How do you deal with explosive customers?

Nurses Relations

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I know you're supposed to remain calm, but that seems to add fuel to the fire...

I'm an RN Nurse Educator who taught a formal customer service program for years. De-escalation is always the name of the game. Here are some concrete suggestions:1. Hear them out. Interrupting, raising your voice or touching them may well increase their agitation. 2. Empathize (you don't have to agree) maybe say "if I were you, I might feel the same way" " I can understand traveling all this way to find your appt. is tomorrow would be very upsetting." It's hard to stay angry when someone is empathizing with you. (try it on a family member. It works.) 3. Apologize (if it is our fault apologize for what we did wrong, if not our fault, apologize that they are upset. "I'm sorry this happened to you". BE SINCERE. 4. Take responsibility for solving the problem. (not giving in, but a solution. Get help if needed. Indignation may just result in you getting hurt. BE SMART. Nurses are being injured and killed at alarming rates all over the USA. Handling difficult persons/situations appropriately will be therapeutic and also improve your customer satisfaction. It can be a jungle out there! LOL Thank you all nurses who take good care!

i guess you won! feel better? i'm talking to the nurse who didn't handle pain management appropriately. sorry but can't agree with your name calling and fist pumping. work is tough and especially if you are working nights and are sleep deprived but heh really?

walk away? wow!

Specializes in ER.

I'm glad I don't have to deal with customers :) I do have to deal with patients and families though. I work in ED so we get our fair share of drunk, drugged, outrageous people. I do what I can to diffuse the situation, but at the first sign of potential violence or it is clear they are only wanting to pick a fight, I call security. We have hospital security and armed PD in the ED at all times, so when we say come, they are there in a matter of seconds! (I am extremely thankful for our security folks!).

I have only had a few people not back down with security arrives, and the times they did not, they found themselves in handcuffs being hauled away. I don't play those games anymore!

Specializes in CCU, SICU, CVSICU, Precepting & Teaching.
i guess you won! feel better? i'm talking to the nurse who didn't handle pain management appropriately. sorry but can't agree with your name calling and fist pumping. work is tough and especially if you are working nights and are sleep deprived but heh really?

i guess you're talking to me.

there was no name calling. and as far as handling pain management appropriately -- there are limits. you cannot medicate someone to the point of not breathing. we had already given toradol, oxycodone and fentanyl and the np was on the phone to the attending to discuss pain management. there was nothing else i could do until i got further orders, and comforting and relaxation techniques really don't work on someone who's determined to throw a tantrum.

nobody "won." i got through a tough night with a nasty patient. he got through the night with a pulse. sometimes that's the best you can do.

Specializes in Paediatrics.

I am very thankful I work in a public system where patients still remain to a point patients/clients not a customer. For me if someone is really angry I tend to listen, apologize (even if no one's fault as it doesn't bother me), ask them what I can do? Can I solve it. If reasonable they've calmed down and we find a solution yay (lol doesn't mean I always like the individual at the end of it though but much easier.)

If still furious (controllably so), I then offer them a 'Have your Say form' basically a complaint/compliment form, speak with them and hopefully it's resolved.

If unreasonably furious/volitile I do my best, but eventually I'll offer them to speak to the Nurse Manger, if scary I tell them "I'm sorry I can't help you while you're yelling it's disrupting the ward. Can we talk calmly so I can understand. Otherwise you'll need to leave the ward" Doesn't work then I ring Security and request help, they can do their wonderful de'esculating/propelling out the door techniques that I cannot manage.

To me each incident is so different and pretty much wince worthy I don't tend to like conflict 'at all'. It's rather intimidating and I have to work on not taking things personally. Generally I'm pretty lucky and the anger is directed at something else, ie. Dr, management plan, patient situation and it's easier but if it's for outrageous pain relief or trying to take a child off the ward who they don't have custody for it's pretty hard not to feel yuck afterwards. A chat to the nurse manager later though normally makes me feel better. XD Debrief people! Well if you're like me helps over me stewing on it at home.

I would say Goosefraba over and over and then I would sing "I feel Pretty" . Ok ok, this movie is on right now, so it is fresh in my head and I am suffering from a lack of sleep.

Depends on the situation..."I'm so sorry.." works in some instances but if I feel I am ( or a co-worker) personally threatened I back off and have someone call for help. Security presence can have a calming effect on lots of people! I know several people that have gotten career ending injuries trying to "diffuse" angry visitors/patients and I have no desire to see that happen again. REmain calm while assessing where the blow up is headed and avoid getting hurt!

Explosive equals a threat to your safety. Follow your protocols to recruit supervisor intervention.Visit nysna.org online petition to combat violence in the workplace

'Walk away?'That would be considered an audacity. We are expected to take the 'beatings' (it's a given- no matter whose fault it is) from our customers, in other words, the people who pay our bills.
Your patients pay their bills?
Specializes in CDI Supervisor; Formerly NICU.
I know you're supposed to remain calm, but that seems to add fuel to the fire...
Diapers.
Specializes in drug seekers and the incurably insane..

I'm with all the posts that illustrate the difference between patient care and customer service. However the "powers that be" do not see it that way. I work in a geri-psych facility with 88 residents and 85 of them are on Medicaid....I see it as that us who are working are paying for them to be there. I realize it sounds elitist and I treat all of them with respect, but it is how I feel. I have no problem with dispelling the myths that the marketing and admissions people tell residents and their families to get them to choose the facility I work at. More often than not, they appreciate the straight-forwardness and honesty. As for defusing hostile customers....depends.....are they visitors or the patient? If they're the patient.....then "calmer-downers" might be in order!

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