Crazy things independent pts have asked of you?

Nurses General Nursing

Published

I work in a medical surgical floor and sometimes the requests that A&O3, independent, adult pts ask/make just floor me. No sense of shame and responsibility.

  1. Pass me that cup of water. The table is literally inches away.
  2. Fix my pillow.
  3. Pull up my blankets.
  4. Hold up my urinal. *ugh, I don't think so*
  5. Wipe me. 'What's wrong with your hands?'. 'I can't seem to get everything, it's better if you do it'. 'Well, try and let's see how much you can do'. *he wipes* 'Guess what, you got everything'.
  6. I give them their pills and they lay there expecting me to put in their mouths and hold the water while they drink through the straw like little kings/queens.

The incident that prompted the start of this thread happened a few days ago. It was a pt with an ileo *post op +++". He was being discharged within two days and the ostomy nurse has already visited him and gave pt education on ileo management. Anyway, it was giving +++ ouput and it would start to fill up and leak if not emptied regularly *of course*. This happened three times before I came in for the night shift. It happened again. I went in cleaned up the floor, cleaned him up, helped him change etc. Then he just layed it on me. Talked completely condescendingly saying

'I can't believe that I have to do your job for you. I'm in the hospital. It's your job to empty my pouch. What do you guys even do all day. You expect me to do everything. What's the point of being here?' etc. etc. etc.

Most of the time I don't take things personally and just let pts vent as long as they don't curse or yell. But this guy just rubbed me wrong. I told him:

"NO. This is actually YOUR job. There is nothing wrong with your hands. You are completely independent. The nurses help out people who can't do things for themselves. You can empty your own pouch. And when you leave here, who is going to do it for you at home? I understand you are frustrated but please don't blame it on me or the other nurses. It's an important part of your therapy that you be as independent as possible. I won't hesitate to help you but I won't do things for you that you perfectly capable of."

He didn't like it but he emptied it himself and stopped waiting for us to constantly check in to see if it's time to empty.

OH, WELL!!!

This job has made me more assertive than I ever thought I would be. Or else I would be staying behind all the time finishing up my work!

What have your experiences been?

When I get a request from a patient who is perfectly able, I usually give them a really big smile and say, "NO." They don't even know what hit them. :cool:

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Specializes in Renal/Cardiac.
The old-school Sister of my old Plastics ward showed me a good trick.

Quite a few of our perfectly-able male patients used to ask us to place "Percy" in the urinal because "Oh nurse I can't manage" Sister had the answer. A huge pair of stainless-steel forceps.

Gloved-up and approaching with the forceps it was amazing how the patient suddenly regained the ability to "Point Percy at the Porcelain" so to speak.

;)

This one is by far the MOST hilarious:lol2::yeah: GOTTA LOVE IT :redpinkhe

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This didn't happen to me, but a friend who happens to be a young male tech.

A 35 year old female patient asked him if he had any condoms on him, because she hadn't "gotten any in a month." Oh yeah, and she wanted him to be her next victim, I mean, partner!

PS, not that it matters, but she was not exactly attractive or clean, either.

That's great one of my fellow nursing students asked about that part of Maslow's hierchy of needs. She would have been perfect for him that interaction would've have be wonderful to hear.

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Specializes in Med/Surg.

I refuse to grab a phone or tissue or something that is right in front of them, especially if that is all they rang for. I hold the cup for my residents as well. I work nights, a lot of them shake, and I don't want them covering themselves and/or the bed in cold water. Some insist on holding their own cups, but I still help to hold them just in case.

I was going to say something similar to this. Where you have the young patients that want you to put their pills in their mouth, you have the shaky, tiny LOL's that want to do it themselves. They drop them in several ways, such as: trying to dump the pills from the cup into their hand, or kind of "tossing" them in the general direction of their mouths and having them fly everywhere. Usually, of course, they're several WHITE pills, so they get totally lost in the bedsheets. :p

THEN, they want to hold the water pitcher themselves. Our water pitchers have a hole for a regular straw, so water can spill around the straw when tipped. If the pitcher is full, they can barely lift it, and before you know it, they have themselves drenched. I will usually keep a hand on it discreetly while they are holding it to keep it upright.

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Specializes in LTC.

