Why do patients.....?

Nurses Humor

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It behooves me to understand why do these little old ladies especially...you know the ones,they are the nicest patients ever who got like 100 pills. You take you time pull and verify each pill. Place it neatly into a medicine cup then these nice patients take your medicinal cup then all of a sudden dumb all the pills onto their sheets on their stomach, pills start rolling everywhere and they start taking them one by one by one.....WHYYYYY!!!! :banghead::banghead::banghead:

Specializes in LTC, Rehab.

Another one: why does one resident I have, who looks at you with big wide eyes sometimes, scrunch them shut when you're trying to administer eyedrops, even when he requested them?!?!?

Specializes in Med nurse in med-surg., float, HH, and PDN.
Another one: why does one resident I have, who looks at you with big wide eyes sometimes, scrunch them shut when you're trying to administer eyedrops, even when he requested them?!?!?

My mother did not have to use eyedrops, but one New Year's Eve, per her request, I tried to put mascara on her lashes . . . SIX times! She really tried to keep her eye wide open and look up at the ceiling, but when the mascara wand got close she'd involuntarily squinch her eye closed in spite of herself and of course we were laughing hysterically so she was also crying it off! I said, between further attempts and spasms of laughter, "Don't you EVER ask me to put eye make-up on you again!" And off we went into more gales of laughing. (Maybe you had to be there?)

But back to the patients .... it is always the eye-squinters who are supposed to receive the whole series of eyedrops, and good luck getting it done if they are Alzheimer patients! EGADS!

Right on. Vip my ...

Another one: why does one resident I have, who looks at you with big wide eyes sometimes, scrunch them shut when you're trying to administer eyedrops, even when he requested them?!?!?

A trick I do is pull out the lower lid gently and drop the drops on the little pouch between the lid and the eyeball, then I tell the pt to blink rapidly so the medicine distributes on their eye.

Specializes in Cardio-Pulmonary; Med-Surg; Private Duty.
A trick I do is pull out the lower lid gently and drop the drops on the little pouch between the lid and the eyeball, then I tell the pt to blink rapidly so the medicine distributes on their eye.

For the problem patients, I have them keep their eyes closed entirely -- just relaxed, not scrunched up. Then I drop the med on the medial corner of their eye and have them open the eye. The med falls right in when they open the eye.

Specializes in Hospice.

Why do patients never need to use the bathroom or bedpan until after you have spent 20 minutes trying to get them comfortable. AARRGGHH.

You put all 19 pills in the cup with explanation of what's what and they pick each one out and ask "What is this one for?" Or they'll go, "Where's my little white pill? I have to have my little white pill I've been taking it 20 years!" "Well, maam, there are 12 white pills in the cup. What's it for?" "I don't know and I don't see my little pink one either!"

Oh yeah, we've all seen that. But that's not as bad as someone who has several pills, you get them all out, crush them, put them in pudding or applesauce, and then they refuse.

I love it when there's a couple narcs in there too. And when you ask some to waste with you, it's like pulling teeth!

Oh yeah, we've all seen that. But that's not as bad as someone who has several pills, you get them all out, crush them, put them in pudding or applesauce, and then they refuse.

That just gave me an idea. Maybe put the absolute most important ones in 1 cup, and the others in a separate cup. I have so many times had Residents start to take their crushed pills but wouldn't finish them. So I can give the most important ones first. Especially in the AM med pass when everyone has 20 different pills, 3/4 of them some type of vitamin or supplement. Important, usually. But not AS crucial as that Lasix, for example.

Had a patient years ago, who took 18 & 1/2 pills every 8 AM med pass. She took them one. at. a. time. while I stood at the med cart watching all my patients yet to receive their 8 AM's, walk into the dining room, where pill-passing was verboten. I hated chasing patients around trying to get the pill-push DONE before I had to start the next one! AAARRRGGGHHH!

I'd be like, You madame, get your pills last.

Specializes in LTC, Rehab.

Another annoying thing some patients do is this: you carefully pull several meds - sometimes many - and you know they're all correct. You get to the pt. and they say 'what are all of these for?', or 'what's THIS one?'. You know you didn't make a mistake, and maybe you're sometimes able to say 'Oh, this is the Gabapentin, and this is for your heart, and this is your diuretic, and blah blah', but other times you may not exactly remember what that small round orange one is that they're asking about. It's these moments when we sometimes want to say "Excuse me for just a minute, OK" and then run down the hall screaming "Gaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhh!", with the face of a madman. Then return to the room and say "Hello Ms. Hinkinwaffle - now what was that again?".

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