er visitors...a funny

Specialties Emergency

Published

thought these were funny and true. add on if desired....:jester:

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"

Specializes in ED, ICU, Heme/Onc.
WOW!! I must admit, I'm guilty of quite a few of those titles; I never really thought about how my actions are preceived when my MAJOR care at that moment is the health of my loved one {in various cases my kids, my mom (& in-law), my grandparents (& in-laws), my 1st-cousin, my siblings (& in-laws), my husband, and myself have all experienced injuries/symptoms that warranted ER trips}. Thanks for the laughs, I'll try to remember how my actions can be viewed in the future

You can be a concerned family member without fitting into one of these categories. Unless you are standing at the curtain, tapping your foot and glaring until someone asks you if you need anything and you proceed to launch into a diatribe about how we have a lot of nerve taking care of other patients, etc. Then you can choose the moniker of your choice. It's been said before, but I'll say it again. ER staff. Blowing off steam. So we can go back to work relatively sane. So we can sit in triage and have abuse hurled our way for a 12 hour shift. My goodness, I guess we really are the red-headed stepchildren of the profession. (No offense to either red-heads or stepchildren, of course...)

Blee

Specializes in ICU.
Hungry Hungry Hippo: The visitor who tells you repeatedly how they haven't eaten a thing all day and how weak they are becoming. Of course this is told to you in front of their family member/friend/cousin's baby's daddy who has been vomiting for 3 days.

Take Charge Terry: The overbearing son who shows up when Mama is shipped over from the NH. Has all the facts on Mama and demands only the best care for her. Wants multiple warm blankets, pillows to prop her up, warm socks for her feet, food,...questions every procedure...comes to the desk every 15 minutes to "inform" you of something more important than anything else you are doing. Demands to speak with the doctor multiple times. All of this because he's feeling guilty for not visiting Mama in the NH for 2 months.

Pain Pill Poppin' Patty: Overly concerned with what type of Rx mama/aunt/friend/neighbor is going home with. "She really needs something for pain. She's really hurting. Can the doctor write her a prescription for hydro...hydra...hydracodeen...hy-dro-co-done? Its the ONLY thing that works for her!"

Knock, knock. Who's there?: Visitor that CANNOT remain in the locked ER for more than 5 minutes at a time. And when he leaves, he cannot stay OUT for more than 5 minutes at a time requiring the nurses to constantly stop what they are doing to open the doors!

Tenacious Telephoner: Can't make it to the ER myself to check on Mama, but I'm gonna call every 15 minutes to make sure you update me on what's going on with her. Cuz I care so much....

Good Lord...I could go on and on and on....been a LONG day!! :bugeyes:

We get all these in ICU :chuckle:chuckle:chuckle:chuckle

Specializes in ER/Nuero/PHN/LTC/Skilled/Alzheimer's.

Let's all not forget the "Arm-chair" doctor who comes in with the pt (or is the pt themselves) and proceeds to tell you and the doc how to treat the problem because "my momma's second cousin's ex-boyfriend's roommate had the same thing wrong with them and this is how they told me to treat it". Then why bring the patient here? Why not stay at home and "treat" them the way YOU see fit? Let us know how that works out. Better yet, don't.

Also the "I've been here a thousand times and this place is always awful" critic. Has come in multiple times, either for themselves or for family/friends/exes/neighbors/whatever and our "service" has never improved according to them. THEN WHY DO YOU STILL COME HERE? There are a total of five ERs in a 20 mile radius. Go drive them crazy.

Ooops, one more. The " Is that really necessary" family member. Brings a patient in and then asks if each thing we're doing for them is "necessary" since they don't want all of this to go to their insurance or their bill. I actually had to convince a mom to let RT deliver a breathing treatment to an actively asthmatic kid who she brought in for "asthma flareup". Then I had to convince her to let me give him pedipred. She thought it was unnecessary to open up those little inflamed airways since he'd just had a breathing treatment and she didn't want to spend more money than "absolutely necessary" her exact words.

