We are all supposed to love our jobs and most of us do! But we are all supposed to over look just danged annoying behaviors.
My pet peeve, I do not care for drama patients. You walk out in the hall and they are laughing and having fun with a visitor, they take one look at YOU looking at them and they are hanging on to the walls to help them walk and moaning in pain. I sometimes think my mere presence causes them harm... ;o)
Me: "Great! Your temp is normal!" Patient: "Oh, if it is normal I am SICK! My usual is 72(F).
Me: "Great! Your b/p is 120/70!" Patient: "Oh, if it is normal I am SICK! My usual is 50/10."
We're all supposed to love our jobs? Who told you that?
I imagine you lead with that because you were concerned about being judged for asking "What patient behaviors annoy you?". And you were right to suspect you might be. There are a great many nurses out there who despise everything they do and they end up overcompensating for it. They act as if, you need a personal stamp of approval from "the almighty" to have been accepted into the nursing ranks. Everyone and anyone who doesn't submit to their altruistic ideals and higher moral codes is "here for the wrong reason" and "not a real nurse".
The thing to remember about all of that is, as I said, it's merely overcompensation. They're trying to mask their misery and loathing of their job with self righteousness. Basically, they're trying to convince themselves, not you. So don't waste your breath apologizing for or excusing the fact that you find certain patient behaviors annoying. It's perfectly normal. And yes, even the "higher calling" types feel that way, just don't expect them to be transparent about it like you are. They are the ones who should be apologizing to you.
As far as the question goes, that's simple: The patients who have the all too common "Can't have it any way but their way, and when their way doesn't work, it's everyone else's fault" attitude.
I'm sure you've met a few. They are the ones who take patient autonomy to a level where, you need to relabel it with something like "doing it myself" or "doing the same things I've always been doing but while under care."
They don't like their diet, so it gets changed and changed again until basically, all the therapeutic value of the original diet order is lost. BUT.......it's everyone else's fault their discharge is delayed due to blood sugar results being too high.
They don't like going to PT, they never had to before and they were fine: "I'm 70 years old, I've been walking since........". BUT.......when their family says they have to go to a LTC facility instead of coming home with them because they require too much assistance.........it's because we didn't push them or "make them stronger."
They don't like their medications. This of course never comes up during discharge or any doctor's appointments. They simply adjust everything themselves at home. Take this med every other day instead of daily, this one only at night instead of twice a day, crush the synthroid (that's a real example) and add 1/2 of it to the fiber drink cause they look the same. Unfortunately, they never finish the fiber drink, in fact, they only take a few sips. But.......when they end up back in the hospital a week later, it's because the doctor ordered the wrong medication or the nurses didn't explain it right.
Can't have it any way but their way, but it's your fault their way didn't work. Fact is, these patients usually are the ones who are professional patients. This personality type rarely holds hands with recovery/wellness. But telling them they need to change their approach to their health gets you nowhere so, unfortunately, most of the time the best you can do is educate with what little they will hear and help them manage as best you can.
While I honestly *do* get your point, I actually do love my job. I am the luckiest nurse in the world. For the most part my patients are happy and excited, scared yet excited. My patient population makes my job 100x easier.
Last night I was just tired, really tired, frustrated, annoyed.... all because I was tired.
This thread was excellent therapy for me last night and this morning, icing on the cake! I love it!
Oh and baby talk. I. Cannot. Stand. Baby. Talk!!! From grown adults to grown adults. It sets my teeth on edge. Especially because this is usually accompanied by the patient doing that constant moaning thing (uh, uh, uh, uh, uh) while side-eyeing you to see if you've noticed it and are going to play into the drama.
Side note: I, too, am not talking about terminal cancer patients, children (real ones not grown ups behaving like one), people with actual pain-causing diseases or injuries, truly ill or injured patients or anybody who is not playing the drama card.
