thought these were funny and true. add on if desired....
Alas, sometimes in the ER the family is harder to deal with than the patient. Here are some family member we all have seen in our ER:
DOORWAY GAWKER- stands and stares at the staff, arms folded, from the doorway with an impatient, angry looks on their faces
THE VENTRILOQUIST - talks for the patient until you tell them to stop it
THE SHADOW- you have to pry this person away from the patients bedside in order to do your job. then they watch every move you make as you start an IV, give meds, etc.
APATHETIC ANN/ANDY - brings a book, laptop - has a sort of been here/done this attitude - seems uninterested in whats going on
THE SUCKER - accompanies a patient with some kind of bogus chronic problem and has bought into it hook, line and sinker
THE KLEPTOMANIAC - you might catch this person rummaging through the cupboards, drawers and perhaps pocketing a thing or two
THE ERRAND RUNNER - may come up to the desk requesting warm blankets, footies, water, food, more pain meds, etc etc etc
MAMAS BOY MAMA - accompanies their grown son or daughter to the ER and sits with concerned look at bedside
BABY DADDY - accompanies girlfriend to ER and is suspicious of any male that comes into the room. Wants to stay there when pelvic exam is being done.
THE DUMPER- drops off confused mom/dad/annoying sibling/girlfriend/boyfriend and leaves
SPACE INVADERS - crosses that line into the staff area or follows the doctor into their area - definitely a no no
MAJOR HOLIDAY GIFTERS - brings mom/dad/grandma who they haven't seen for months to ER because they "aren't doing that well/can't take care of themselves/need to go to a nursing home"
CHICKEN LITTLE - runs to triage desk requesting help for mom/dad/etc in the car who are dying (99% of the time they are fine). Comes up to the desk and tells you heart monitor is dinging - is that OK??!!!
SUSPICIOUS STAN/STELLA- takes notes - wants names of staff, name of medication, name of tests. Has special "medical notebook"
Um, I cant walk, I need this cane cuz I have a back injury from the war, from the fall from the bridge, from being attacked by a gang, from a GSW, from being a Nurse etc
"I am allergic to Toradol, Motrin, Vicodin, Morphine the Doctor usually gives me a couple of millllllagrains...is that the right term? Anyway of this drug called, oh geez, Dil something?"
"Was it Dilaudid?"
"Yeah, that is the one my Neurologist, Pain Doctor, Surgeon wants me to have, q 15 minutes IV PRN!"
"I am sorry the Attending is discharging you with a Rx for Motrin..."
At which point the non ambulatory person writhing in pain abruptly stands and swings with the cane like a famous hitter on steroids and when an arrest is attempted sprints out of the ED....
OK, I have the all-time best one ever. This guy comes in mooing and sobbing because he's in so much pain w/ N/V. He tells us that he has terminal liver CA (7 tumours in his liver) and has come here to be with his family to die. He was assaulted the other day and the muggers stole his Oxycontin and Dilaudid. They also ripped out his PICC line. The PA orders 2 of Dilaudid and Phenergan for this poor guy, who promptly passes out after the Dilaudid. I went to the PA and told him that I know I've been doing this for a long time and I have a suspicious nature, but I've never seen anyone with terminal liver CA who wasn't at least a little bit yellow. I also am amazed that he takes 80 of Oxycontin and 8 mg of po Dilaudid and yet passed out after 2 mg. (Our sickle cellers routinely take at least 12 mg IV to make them even drowsy). Sure enough, we go and scan his belly, and did you know (we're going to write a paper about this), Dilaudid and Phenergan CURES terminal liver CA!!!!!! No tumours. He came in requesting a hospice consult, no less. I've now taken to calling the PA "God" because of his miraculous healing powers.
Specializes in CNA, Surgical, Pediatrics, SDS, ER.
Smoking Sally- is really very very ill severe COPD turning blue- Can I step outside for 5 minutes to have smoke w/ my O2 on?
Abd pain Abby- c/o belly pain but has not eaten anything all day- Parents: Can she have something to eat or drink she has not had anything all day?
Tip #1 If you want to eat don't come to the ER w/ belly pain
Drunken Darrel- arrives per ambulance because he's been in bed for 5+ days, is incontinent and has only drank brkfst, lunch, & dinner for past 5 days- needs food now and a bath
Specializes in TraumaER ,NICUx2days, HEMEONC CathLab IV.
yep, Larry's are out there....hahahaha....I have resorted to telling them my husband is the Chief of police in conversation...hahahahaha....stops em short each time. (of couse it's a lie.....my husband is not a cop) hahahahaha
UMmmmMM, ERR AHH it's not true he is not your husband??? Good thing, cause I use that one too and It saves me alot of &$^(). And mention you have had 4 demise from bad coke/meth/crack this week already:cry:
Specializes in CCU, SICU, CVSICU, Precepting & Teaching.
wow, glad to know how the people who are supposed to be 'caring' for us and our loved one's really feel! we pay a good price for your services, god forbid we are concerned or scared for a loved one and don't spend half our lives(yet) in the er until we are bitter & immune to empathy.
humor -- especially black humor -- gets is through. if you can't laugh, you won't last.
