Absence of Manners

[Ruby Vee]

i'll admit to being somewhat cranky today, and this is a vent. this is only a vent. please do not accuse me of being mean to or mistreating anyone i'm venting about! but i swear, people's parents neglected to teach them manners!

the hospital cafeteria has wifi, and i know that you're bored waiting for uncle zeke to get out of surgery. it's great that you can sit in the cafeteria with your laptop and surf the net. however when lunchtime comes and you're not eating, just surfing, please get up and go somewhere else so that all those people standing around with trays full of food and peering around for an empty table can sit down and eat!

didn't your mother teach you that it's rude to sit in front of grandma, who is npo for the or, and eat your tacos or fried chicken? grandma can't eat and she's very hungry. please go somewhere else to eat your bagful of fast food and come visit grandma when you're done.

poppop had surgery, he's getting diuresed, his mouth is dry and all he wants is a big glass of water which he cannot have. it's rude to sit there and slurp on your big gulp in front of him.

i know you're a brand new np and all, and very proud of your degree, your knowledge base and your new prescribing priveledges. you would look every so much more professional, though, if you weren't chewing a big ole wad of gum with your mouth open and snapping, cracking, popping and blowing bubbles!

yes, the intensivist is slow, he's boring and he's old fashioned. it's excrutiating to watch him tackle the keyboard on a cow. but that's no excuse to be on the other cow shopping for stilettos during rounds! nor is it cool to be texting your husband, your best friend, or your husband's best friend instead of paying attention to what the nurse has to say.

i know you graduated from man's best nursing school last month and that therefore you think you know everything. but please, i'd rather have you ask what you think is a really stupid question than try to give blood through a d5w carrier, use ffp as a carrier or push dilantin through tpn. and it's really not cool to give the 20 meq of kcl iv push, either!

i know that you think 15-b's 20 or so relatives who average two teeth and thirty-two tattoos each are immensely entertaining. i might think so, too, if i could get past them to take care of the patient. we have rules that state only two visitors at a time -- please enforce them. if you let all and sundry hang out in the patient room eating their kfc and drinking their big gulps (see above) and then i tell them they need to follow the rules about no food, no drinks and only two visitors at a time, i become the mean nurse. that's not fair!

i appreciate that you're 30 years younger than me and ever so much more good looking than i ever dreamed of being. that does not mean, however, that it's cool to roll your scrub pants down to your hips so that your thong pokes out the top even when you're not bending over. nor is the push-up bra that's spilling the girls out your v neck very professional, either!

please hang up the cell phone so i can assess you. please get off facebook -- you're sitting in my chair and using my computer and that's just not cool. and please, if you work here, come and help me clean up poop even if the packers are winning in the next room!

[Ruby Vee, BSN]

moogie i think this is very considerate of the hospital to do this. was it a private hospital or public?

(luv star trek don't you? those darn ferengis are always up to something!)

many of our patients are npo, and some of them are darned hungry and thirsty. i think it's very inconsiderate of anyone to encourage eating and drinking in the rooms. people think nothing of sitting down with their fried chicken and big gulps to visit a patient who's dying for a big glass of water and can't have one. or in a room where the roommate is nauseated and vomiting. fried chicken smell doesn't help that any!

some of my most miserable hours as a patient were due to the visitors of other patients. i couldn't keep anything down, and the smell of their food made it so much worse. i think eating and drinking should be banned in hospital rooms. it's just plain rude to eat in front of someone else who can't eat. or drink.

[sassy_squirrel]

Holy heck. Whenever I'm visiting in a hospital and a nurse comes in I always move out of the way - put myself into a corner, or say I'll just step out.

In the ER especially, with my husband. I always say, "I'll just move my chair out of the way for you." Most of the time the nurse will say, "Don't worry, you aren't in the way." But it's still good manners. I figure they are working to help my family member/friend to get better. Being in their way is not a good thing.

I'm am honestly shocked at the manners of some people in a hospital setting! I have never asked or been asked if I wanted food either, I figure there's vending machines in the waiting room if I'm gonna be there a while.

Sadly it's not just in the hospital setting. People are rude everywhere these days. On the roads, in shops. It's very sad and frustrating when you are trying to be polite.

[JBudd, MSN]

iv pole dancing class....i love it!! (i mean, i love the joke....not hoping it actually comes to fruition!)

only thing i ever learned to do with a pole, is whack someone over the head (or other pertinent anatomical structures) with it...

and dang! the hospital frowns on that...

[abbaking]

many of our patients are npo, and some of them are darned hungry and thirsty. i think it's very inconsiderate of anyone to encourage eating and drinking in the rooms. people think nothing of sitting down with their fried chicken and big gulps to visit a patient who's dying for a big glass of water and can't have one. or in a room where the roommate is nauseated and vomiting. fried chicken smell doesn't help that any!

some of my most miserable hours as a patient were due to the visitors of other patients. i couldn't keep anything down, and the smell of their food made it so much worse. i think eating and drinking should be banned in hospital rooms. it's just plain rude to eat in front of someone else who can't eat. or drink.

agree 100%! want to talk about disgusting - the visitors who eat food in isolation rooms specifically c-diff rooms ....the same people who refuse to wear gloves and the gown (its "degrading") and who do not wash their hands for anything.

[abbaking]

Recently we had a visitor who made life HELL for the staff. Patient was a nice 45 y/o man but his wife was satan herself. Attitude beyond belief - hates men in general. From what I found out later, her husband had an affair and since then she hates all men. Simply being a fly on the wall observing the family dynamics was a theatrical preformance in itself - Wife is overbearing, Loud, Mouthy, Rude, Dramatic, Gestural, and a Nervous wreak.

Husband (patient) is passive, weak, nonverbal (literally), and victimized.

Teenage son is a non existant third party.

Long story short - wife rants and raves that the day shift is terrible and so and I ( Nocs). Demands that vital be taken Q15 minutes (patient was a basic admission Abd pain), PCA be ordered in addition to every drug under the sun.

On and On and On - and louder and louder and louder and in my face more and more and more.

"Stop - This is my play pen and we do things here my way". I will take into consideration your iidea's but reality called - Get real or get out'

Write me up all you want honey - I promise you they know me very well down in patient relations and they know I am a hard worker and a fierce patient advocate. They will look at the whole situation here....and I guarentee that YOU will be in the wrong.

It helps to know people