I just wanted to SCREAM

[EGVnurse]

I'm a pretty nice person. When I'm abused/insulted by patients, whether I am in the wrong or not, I apologize and try to make everything better for them. I hate being disliked. I hate having unhappy patients. I want things to run smoothly during my shift.

But this crap really made me angry.

As nurses we put up with a lot of crap. And I can usually suck it up. But this patient made me want to SCREAM...

So it's the beginning of my night shift. I'm getting report on my five patients. Room 8 is Spanish-speaking only and he's in pain. Room 16 is fine but he started having cardiac issues yesterday so he's always worrying me no matter what. Room 1 is Spanish-speaking only and he is supposed to be discharged home... but we have a new EMR system and I can't figure out how to get his discharge instructions in Spanish (thank goodness for that interpreter phone...although it takes a long time to get a hold of someone). And then Room 10 is a new admission who just arrived from the PACU.

Okay. I can do this. I know who to see first and what steps I can take to get everything back under control. No one is unstable or critical or dying. I'm trying to get eyes on everyone and apologizing for the craziness of change of shift, assuring everyone I will get to them, assess them, get them all settled as soon as I possibly can.

Around 8 PM I walk into the doorway of Room 10, my new admission from the PACU who has had a total hip replacement, to apologize for my delay. The day nurse who had gotten vital signs on him upon his arrival had assured me he had no pain, he had an epidural, he was comfortable and he had no needs or issues.

I don't even set two feet in the doorway before I get my head bitten off by this man. He's not yelling but he's talking down to me, wiping the warm smile right off my face.

His complaint: He tells me he has not had an SCD (sequential compression device) on his legs for the past five hours. And with his type of surgery, he tells me, that he is at an extremely high risk for blood clots.

"Sir I am an orthopedic nurse...I am aware of that." I take care of joint replacement patients ALL THE TIME. I explain to him that I just came onto shift, I wasn't aware that he was without a SCD machine and please forgive me but I have four other sick patients that I have been taking care of.

What I want to say is... IT IS AN SCD MACHINE! A FREAKING SCD MACHINE! Do I think SCD machines are important for ortho joint replacement patients? Absolutely. Mechanical DVT-prophylaxis is important in addition to pharmacological prophylaxis... I've taken care of patients with PE's and DVT's before. It sucks.

But do you need to threaten to call Patient Advocacy because we haven't gotten a machine for you yet?!?! NO! I just met you! And frankly your SCD machine is the LAST THING ON MY MIND RIGHT ABOUT NOW, SIR. I'm more worried about looking at that epidural in your back delivering a high risk medication and making sure it's in in the right place and programmed with the right settings! AND based on the SCD sleeves on your legs...are you even certain you didn't have one on in the PACU?!

Are you freaking kidding me?!

I try to diffuse the situation but I'm so angry, he and his family can tell because they instantly feel bad that I've become the punching bag. I try my best to hide it because I've never raised my voice at a patient. But I was furious. I was NOT furious at the request. Getting an SCD machine is simple; I can order one and wait for the ortho tech to bring it...which my patient didn't want...or I can go to the dirty utility room and grab a used one, bleach it and bring it straight away. So I do the latter. Immediately. Because he perceived it as life-threatening. What made me furious was the way I had been approached about it, the way I had been spoken to and the way he had threatened me.

The best part is that after the whole SCD machine debacle (which took me ONE MINUTE to obtain for him)...after this patient's crusade against blood clots (turns out he was a physician)...I noticed that the orthopedic resident hadn't written the patient an order for coumadin, which we usually start on the day of surgery. So I spent the next 4-5 hours tracking down the doctor to put the order in the computer, talking to pharmacy about why they weren't processing the order (no INR lab result), calling the doctor again because I needed an order to draw an INR, and finally administering the medication to him around 2AM. There! HAPPY?!

While the patient did apologize for his behavior, I was still disgusted by the way I had been treated. Abuse of nurses really sucks. I empathize with patient's stress levels, I do...I know you're scared in the hospital... but that was just uncalled for. Goodness.

Okay, that's the end of my rant. Thank you for listening!

[HappyWife77, BSN, RN]

We had a doc once who demanded his chart so he could write his own orders...lol. LOL :bookworm:

[Pangea Reunited, ASN, RN]

Wow. I was thinking that you'd overreacted a bit until I got to the "he's a physician" part. All the excuses I'd been making for this patient flew right out the window when I read that!

Luckily, the few doctors I've had as patients have been charming.

