Another Outrageous Visitor Thread

Nurses Relations

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Specializes in CCU, SICU, CVSICU, Precepting & Teaching.

rather than revive an old thread, i thought i'd start a new one. (i always get lost in those threads, anyway -- i get called away from the computer and forget exactly where i was and miss some great posts until someone quotes them in a reply!)

so here's what i wanted to say to the visitors with the patient in the next bed last night:

"it's wonderful that grandma and grandpa have been married over sixty years and that they're still very much in love! especially since grandpa is obviously suffering from dementia and grandma has been taking care of him for years. that may have contributed to the heart disease she's suffering from. grandma just had heart surgery, she still has the breathing tube in, and she cannot answer questions like "so how are we feeling right now?" or "what do you really want right now, grammy?" in fact, she was sleeping comfortably until you came in and started shaking her and demanding that she wake up and tell you all about the pain. susie, grammy's nurse has explained all of this to you several times. i know because i heard her doing it."

"while it's fascinating that grandma and grandpa have never spent a night apart since their wedding night over six decades ago, grandpa cannot spend the night here in the room. for one thing, it's a double room and grammy's roomate keeps coding. in fact, we're getting ready to open her chest at the bedside, so you're all going to have to leave. no, i'm sorry. you can't just leave grandpa here to keep grammy company. susie's too busy taking care of grandma to feed, toilet and supervise grandpa so he doesn't wander off and get lost. and i'm too busy setting up to open this chest. really. i'm busy."

what i did say? "i'm sorry sir, but visiting hours are over. i'll get susie to explain it to you."

what's your favorite outrageous visitor story?

Specializes in PICU/NICU.

Just today on my shift, I have this baby who's parents refuse all immunizations and are "holistic/natural healing people"- whatever floats your boat... only this is the 3rd PICU admission in the kids short life. Anyway.... kids breathing 80 bpm. grunting/bobbing/retracting on NCPAP- desating ect with a CO2 of 82 - meanwhile mom is trying(and I say trying) to refuse intubation because she "feels" that we have not done everything to prevent intubation. What I wanted to say was "How do you "feel" about death?" What I really said was......"I'll have the intensivist come and explain everything to you"!

I swear- stooooopid should hurt!

Specializes in Case mgmt., rehab, (CRRN), LTC & psych.

The family member tells me, "I'm going to go off on you people if you ever send my mother to dialysis in a hospital gown again! Always have her fully clothed and clean!"

I respond, "Your mother's closet has been completely empty since her admission. Please provide some personal clothing so we can have her fully clothed."

A different family member is asking, "When is my mother going to die? Within minutes? Within hours? Is there enough time to smoke a cigarette?"

Specializes in LTC, Hospice, Case Management.

Got a sweet little old lady at the very end of a very long hallway with a needy family in my LTC. Family member walks all the way down to the desk to ask me if we can turn off the a/c as Mama is cold. I tried to explain how to turn it off, but she insists she can't figure it out. Walk all the way back down the hall with her to find a nurse and a aide already in the room doing other things for "Mama". They had been in the room the whole time and family didn't even bother to ask them to turn it off, just go get another person!

I think I mentioned this before but I am still fuming at the family who wanted to take mother out in the gardens as everything looked so pretty, but wanted a nurse to push her while they walked along. Oh yes sir, I'll just leave the other twelve patients to their own devices while I dress up in an old style nurses dress with a big apron like they did at the sanatorium!

Specializes in ICU/Critical Care.

You just can't fix stupid no matter how hard you try.

not my story, but my ob instructor's: seems a lady was admitted and had a baby boy, unfortunately for the staff it seems her husband and boyfriend both decided to visit at the same time, both thinking they were the father. fist fight ensued outside the nursery, security and police were called, both left in handcuffs.

Specializes in EMS, ER, GI, PCU/Telemetry.

this one is one of my favorite visitor moments....

when i workd in the ER, we had a patient come in arrest from a LTC, not sure how long she had been down, but after four rounds of meds, she expired. called the family, who said they would be there in about 2 hours (they were coming from ft lauderdale or miami, so it was a while away). it is hospital protocol to leave any patient who is not a DNR with the monitor and the ETT in place to show the family we did everything we could to try and save the patient. so family arrives, we show them to the room, extubate the patient, and give them their privacy.

i sit down at the nurses desk i'm looking at the monitor board, and i'm like "hey... isn't the patient in bed 17 expired?"... because it looks like she's in some kind of rhythm...

so we get up and go in the room to see what's going on. daughter is in there doing chest thumps (it was kind of like the heimlich combined with CPR), while her husband is actually blowing in the patient's mouth. mind you, the poor lady has been dead for almost 3 hours.

we kindly tell the daughter again that the patient is dead and the doctor has already signed the death certificate, and we did what could to save her, but she has been gone for a few hours now... and she said...

"so CPR really won't bring her back?"

Specializes in Rehab, Infection, LTC.

had a nephew visit his aunt last night. aunt is A/O x 3 but nephew has the POA for whenever she cant make her own decisions.

he comes to the desk, angry, demanding "i want to know how my aunt got here!!!". me "um...by ambulance?" (having NO idea what he's talking about).

he starts ranting that HE is the POA and he wants to know who signed her in "to this place". i tell him she picked our facility and signed herself in. thats when he really went off. "i have her POA so she CANt sign her self in anywere!" me"sir, the POA is only valid when she cant make her own decisions and right now your aunt if fully in control of her own treatment". he then informs me "obviously you don't know what you are talking about. she is on MEDICATION and that means she cant make her own decisions so you all admitted her here illegally!"

obviously i was getting nowhere with him so i went to the bathroom and beat my head on the wall...because it was less painful than to continue that conversation.

Specializes in Emergency/Trauma/Education.
...so i went to the bathroom and beat my head on the wall...because it was less painful than to continue that conversation.

Like this? :banghead:

*LOL*

Specializes in ICU, Telemetry.

One of my least favorites was the mom (60's) who's son was ever so attentive. Ever so. When she had a BM, he'd clean her...and clean her...and yes, at 3 am one night, the telemetry went crazy, we go tearing into the room, and they were...and she was returning the favor....He got booted off the floor (the woman had had abdominal surgery, for pete's sake), and she started screaming that we couldn't keep her from having her son visit, it was illegal. To which my charge nurse said, "No ma'am it's not illegal, but incest is."

I thought we were going to have to code the heifer right there.

Specializes in Rehab, Infection, LTC.

I thought of another insane family member.

New admit, 80 y/o male major confusion. While sitting at the station yesterday, he proceeded to eat BM out of his colostomy bag, tried to jump rope with his foley...causing SEVERE hematuria, and beat on every staff member there was while cussing a blue streak. Naturally an IM Ativan order was rcvd as he was a danger to himself and others at that point.

Daughter comes in and proceeds to scream at me that he was not supposed to have ativan because he would be so "loopy" he would aspirate. (pt aspirates everything, family declined tube feeding and signed release allowing pt to eat food). she screams at me that she is going to sue me for giving him ativan.

my response...."so you would rather him eat his own BM, cause trauma to his bladder and urethra and possibly hurt staff members or other patients?"

the woman actually said "yes".

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