Specializes in CCU, SICU, CVSICU, Precepting & Teaching.
so, if my family member is in your icu, i can visit, along with 10 other family members all at the same time, bring my baby nieces and let them jump on the patient's bed and chew on every piece of equipment in sight, sneak in cookies for my family member who is npo even though i've been told 8 times not to, ask for meal trays for all of my family members and scream at you when you tell me no, silence the monitors or iv pumps when they start beeping, pace the hallways and nosily peer into other patient's rooms then get upset and scream at you some more when you ask me not to, have my other five family members call you for updates every 15 minutes so you can't get any work done, start screaming that my loved one is dying every time he hiccups and then stand in your way throwing a fit while you're trying to squeeze your way into the room just to do your job- and you won't get mad??? you'll let me do all of this and not complain about it one bit, or go home and vent about how drained you feel from dealing with your patient's family (your one or two patients, not 5, or 6, or 7, or 8...)??? come on now, really???
someone has to provide decent nursing care to these patients and their millions of family members after they have been treated so rudely by all of us er nurses... i mean what are we thinking? wanting to concentrate on saving lives and dealing with true emergencies rather than dealing with all of the non-emergent patients and schmoozing their family members?!? oh, yes, we must truly have our priorities messed up....
because you know, it's never the truly sick patients or their family members who are demanding or causing problems, it's always the non-emergent patients that should not be in the er in the first place, the ones who abuse the ems system by calling an ambulance for a hangnail, and then abuse it even more by being demanding, and taking nursing attention away from those who truly need it.
i have no problem with catering to the family members of patients who are truly sick- i know that they're going through a tough time, and if i can make it better for them, i will, and 99.9% of the time, the families of those who are truly sick are really appreciative of what we do for them. but, what you don't see in the icu (because they get sent home), is all the patients who are abusing our er's, sucking the life out of er nurses, crowding our waiting rooms, taxing a system that's already bursting at the seams, verbally and physically abusing our staff, making unreasonable demands...
so what i'm not understanding is why anyone, especially another nurse, would chastise us and call us uncaring and unprofessional for finding the need to vent about this!
isn't this, of all places, the most appropriate place for such venting???
the opinions of the humorless icu nurse are her opinions and hers only, they do not reflect the opinions of all icu nurses.
Specializes in TraumaER ,NICUx2days, HEMEONC CathLab IV.
Wow, glad to know how the people who are supposed to be 'caring' for us and our loved one's really feel! We pay a good price for your services, God forbid we are concerned or scared for a loved one and don't spend half our lives(yet) in the ER until we are bitter & immune to empathy.
IF you CAN'T RUN WITH THE BIG DOGS GET OUT OF THE WAY.
We need to VENT and LAUGH. This is better than Drinking at A BAR!!! Cheaper too.,ER nurse for 30 YEARS....
Specializes in ER - trauma/cardiac/burns. IV start spec.
Good Lord! Some people are so, so, I don't even have a word for it or let us just say no words I can put here. ICU nurses (critical care?) I watched Cardiac ICU nurses try to work a cardiac in the ER and they could not or did not know basic protocal or critical pathways and left the ER in tears. I have had my share of experience of transfering patients to ICU's and family and friends in ICU's. If you cannot make fun of yourself and the weird, crazy and just plain stupid things that happen then stay out of the ER.
Now ER nurses beat this one. During the tv show ER's big hype time one of the local videographers with out with the EMT's on some calls. 2AM call comes in for drunk vs train. Train wins right? wrong:banghead: The drunk passed out with his ARM on the tracks and, you guessed it, train takes arm. The medic trying to stop bleeding had no light when someone asked where the arm was. Video guy used his big light for medic.
Ok now everyones at the ER. We ask where is the arm? Brought in on ice but it is not reimplantable and the patient was sooooooo drunk he did not realize his arm was gone well hand and wrist really. After the hand danced around, got lost in dirty linens, stuck in biohazard waste pt goes to surgery.
I go to family room and explain to his family that he was in surgery but he had lost his hand. To which they replied well at least it wasn't his head,:smackingf got up and left. I just stood there. :stone
Next morning we heard that he was crying about his hand and asking for a drink!
Can I just say.... You guys all crack me up! I have to admit... there is no way I could ever do what you all do. I've been a patient in the ER 2X this past 6 months. And while I was pretty sick (gangreous gallbladder and kidney failure), I could be nominated for a few of the OP's awards! LOL (at least the one about bringing my mommy with me... I'm 34)... ((in my defense... my husband had to stay home with the kids and I was too sick to drive myself there))
My husband could qualify for apathetic Andy as he has brought in his computer (and/or crackberry) when one of our kids was in the hospital before. I think he does it to keep himself pre-occupied or he might faint...
But I can only imagine what you all go through each and every day. I saw some of the nut jobs that were in there when I was... I remember a mom bringing her 2 year old in because she shut her finger in the folding closet door. It was like 2pm on a weekday! Hello?? Is there a clinic around? The kid was moving her hand around and it wasn't even red or bruised anymore... very strange what you must have to deal with!
Anyway... from the other side... I think you are all great! Vent away and keep up the funny stories! They will help me to remember what not to do next time! LOL
.thumb.jpg.6ef22235a95e8726ea425a8585c9cf44.jpg){kind=small}
:w00t: :lvan: 
Train wins right? wrong:banghead: The drunk passed out with his ARM on the tracks and, you guessed it, train takes arm. The medic trying to stop bleeding had no light when someone asked where the arm was. Video guy used his big light for medic.
ERRNTraveler, RN
672 Posts
The link doesn't work- can you post again???