I work in clinic, the MD's here will give their speil about stopping smoking, increasing exercise, etc. I had a jerk not long ago that got all huffy and said "when is he going to quit bugging me about my smoking?!" I looked him in the eye and said "when you stop!" Geesh
My biggest pet peeve though would be lack of personal responsibility, not doing anything to help themselves. Love seeing diabetics with an A1C of 12.+, sipping on crap and munching junk while they wait to see us. Please don't wonder why you can't see the big E and need injections in both of your eyes today
Oh and baby talk. I. Cannot. Stand. Baby. Talk!!! From grown adults to grown adults. It sets my teeth on edge. Especially because this is usually accompanied by the patient doing that constant moaning thing (uh, uh, uh, uh, uh) while side-eyeing you to see if you've noticed it and are going to play into the drama.
Side note: I, too, am not talking about terminal cancer patients, children (real ones not grown ups behaving like one), people with actual pain-causing diseases or injuries, truly ill or injured patients or anybody who is not playing the drama card.
OMG! That one, too! I work with (basically) GI patients. If I hear one more time that their tummy hurts and they can't go poopy in the potty I am going to go OFF on them!!! We are adults, speak like an adult!!!!!
I frequently say "10 being somebody ripped off your left arm and is beating you over the head with it while kicking you in your nether regions."
I have no triage filter.
I've had a friend ask; "How bad is your pain on a scale of 0-10 with 10 being someone just ripped your arm off, fed you live scorpions and then shoved the arm down your throat while you are on fire?"
Bahaha!
My personal favorite is; "How bad does it hurt on a scale of 0-10 with 0 being no pain and 10 is you just stepped on a Lego in the middle of the night barefooted?"
My thing is baby talk, too. As well as "simple solutions".
Yes, I am smoking. Yes, my wyfie smokes, too. We both do it for 50 years already.Yes, I got that she is here on the vent for the last two months because her lungs are failing. No, I am not ready to send her to nursing home. No, I am not going to stop smoking, even if it is the only one thing preventing my sweet wyfie from going home. Why should I? My house can be blown up into the sky... why, I don't get it? And, after all, why you guys can't just go ahead and give her at least one healthy lung? Is it really that difficult?
Yes, I brought him some fried pickles and just some fries because he loves them. My (60+ years old) baby loves fried pickles, and banana bread, and Tabasco. Why he never can get it here? My baby really loves 'em. Yes, I do and I am going to bring him some more, because he wants it and I want to make him better, make him happy. Is it too much to ask, just for some Tabasco and fried pickles??
The latter one was my first truly "stat" dialysis I've seen. 25 min. from noticing tele trace going wild to start machine to take potassium of 9.8 and sodium 165 plus water out of the patient among seizures and blood from the large bore cath pushed down through the poor guy's neck. Three empty boxes of 1 pound of the said fried pickles with fries each plus almost gone bottle of hot sauce found under the bed, and family's wise mathriarch was caught with three more on her way in the room. All that was eaten within 90 minutes "quiet time", by patient alone. He made it, and woke up ok.
I stepped on Legos of all sorts barefooted about a gazillion of times, it is not THAT bad.
The standard description of 10/10, according to pain management textbooks, is either labor "as the Lord made it to be" or amputation of a limb without anything. Nowadays, not so many folks experienced either, but broken bones and burns II degree come pretty close to it.
I stepped on Legos of all sorts barefooted about a gazillion of times, it is not THAT bad.
The standard description of 10/10, according to pain management textbooks, is either labor "as the Lord made it to be" or amputation of a limb without anything. Nowadays, not so many folks experienced either, but broken bones and burns II degree come pretty close to it.
Labor pain is pretty variable. I have one friend who had natural labor that she swears was pain free (all about meditation, in her words) and several others that have found it tolerable. On the other hand, if you have a 9 pound baby with a large head and it's your first time- oh boyyyw...
CrunchBerries
146 Posts
While I honestly *do* get your point, I actually do love my job. I am the luckiest nurse in the world. For the most part my patients are happy and excited, scared yet excited. My patient population makes my job 100x easier.
Last night I was just tired, really tired, frustrated, annoyed.... all because I was tired.
This thread was excellent therapy for me last night and this morning, icing on the cake! I love it!