pts who say "it's ok" and it's not!

Nurses General Nursing

Published

Ok, a pretty vague title, but this is ticking me off. Have a patient who stays on the phone all night and has a roommate who would like to sleep. I know this because I have both patients and it's obvious the non-chatting roommate is tossing and turning, pulling blanket up over head, etc.

So I ask Chatty Cathy if she wouldn't mind wrapping up the phone call (it was 0030, late enough, yes?) because her roommate was trying to sleep. So Miss Chatty says "she's asleep, and she doesn't mind anyway, I asked her earlier". I look over at roommate, who is wide awake, and say "she's not sleeping". I ask roommate, "are you having a hard time sleeping because of the phone conversation?" and Chatty Cathy interrupts "she said it was fine, it isn't bothering her." So I look at roommate, who says "it's not bothering me, it's fine". So Chatty Cathy proceeds to go off on how she always talks QUIETLY (nothing she ever does is quiet) and she was CONSIDERATE of her roommate (another never). Meanwhile, the roommate is again pulling covers up over her ears, while SHAKING HER HEAD that it obviously wasn't the case!

So I have to have Miss Chatty all harumphing that I'm bothering HER about her incessant phone calls, and meanwhile the roomate IS being bugged, but when I tried to intervene on her behalf, she made me look like a PITA. Nice. So much for trying to help....argh.

Incoming calls, yes. Outgoing can happen anytime. After all, they have the right to call OUT, just not have the phone ring at all hours. Besides, people use their cell phones all night, too; sometimes we do have to tell them to get off and shut up but usually don't have the other party in the room pulling the rug out from under us when we're trying to help.

Oh, well...if she's tired in the morning it's not like *I* didn't try!

All phones in patient rooms were turned off where I worked. If someone wanted to call out they can use one at the nurses station, and cell phones that could interfere with telemetry are discouraged. :nuke:

I agree though, private rooms are the best.

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In defense of Chatty Cathy's roomate, she was probably afraid to tell her it wasn't ok to be on the phone all night. If she was a witch to her nurse, imagine how she would treat her roomate when alone.

Oh, I totally get that! But if that's the case, then she should have left me out of the equation altogether, and not left if like I did nothing to get her a quieter situation.

I'm welll aware that people will tell other people "I don't mind, it's fine" no matter what the situation (too many visitors, too late, too loud, etc). But then don't tell ME that it's not fine, and expect me to do something. They don't want the confrontation of course, I understand, but if I'M going to have the confrontation on their behalf, then don't hang me out to dry. That's where my frustration was.

I've definitely had people say "it's ok" to some bozo of a roomate who has too many visitors, etc and I've stepped in to say it's not. Usually goes fine, actually. This one just ticked me off because it wasn't going fine, and the roommate COULD have said "you know, it really WAS fine, but it's getting kinda late for me and I'm just more tired than I thought I'd be. Do you mind staying off the phone for a few hours so I can sleep?"

Oh well.

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You set her up--you didnt mean to of course, but she is polite and didnt want to be made the bad guy by having roommate hang up the phone. So she said it is not bothering her--just to keep the peace.

In the future I would say "Sorry Cathy but you and Nancy need to get your rest, so I need you to make your phone calls tomorrow in the day"

Yeah, I see what you mean. Unfortunately, the patients DO have the right to use the phone, and *I* have no say in stopping them, UNLESS the other patient states that they are disturbed! So I know what you mean by the roomate being "set up" to avoid the confrontation, but I CAN'T help her without her helping me.

I can suggest they stay off the phones to get more rest, I CANNOT insist on it. ESPECIALLY since the offender says "I asked her, and she said it didn't bother her, so what's the problem?"!!

I'd love to say "the problem is the rules say you can't be on the phone half the night, but this is a frequent flier who knows darned well there ARE no such rules, and she DOES have the right to talk, PROVIDED her roommate doesn't object.

And she didn't. Sort of. So that was my frustration, getting hung out when I wanted to help her.

I wish we DID have a "no phones after 11pm except in an emergency" kind of thing. But this PITA probably would declare every call an "emergency" anyway!

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A little off topic, I guess, but...what gets me about the phone usage is people who don't get off when we are in the room trying to provide treatment! They don't think anything of answering and conducting a long conversation while we are trying to listen to their lungs. :angryfire

I've gotten to the point where I just tell them, "I will come back later when you're done on the phone." I won't make other people wait for meds/treatments/etc while someone else has a conversation. If they complain about it later, I just tell them that they can't talk to me and be on the phone at the same time, and since wasn't important enough for them to get off the phone, they went to the bottom of the list after my other patients. Sorry for the hijack...we have mostly private rooms. Though I did get annoyed the other day with a patient who was complaining about the TVs of the other pts being too loud...they weren't. When we suggested she shut her door, she got all huffy. What a nightmare that was!

I'm with you here! I'll stand there for up to thirty seconds; if the pt doesn't make a move to end the call, I'll politely interrupt and ASK them to end it. If they don't, then I say I'll be back later, when I have time. Unless, of course, I CAN'T come back later, in which case I'll just say it has to be done now, please hang up NOW. I must be a tough nut, LOL, because I don't have problems with that!

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Ok, everyone, it seems that the majority here felt I should have insisted that Chatty Cathy get off the phone, and not expected to have the bothered roommate say she would prefer to have it quieter, to sleep.

The majority feel that it was my duty to protect the sleep of the roommate while somehow getting Chatty Cathy off the phone. I like that idea, too, but of course my tight spot was that I was NOT ALLOWED to insist Miss Chatty get off the phone!

Yes, the roommate was probably intimidated by the lout who wouldn't shut up. Agreed. But I can't help her if she won't at the very least SAY "I DID say it was fine, but maybe now we could have it a little quieter?". I'm BOTH their advocates, and the rights of one STOP when they infringe on the rights of others, but I have ZERO leg to stand on if Chatty Cathy claims I'm harrassing her (because the other patient is FINE with the situation). I can't insist it wasn't fine, I am not in the other patient's head! So....I left it alone.

I will continue to ask one pt to get off the phone to make it quieter for the other patient, and most of the time, it works. And when it doesn't, as it didn't here, then I'll walk out of the room. I WILL go to bat for those who need me, but I'm not about to get myself written up for harrassing a patient who insists there isn't a problem.

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All phones in patient rooms were turned off where I worked. If someone wanted to call out they can use one at the nurses station, and cell phones that could interfere with telemetry are discouraged. :nuke:

I agree though, private rooms are the best.

I wish we could still use the line that cell phones could interfere with telemetry. But they don't. (at least, not ours, no problems at all!). So....they can chat 24/7 :down:

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Specializes in ICU/ER.

I agree we have all had patients who know the rules and push them to the very edge--I too have had families of patients make my job extremely difficult to the point I have had to say to them "It is my job to take care of Bill, please let me do my job"

When you said Chatty Cathy is a freq flier that explained it all to me...on the flip side we are not as "customer service" friendly to our frequent fliers, thier complaints and letters to mgmt dont hold as much weight.

Its a no win, your going to tick someone off. I guess I would just rather tick off Chatty Cathy!!!

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I wish we could still use the line that cell phones could interfere with telemetry. But they don't. (at least, not ours, no problems at all!). So....they can chat 24/7 :down:

I kind of wonder if the old signs just weren't removed from the halls also :wink2:

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