Ever had a nurse or doc as a patient?

TiffyRN, BSN, PhD · Nov 26, 2005

I've taken care of several doctors and a few nurses. In fact my very first clinical assignment as a student nurse the patient was a lady married to an RN. I was almost paralysed with fear but both the patient and the husband were wonderful and seemed to make every effort to teach me things, the husband helped me make the patients bed. I guess I'm lucky or something but I can't recall a really bad experience. I had a kooky old lady (excuse me, elderly female with mild dementia) who had been an RN for many years now retired. She was absolutely bowel obsessed, wanted to have a BM three times a day. I was charge over a floor where one of my co-workers was admitted. It was kind of hard on all of us because she was so scared as she had a rare condition and we didn't really have any reassuring words as we knew little of her condition (pseudotumor cerebri). She was ok in the end.

Daytonite, BSN, RN · Nov 26, 2005

Have had several doctors as patients. They were all very quiet and never really bothered the nursing staff for anything unless something wasn't getting done like it should have. They also reviewed their charts when their doctors visited them, so to some extent they were involved in their treatment. They all seemed to be extrememly understanding and tolerant of the staff. The worse problem we had was a doc who had an abdominal surgery and was deliberately exposing himself to any nurse coming into his room under the pretense that they should look at his surgical wound. We were all very shocked at this behavior of his. My experience with patients who are nurses has been pretty much the same. Nurse seems to go out of their way not to bother the staff for things that they know how to get for themselves (to our displeasure).

Tweety, BSN, RN · Nov 26, 2005

I took care of a local MD here, and he was the nicest man. It was a bit ackward because I had to shave his groins and see him naked, be we both were professional. He came in for a colonoscopy and I noticed his EKG didn't look right and he wound up having a cardiac cath later that day, and he was very impressed with my nursing abilities (beyond just the tasks of IVs and shaving groins. LOL), and I hope in his mind at least, he found out what really nurses do. If I hadn't assessed his EKG and shoved it aside, he might not have had proper treatment for his ischemia.

I've taken care of a couple of retired docs and I remember them being a pleasure. I recently took care of a retired dentist and he was the nicest man. I've taken care of lots of nurses and retired nurses and again they are a pleasure.

Nurses as patients can be fun as we can compare notes and commiserate.

I have to say some of the worst family members I've ever dealt with are nurses. They've been the nastiest and most judgemental family member's I've ever come across. I'm not making a blanket statement, because for the most part 95% of the time nurses as family members are very helpful and kind. The 5% that aren't I just want to scream "how dare you treat a peer like that!". :)

Sometimes it's the same if a doc is a relative. "let me see their chart", "you should be doing this that and the other"...."I've talked to her doctor myself and she said this is what you're going to do". It's worse when they are out of town.

KatieBell · Nov 26, 2005

I've had lots of health care professional patients. Usually not a problem, though we did have one "retired" RN, age 38 who was of course allergic to Ibuprofen, toradol, tylenol, you get the picture.

The worst patient I ever had was a Physicians wife. The wife was fine, the physician kept telling me he wanted to insert the IV and that I should get a scalp needle. Behind his back his wife kept negging me, "Please don't let him do that..." Actually, most of the time that I have problems it is with patients with relatives that are nurses/physicians....

RENAISSANCE RN · Nov 26, 2005

I guess we have to realize that when we are sick or family members are sick, we are no longer a nurse or an MD.

With that said, yes I am a beast. I always want to know what they are hanging and why.:)

jonamb · Nov 26, 2005

I can remember being in the hospital after the birth of my second child. At this point I had been a CNA for a year or so, and I wanted to be a "good patient". I can remember changing my own bedding when there was blood on it, emptying the "hats" in the toilet and telling the staff what my urinary output was, etc. Several years later, I was in the hospital for a week with pancreatitis, hepatitis, and an eventual lap-chole. I again wanted to be the "good patient" and did a lot of the same things as before. I thought that I was being helpful, and the staff never said anything negative to me, but now I think that if I had a patient being that "helpful" it would drive me insane.

Also, the only hospital nursing I have done was in clinicals in nursing school, and I've never had a doctor for a patient. I've always worked in LTC. I have, however, had numerous retired nurses as residents. I don't know what it is, but they seem to make some of the worst residents. The few that we have had that were not demented in any way were actually very nice, but for some reason the ones with dementia are terrible. We always cringe when we hear that a new admit has some form of dementia and "by the way, she used to be nurse". Like I said, I don't know what it is -- just an observation.

