God is love...WWJD..patience...get a grip...relax....calm down...take a breather...it's not so bad...sunny smile:).
All these I tell myself because I tell you, on some days you meet aggressive foul-mouthed patients and you KNOW given different circumstances your reaction would not be so mild. But you're their nurse, they are your babies, so you keep a lid on it, plaster a smile on your face and "c"ludge.....coddle them:)
Eh...I've always tried to view it as a professional relationship anyway. I'm there to attempt to improve their quality of life in some way and they're there to improve their quality of life. I always try to explain everything I'm doing. No one likes being clueless, especially when it's their life involved. I don't view it as a "liking" relationship, I view it as a "working" relationship. I go home to my two dogs and husband (who I like at least some of the time).
I think a lot of nurses (and nursing students) set themselves up for disappointment by expecting themselves to like the patients ... or to have the patients be grateful for the help you give them ... or to want to get better ... or to comply with the treatment plan ... etc. Yes, some patients are terrific to work with. But there are others that make our days miserable and new nurses need to learn how to cope with that. Thanks for sharing your efforts to cope.
A big part of the reality shock experienced by new grads is related to their discovery that the REAL patients are not as wonderful as the patients were in their Fantasies about being a nurse.
Good topic for a thread.
I'm a student, and I didn't like my very first patient in clinicals. It was good exercise in testing my level of professionalism right out of the gate. Upon reflection, the professionalism I exhibited was a bit more formal (read: colder) than with patients I did like. When I get another that I don't particularly like, I'll see if I can be warm and professional rather than a bit chilly and professional.
Of course not, I don't even like everyone that is sitting in my living room right now. However, I am required to have professional relationship with my patients not be their best pal.
I have plenty of patients I don't like. I work in a prison. However, I try to treat them all the same. The same was true when I worked in a hospital. You just aren't going to like everyone you come across. I came across plenty of rude, obnoxious, verbally abusive patients long before I took the prison job.
There are pts that no matter how hard you try, you simply do not like. Maybe they remind you of someone you didn't like in the past. Maybe there is just something about them that rubs you the wrong way.
But one thing we did agree one - the pt the rubs me the wrong way, can be someone else's favourite. We agreed that it is a good thing.
We had one little old lady on our unit for a long time. Most people did not really like her (but gave her good care anyway) for some reason, I just loved her. So I got her often. There was another young girl that many people found irritating - for some reason we clicked. Again, I got her alot. One the other hand, there have been pts that I have found very annoying and other people cute. So I try to avoid them.
I guess, what I trying to say, and saying very badly, is Yes. There will be pts that you do not like. But someone else will. So just go with the flow!
Specializes in Emergency Dept. Trauma. Pediatrics.
Just going off the patients I have had in clinicals, I don't like every patient, their have been a handful of patients that I really liked and connected with well. Their haven't been any patients yet that I hated or had to act nice, but besides the handful I really connected with, most I guess I felt ambivalent with.
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RedhairedNurse, BSN, RN
1,060 Posts
EWWW!!