verbal abuse from patient

[big bang theory]

There is a patient who has been verbally abusive, uncooperative and with lots of complaints.

(He is orientated and with no history of mental illness!)

He has so many odd requests and complaints that sometimes they disturb nursing routines.

As he is having IVABs 4 hourly, I flushed his line with 10mls of saline before the IVABs as charted. And obviously he did not like it. He started yelling, "Hey, it's 5mls!" I politely explained that I was following the order. And another nurse who was with me also told him the same thing. Later, I clarified the order and corrected it to 5mls as the patient wanted.

4 hours later, I went into the patient's room to do the IVABs again. He said, "let me tell you something. You do what I tell you to, bloody monkey. When I say stop, you stop, bloody monkey!" I left the room and another nurse took over.

Beside all of his unrespectful behavior toward nursing staff, calling me a monkey (FYI, I am asian) is personal and against race.

I would like to take this to the next level. (I already let the management know)

If anybody knows what is the procedure, please advise me.

Thanks for reading.

[justashooter]

sorry to hear you were so insulted by the simian reference, but then, we are all simians. yes? most of us have worked in places where we were verbally abused by clients or management at one time or another. it's hard to deal with, but a part of life.

as for your asian ancestry, well, that could be a trigger for this particular client. over 2 million US servicemen did time in viet nam, and over a million were in korea. most of them have negative impressions of asian people, in general, and many of them are at that stage in life in which they find themselves in the medical care system.

having lived for many years in asian culture as a caucasian, even marrying into a chinese family, i have learned to see asians as individuals, but this is something not all people have insight and experience to do. even so, i do not enjoy being called "meiguo gui zi", but i've heard it many times. similarly, i would not enjoy being called "kano" in the phillipines, considering the connotations of the word.

in your circumstance, with a signigifcant power differential dynamic at play, you need to take control of the situation without abusing your status. remember, you are the one who gets to go home every night (depending on shift). your client is tethered to a bed in a foreign environment over which he has no control. his actions could be seen as normal, in a certain light.

[GHGoonette, BSN, RN]

Interesting to read some of the responses. Probably the wisest is to ignore it, let it run off your back like so much water and request that another nurse be assigned to this patient. Racism is based on ignorance, and once people get past a certain age, it's very difficult to re-educate them.

For your own interest, such remarks would be regarded in South Africa as "hate speech," which is a criminal offense...

[indigonurse]

Just because someone is a patient does not mean they are above the law. You can always follow your chain of command and start reporting it. On the lowest level someone could inform the pt. that the behavior will not be tolerated and let them know what the consequences will be if it continues. I would think that the consequences would be to call the police, or transfer him to another setting.

[nuangel1, BSN, RN]

i woulnd not change my nursing practice for anyone.and i would not tolerate his comments. i would tell him it is annapropriate and walk out.then i would document all.i would also inform my manager .if it happened again he would be taken care of himself.

[Batman25]

Put the incident in writing to your manager. If you are going to still be treating him make sure you have a witness every time you go into the room. If management doesn't like it tell them you won't treat him then. Let them know you don't feel safe going in alone and feel he represents a liability to you and the hospital. If they fear a lawsuit and losing a buck that can change things around in a jiffy.

Also, don't take what some mean and ignorant patient says to heart. They are a crotchety patient with control issues. And we don't change safe practice to suit patients. That's letting the inmates run the asylum. Don't do it.

[nursesaurus]

can i just say that i love your screenname :redpinkhe:yeah:

[OCNRN63, RN]

sorry to hear you were so insulted by the simian reference, but then, we are all simians. yes? most of us have worked in places where we were verbally abused by clients or management at one time or another. it's hard to deal with, but a part of life.

as for your asian ancestry, well, that could be a trigger for this particular client. over 2 million US servicemen did time in viet nam, and over a million were in korea. most of them have negative impressions of asian people, in general, and many of them are at that stage in life in which they find themselves in the medical care system.

having lived for many years in asian culture as a caucasian, even marrying into a chinese family, i have learned to see asians as individuals, but this is something not all people have insight and experience to do. even so, i do not enjoy being called "meiguo gui zi", but i've heard it many times. similarly, i would not enjoy being called "kano" in the phillipines, considering the connotations of the word.

in your circumstance, with a signigifcant power differential dynamic at play, you need to take control of the situation without abusing your status. remember, you are the one who gets to go home every night (depending on shift). your client is tethered to a bed in a foreign environment over which he has no control. his actions could be seen as normal, in a certain light.

You have "learned to see asians as individuals"? Wow. This post? Speechless.

[OCNRN63, RN]

OP, you do not need to be abused like that. Write up an incident report and let your manager know you will not care for this patient due to his abusive behavior toward you. Just because we are nurses does not mean we surrendered our civil rights when we got our licenses.

[P-medic2RN]

Is this a long term care facility. I agree just turn it back on him. Don't sweat the small stuff.

[Lizzie Clayre]

I work in a SNF, and had to send out a pt for suicidal ideation... The situation went from bad to worse. Over the last three months his verbal abuse of staff has exploded. The threat of harm was credible to the staff and the other supervisor and I. (This happened on change of shift from 2nd to 3rd). We went thru proper channels from the medical director, psych to the DNS. Everyone agreed. Send them out... Previously the other sup and I were favorite nurses... The cops were no help and the father became verbally abusive and threatening too... At 2 a we got him transferred.. Pt denied the statements, and is trying to throw me under the bus, accusing me of abuse, inappropriate conversations, physical and mental harm. The administration and staff know the history... And they are trying to find a place to transfer to. I am confident I did the right thing, but am afraid the pt will ruin my life, and I don't have half as much resources as the family... What should I do? SOMEONE PLEASE HELP!!!!