There have been so many nursing vent threads that patients have come to chat on. I'd be interested in hearing the opinions from the other side of the stretcher. Let's try to be constructive, us nurses can be very sensitive
Compliments are welcome too!
I'll start. It drives me nuts when people go into a room to do an assessment or procedure and the curtain isn't pulled. I don't care if they're just stitching a finger, not everyone wants to walk by and see that stuff. Physical exams might not reveal naughty bits, but I don't imagine showing off your naked abdomen is what you signed up for in triage. Closed curtains are just common respect.
Even worse- people that feel they have a right to stick their head behind a closed curtain without warning. You may have seen it all before, but just speak up and ask before coming in.
I'm not sure a 'vent thread for patients' is necessary. just my opinion though.
I think everyone knows what we can do better. In a perfect hospital, with small ratios, good equipment, collaborative environment etc. We'd all be the best nurses possible.
Specializes in Critical Care; Cardiac; Professional Development.
When my son was il (AML and eventual BMT)l, I was tremendously grateful for the nurses who acknowledged he had Asperger's Syndrome, came to me to ask about how to make things easier on him and get my recommendations and then who respected the limitations that health condition put on him re: having an arm band on (he could not tolerate the feel of it against his skin), who understood he wasn't going to look at them when they talked to him but it didn't mean he wasn't listening, and those who understood that as worried parents, we wanted to provide as much care for him as possible ourselves and minimize the impact of the hospitalization on him however we could.
I also appreciated those nurses who were organized enough to cluster care at night, who would turn on the bathroom light to do meds/fluids during the night instead of the overhead and who understood the incredible stress and strain we were under. We were there for months on end, still trying to work at least part time, etc. Sleep was the only time the stress lifted and only came in three to four hour bursts.
Recently I went the Dr. with Pink Eye. The Dr. didn't was his hands or anything and ...NO LIE...Touched my eye area with his bare hand!!! Ewwww. I hope he washed before he went to the next patient.
I've been a nurse 20 years now, three weeks ago I had major surgery.
MostHorrible experience of my life.
If your patient is in pain. Treat it! The longer you let someone agonize in pain, the harder the pain will be to control. 0.2 of dilaudid for agonizing post op pain-don't waste your time. And don't tel me pca s are only protocol for double mastectomy. Everyone s pain is diferent
.
Turn off the GD light
Be your patients advocate-if there roomate has tv and light on-tell them to turn them off after reasonable hour.
Don'tExpect your post op pt to empty there own urine or throw up.
If your going to put urine hat on toilet, please label with patient name
.
And don't forget you may treat me bad as a patient, I may be too tired in am to complain to your NM, but know that I will complain to hospital administrators.
Please do not speak in a condescending tone. I am better at it and will bite your head off. I do not advertise that I am a nurse, so I understand when you teach to the lowest common denominator, but do NOT tell me something cannot be when it most certainly can!
When I tell you that I just had sudden loss of hearing bilaterally, please do not speak more softly with your back to me. I cannot hear you!
After the birth of my last child I had a tubal ligation. I was rolled into the OR without being premedicated. All the lights were on, it was freezing and they strapped me down wide awake. Totally terrifying for a 24 yr old with no prior exposure to the OR. When finally they gave me my versed the last thing I hear before I'm out is "I thought you said she emptied her bladder, you're going to have to cath her". I swear the nurse's paid no attention to me before I was put under. The anesthesiologist explained everything. Is this the way it goes in the OR?
When I awoke afterwards I opened my eyes but couldn't speak, I couldn't move, I felt paralyzed except I had the shakes and was freezing to death. I see my nurse sitting next to me. Asleep. ***.
To top it off after she finally woke up and wheeled me back to my room on the gurney she ran into not one, but two, doorjambs at full speed. Too bad there weren't surveys or Press -Ganey at that time.
Specializes in Quality Control,Long Term Care, Psych, UM, CM.
My advice is....please be sensitive to your patient's religious or non-religious views. I'm an atheist. Last year when I had my daughter, the L&D nurse asked me what my religion was. I was in pain and didn't want to debate (telling people you're an atheist is always an invitation to debate) so I told her non-denominational. That wasn't good enough for her, she kept going on and on. Jewish, Muslim, Jehovah's Witness. Finally I said I'm atheist.
Well, you would have thought I told her I had a body under my bed by the way she reacted. She asked me what do my parents and my husband think...I told her I'm a grown a$$ woman and don't need their permission to be atheist. Then she asked me what my husband is...he's Christian. She asked me do I believe in Adam/Eve and all the other biblical stories...I don't. When my husband came back up to the room, she kept giving him dirty looks. I told him it's because he's married to a sinner atheist.
The next morning, there was no progress with my labor. Guess who was my nurse again? She told me that god would protect me. Then she said "oh that's right, you don't believe in god." If it weren't for my husband calming me down, I would have ripped her a new one.
That's my message to other nurses...your religion may not be someone else's. Please be tolerant as I am when I did bedside. I had patients of ALL religions and respected every one of them.
Whatever happened to knocking on a closed door? This happens often at the LTC. I'm assessing my pt w/ the curtain drawn and the door closed and 9 times out of 10 someone will just walk in and say, "oh. I didn't know you were in here. I was wondering why the door was shut" DUH!
Another bug is nurses who wear their name tag backwards. You can't see their name. "Hey you!"
Tell the pt what meds you are giving them. A couple of times when my DH was in the hospital, the nurse would bring him a cup of pills. When he asked what they were, they would say "your meds"
We have knocking so ingrained into us at my LTC that I often find myself knocking on everything from all patient doors whether opened or closed to supply room doors to linen closet doors and every other door going. It's a huge state issue.
As far as the meds...in the LTC setting I have people getting 35+ different pills. The first few times I do that person's meds I honestly can't remember every single pill in that cup. I also can't remember exactly which pill is which. I get a lot of "what is the little white one, what is the beige one, what is the oval one" and I have to go back, pull the entire MAR, pull the entire 2 foot stack of med cards out of the drawer, and go through and try to identify what each and every pill is. Unfortunately, if I had to do this for everyone my 9 am med pass would take 8 hours. So I admit that I have at times told someone "this is your heart medication, your prostate medication, your antidepressant and your vitamins." Of course, what usually happens then is the person says they don't take no stinkin' heart meds (diagnosis include hypertension, previous MI with CABGx6 2 years ago, angina, PVD, CAD, Afib etc.), they don't have a prostate problem and **** just fine (diagnosis BPH s/p TURP...), they hate vitamins and aren't going to take their multi vit, vitamin C, zinc, acidphoulous, B12 and whatever the hell else is prescribed for them, and of course they aren't depressed have never been depressed and who approved that med (been on it since 2002...). So yes, I have said "you're morning meds" before to avoid all that.
I know it's different with a totally alert and oriented person in a hospital though.
I'm learning from this, and haven't gotten any hostile comments, except from nurses. That's pretty telling.
Sometimes I've wondered if people get sick of me asking "do you want the light on or off, and the door open or closed?" but it sounds like they are details that are appreciated.
EDnursetobe
76 Posts
I'm not sure a 'vent thread for patients' is necessary. just my opinion though.
I think everyone knows what we can do better. In a perfect hospital, with small ratios, good equipment, collaborative environment etc. We'd all be the best nurses possible.