Has anyone ever been in a situation where there has been a conflict in deciding who would take which patients?
Recently, at my workplace, things have gotten a little heated when it comes to deciding the placement of a patient who is particularly unlikable, and who is accompanied by nightmare family members. He is non-compliant with everything and family has expectations that cannot be met. He's recently been on my unit and is coming back. All of my efforts to get the facility NOT to take him back weren't successful, so unfortunately we have to make room for him.
The problem is, it has been nonstop conflict between myself and the family. I believe he would do better with the other manager who has a stronger personality than I do. He will never be satisfied on my unit, but he might do okay on hers. I have asked multiple times to have him switched to the other unit.
The other manager, however, is not happy about this since she knows he is difficult and feels she already has enough challenging patients. At the same time, I know he won't get what he needs if he stays with me, so really, I'm actually advocating for him by pushing for the switch.
Another reason that I'm wanting to switch is that if he stays, he will interfere with the plans I have for another patient. I am strongly pushing for another resident to actually come over to my unit so I can better monitor and manage her care. There was talk of having this patient go to the other manager's unit instead, but I am advising against this. I do not want this patient's care to be transferred to the other manager as this patient and I have a long-standing, good relationship. I know what works with her, and with this patient's history of anxiety, I fear that being switched to a different manager would be upsetting to her.
Frankly, it makes no sense to continuously assign me a resident that I don't work well with in exchange for one that I do very well with. Problem is, neither one of us managers wants the PITA patient, so I'm worried she might say something that would result in an unfavorable patient assignment.
I just don't understand the need to repeatedly accept a patient who makes everyone's life a living hell. He shouldn't be at our facility at all, but they don't seem to get it. He doesn't even have good insurance or a good income, so I'm not sure why we need to bend over backwards for him
Anyone else ever been in a situation where nobody wanted a particular patient? What was the solution and how did it pan out?
Just frustrated. I tried to be a strong advocate for the female patient and failed. If I'm being honest, I'm a bit annoyed with the one patient for refusing to move. It sounds as if she just did it because she could. She would have had a larger room and a better view, so her refusal makes no sense. In my opinion, she was just being difficult because she knew she had that right. Now I don't get to care for the other female resident anymore. Both patients will be fine, but it's a little sad to relinquish a patient’s care to someone else when you've worked with them for so long.
Anyway, if it seems as if I don't like my patients very much, it's not true. There's many that I enjoy very much, so I have a hard time giving them up to someone else. Maybe I'll just have to plan on visits 6 times a day once this patient moves to my colleague's side ?
1. The female patient moving to my colleague's side stated she also gets along well with the other manager. Given the circumstances, this is in her best interest, but I'd be lying if I said I wasn't a little disappointed to hear this.
2. Once she vacates that room, it will inevitably become occupied by someone else. I'm already scared of who it might be.
So the other unit is getting both the difficult male patient and the time-consuming female patient?
Yes. Believe me, I tried to make sure that it didn't happen, but unfortunately, other residents refused to move, so there were no rooms available on my unit for the female patient. It also sounds as if the other manager was asked first and was fine with the female patient going to her side instead of mine. Also, apparently the male patient isn't causing as many issues on her unit as he was on mine.
The other manager actually called the difficult male patient "an angel." This wasn't said in a sarcastic manner either. My thought is he can stay on her unit if she feels that positively about him. Her unit seems to be a better fit, as I anticipated it would be.
Tomorrow is the day the female patient goes over to my colleague's side. I learned today that the one resident didn't want to move because she'd already switched rooms multiple times and was tired of it. Apparently, she also likes the staff on the other unit as well. I don't think we'll ever be able to convince her that the staff on my unit are just as good as well and she is missing out on an awesome group of people. But after asking her 5 times to switch, we unfortunately have to let things be, thus changing the plan I had in mind
I suggest you take the next few difficult patients if at all possible.
Maybe I should only be assigned patients I don't particularly enjoy working with. I seem to struggle with favoritism. However, not liking any of my patients might be a way of ensuring that showing preferential treatment doesn't become a problem.
In reality, there's no way to know which patients are unpleasant or difficult before they've been admitted to our facility. I think the trick is to make sure that I don't let a similar situation as stated in my original post happen again. In other words, the next challenging patient that comes to my unit is mine. No requesting room changes, no matter how difficult a patient is. I must find a way to resolve any conflicts on my own without transferring the patient to someone else.
Update: They filled the female patient’s room with a new resident while I was off work for a week. I met the new lady, keeping an open mind, and had a positive interaction. I am hoping to keep things friendly, but not to the extent that favoritism may become a possibility. Frankly, it's not healthy for anyone--myself or the patients--to have such strong opinions about any particular resident, positive or negative.
SilverBells, BSN
1,108 Posts
Just frustrated. I tried to be a strong advocate for the female patient and failed. If I'm being honest, I'm a bit annoyed with the one patient for refusing to move. It sounds as if she just did it because she could. She would have had a larger room and a better view, so her refusal makes no sense. In my opinion, she was just being difficult because she knew she had that right. Now I don't get to care for the other female resident anymore. Both patients will be fine, but it's a little sad to relinquish a patient’s care to someone else when you've worked with them for so long.