Ever have a patient complain about you?

Nurses Relations

Published

I recently had a patient that asked to speak to the manager about me. She also requested a different nurse to take care of her. Don't want to post the details because of privacy issues. I wish I could. Nothing serious at all, which really bothers me. I always try my hardest to do the best for all my patients, I really feel awful about the situation.

How are patient complaints about staff handled at your facility? I hate worrying about whether or not I'll lose my job over it. My facility always thinks the patient is right.

I had a complaint a few months ago because I had a pt that refused to use the commode or ambulate to the bathroom,claiming she was too weak. She also wouldn't reposition herself in bed, feed herself, etc. but when it came to sneaking the extra Percocet she had stashed in her purse, in the closet, she was fine to be independent. She was to be discharged the following day and I asked her how she would manage at home if she couldn't even turn in the bed. I also informed her that I was going to consult social work and see what the options were for rehab.

By the time her daughter got involved (momma called her post haste) and my manager got a hold of me the story had changed that I went in the room and yelled at the pt to get her a$$ out of the bed or she would be put in a nursing home.

Any defending of myself made it sound like I was making excuses. My manager even said when he saw my name on a pt complaint he thought it had to be a mistake, but he wanted to get my side before he called to apologize. Obviously, he knew that was not the scenario and him apologizing for my behavior would have been as good as an admission of guilt to this pt's daughter.

So I didn't even try to defend it and let it roll off my back. That complaint didn't even come up in my yearly eval.

I feel like most complaints arise out of one single solitary thing that happens or a simple misunderstanding, the patient (or usually the family member) puts a target on your back and a chip on their own shoulder, and then they pick apart and look for mistakes or things to interpret negatively from that moment on out. Sometimes something as simple as changing the care giver can diffuse the situation and resolve the issues. I generally don't take complaints seriously because its been my experience they are largely related to misinterpretations. For example, I entered a patient room and there was a CNA filling out a rounding sheet on the back of the door, I wasnt aware she was there. The door hit her shoes (which were hard) and we both had a giggle and I apologized and went on about the shift. The next day the patient complained that the PCT had a bad attitude and must of been having a "bad night" because she got so frustrated that she kicked the door.

Specializes in Pedi.

I have one that I know is going to complain about me soon... she's mad because she agreed to a visit at 11am today and I came at 11am. She doesn't like that her life is disrupted because her child is sick and doesn't feel that she should have to prioritize her child's care over the things that she wants to do.

1 Votes
Specializes in Med/Surg, Academics.

Yeah, I was "fired" by a patient once. I can't even remember what it was about exactly. It happens.

Yes, it happens quite often with patients nowadays. If a patient doesn't want you as their nurse for whatever reason, they are doing you a favor. Why waste the entire shift dealing with a patient who does not even like you or has "issues" with you. Don't lose any sleep over it. Now, if the patient is some VIP then you might have to deal with being written up for not upholding the hospitals standards of customer service or standards of excellence.

Specializes in Medical Surgical.

Lol Jedi mind tricks "Roll, will you not, vein". Haha:p

Specializes in ortho, hospice volunteer, psych,.

I had a complaint that was absolutely ridiculous and the crazy thing is that if I had done what the teen's mom said I should have done, she'd have complained about that too!

I worked in a state psych hospital and our policy was not to speak to either patients or family members outside the hospital, unless they spoke first. I saw both mom and child in the grocery store and neither one spoke or really looked at me. I didn't speak either.

When I went to work the next time, my supervisor told me about the complaint and said not to worry about it. She had TRIED to explain to mom why I hadn't spoken, but to no avail. I had SNUBBED them!

Oh well, sometimes you try, sometimes you do everything according to the rules but it still isn't enough.

Specializes in Float Pool-Med-Surg, Telemetry, IMCU.

My patient told the charge nurse that I lacked empathy because I refused to give her 2 different benzos, a hefty dose of narcotics, and a muscle relaxer all at the same time. I always medicate pain appropriately but when a patient requests to be "knocked out", I draw the line. I explained about the appropriate use of these medications and why it was unsafe to give them all at once and now I have to deal with management over this. I hate nursing right now.

