Anyone sick of the "Drama Queen" patient?

[IloveSnoopy]

Hey all....

Just wondering if anyone can relate....... In our facility...we tend to get these frequent flyer patients of the following type:

Females...in their 20's or so.....with complaints of abdominal pain.....no etiology ever found....yet they keep coming back and coming back and are absolutely the biggest drama queens in the whole world!!!! It's not so much the abdominal pain itself...I know..because I have terrible endometriosis and know what abdominal pain is like.....but it's just the way they come across....so helpless..and screaming out in pain.....I'm not a person to not believe one's pain....but sometimes it's just so damn obvious that it's all for show. Like this gal I had lastnight....when her BF was there...she was screaming..."OH I need morphine, etc'....but when the guy was gone.....she was quietly sleeping. Oh...by the way...her pain never got below a ten out of ten......even after a total of 30 mg of MS....... I feel like I'm being a bad nurse or a "not caring" nurse....but man....sometimes it drives you crazy!! I guess it's because I have had multiple ovarian cysts, tons of endo, and many organs adhered tightly together...lol..and still put in my 8 or 12 hour shifts and not said boo...some people just need to "buck up a little"...I guess that's basically my point. I better shuttie now....I've worked all night and I just realized..what I've said really didn't make that much sense...just needed to vent I guess.

[ERNurse752, RN]

Originally posted by nursepenny

What I can not figure out is if she was in so much pain @ 8:00pm, what was she doing downstairs, smoking???

That depends on what she was smoking. :roll

[ceecel.dee, MSN, RN]

Originally posted by gwenith

For every patient that is a Drama Queen/attention seeker there is another huge chunk of health care resources being gobbled up. I m not talking here just about a free hospital system but even in a private system these people absorb money in the form of hospital stays tests, consults and that all impacts down the line to the poor schmuck who suddenly has his benefits reduced or his premiums increased.

Attention seekers are drawn to a hospital system BECAUSE it feeds their need.

Excellent points!

[nursepenny]

LOL ERnurse.

Never thought about that!!!!!

[eldernurse]

I swear y'all work in my hospital!

[IloveSnoopy]

You know,

Part of me was starting to feel bad about posting my feelings regarding the "drama queen".......but luckily, as always, I find that I'm not the only one with thoughts on this......thanks so much everyone! :roll

[Tink RN]

Well ILoveSnoopy - Thats the beauty of this forum. Ofcourse none of us would voice these opinions to our patients ... but being able to vent to others that understand exactly where you are coming from is therapeutic for us as healthcare providers. I guess thats how we are able to put on our "game face" and go to work to "fluff and puff"! haha :roll

[carcha]

I've just realised why I am an OR nurse, my sympathy to you all.

[Rapheal]

We frequently see these frequent flyers in psych-surg umm I mean med-surg. In their 20's they have their mothers and boyfriends demanding quick and frequent pain meds for them, In their 30's we see their kids demanding quick and frequent pain meds for them, and sadly we had a 40 something mom with this type of history and I caught her son bringing in HIS atique for poor mum. He figured the q 3hour demerol wasn't enough for her.

When I see this type of patient I feel sorry for their children.

[USA987, MSN, RN, NP]

Originally posted by ERNurse752

That depends on what she was smoking. :roll

So true! Had a pt who said she had "seizures". She even had "one" out at the nurses station as she was walking by. She "fell" so graceful...twirled around and everything!!!! One of my co-workers went up to her lying on the floor "seizing" and gave her a GENTLE sternal rub...and wouldn't you know it...stopped that seizure immediately!!! Anyway, later that day someone caught her and her hubby outside the hospital smoking a joint!!! Needless to say, the seizures didn't get her out of trouble when security came!

[cannoli]

What is atique?

[jschut, BSN, RN]

We have a lady in LTC that will be moving her R leg at the foot and knee, only to let us all know that she can't move.

Same with her arm, while swinging it in the air!

If we leave her alone for about 15 minutes, we peek in and she's sound asleep!

(Been doing this for quite awhile, so we know it's safe to let her be for a few...):)

[JennyJ]

I'm sure I'll see some of you at work tonight, it sure sounds like we take care of the same people! My favorite was a gentlman who was in for "pain management". Nobody could figure out what or why, and he had no shortage of Docs trying to. Well, of course, his pain was a constant 10, despite the MS gtt, PRN everything, etc. Finally one of the docs put the pain scale in perspective for him. He told the patient "If I take your testicles and slam them repeatedly in between 2 bricks; that's a 10. What is your pain now?" I laughed myself silly when the patient replied " 3 ".