I have two stories actually, not sure which is worse.
1. I was working the floor, doing crazy OT, switching between this and that shift to help out (doing all three shifts the same week) and I was dead on my feet. Short on patience for the booing and hooing.
Had a woman who was an obvious drug seeker. She couldn't get enough. She tried all the tricks........asking for it right at shift end, waiting for the next nurse to come on and asking for it again.........everything. She put her light on, and when I got there, she proceeded to explain to me that she had called her doctor in NY (I am in PA) and it was OK with him for her to get 4mg dilaudid instead of 2mg and that he ordered a "now" dose also. She then went on to let me know I did not need to call him, she would NEVER lie about such an important thing, and that he was on his way to surgery and would not be available for me to talk to.
I explained to her that I could not take a verbal order from a doctor who does not round at the facility. She got upset, insisted I could, she had seen it done a thousand times. She was convinced the doctor had given me an order, and the only reason I would not respect is was because I didn't believe her and I didn't like her (yes, I made sure I did not deny that I did not like her, I didn't confirm it, but I didn't deny it either). She told me to "Go to Hell."
2. Had a pt. sharing his semi-private room with an older gentleman who had Parkinson's. He was the type always asking for his med early. And yelled and screamed at his nurses to call the doctor and demand more for him. After one such incident with me, I informed him the doctors had left instructions that no calls for pain meds were to be made (and they had......wrote it as an order) and he had to discuss it with them when the rounded.
So, I'm preparing insulin for another pt, different room, and I hear a loud bang from his room. At first I think it is his roomate, who frequently drops his food try onto the floor. As I go towards the room, I see the seeker putting the clock back on the wall then running and laying back in bed.
I go in, ask if everyone is ok and what the bang was.
Pt: "I didn't hear anything, must have been another room. BTW, I have been due my pain meds for 15 min. now and I told you a long time ago I wanted them. So march out there and get them or I will be contacting your supervisor. NOW".
Now, I knew he was not due for awhile. So I look at the clock on the wall. :eek:According to it (I knew right away), he WAS 15 min. past due. Yep, you guessed it. He changed the clock on his wall to make himself due. It now also had a large crack on the face and......well, didn't work at all anymore. Problem for him was, these clocks didn't have the little knob on the outside for you to adjust the time with. You had to open them with a screwdriver to change the time. So, he had to crack it open to do this time change of his.
I gave the clock to my DON, and she was :angryfire. Had him D/C'd an hour later. I never saw her flex her muscles like that before. She even put the clock in his belongings bag. According to her, he had bought it.
