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"
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.
We laugh so we CAN be concerned and compassionalte instead of telling people to take their self-induced psychotic/physical issues back into the community where they will do the most harm. We laugh because we care about our patients and want to do the best we can for them, for poor pay, no or little recognition, many complaints about things we have no control over and enough abuse in a week to last a lifetime. And we vent here so we can continue to do the outstanding and, in soem cases, miraculous things we do with a smile, empathy and heartfelt concern. So, as an outsider, you can take it ot leave it, but we do a great job with a public that has minimal respect for the garbage we have to put up with. So there....
We laugh so we CAN be concerned and compassionalte instead of telling people to take their self-induced psychotic/physical issues back into the community where they will do the most harm. We laugh because we care about our patients and want to do the best we can for them, for poor pay, no or little recognition, many complaints about things we have no control over and enough abuse in a week to last a lifetime. And we vent here so we can continue to do the outstanding and, in soem cases, miraculous things we do with a smile, empathy and heartfelt concern. So, as an outsider, you can take it ot leave it, but we do a great job with a public that has minimal respect for the garbage we have to put up with. So there....
brought in by police after being found passed out in city park. after banana bag, fluids, and a ham sandwich, is being prepped for d/c when he looks out the window at freezing rain and starts having level ten chest pain (with nsr, no dyspnea, and requesting another sandwich and a smoke break).
in the presence of normal labs, may seroconvert to
suicidal sam
just remembered that he has an acitve suicide plan, at least until the weather breaks!
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.
Like others have said, this thread is meant to be FUNNY- if we can't laugh at ourselves and the crazy things we have to deal with on a daily basis, most of us would not be able to put on that caring and compassionate face to care for our patients. ER nurses put up with an UNBELIEVABLE amount of abuse. Those who don't work in the ER would be dumbfounded by what we put up with on a daily basis. Until you've walked miles and miles in our shoes, please don't judge.....
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.
This is a good place for ER nurses to vent, since they see a lot of tragedies in the ER. They also see a lot of selfish people with a sense of entitlement, who think the world revolves around them.
They see people come in with minor injuries who are rude about the wait, because there are sicker, more seriously injured people who need to be taken care of. These are people who don't care that there is someone in the next room who is not breathing, they want to be waited on right "now".
They see people with minor injuries come in with relatives who demand to be fed, even though that is not the nurses job, and they're rude about the fact that they can't get a free meal. They also see people come in by ambulance to the ER for minor injuries that could have went to the doctor instead, and some of these expect the ambulance to take them back home.(Tying up the ambulance so it takes longer to get to the car accident or heart attack.)
There are a lot of threads here about this kind of selfish nonsense, and like I said, this is a good place to vent the frustrations.
Question: Does anybody in the U.S.A have admitted patients lying on stretchers for up to three days in the ER??
Yeaaaaap. Used to, they made some changes and the turn over rate is a lot faster.
To the people who got offended from the Latino remark, it was really harmless. I come from a Portuguese background (mixed) and I took NO offense to it. The first thing that popped in my head was (omg thats soo true)
I had this one guy who said "im expecting a visitor, after 10 minutes can you tell her she has to leave and the doctor wants to see me alone" and I say Ok i'll call security He says no no noo, just tell her she needs to leave. If my wife finds out shes here, she'll kill me and my wife will be here any minute
Sooo
I tell security anyway.
Sure enough, security lets the mistress in "i dont know how she got in, someone had to of let her in"
yeahh ok
So I go up to the bedside to hand him the urinal, he tells me "she needs to go now"
SOOOO
I tell security to escort them out. The patient tells security "Can you give us 10 minutes, we (mistress and patient) need to pray"
LOL Who do you pray to that allows a wife and a mistress? Im totally converting. JK
Question: Does anybody in the U.S.A have admitted patients lying on stretchers for up to three days in the ER??
As a traveler, I can tell you that, yes, unfortunately, this happens all over the country. If the hospital is full, there's just no place to put them...
I always enjoy the homeless people that come up with new complaints just to keep from getting put back on the street (also like to complain you won't pay for a cab for them, like where do you want a cab to??)
Also the people that will take an ambulance to the ER for a runny nose and then get really mad at you when you tell them it's not your job to find them a ride home. You were able to get to the ER, now figure out how to get away from the ER. Once they are banished to lobby the always have a ride within 10 minutes, simply amazing.
AuntieNursey
32 Posts
We all have those days.