Published
I love my brother. I really do. Through my talks with my brother about his many hospitalizations, I have come to the conclusion that he is the Worst Patient Ever, heretofore known as a WPE or a "wipper."
In the course of our conversations, he has said or asked the following:
"Is the worst time to ask for something really around 7 a.m. and 7 p.m.?"
"I always ask about all the pills they give me. Nurses make a lot of mistakes."
"How many pillows can each patient have?"
"The nurse never knows when my doctor will be around. Why doesn't she ask him?"
Because I love my brother, and because siblings are allowed to be total jackasses to each other, I have "educated" my brother on his above statements/questions. He hasn't hung up on me...yet.
In one particular ER visit with a family member before I was a nurse, I was probably a wipper-by-proxy as an HCPOA. It started out with her doctor directing us to the ER for a problem that he had known about for a little while, but it had mildly exacerbated. That in itself irritated me. Why didn't I get an office visit and outpatient lab draws when I first brought this up to him a month previous?
Already irritated with the doctor, I became more irritated about the wait. ER nurses, please don't hate me when I tell you that I asked the triage nurse how long it would be, and did we really have to be there for this? Yes, I asked it. Eep!
Everything went smoothly from there on out, but I don't think the triage nurse liked me much.
Share with the world how you or someone you love is a wipper.