Omigod, i was just browsing through another forum that listed pet peeves. It was so good, but so big. I was trying to browse through for ER stuff. It's great!!! Let's start our own!!!
---TANGLED CORDS I start out every shift untangling monitor/BP/pulse ox/call light/pumps/IV tubings and assorted other things
---PATIENTS WHO ARRIVE BY AMBULANCE and immediately have to have a BM. What is it about EMS that scares the SH** out of them???? and then...
---I HAVEN'T EATEN ALL DAY. big surprise, neither have I. as a matter of fact, i probably havent' had a lunch break in 3 years of 12 hour shifts
---BEDSIDE COMMODES with various aging urine/BM's at the bedside.
---LUNCH (and dinner) TRAYS still in the rooms at 7pm
---GARBAGE all around the garbage can
---IV TRAYS not restocked. of course, nights does nothing but crochet. even tho statistics show the busiest time to be 8-12 am.
---GRANDMA'S AND GRANDPAS soaking wet. bet you it wasn't YOUR grandma
---VISITORS who come to the station to tell you what their family member needs (urinal, bedpan, water, attention). Please tell me, how did these people pee on their own at home????
----GREAT BIG DISPLAYS OF EMOTION about patients who are obviously in the ER from neglect..... prescriptions not filled, not bathed in weeks, clothes in tatters, dehydrated and starving. BUT NOW!!! my MOM IS SUFFERING, CAN'T YOU SEE THAT??????
----BABIES WITH HIGH FEVERS IN TRIAGE. doesn't anybody buy Tylenol any more????
I could go on and on (and I am, in my pea brain), but i want to hear from YOU GUYS TOO!!!!
One of my biggest pet peeves is when some guy or girl cuts him/herself with a broken beer bottle at a party, and then a group of them all come to the ER. They're all drunk, they're all complaining because the ER is too slow, they don't know if they have insurance or not, etc. They're almost always loud and obnoxious. And when I call the patient to register him/her, the entire group wants to come into the registration cubicle. And the cut usually isn't even bad enough to warrant an ER visit.
My next pet peeve are the patients on the state health plan who come in for a pregnancy test. It's not that they don't know what the symptoms mean--they KNOW what they mean. They just won't go to Walgreen's or CVS and buy a pregnancy test! But they don't have to pay the ER bill, so they don't care. And then they complain repeatedly because it's taking too long. Sorry, pregnancy test is a NON-URGENT case!! GRR!
I forgot one I had a while back re: preg test. Girl comes in and says whe wants a preg test. I said, ok.. what makes you think you're pregnant? Answer: I don't.. I'm a day late and I want to go out drinking tonight, but I thought I better make sure I'm not pregnant first. On Medicaid.. big surprise.
One of the Financial Counselors who works in our E.R. told me about a guy who regulary calls an ambulance in order to get Maalox. And, once he gets admitted, he wants to be waited on hand and foot.
Needing Emergency Care is one thing, but this is pure abuse of our already overburdened Health Care System. :angryfire
I wish that Press and Ganey could have those surveys stuck where the sun don't shine(I'd be happy to put'em there without benefit of KY):rotfl: Sorry, I know this post is slightly off topic but when I saw the post about Press Ganey I couldn't help my self.
The doctor who gives the hydrocodone to the drug seeker. Makes the rest of our lives miserable.
The triage nurse who rushes the dramatic but noncritical patient back just because she doesn't want to deal with them.
Cardiac patients,or any patient, who have to ask their spouses what medicines they take.
Females that know asking for a simple pregnancy test will get them a long wait so they add the complaint of abdominal pain. Then they get a full work-up and a "free" ultrasound picture to boot.
Patients who are making out with their SOs as you go to discharge them. Guess that back/belly/tooth quit hurting after they got their magical narcotic strip.
Patients who say, "You don't know what a migraine, UTI, backache, cold, etc. feels like". Yes I do honey and I still drag myself to work.
The pt c/o shoulder/back/elbow/nostril pain requesting Dilaudid IVP
The ED staff family member bypassing triage and taking up a room "for a quick assessment of A, B, or C"
The drunk college kid begging us not to call his parents
The drunk HS kid crying because we did
The LTC dumps who are dehydrated with a UTI - last time I checked, IVFs could be given in a NH
The pt. screaming of ear pain...one look w/ otoscope reveals a live cockroach...irrigated out and still alive...pt asks for spec. cup to "take him back home"
the "worst headache of my life" with his IPOD blaring
the mother screaming at the staff for making dehydrated 2 y.o. cry with IV start
the intern who things he/she is hot sh#@ and attempts to order the 30 yr veteran nurses around during a code...as if they don't know how to do their jobs and YOURS too!
babynurselsa, RN
1,129 Posts
How about the person that leaves the ER, goes across the street and phones an ambulance?
Or the one that calls 911 from one ER parking lot to be transferred to another hospital?