Im not a nurse (yet), but I work as a phlebotomist, and I only have about 3 weeks TOTAL experience working in a hospital. Im 24/m and I look 16 ( in the face and in the body 6'0'’ 150 lbs) and it seems that I am having trouble having P.T’s treating me like an adult and not someone who is out of H.S. I really do believe its because I look so young so its not really all their fault for that I guess. Anyways today I had a STAT C.B. for a P.T. that was about to be discharge, but he started spiking a fever so the STAT was ordered. The guy was prob 6'5'’ 300lb football player looking guy and just seeing him scared me to death lol. As I was drawing him he told me " if you miss my vein im going to sue you little boy" ( he did this in a cruel way not a playful way) I immediately stopped the procedure ( and I did miss his vein, but he didnt know that) and told him "if you threaten me like that again I will stop this procedure all together, and this will cause you to stay longer because I will not draw you, and will alert your nurse about this incidents" I said this as politely as I could ( but I was visibly shaken I am not a confrontational person at all by nature) he then SCREAMED "F*** Y** you skinny rail mother ****** ill sue you’re a** off b****" I said nothing just took my gear and left told the nurse that I refuse to draw this guy ( it was a STAT so I was ticked off that I had to make the doctor wait, but im not drawing someone like that) It basically ruined my day , but is that the best way for me to handle that? Any advise from nurses who have experience with difficult P.T.’s would help me a lot. Thanks.
******************************************UPDATE 8/16/06******************************************
First I want to thank all of you that have responded to my question the advise is valuable. Today 8/16/06 I was called for another STAT draw on a pt who was a drug user. ( I did not know that until AFTER what im about to say happened) The pt was down in CDU laying in one of the beds in a bay. He seemed to be totally aware that i was there to draw blood on him. So as i go to tie the tunicate on him I was about 6 inches from his arm when he SWINGS at me with his free arm..not once but 2x. He missed both times but i had to pull some rocky moves to dodge both swings ( thank god im flexible lol) He then tried to run out of CDU until half of the nursing stuff jumped on him. I almost feel like im more a cop then a healthcare worker at this point. I was really kind of teed that no one informed me this guy was a massive drug user and could be dangerous until AFTER this happened ( BUT its my fult as well as i should NEVER let my guard down). But this is only my 1st month working in a hospital environment so i really am ignorant to the dangers i guess. Anyway I thought this would be an interesting follow up to my first part of the post. I think I need to join the police academy before i go into any more rooms lol.