[DoeRN]

Just a simple "I am trying to help you, please do not speak to me in that tone" with a certain, unwavering stare usually does it. I don't particularly even care if they report me to whoever they think will support them for abusing me. Luckily people where I work do not enable people like that.[/quote']

We must be related. I am the EXACT same way. I won't tolerate being disrespected. If someone is yelling at me I tell them in a normal voice I will not continue this conversation unless you talk to me in a normal voice. If you continue to yell at me then I am walking away. And I do exactly that. Walk away. I don't get paid enough to be abused. Even if I did get paid a large sum I still wouldn't tolerate it.

And I want to tell people you know you shouldn't be mean to the person who gives you pain medicine. Disclaimer I don't withhold meds from patients.

Sent from my iPhone using allnurses.com

[Been there,done that, ASN, RN]

God forbid he did his own mechanical dvt prophylaxis (Burger's exercise) , until the overworked nurse could find a machine!

Did you offer a pedicure?

[OCNRN63, RN]

Haha C'MON MAN. Really?

I've had two doctors for patients and I didn't like either of them. I've had several nurses as patients and they're usually so awesome haha. Nurse family members of my patients, however, can be a different story...

I'm not going to laugh, tell you to keep your chin up because the sun will come out tomorrow, or any of those other platitudes people spout in situations like yours.

I am going to say that I am so sorry that you were abused. It was uncalled for. He was an adult who should have known better.

I can totally sympathize with how you were feeling. I actually got a sick feeling in the pit of my stomach, because I've had it happen to me.

I'm so sorry for what you went through. That's the best I can offer you, that and a ((HUG)).

[NurseOnAMotorcycle, ASN, RN]

Doctors are really the worst. Whenever I get them I end up wishing I could hand them their own chart and write their own darn orders!! Had one that wanted nausea medication. Called and got a reglan order. Pt said "can't I have zofran?" Ok, so call again. Get a zofran order. "Is it IV?" Yes. "Can I get it PO?" Call again, Etc...

Ugh.

[blondy2061h, MSN, RN]

We had a doc once who demanded his chart so he could write his own orders...lol. LOL :bookworm:

One of our head surgeons was a patient for a long time on my unit. I made the mistake of telling him one of the sutures pulled out on his central line. He told me to bring him a mirror and what kind of suture he wanted, "I don't even need any lidocaine." I was like, oh heck to the no.

[MunoRN, RN]

I'm probably sealing my fate as the odd man out, but I don't see the hub-bub. The patient didn't "yell", and as far as I can tell the problem was that he correctly pointed out something that needed to be done to protect his own safety, something I encourage in patients. If you want to interpret being told something you already know as "talking down" to you that's fine but I don't think that's the patient's fault. Patients just coming out of surgery typically aren't all warm and fuzzy with their interactions and I don't expect them to be, just don't be abusive which this really doesn't seem to be.

He's not yelling but he's talking down to me, wiping the warm smile right off my face.

His complaint: He tells me he has not had an SCD (sequential compression device) on his legs for the past five hours. And with his type of surgery, he tells me, that he is at an extremely high risk for blood clots.

[musaRN]

I can totally empathize with you. I had same situation yesterday. The patient was screaming at me because wound care nurse came to clean wound on his toe. She told him that the wound is not looking good at all and "looked worried". When she left (without telling me what she saw) he called me to tell me that he wants to know that is going on with his leg and if I don't figure it out he will leave for another hospital. Not to mention that the family was there too and adding on anxiety with cursing. I had to stand there and take it for wound care nurse and the MD. Sucks to be nurse sometimes.

[Spidey's mom, ADN, BSN, RN]

I'm probably sealing my fate as the odd man out, but I don't see the hub-bub. The patient didn't "yell", and as far as I can tell the problem was that he correctly pointed out something that needed to be done to protect his own safety, something I encourage in patients. If you want to interpret being told something you already know as "talking down" to you that's fine but I don't think that's the patient's fault. Patients just coming out of surgery typically aren't all warm and fuzzy with their interactions and I don't expect them to be, just don't be abusive which this really doesn't seem to be.

I thought the same thing when I read the OP's post. It was a reasonable question, folks are not typically themselves after anesthesia, many times they don't even remember the first day after surgery.

[Mulan]

Well, none of us were there, but I can just imagine the condescending tone.

[proud nurse, BSN, RN]

LMAO @ the OP!! It's bad when you really like your job and what you do, then some patient being a complete jerk comes along and ruins your day. I had a patient last month that told me off at the top of her lungs in Spanish. At least tell me off in english so I can defend myself, lol.