Bad Day

Published

Thank you so much for your responses, I am so glad I found this board. Writing it all out and getting it off my chest made me feel 10X better but then your posts really helped and brought up some good points. You are right about what we should take to heart and as soon as I read that I thought about the daughter of my pt and how after the code, even though I was sure she would blame me because I was the nurse and I couldn't fix it. Instead she hugged me and told her family how I had worked hard at her mothers bedside all night long. She thanked me for letting her stay in the room while I worked. (I set her up a recliner to sleep by the bedside to comfort her mom).) She said no other nurse would let her stay back there and those last few hours meant so much to her.

Therefore I am replacing my prior ramblings with this because I decided the hurt I was feeling from the prior incident with my other patient had received too much airtime and thought already. I know my career will be full of good days and bad. Thank you for bringing the meaningfull, good memories of today to the forefront. The feelings of appreciation and love and respect I received from this patients family overshadows and burns right through one miserable patients attempts to belittle me. I know how much people matter to me and how hard I try and that that may not be good enough for some people but today it was...and it feels much better to find that comfort.

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Hello nurse 956 & welcome!!

I'm sorry you had such a rough shift. It doesn't sound like to me that you did anything wrong. Some pts can be tough, even if they are other "medical professionals."

It's hard not to take things to heart, but we cannot always control the actions/words of others. It does not seem like you did anything wrong, and I hope that your preceptor/NM will be open minded as they I'm sure also know that you are a great new asset to the nursing staff.

Please don't take this to heart. Keep on doing what you do best....providing excellent care to your patients. There will always be those few complainers....you just happened to get them sooner than later.

Best wishes to you :wink2: You provided the best care you knew too....don't get too down on yourself :)

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Hi Nurse 956,

don't be so hard on yourself...there are always two sides to a story and you should be given the opportunity to tell yours.

I am so glad that the nurse that preceptored you defended you. You need to supported when you are a new nurse, and when you are belittled by patients/families, this is even more important.:o

Being a new nurse is stressful, and often our own expectations of ourselves are higher than those of others, which makes us even harder on ourselves. I hope your unit, the other nurses and your manger will continue to support and nurture you in the months ahead.

By all means, speak to your manager. It seems as if you conducted yourself professionally, and with dignity. Please don't let this bad experience put you off. Just keep on providing excellent care to your patients. There will always be unpleasant patients/family members (yes, including medical people who should know better, but don't). These are often the ones who feel they have lost control, so as a consequence try to control what they can around them, and it ends up being you.

Chin up, smile, and keep your dignity and professionalism...you can get past this!

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Specializes in MICU.

good morning, nurse956. :nurse: i just want you to remember a couple of things:

1) you can't plz all the people all the time. somebody's always going to be pissed off about something, even when you've done the best job you can do. they may have been mad about the wait in the ed, or upset because the food sucked, or their tv didn't work- and they will take it out on you, and it may hurt, but you can shake it off.

2) when stuff like this gets you down, remember the good things that have happened with pts, and yes, that includes stuff that happened in school. the patients who thanked you profusely for your help, who said that you were going to be/are a great nurse, the prayers you have shared with them, the teaching you have given that has changed someone's behavior or outlook.

that's the stuff :yeahthat: you take to heart and keep it there, and hopefully the happy times will really outweigh the sad ones.

good luck and congrats on all you do!

s

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