What do your ER patients families say or do that irks you?

*LOL* Oh yes, the ones that say, "You'll have to use a butterfly needle..."

And..."Wow, looks like you guys aren't that busy right now," or "Gee, it sure seems slow in here"...

And let's not forget..."My doctor told me to come in. I'm supposed to go right back without waiting."

(I could go on for pages but will give others a chance to post!) :chuckle

I only had 2 beers.........

They can only get my IV using a baby needle......

I have been here for 6 hours.....( checked in 25 minutes ago)

Is Dr soandso here (medical director,CMO,etc) we are close family friends......

I have this green frothy discharge.......

I can't pee... (quick fix for this)

I've been clean over a month (labs say different)

I'm allergic to (insert all non-narcotics here). The only thing that works is (Demerol/Morphine/Dilaudid)

I had an appointment tomorrow but I didn't want to wait (for a UTI)

I have a migraine. (OK. This one is legitimate, sometimes. When it gets me is when the person has never actually been diagnosed with Migraines, and gets them after smoking crack or drinking too much)

(After giving 2 of dilaudid, 30 of toradol, 1 of ativan, 25 of phenergan all and Caffeine).... my pain is a 10 out of 10 still (while drifting in and out of sleep, and laughing with boyfriend when I'm not visible)

There are more.... but there are some things patients say that I love......

you are a great nurse.... honey, I know you are very busy, thank you...... I don't want to be too much work..... these are usually your sickest ones. strange how things work.

I had an appointment tomorrow but I didn't want to wait (for a UTI)

.

GRRR! I totally understand that one.

How about "I haven't taken my dilantin in a few weeks. I can't afford it" (while wearing tons of gaudy gold jewelry and/or new $200 basketball sneakers)

"They always have to stick me in the neck"

Actually had a pt tell me this one time "I don't like taking pills (Motrin!). Can I get an IV instead?" Ummm...NO!

"I haven't eaten all day."

After arriving by ambulance for a sore throat, "I'll need a cab pass home"

"I only had one beer" ETOH 269

"Are you the doctor, or JUST a nurse"

"I have to be otta here in a half n hour, can you hurry things up?"

" I have an apt with my doctor in 1 hour but I just couldn't wait"

"Could you write me a prescription for Tylenol?"

"I was not almost dead" after Heroin OD with a little Narcan.

"I just know I'm really sick and need to be admitted" walks in with suitcase syndrome.

" I never had to wait this long before"

there are so many more but just thinking about them makes me mad.

#1 that bothers me the most "I PAY YOUR SALARY"

1. I called "ask a nurse" and they said to come RIGHT in!! (as if they say ANYTHING else......)

2. Oh, if my temperature 'reads' 98.9, then I am burning up with fever....I usually run low......

3. Rating pain 10/10 when they are smiling and sipping on a Big Gulp drink. I want to punch them really hard and say..."ok, THAT is considered a 10/10" ...lol.

4. When you are trying to triage them and they "can't talk" (drama)....or speak very low....until you get to the allergy part and ~viola~ they regain laryngistic control and spout off...."toradol,codeine,ultram, and ibuprofen"

5. Getting caught up in the Drama act.... risking hurting my back for the person flopping in the floor that wants to "get back" sooner.... or having to help some 350 lb. 20-something out of a car into a wheelchair, wheel their big butts around.....just so they can get up and walk around to use the phone or go outside and smoke while waiting.......

6. Sitting at the triage desk...trying to triage.... and also doubling as the door monitor. The person I'm triaging could be bleeding from the eyes and someone will say...EXCUSE me, can you hit the button for me to go back??

7. Crowd control....sometimes I feel like that David Spade character with the headset on....."And you are......??" Then getting blasted for not letting a herd of family go back at one time.

8. When I do open the doors for someone..... about 10 people jump up and run through....like my former neighbors half wild cats when I was cooking....

9. The freakin' plexi-glass that separates me from the masses.... feeling the glares and hiding behind a patient's rights poster stuck to the window.

10. The shuffle to the triage desk .....and asking that age old question that ALL triage nurses just LOVE......... "HOW MUCH LONGER WILL IT BE????"

I want to look at my watch and say...."well, I get off at 7am....so...6 and a half hours" :chuckle

I hate when patients say "i'm a hard stick" If I had a penny for every time I have heard this (and usually get a line in the 1st time), I would never have to work again.