MIA-RN1, RN · Nov 26, 2005

In school last semester I had a patient who's daughter informed me that she had been a nurse for 29 years, after asking my instructor how long she had been a nurse (27).

One of the daughter's first comments when I walked in was "Oh good. Finally someone to change the sheets" SHe then proceeded to watch me like a hawk. The pt had very high unstable blood pressure and I was hanging and monitoring IV meds for it....I totally blank out on what it was...mag sulfate maybe? Anyway, the daughter and wife simply hovered over him. He was very cranky. They ALL questioned every single thing I did. Finally my instructor asked him if he would rather not have a student nurse, and said she could change my assignment. Oh, I was in the bathroom emptying the urinal praying they'd say to change me...but no, they said its fine, the student needs to learn!!!! grrr lol

So then I went to lunch.

I came back, the bp was even higher.

The wife and daughter, still hovering, told me it was my fault because I was in and out of the room too much. Umm....I'd been gone for almost an hour but at that point I just sighed and smiled and hung the next IV.

I doubt I will ever forget that night.

flashpoint · Nov 26, 2005

One of the worst patients I have ever cared for is one of our ICU / ER nurses. She came in for chest pain, we ruled out MI, but admitted her as a 24 hour hold for cardiac monitoring. She continued to have chest pain, but refused morphine, demerol, toradol, stadol, and ibuprofen. She denied pain relief after tylenol and was yelling at everyone because she wasn't getting pain relief. Finally, the doctor asked her what she wanted for pain and she informed him that HE was the doctor, so it was up to HIM to pick her meds. She constantly asked to see her tele strips and threw the clipboard across the room because someone said her PR interval was 0.10 when it was really 0.12. She paced the halls and chewed out the entire night shift for having drinks at the desk (no, we are not supposed to, but we almost always do...when she worked nights, she did it too!). She yelled at the patient in the next room for making too much noise in the bathroom (we have semi-ptivate rooms that are joined by a bathroom). She yelled at the RN because she didn't want her IV in her hand, she wanted it in her wrist...the RN finally called in the CRNA to start the line bacause the she missed twice on the wrist and guess where it ended up? Yep, it went in her hand. Overall, she made her nurse miserable all night long...it got to the point that her nurse's other patients had to be reassigned because she demanded so much time.

I know she was scared. I know she has a HUGE cardiac history in her family. I know she was in pain. I know she knows just about everything that could potentially go wrong, but she was a big pain in the butt!

About a year and a half ago, I was in the hospital with gall stones, kidney stones, and gastroenteritis (what fun!). The hospital was just slammed, so I ended up in ICU because there were no med-surg beds. Our ER and ICU sort of adjoin and when EMS brought in a cardiac arrest at 0200, they had problems with their defib...I actually drug myself out ot bed to help them...probably scared the heck out of the family to see someone in a gown with an IV running playing with the defib...

bluesky, BSN, RN · Nov 26, 2005

One of the worst patients I have ever cared for is one of our ICU / ER nurses. She came in for chest pain, we ruled out MI, but admitted her as a 24 hour hold for cardiac monitoring. She continued to have chest pain, but refused morphine, demerol, toradol, stadol, and ibuprofen. She denied pain relief after tylenol and was yelling at everyone because she wasn't getting pain relief. Finally, the doctor asked her what she wanted for pain and she informed him that HE was the doctor, so it was up to HIM to pick her meds. She constantly asked to see her tele strips and threw the clipboard across the room because someone said her PR interval was 0.10 when it was really 0.12. She paced the halls and chewed out the entire night shift for having drinks at the desk (no, we are not supposed to, but we almost always do...when she worked nights, she did it too!). She yelled at the patient in the next room for making too much noise in the bathroom (we have semi-ptivate rooms that are joined by a bathroom). She yelled at the RN because she didn't want her IV in her hand, she wanted it in her wrist...the RN finally called in the CRNA to start the line bacause the she missed twice on the wrist and guess where it ended up? Yep, it went in her hand. Overall, she made her nurse miserable all night long...it got to the point that her nurse's other patients had to be reassigned because she demanded so much time.
I know she was scared. I know she has a HUGE cardiac history in her family. I know she was in pain. I know she knows just about everything that could potentially go wrong, but she was a big pain in the butt!
About a year and a half ago, I was in the hospital with gall stones, kidney stones, and gastroenteritis (what fun!). The hospital was just slammed, so I ended up in ICU because there were no med-surg beds. Our ER and ICU sort of adjoin and when EMS brought in a cardiac arrest at 0200, they had problems with their defib...I actually drug myself out ot bed to help them...probably scared the heck out of the family to see someone in a gown with an IV running playing with the defib...

