is this abuse

I do agree with you wholeheartedly that the nurses are doing what family members dont want to do. However, I dont think I need to "work in the trenches" before having an opinion on the way people should be treated. I think that is common sense and probably something you dont learn in school or on the job. Even if the pt is CRAZY does that mean he or she should be talked to like a dog? I think its the nurses job to keep her sanity. The question comes down to this : would you want your family member to be treated that way? I wouldn't.

Of course, you don't think you need to work in the trenches to have an opinion, which is why you are so defensive of your opinion. But you will not, cannot know what nurses go through with a lot of these people on a day-to-day basis. Your school books and teachers' stories do not suffice as real world experience.

Nurses are human, but expected to be superhuman when it comes to dealing with demanding and/or unreasonable, spoiled, inconsiderate, verbally abusive, inconsolable patients who hammer them shift after shift. And I know exactly the types of patients who make you want to scream. Who keep on and on at you until you can't remember what you're doing. And other patients suffer because of it.

Of course, nurses are to treat and kiss the bum of every patient, regardless of how defeated and exasperated they may feel.

No wonder the burnout rate is like it is.

motorcycle mama,

I think you are the one being defensive, not me. There are plenty of times that I wanted to tell someone to stop flapping their gums. Nursing isn't the only profession where you get screamed at, cussed at, belittled and generally treated like crap. I will NEVER understand what you go through until I do it, thats so true. But I was professional enough not to take it to another level.

In fast food the customer is gone, whether satisfied or unsatisfied, within about 15 minutes. In nursing you have people saying how we need to have compassion and patience because the patient and family are sick or stressed. We have to cope with them for days or months on end. Crankiness or being easily frustrated is one thing, malingering and abuse of caretakers is something else entirely.

'malingering and abuse of caretakers is something else entirely."

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Yep, I agree. Is there anything that can be done if a resident is abusive?

the abusive, physcally or verbally, patient may well benefit from inpatient psych visit....to help them deal with their grief and and feelings of loss.....and psych meds for behavior

motorcycle mama,

Nursing isn't the only profession where you get screamed at, cussed at, belittled and generally treated like crap. I will NEVER understand what you go through until I do it, thats so true. But I was professional enough not to take it to another level.

In fast food you can call your manager and they can finish serving that person.

IMO nursing is one of the most abusive jobs. We can't just "call the manager" We might be able to call our superviser for the family but you still have to work with them. And the patients..lol..psych eval. And if they are just a prick then you just have to deal with it till they are transfered or die or something. That can be along time.

I love helping others but sometimes I DO question my line of work. We are hit, spit on, talked down too and cursed at plus other things. It can come from the pt's, their families, administration, cena's and other nurses.

Then we have to deal with the taddle tales.

Yeah, we are to be superhuman all the time.

Actually I'm not the poster who worked fast food. I worked as a CSR. 1,000x easier than nursing, but I did have to deal with a LOT of 'tude.

Actually I'm not the poster who worked fast food. I worked as a CSR. 1,000x easier than nursing, but I did have to deal with a LOT of 'tude.

What is a "CSR"?

I was a customer service representative for a loan company. It was only 8 bucks an hour but I had to do a lot of collections, and that was terrible. I even had to go to peoples homes to collect and give notices etc. It SUCKED.

I was a customer service representative for a loan company. It was only 8 bucks an hour but I had to do a lot of collections, and that was terrible. I even had to go to peoples homes to collect and give notices etc. It SUCKED.

Yeah. That does suck. :barf01:

Charlene

Sounds to me like the charge nurse just had a bad moment - Lord knows we all go through it, with our kids sometimes ("will you kids just CAN IT ALREADY?????"), our spouses ("for crying out loud, let's just CALL someone to fix it - I need to do laundry sometime THIS MONTH"), our family ("look Sis, if you'd just find a DECENT guy, you wouldn't be calling me every hour to whine!").

We ALL have our moments and sometimes it just sneaks out. Sure we shouldn't let that happen with our patients... or our families, but we're human.

OTOH, if this was a constant attitude with this charge nurse, I might worry. But one rather mild comment (she didn't say "for God's sake, if you're so damn short of breath, WHY do you keep BABBLING"), I'd chalk it up as one of those rare moments.