This just kills me and maybe someone can bring some light to this.
Why do we, as healthcare workers, force people to detox when they don't want to? I see so many repeat offenders (aka frequent fliers) in our unit that keep coming in for the same thing, ETOH abuse that obviously don't want to detox.
Why do we waste our tax money on these people forcing them to do something they don't want to do? :banghead::banghead:
Why can't we just give them a beer in the ER and send them along their merry little way and stop holding up our rooms for people who legitimately need them?
At the former hospital I worked at Level 1 trauma, we were very fortunate to have the detox unit be across the street from the emergency room. Our patients were fortunate that when they came to Emor the docs would call up stairs to the Psych unit and one of our nurses would go down stairs to assess.
While we understood the time they took up in Emor, Yes, they often times were frequent flyers, dirty and smelly.Those patients under the influence were not any nicer to us either. We would clean them as best we could, sometimes for safety's sake we would have to wait.
The truth remains, the same number of patients die today during detoxification in a hospital setting as they do with out. It really is a medical emergency of sorts.
It is the active disease process you are seeing. I hate the disease of alcoholism and the addiction, I try never to hate the person. Have they made me mad, yup, have I had moments I did not want to be around them , yup.
One does not have to like a person who is drunk/under the influence spewing nasty stuff out of their mouth. I did not either. The person who sobered up was often quite different.
We held no illusions that we had alot of power over someone"s quitting. 33% are successful after 5 years. Not high numbers at all. The one thing I did know while drunk/under the influence there was no chance at all.
Perhaps other emergency rooms can develop some sort of plan in dealing with them efficiently and with care. I truly believe there are nurses in er who can work with them, and there are those for what ever reason can not. I do not blame them, nor judge them.
It is not just our job to educate our patients, we educate each other. There are patient's you all can work with that I cannot. Don't have the stomach for some stuff, but I admire those who can.
Specializes in Med Surg, Nursing Administration for SNF.
Your response was rude, non-productive and quite immature. I can't believe this "sentiment" is coming from another nurse, almost ashamed of it. ..----"
You're right, wasnt productive in the least. What I dont understand tho, is that you defend the right to "put them through a battery of painful tests" because youre fed up, and yet you are "ashamed" of my comment? Save your cynicism. I have been called names, screamed at, hit, etc by many a confused, sick, angry pt. Noone said nursing was easy or even fun sometimes. We deal with SICK people. We deal with undeducated, angry, confused, fearful, mean, filthy, and sometimes violent PEOPLE. They dont all deserve kind, sweet, heartfelt words and hugs. But they do deserve the best we as nurses has to give, and if you're feeling beat up, well maybe you wont have compassion in your words or eyes - I hope however, you have compassion in your heart.
Nowhere did I see anyone "defend their right" to put anyone through a battery of painful tests. I hear some nurses venting, justifiably, about being abused.
I would suggest that you look into your own heart for some compassion towards your fellow nurses. Being in recovery doesn't give one the right to spew venom at anyone who doesn't get it.
One of the (many) reasons I left ICU nurses was the number of ICU beds being taken up by patients going through withdrawal, and we had to administer Ativan or Valium and do the stupid CIWA scale every 15 minutes to an hour to check their status. One guy was upset that I didn't push the Ativan fast enough. There were days that up to one third of the beds were taken up with ETOHers, and this is in a plush suburban community hospital.
I know this is mean, but I would love to give some of these folks 3 changes at nice, tranquilized withdrawal in an ICU (over a lifetime), and after that, they just have to do it at home. I think it's a waste of money and resources.
You're right, wasnt productive in the least. What I dont understand tho, is that you defend the right to "put them through a battery of painful tests" because youre fed up, and yet you are "ashamed" of my comment? Save your cynicism. I have been called names, screamed at, hit, etc by many a confused, sick, angry pt. Noone said nursing was easy or even fun sometimes. We deal with SICK people. We deal with undeducated, angry, confused, fearful, mean, filthy, and sometimes violent PEOPLE. They dont all deserve kind, sweet, heartfelt words and hugs. But they do deserve the best we as nurses has to give, and if you're feeling beat up, well maybe you wont have compassion in your words or eyes - I hope however, you have compassion in your heart.
'
Please, don't flatter yourself with hoping that you made me feel "beat up". I do have compassion. I have compassion for the demented 94 year old patient who wanted to climb out of bed so I sat with her for over an hour and held her hand and watched her look at my badge and then look up at me. Do you have compassion? Do you have it for your fellow nurses who deal with patients who are mean and violent? It's so easy for one to say that nurses who are generally annoyed with taking care of drunk/high beligerant patients, are lacking compassion. I do feel compassion for these patients. Yes, they are hard to deal with. Yes, their life is sad and they live they way the do. But I think it lacks compassion for a nurse to think that other nurses should just deal with it.
I don't believe in forcing sobriety upon anyone. The individual has got to be the one to make that choice. It's a hard situation. Yes, alcohol addiction is a disease but there are many factors as to why someone has this disease and I don't think it's always because someone wanted to be drunker than a doornail for the rest of their life.
What's the solution than? Obviously we can't provide bottles of rum on the floor, and not all of these patients are healthy enough to just come in and out of emerg. I would much rather deal with a sedated detoxing person than one that I got drunk.
Personally, I think that we are so concerned with "over-sedating" that instead of just insuring that the person doesn't seize or stroke or go into DT's we waste nursing time checking Q1H when we KNOW they're gonna need another freakin' Ativan.
Legalize all of it. Give people sandwiches outside of the ED.
Why can't we just give them a beer in the ER and send them along their merry little way and stop holding up our rooms for people who legitimately need them?
:banghead:
lpnflorida, LPN
1,304 Posts
At the former hospital I worked at Level 1 trauma, we were very fortunate to have the detox unit be across the street from the emergency room. Our patients were fortunate that when they came to Emor the docs would call up stairs to the Psych unit and one of our nurses would go down stairs to assess.
While we understood the time they took up in Emor, Yes, they often times were frequent flyers, dirty and smelly.Those patients under the influence were not any nicer to us either. We would clean them as best we could, sometimes for safety's sake we would have to wait.
The truth remains, the same number of patients die today during detoxification in a hospital setting as they do with out. It really is a medical emergency of sorts.
It is the active disease process you are seeing. I hate the disease of alcoholism and the addiction, I try never to hate the person. Have they made me mad, yup, have I had moments I did not want to be around them , yup.
One does not have to like a person who is drunk/under the influence spewing nasty stuff out of their mouth. I did not either. The person who sobered up was often quite different.
We held no illusions that we had alot of power over someone"s quitting. 33% are successful after 5 years. Not high numbers at all. The one thing I did know while drunk/under the influence there was no chance at all.
Perhaps other emergency rooms can develop some sort of plan in dealing with them efficiently and with care. I truly believe there are nurses in er who can work with them, and there are those for what ever reason can not. I do not blame them, nor judge them.
It is not just our job to educate our patients, we educate each other. There are patient's you all can work with that I cannot. Don't have the stomach for some stuff, but I admire those who can.