Comic relief...

[SGroRN87]

I'm in need of some comic relief this evening...

As a brand-new GN, I took care of a young male patient after an overdose. His synapses did not recover well after being anoxic for several minutes. He was so agitated one evening that we had to put him in a geri-chair at the nurses station. Well later on that night, he starting... ummm... pleasuring himself... which my co-workers found hilarious. One of them came around the corner to get me, telling me that my patient needed something. WELL... I came around and blurted out, "What's up?" IMMEDIATELY, my face (as it was told to me) was bright red... I quickly discovered what was up... as all of my coworkers buried their faces.

[FLArn]

I hate to be "Debbie Downer" but I find it very disturbing that a) your co-workers found this so amusing that they thought it deserved an audience, b) that your co-workers care so little about his privacy and dignity as to make him an object of amusement to others, c) that you felt this to be amusing enough to post under the title you chose. Finally I find it amazing that you all have so much free time to indulge in this foolishness. If I had been your charge nurse, all involved would have received a verbal warning.

Rant over.

[roser13, ASN, RN]

I feel very badly for your patient. No matter how many of his synapses weren't firing, he definitely did not deserve to be viewed as the "comic relief" for a bunch of hospital employees. Can't believe that not one nurse in the bunch didn't object to this scenario.

I'm also quite disturbed to see from previous postings that you're a clinical instructor?? I hope you will learn from the first few responses to this thread which no doubt were NOT what you expected.

[eatmysoxRN, ASN, RN]

I agree with the previous posters. I don't find it appropriate to make fun of a patient - especially one who deserved privacy and better care. I don't find it acceptable under any circumstance to allow a patient to do that and be laughed at rather than protected by staff. I know that everyone I work with would definitely move the patient into his own room or atleast cover him up. I don't find this story comical at all. It actually makes me angry that a fellow nurse would find it funny. Compassion is more than just a word. Advocate is something you failed to do.

End rant.

[Hygiene Queen]

Maybe the staff's actions were questionable, but I could only imagine OP's horror when she realized how her choice of words sounded considering the situation she walked in on.

How embarrassing and how like something I would stupidly say.

It made me laugh.

[avaloncar, BSN, RN]

That is very inappropriate. At the moment the patient should have been placed in a room, instructed to stop or at least cover him up. Maybe this is something funny to look back and chuckle about.

[SGroRN87]

I was focusing on my choice of words...

[Tait, MSN, RN]

Maybe I am reading the OP wrong but I didn't think this was posted because she found the situation funny. I read it as she needs some comic relief after a particularly embarrassing situation brought on by her co-workers. She is taking a situation that is extremely sensitive and trying to make some sense of it with a little humor about her own choice of ill-timed words.

We don't know the whole story about what happend after her co-workers led her into this trap. Did our OP take him back to his room, cover him up, or show disdain to the other staff for making fun of her patient? We don't know, which is where the advocate part comes in. To claim she didn't advocate for her patient is unfair as we don't know because we didn't get that far.

Being a GN it can be hard to go against the peer pressure of other nurses, especially if everyone is sort of being young and foolish. It's just another learning experience.

Tait

[Tait, MSN, RN]

PS. I checked in on a young guy (20's) with a pacemaker who was showing tachycardic on his monitor. He was fully intact synapse wise and was making good use of his GF on the phone when I popped in to make sure he was ok. As he loudly started talking about the cable bill I politely backed out but referred to him as "The Tachywhacker" for a bit.

[FLArn]

OP, On going back and rereading your post and your follow up comment, I will say that if your intent in the post was to highlight your immediate reaction to the way you were set up by your co-workers, I can see where looking back on your initial statement would be humorous. That said, I still feel your co-workers showed a decided lack of good judgement in this whole episode.

[P_RN, ADN, RN]

I understand your embarrassment. But you missed a teaching moment. "Mr Jones, I see you need care/position change etc."

Then quietly move him within sight for safety and snugly put a sheet over his lap. When you get back to the desk you probably will only have to give a look to each staff member. They know what they did was wrong, and they know what you did was right.

[NurseOnAMotorcycle, ASN, RN]

First off, this is something that happened in the past (as evidenced by her "Back when I was a GN...")

Secondly, what made this adorable was that she was naive and new to nursing.

Thirdly, I have no doubt whatsoever that the nursing staff intervened for the pt's dignity. The staff was obviously kidding the new nurse, not the pt.

The fact that the pt was having his own issues was cute because of his total innocence of the cultural taboos he was breaking. His actual actions have been done before and will be done again by other pts now and in the future.

This whole story was simply supposed to be a "Back when I was a brand new and naive nurse..." story, and I thought it was cute.