Oh, my. I'm sooo ashamed of myself now. Oh, well if you can't take a joke, forget it.:uhoh3:

Specializes in emergency.
WOW!! I must admit, I'm guilty of quite a few of those titles; I never really thought about how my actions are preceived when my MAJOR care at that moment is the health of my loved one {in various cases my kids, my mom (& in-law), my grandparents (& in-laws), my 1st-cousin, my siblings (& in-laws), my husband, and myself have all experienced injuries/symptoms that warranted ER trips}. Thanks for the laughs, I'll try to remember how my actions can be viewed in the future

nursingis4me i hope you dont plan on working in an er. without some type of sense of humor you'll be burned out within a year. as another poster said we're just blowing off steam so we can return to work somewhat sane. i didn't mean to offend anybody with my thread.

Specializes in Emergency & Trauma/Adult ICU.
You can be a concerned family member without fitting into one of these categories. Unless you are standing at the curtain, tapping your foot and glaring until someone asks you if you need anything and you proceed to launch into a diatribe about how we have a lot of nerve taking care of other patients, etc. Then you can choose the moniker of your choice. It's been said before, but I'll say it again. ER staff. Blowing off steam. So we can go back to work relatively sane. So we can sit in triage and have abuse hurled our way for a 12 hour shift. My goodness, I guess we really are the red-headed stepchildren of the profession. (No offense to either red-heads or stepchildren, of course...)

Blee

Thanks from an ER nurse who is also (really) a red-headed stepchild. :smokin:

Specializes in ICU.
nursingis4me i hope you dont plan on working in an er. without some type of sense of humor you'll be burned out within a year. as another poster said we're just blowing off steam so we can return to work somewhat sane. i didn't mean to offend anybody with my thread.

I can remember reading the Gomer Scale with my mates at work; we were laughing fit to bust because we all knew patients like that. Then we went back out on the floor in a professional manner.

No sense of humour = very short career in nursing.

Specializes in ER.

Allergy by Association: The friends (not even related to pt) who show up and tell you not to give the patient that Toradol you have ready. Friend reports " I had a horrible reaction to that and almost died...and my brother's cousin's ex-girlfriend had the same thing happen". Pt then declines Toradol regardless of explanation that friends "allergy" is irrelevant.

Specializes in Travel Nursing, ICU, tele, etc.
I can remember reading the Gomer Scale with my mates at work; we were laughing fit to bust because we all knew patients like that. Then we went back out on the floor in a professional manner.

No sense of humour = very short career in nursing.

Hey, please share the Gomer scale....:mad:

Specializes in FNP, Peds, Epilepsy, Mgt., Occ. Ed.

I don't know what to call this, except "Why-isn't-this-the-Mayo-Clinic-in-the-Middle-of-Nowhere?"

This is a small, critical access hospital. Small, as in itsy-bitsy. The emergency room is, literally a room. We can be very good at keeping the Angel of Death at bay, at least long enough for the helicopter to get here, and at patching up the little stuff. We do not, however, have immediate, on-premises access to every specialty and technology known to man. Anyone with sense enough to get here should be able to figure that out.

We don't have a MRI machine. We don't have specialists available to come in to she the patients. We don't have physical therapists or massage therapists, either.

If you wanted any of those things, you should've driven your family member just a bit farther.

Specializes in NICU, Infection Control.
Specializes in medical assistant.
IRRELEVANT INFORMATION SUPPLIERS--Prattle on and on about their own medical/surgical/psychiatric history when all I want to know is the patient's info. Interrupt history taking with vignettes of their own past medical experiences.

OMG! This one sounds just like a member of my own family!!! :yeah::chuckle:lol2::lol_hitti LOL

Specializes in medical assistant.

My dearest UtErRnEmt,

My comment was NOT because I don't see the humor in these caricatures, but because, while we all have seen/heard patients like those described, I PERSONALLY didn't realize that sometimes I had become one of those same characters (but I guess that can happen when you go from "healthcare provider" to "patient"). I SO APPRECIATED SEEING MYSELF AS VIEWED BY OTHERS WHEN IN "PATIENT" MODE.

+ Add a Comment