Exit Strategies For Nurses Who Deal With Overly Talkative Patients
How do busy nurses remove themselves from seemingly never-ending conversations with overly chatty patients and visitors without coming across as rude or abrupt? Keep reading for tips and strategies to smoothly extricate oneself from these sticky situations.
I am a nurse who deals with multiple patients during the course of each shift. Sometimes I'll get a patient who simply talks too much and won't let me leave the room. Sometimes a family member will be the one who is talking too much, keeping me in the room and hogging my limited time. My question is this - how do I remove myself from overly chatty people like this without being rude? I am busy at work and have other things to do, so I can't talk to these people all day.
Many nurses seem to ask variations of the aforementioned question. We want to be polite to our patients and visitors, albeit for different reasons. Some of us believe in the, "treat others as you would want to be treated," mantra, whereas other nurses are merely trying to avoid being reported to management because some excessively chatty patient or family member wanted us to sit in the room and talk to them all day. Still, other nurses have fast-paced, busy workloads and just do not have the time to hold a lengthy discussion with someone who wants to tell you his life story. Either way, nurses want courteous ploys that will get them the heck away from that talkative person, if only for a brief period of time.
The timeless exit strategy for nurses is an adaptation of, "I really need to be somewhere right now, so you'll have to excuse me, but we will definitely talk later."
Some variants that sound truthful and plausible in the healthcare environment
I am expecting an important phone call from a doctor right about now. (S)he is going to phone the nurses station, not my personal phone, so I need to be there to take the call.
A meeting is scheduled to start in a few minutes and I am supposed to be present
I need to accompany one of my other patients to another department for an appointment.
I am beginning to feel dizzy. I need to get something to drink, but I'll be back to see you later.
I forgot to do something very important. Please excuse me for a moment.
My manager wants to see me right now. You will have to excuse me.
Of course, always feel free to say, "I enjoyed talking to you. We can resume this discussion at some other time," if you want to maintain an impression of warmth and geniality. Smile while you are telling the patient or family member these things.
Here are a few more pointers
Keep in mind that you are telling the patient or visitor that you're leaving the room. You are not asking them if you can leave the room, so do not ever frame your statement as a question.
Please don't kick yourself over the fact that you are telling the patient or family a little white lie.
If the patient or family member does not seem to understand the hints you are dropping, you will need to be more upfront: "It's been a pleasure talking with you, but I really need to see my other patients and get started on my other tasks." Although management does not want nursing staff to mention the other patients they have, sometimes this is the only way the overly babbly patient or visitor will catch a clue that you have other things to do.