"Oh, but it rolls all over."

"I have some tricks to hang on to it." WHAM, 16ga to the hand. Vein never tried to roll. hhmmmmmmm

my favorite are the patients that say "My mother/father hasn't eaten ALL day and he is diabetic" never mind the fact that the patient just came in like a half hour ago via ambulance nine at night. "well ma'am are sure he hasn't eaten anything at all?its nine o'clock and his blood sugar is 268". "oh well all he had was breakfast and a little snack this afternoon" i just want to pull my hair out when this happens.

Copying from the OB thread but using ER patients and families.....

I hate when patients say "i'm a hard stick" If I had a penny for every time I have heard this (and usually get a line in the 1st time), I would never have to work again.

Be happy you have never had to start a line on me or draw blood. I am a very hard stick. Just ask the Charlotte County paramedics or ER nurses that have tried and failed. I do warn anyone who is going to attempt on me and they usually find out, I am indeed a very, very hard stick.

Grannynurse :balloons:

Copying from the OB thread but using ER patients and families.....

I hate when patients say "i'm a hard stick" If I had a penny for every time I have heard this (and usually get a line in the 1st time), I would never have to work again.

Could be they had a bad 'stick' nurse everytime ! Happened to me ! (12 X) I said the same thing and BAM!!!!!!!

She got it the first try .

Z

:rotfl: :uhoh21: Comments made by and general behaviour of patients that irk me include (but are by NO means limited to):

- No. 1 pet hate is the the young dying swan/drama queen... doted on by their significant other/mother/father... PUHLEASE...! Vomiting once is not a medical emergency... nor is having diarrhoea... once....

I may be alone in the fact that if I have gastro I want to sh*t and vomit into my own toilet, shower in my own shower and crawl, almost dying into my own bed...

-"How long am I going to be here? I have to [insert something obviously more important than their MEDICAL EMERGENCY here- may include work/ family but more often than not social commitments]" - we like to keep people here as LONG as possible... its great for general attitude of patients... they LOVE to wait... or so I am lead to believe.

- After rating their pain as as 10/10.... refusing analgesia.....

some people really don't appreciate sarcasm when I say... " so... on that scale of 1 - 10, with 0 being no pain and 10 being the worst pain imaginable, say on par with getting both of your arm and legs ripped off at that moment before you lose consciousness due to the pain... you'd be right about there now :)?

- "I hate needles... and I am not having one..." - Okay... have fun bleeding to DEATH... Recently we had a woman of K18/40 with heavy PV bleeding... refusing IV access/analgesia... for multiple hours... she just wanted an ultrasound... *sighs*... she ended up in theatre.. not before she had 2 IV's inserted...

- "I've been here for (insert grossly overestimated amount of time)... this is ridiculous... get a doctor in here NOW!" - I'm sorry but all the doctors are at the pub having lunch at the moment... having a few quiet drinks... they LOVE to make angry people in a whole lotta pain wait as LLLLOOONNGGG as possible... it's good for their conflict management skills...

- "When am I going up to the ward?"- when still on the ambulance trolley at triage... normally complete with suitcase, handbag and every other possession ... how about never?

- "It's nothing like on TV" - that may be because you have come to the ER for a splinter in your finger as opposed to losing limbs in a MVA.

Comments made by and general behaviour of patients families/relatives that irk me include (but are by NO means limited to):"

- refer to first comment above...

- "Mum/Dad doesn't like [this],[that] or [the other]... " before even introducing myself....

- "Mum/Dad hasn't eaten all day... s/he needs something to eat NOW" - It's 2:00am and s/he is here for investigation of abdo pain.. s/he isn't getting anything... this may take away from the fact that the patient is ASLEEP (!)

-"Mum/Dad is diabetic and needs something to eat..." With a BGL that is OFF the scale... I think she is fine and dandy for a minute while I just prepare this insulin infusion......

- "I am not leaving" - Did you want to see your significant other/mother/father use a bed pan... or get an internal of some description? :uhoh21: ...... We had a patients partner get escorted out by security because he refused to stand OUTSIDE THE ROOM while his partner was having a lady partsl exam..... Dx PID secondary to chlamydia...

Sorry for the long post... but I could go on and on and on and on... but I won't....

Keep them coming though! I love comments such as these that only other nurses understand...

I have only been working in ED for 2 years... It doesn't take long to become a cynic.... (not that I wasn't before I started...!!!)