Difficult familily members (VENT)

[Spritenurse1210]

So I have this little old lady on the floor, who is by the way, cute as a little button. She is pleasantly confused, admitted for pneumonia. She has a little great grand daughter, who is maybe 18. Well, not only is she a graduate of the University of the Internet, but she is a CNA (licensed) and is Pre-Med at her school where she is an intern. She wouldn't tell me where she was an intern, where she goes to school ect. ect. Now I get it. She loves her great grandma, and wants her to get good care, but PUULLLEEEZZZ give me a break! Threatening the staff isn't going to get you any favors!!!

[chenoaspirit, ASN, RN]

Crisco? WOW, would have never thought of that. But I bet thats cheaper than barrier creme. Before I left the hospital, some used colmoseptine (spelling?). I dont know much about it, but Im sure its expensive. We rarely used diapers, it holds in moisture and allows yeast to grow. And we never used soap/water with barrier cream because how on earth can you completely get all the soap out of that barrier creme. That would have to cause more irritation. We would use water, pat completely dry and reapply the cream. The most important part is for it to be DRY before applying the cream.

[diane227, LPN, RN]

I usually do not have much trouble dealing with family members most of the time. What I find is that when you explain things and include them in care, they will come along with you toward the goals that you want to achieve with the patient. Just this week I had a VERY anxious family who's mother became acutely ill from an unknown cause. Unfortunately, we have done every test known to man and we cannot figure out what is wrong with this lady, which is not helping the situation. Her sons were very demanding and loud and her daughter came in from out of town and came right up to my desk in an loud, aggressive manner wanting to know what was going on with her mother. I took all of them into the family room with her chart. We reviewed her lab reports, what they mean, the doctors comments in the chart, what things had been done for her so far and what things were planned. They were all very relieved. Now this took about an hour of my time (but as charge nurse this is my job). Now, we have no difficulty what so ever and the family helps us out when we need them. For example, we have a sitter with this lady to keep her from pulling her tubes out and the sitter needed to go to lunch. The daughter gladly relieved the sitter for lunch when I asked her if she could help us out. I touch base with them every day to see how things are going and they are super happy with her care and with the staff and the doctors because of the hour that I spent giving them information. They now feel like they are getting information from everyone, even though they don't have a diagnosis yet.

Additionally, this week I had a wonderful lady with MS who is cared for at home by her sister. Her sister is very protective of her and very particular about her care. And you can tell that she has been doing a great job because this woman is clean and well cared for, no skin breakdown, good hydration status etc. So with this patient, I had to go in and start an IV for the primary nurse and took that opportunity to assess her daily needs so that what we did for her was as close as possible to the care she received at home. Her sister knows her, I don't and I need to rely on her sister and the patient to tell me what works and what does not work. We got a plan together and everything is going very well for this patient and her sister is very happy with her care and is able to leave and go home to sleep, trusting us to take care of her sister.

These things take time. But in the long run, it saves you time.