One lady who was only in her 50s, there for rehab, and supposedly completely independent with a walker. Yet she would ring for us to take her to the bathroom so we could pull down her pants for her and then she'd ring again when she was done. You'd walk into the bathroom and she'd be standing up casually leaning on the walker with her pants around her ankles, full moon hanging out so you could wipe her. She never ever got out of bed either, except when she was on the toilet.

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Well, I know I'm an old nurse now. Many of the things mentioned in the original post were things that we just routinely did for patients. I was taught that spending time with a patient was a good thing and therapeutic for the patient, no matter what you were doing. We didn't often get sexually related requests back then, people were more modest and were humiliated when you had to do things for them "down there". I always enjoy the posts that relate requests for pubic shaves/trims. Back in the day, that was the most dreaded part of a hospital stay, having to expose yourself for a pre-op shave. How times have changed.

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Not something a patient has asked for, but we have a lady who is always at the hospital for something (visiting, meeting, CPR class, etc) and she is constantly asking us to either change her kid's diaper, get her kid a snack, or look in her kid's ears. I refuse to get the snack, tell he she has to check him in to the ER if she wants me to look at his ears, and that I am just not going to change the kid's diaper. She always gets this look of disbelief on her face and says something like, "You're a nurse, you're paid to do it!"

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Specializes in Public Health/Disaster Nursing/Community.
The old-school Sister of my old Plastics ward showed me a good trick.

Quite a few of our perfectly-able male patients used to ask us to place "Percy" in the urinal because "Oh nurse I can't manage" Sister had the answer. A huge pair of stainless-steel forceps.

Gloved-up and approaching with the forceps it was amazing how the patient suddenly regained the ability to "Point Percy at the Porcelain" so to speak.

;)

Wow! It usually takes a little more than it takes the average person for me to crack up this hard. That was freaking hilarious. Gotta love the mental image. I could just see her coming at him with those tongs in slow motion, snapping them loudly as she aproaches "Percy" and his owner who's looking like a deer caught in the headlights right about now.

And for some disturbing reason I also get the image of grilling hot dogs. shudder. I can't believe people ask for that kind of B.S and think they can get away with it.

So who's hungry?

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Specializes in LTC, Agency, HHC.
I work on a post-op floor and most of our patients really do try to be independent. A couple years ago we had a 40 something male patient that was 2 days s/p lap appy that was refusing discharge because he was still having post-op pain. While his surgeon was in the nurses station across from his room writing orders for him, he pressed his call light and asked for his door to be closed. His surgeon overheard the request, stopped what she was doing and loudly told one of the nurses to go in and tell him that "if he wants his door shut, he better get off his a** and close it himself!" I guess he overheard his surgeon because about 30 seconds later a very nervous looking, wide eyed patient walked over to his door and closed it himself. :yeah:

Well, for goodness sake, if the doctor can say that, why can't I?? LOLOL

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Specializes in volunteering!.

I had family members, who were visiting a patient, ask me to run down to the cafeteria and get them a soda. Yup. I'll get right on that.

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A patient pressed the call bell to tell me she couldn't find her call bell...???

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Specializes in Peds Medical Floor.
One lady who was only in her 50s, there for rehab, and supposedly completely independent with a walker. Yet she would ring for us to take her to the bathroom so we could pull down her pants for her and then she'd ring again when she was done. You'd walk into the bathroom and she'd be standing up casually leaning on the walker with her pants around her ankles, full moon hanging out so you could wipe her. She never ever got out of bed either, except when she was on the toilet.

Yeah had this, too. The magic words are: "Sorry, but you are perfectly capable of doing that yourself and I'm sure you want to get home ASAP so go ahead and take care of that!"...with a smile on your face of course!

Not something a patient has asked for, but we have a lady who is always at the hospital for something (visiting, meeting, CPR class, etc) and she is constantly asking us to either change her kid's diaper, get her kid a snack, or look in her kid's ears. I refuse to get the snack, tell he she has to check him in to the ER if she wants me to look at his ears, and that I am just not going to change the kid's diaper. She always gets this look of disbelief on her face and says something like, "You're a nurse, you're paid to do it!"

That is just sad...change your kid's diaper lady!

A patient pressed the call bell to tell me she couldn't find her call bell...???

That happens to me all the time actually lol.

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