I am in my 8 mos of being an RN in the ER. Prior to this I was a cardiac step-down nurse. More things I have observed:
1.) Patient arguing with me about an 18 gauge IV being too "big" while he is in the ER for a bullet in his thigh.
2.) Patient missing her dialysis because of a special close out sale in a store was a pissed off that dialysis would not reschedule her for a later time.
3.) Patient came into the ER for back pain that has been going on for 10 days yet took no pain relievers nor called her private doctor (and she did have one). Then she complained she waiting for over an hour in the ER.
4.) Felt chest discomfort all day but had a BBQ party to attend first.
5.) A couple brings in their 7 week old baby to the ER - the mother is the patient.
6.) The patient's private aid telling me the patient needs to urinate so I need to get to the bedside. I gave the aid the bed pan and some wipes. The same aid asked me to get her a lunch tray.
7.) Incontinent people refusing to acknowledge they are incontinent.
8.) CHF patient eating chinese food take out, after taking off her BiPap
9.) Patient in so much pain, 20/10 pain level, as she chats on her cell phone
10.) I promise, you will not die from not eating for several hours.
The ER I work in is completely ridiculous and that's why I love it. I will take the EMS run for the 22 year old who is having anxiety r/t to dropping her iphone in the toilet any day... she frees me up to take care of the STEMI going to cath lab next door
I'm not particularly impressed by your examples. I've seen far more ridiculous behavior. Come back in 3 years, I'm sure you'll collect a better top ten list that that!
Specializes in Oncology, Rehab, Public Health, Med Surg.
I, too, am rather unimpressed with your list of pt complaints. I could easily see how someone without your knowledge and level of training could make those decisions.
And honestly, arent there a few areas or times in all of our lives when we have not made the optimal decision? Times that we look back at and go- what WAS I thinking?
As far as the pain thing goes- a really common subject around here. It is pretty well established that pain is subjective, though people often feel the need to point this out. It is also well established that pain also has objective symptoms nurse are trained to identify, that narcotics are often abused, and the ERs play a critical and causal role in the escalating rate of addiction and abuse in this country. And that is frustrating, don't you agree?
So, what ER complaints do you find annoying? Are there any, or do you react the same way to all of them? How about an ambulance for a pimple?
Are there any pain complaints you personally would be skeptical of, or are they all completely subjective, and to be treated equally? Have you ever been frustrated by your role in the system?
A little snip :)
Come in and be honest. Pt presents with HA/n/v/d abd pain. "I take 30 mg of morphine qid. I take Percocet q8h. 2.5 mg dilaudid q4h for pain. I'm out of everything. Haven't taken anything in 48hr.
My thought is, "let get them some drugs. Utox (I've had people who insist they take huge amounts of narcs daily and their utox is clean). But yeah, FIX EM, like you would try for anyone else. It's not my job, nor do I pretend I have the power to, kick them of their habit.
Same with ETOH found down. Not my job to make sure they are sober. More often then not they won't be while in the ED. Long before they sober up from ETOH, they are getting benzos. Get em safe to be in public and street em before society is paying for a medical emergency instead of an 8 hour babysitter!
Now, that stuff is easy, it gets hard when ETOH guy has a cardiac hx, copd, dm, hep c, etc. now you have to watch for the medical emergency too, lest you're THAT ED nurse who had to stay till 9 cuz your ETOH, in 4x as week and knows staff names, tells you what kind of hot sauce he wants for his chips, oh he's incontinent, and he never shuts up cuz you're BASICALLY one of his drinking buddies by now, crumps......and you're RSI/fluid/blood resec/dealing with his sister (who you've never met even though in 9 months you've taken care of this guy 100's of times, but she came today) ACLS/ just got a stroke alert in my other room and it's a skeleton crew tonight, gotta class at noon and gotta be back at 1900 to do it all again, yeah.
Sometimes the system sucks, and it's not always my job to change it, if you want that to be your job, you should go do that and leave the bedside.
And I know this wasn't posted in the Emergency fourm, but transferred. But this is how to vent OP. Yes I'm frustrated sometimes, but I try really hard, and I mean REALLY hard, not to pass judgement by the people I have seen in the Ed. It ain't personal usually. And when it is, I know they can always be restrained. Welcome to the ED
I'm not particularly impressed by your examples. I've seen far more ridiculous behavior. Come back in 3 years, I'm sure you'll collect a better top ten list that that!
The ER I work in is completely ridiculous and that's why I love it. I will take the EMS run for the 22 year old who is having anxiety r/t to dropping her iphone in the toilet any day... she frees me up to take care of the STEMI going to cath lab next door
Absolutely- with the ratios we typically run, I am quite thankful that a good majority of the people in my rooms are not particularly sick. Prioritization is much easier that way. I'm not afraid to say no to inappropriate requests, and try to educate people when urgent care or PCP might be a more effective place for their complaint, but just kill them with kindness and dont be a slave to anger at work.
You just have to take the ridiculous patients along with the true emergencies and let them amuse you instead of annoy you! I fully admit it can be really hard to do and the longer you work with those patients the harder it is to remain empathetic. I think burn-out happens at some point for every ER nurse, so just be aware of your attitude and if you need a break from that patient population, take a break! But I love sharing and hearing the super ridiculous stories, so I definitely don't fault you for posting them
I had my daughter on Sunday morning. I was released from the hospital on Tuesday (c-section.) I got a kidney stone on Friday(I am prone to them.) Yes, I took her to the ER with me. I had no choice.
Not only are ER patients getting more ridiculous the entire society is getting that way. Ask a long term server at a restaurant if they see the same trend.
We all have things that stick in our gears and upset us as providers in a magnitude greater than they really should. My list of things doesn't look exactly like the OPs but it exists. Part of the reason I don't work in an ER anymore.
For some reason the "Can you get me a sandwich" question drove me up the wall. No problem getting something for a patient that is showing signs of hypoglycemia, the homeless or other reasonable people.
If you have just been roomed and you have been in the department for 45 minutes, with the complaint of abdominal pain, with no lab or imaging results back I refused to take responsibility for the fact you haven't eaten in 10 hours.
On the other hand I had coworkers who hate to deal with drug overdoses, alcohol abuse, parents of pediatric patients. None of these bother me at all.
Before we lambast the OP remember that we all have our triggers.
AOX4RN, MSN, RN, NP
631 Posts
The ER I work in is completely ridiculous and that's why I love it. I will take the EMS run for the 22 year old who is having anxiety r/t to dropping her iphone in the toilet any day... she frees me up to take care of the STEMI going to cath lab next door