Gosh that is :eek: scary! Maybe she had a little pent up frustration she needed some serious pharmacological intervention for!

I have had many Rns as patients in both my (brief student preceptorship) ER experience and in the ICU. They have all been wonderful and patient and just all around nice. I have been a pt myself several times and have just basically kept completely quiet the whole time which worked well!

The only trouble I have ever had is in 2 cases, physicians from completely foreign specialties (like OB and family practice) coming into the ICU and try to literally take over management of some relative or friend without the right knowledge, you know!

SharonH, RN · Nov 26, 2005

One of the last patients I had before leaving the floor a couple of years ago was a retired nurse who had been a professor of nursing and then retired to Florida. She was extremely crabby and complained about everything we did and about how nurses were not as good as they used to be. She drove the aides nuts and they begged me to do something about her. I was really burnt out at the time and my patience was very thin so I was not inclined to let patients run with their complaints like I used to but something made me slow down and listen to this lady and hear her out. I asked her a few questions here and there and lo and behold, it turned out that she was in Atlanta to bury her only son who had died suddenly of a heart attack a few days ago. Her illness was exacerbated by the stress and grief. Well that put things into a different light, didn't it? After that, I found her quite easy to deal with as I understood where she was coming from and in fact, she seemed to calm down a little once she told her story.

I've had other patients who were doctors and nurses and I've taken care of the family members of doctors and nurses, and even with a lot of experience those situations can be very challenging as some people absolutely do use their backgrounds a license to be rude and intimidating to staff.

bettyboop · Nov 26, 2005

Hi

Have just been in hospital were i work for an op, (poor people)I know I am a bad pt

1. needle phobic (usually faint at blood tests LOL)

2. severe nausea & vomiting post op

3. removed own packs (last time)

4. returned to work against medical advice

5. don't sleep at nights (permanent night worker)

6. question treatment and meds constantly

7. difficult intubation asthmatic and smoke:nono:

8. anxious+++ BP goes up and up

and the absolute worst was on strict bed rest last time had to use bedpan:eek: thought i would do them a favor and roll off, ended up soaking the bed with urine I was so embarrassed:imbar

Made a big effort not to be a pain to anyone, ended up on the unit were I worked the total terror on the girls faces was evident:stone

Was I as bad this time:confused:

Asked for Zofran on induction, had pre-op sedation, Surgeon stitched packs in to prevent me from removing:stone

Stopped smoking.

Did it work no:

sedation didn't touch me, BP went up and up, ended up vomiting all over the bed several times, removed all cannulas, got up and went to bathroom. Still question rational for meds etc, pestered surgeon so much about going home earlier wore him down and he let me go home the day after if i agreed to remain on flat bed rest at home for 7 days:balloons: agreed and have been almost fully compliant, sent flowers and chocolates to all staff and a bottle of scotch to my surgeon all with a note apologizing:imbar

They actually said I wasn't as bad as the previous 6 times but they think i am very comical and I act totally out of character as a pt, but still ended with please be compliant and don't come back to work to early, so I don't need to the surgery repeating ever again:rot fl:

and I'm doing just that, after all i have to go back to work on the unit and face them all again:rotfl: :nurse:

bettyboop:rotfl:

Little Panda RN, ASN, RN · Nov 26, 2005

Tweety, is so right about family members who are in the medical field. They are the worst and so was I..... Back in the 90's my husband was hospitalized after his appendix had been ruptured for 48hrs and this is after being sent home from the ER three different times that week with a different diagnosis each time. Anyways, back to my point, I was fresh out of Medical Assisting school, did not have alot of knowledge, but knew my body systems and pharmacology with that said, I am sure you can guess the rest, thats right I quizzed each and every nurse who was taking care of my husband. I wanted to know what the were giving and why. "I know they were glad when I was gone:rotfl: "