Specializes in Acute Care - Adult, Med Surg, Neuro.
My patient told the charge nurse that I lacked empathy because I refused to give her 2 different benzos, a hefty dose of narcotics, and a muscle relaxer all at the same time. I always medicate pain appropriately but when a patient requests to be "knocked out", I draw the line. I explained about the appropriate use of these medications and why it was unsafe to give them all at once and now I have to deal with management over this. I hate nursing right now.

Stick to your guns, I would rather that then have snowed a patient (see my past post).

I had a patient complain about me making her wash hers hands. She needed help to the bathroom and she would grab ahold of your arm to steady herself. We were sending stool samples down to test for c-diff because she was having diarrhea. I helped her to the bathroom and turned on the water so she could wash her hands. I didn't say anything to her she just washed them. I helped her back to the bed. She said no one else made her wash her hands and she said I made her feel like she was dirty by turning on the water after she had her bm.

Oh and yeah she came back positive for c-diff. I didn't loose any sleep over that one. My manger laughed the whole time she was telling me about it. But the floor manager was upset about the situation (I'm a floater). Write me up for helping to stop the spread of c-diff to all the patients on your floor. Boy I wanted to say this to that manager the next time I saw her.

Sent from my iPhone using allnurses.com

It happens. The fact that customer service is pushed so much makes it stressful. Once, the daughter of a patient complained about me within a few minutes of meeting me. I was admitting the patient, she weighed almost 400 lbs. I was one of four people that slid her into the bed. I did a skin assessment and put SCDs on her. The daughter complained I was being too rough. I apologized and said I was being as gentle as possible but it required a certain amount of force to move her extremities because of her weight. Then the daughter was offended that I mentioned her weight.

Yesterday, I had to work on day shift which I'm not familiar with the flow with. But I sucked in and did (management called me for extra help). One of my patients was NPO from previous night and MR forgot to change his diet to xx diet. I made my even hour rounds, and he did not say anything. During lunch time, my PCT told me if his diet has been changed to NPO. I told her his diet is xx diet since this morning, and I asked her what happened. PCT told me that she cannot find his tray in the dietary's cart, and I went straight to the dietary and asked her if she can verify one more time. she said she does not have any record of his diet in her planner, and I checked with my medical receptionist about pt's diet order. Obviously pt's diet was not converted back to the xx diet from NPO since this morning. My patient and pt's mother was ****** off at me because I starved his son (mostly pt mother). I apologized to them, but I was not aware of that pt did not receive his tray. When I gave his 8am meds (tray is giving out at 7:30am). pt did not say anything about his tray or being hungry. I did not get any report about PCT that pt missed his breakfast tray. His mother started to dissing me while I gave his lunch time medicine and kept calling me to see his son regarding-helping him using his urinal or bring him some crackers..ect.

I was mad at them because I had millions more things to do than helping his ADL needs. I told them to call PCT, but PCT would call me back and tell me that they need ME. I went to the room, and asked my PCT to bring the crackers and some soups until the dinner trays to come in. His mother increased her tone of voice even more when the dietary personnel brought the dinner tray WHICH I PERSONALLY DELIVERED TO THEM. She started to point fingers at me about the menu which was the xx diet that had the red meats and green beans on. He flipped out and his mother flipped out because they are on the blood thinner, thus they cannot consume NONE OF THOSE THINGS. I told him that MD ordered you to have the cardiac diet, and I cannot change his tray at this minute. I hurried to call MD about this matter and MD gave me an order to add the vit K diet. MD said that it is okay to consume small serving of the green beans and redmeat (ground beef on the pasta). she rather has him eating something than starving him unless his mother brings something from outside.

The cardiologist came by (or maybe his mother summoned him) and spoke with them, and he came to the nursing station and ask for me. He looked very irritated because pt mother would not stop complaining about the menu and me left her son starving whole day. Even cardiologist told pt and his mother that it is okay to eat WHATEVER he wants, but it did not work. MD left me with some burden of persuading pt mother about feeding him, so I went back to the room with the reference regarding the low vit k. She refused to give his son the tray (even though the pt himself told me that he would eat it), and told PCT to take the tray away. Even though my PCT told me not to worry about her complaining because we did what MD order us to do, and pt and pt's mother refused to take the tray. I still felt bad.

I don't know if she made a complaint towards me after I left that day, but I will be looking forward to hearing from someone pretty soon. So that I know that checking pt's tray and picking pt's tray is in my job description for sure.

+ Add a Comment