather than a hospital. Am I the only one who feels this way? :smackingf