Fun Day...

[Adam D. RN2005]

You know you have a problem family member when your charting reflects more about the antects and harassement of the family member then the actual condition of the patient.

Add that in to two RN's that called in with the flu, and the RN on availability was fired on friday, and you get 9 to 11 patients per RN. The good news, they held admits for our unit. And other than the fact that my patient's daughter was completely nuts, I had a pretty good day.

The interesting thing, was when I saw the board, I didn't even blink. I just knew today was going to be a day that I would need to stay on task and continuely keep an eye on my patients. Charting would come later in the shift.

I don't feel I compromised my patients care. I just prioritized them. And fortunately, I had most of them the day before, so I knew what to look for, and I was not flying blind.

Now to my patient's daughter. Oh my god. Now I know why everyone has been complaining about her. She was the proxy for the patient who had dementia. Pt was pretty much non-responsive.

Not once did I lose my cool with the daughter. Just kept on calling the nursing AD to the floor. And this person was well documented. Not only by me but by the rest of my unit as well.

When I asked her to step out of the room so I could transfer the pt from the bed to the stretcher (which I normally do), she went balistic. She accused me of going to hurt the patient and that she was going to sue. (Never say that to a nurse on duty, because I will document it. And if you do sue, it shows alteriative motive and will 99.9% of the time get thrown out by the judge. I have a family full of lawyers, some medical malpractice,and they gave me plenty of advice on how to cover my backside.)

Next she started following me around the unit, and at one point when I went to the pharmacy, she followed me most of the way there until I turned around and saw her, she turned around and ran back to the unit. Interesting. I documented that as well.

I also documented every bit of care that I provided to the patient from the diaper changes all the way done to the how I put the pillows on the patient. I walked into the room at one point about 15 to 30 minutes after I had walked into the room earlier, I noted that the pillows that I had placed under the pt back, between the knees and under the heels were piled neatly on the garbage pail. I know I didn't and the tech didn't move them which just leaves one person.

I just documented it. Then the daughter has the gall to accuse me of not turning the patient every two hours. Interestingly enough, the daughter was there the entire time, saw me several times go in and turn the patient. And then becomes obsessed with saying that I did not provide any care for the patient.

The daughter was abusive towards me and my tech. And harrassed me. I just documented every bit of it. From 9 am till 1855. It took me two hours to document that one patient. Insane.

The amazing thing, not once did I get angry. Not once did I talk back to the daughter. Not once did I raise my voice. I just kept the smile on my face and reminded myself that I love my job and that I am not going to let onc nut case change that for me. And that I was going to have a field day documenting all of this.

I got commended from the Nursing AD on my professionalism today, and she told me that this was pretty much the same old from this person and that tomorrow, risk management is going to be taking a look at this person and also getting SW involved as well as a judge to remove the bi-proxy and transfer the care of this person to the state.

I love my job. And I did not once allow this person to get to me. Yes she gave me heartburn. (Took mylanta, god that is the worst tasting stuff.) and took everything that she said with a grain of salt. Because, there is so much documentation from patients that states completely the opposite of what this patient said.

Now I am going to go to sleep and enjoy the next 3 days off that I have.

Adam, RN

[PoohGirl]

Adam, do we work in the same hospital?!

I had a pt last week whose family members "live" at the bedside. They're neurotic, OCD and impossible to deal with. I think at one point, after a week at the bedside, one of the MDs forced one to go home to shower. These family members dictate to the NAs, RNs and MDs how to care for their vented pt. I got patient rep and nurse manager involved b/c family will criticize every step and tell how you how and what to do, all the time refusing to leave the room, even under md orders.

That day I charted more than i've charted in a week! As per my fellow co-workers, as much as I could I quoted the family word for word. If only they knew how every sound out of their mouth is documented...

Yah, thats nursing for you!

[LoriAlabamaRN]

WOW- I want you on my team!

No kidding, great job. I've had family members like that as well, and it's hard to keep your cool. Sounds like you did an excellent job.