5 worse things a patient can do ...

Nurses General Nursing

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what would you say are the 5 worse things a patient can do while admitted in a hospital? 5 bad things that would make his/her stay worse than it needs to be and makes more work for the staff or makes things more difficult than they need to be?

Being a pig...spitting,swearing,peeing on the floor when they have absolutely no excuse for it

I once asked a guy(back when I still cared) why had he peed on the floor ...he said he was on the phone and couldn't reach the urinal...he was dead serious...I asked him if he was in his own home would he make the same choice, he laughed and said of course not and worse he asked me why did I care the cleaner gets paid to wash the floor...he was laughing...I told him if he did it again he would be responsible for cleaning the floor and I told him I would be letting his doctor know...never happened again. Now I just get housekeeping..I just don't have the time or energy.

I don't care about swearing anymore as long as it isn't directed at anyone and isn't racist I just ignore it.

The spitter is worse...no matter what you do...kleenex..garbage bag at bedside they don't seem to care...In fact I have had them tell me it was my fault...you said I had to cough...well yeah but I didn't say cough up some nasty crap and hork it onto the floor so anyone can step in it...

The vomiter...you know..the one who is pale green and you have a basin right in their lap and they ignore it and puke off the side of the bed...after you have asked them 3 times if they feel sick..would they like some gravol...oh no I'm fine...then right after you get them cleaned up and the gravol in they demand a drink of water and get really nasty when you say no...this is after we have done the complete mouth care thing so it's not because they need to get rid of the nasty mouth...they really want a drink of water and refuse to get the connection.

They will whine and moan and carry on and get their entire family involved until you give in and give them some ice chips...which ofcourse 10 minutes later they vomit up....when I still cared I would do the whole clean up again and the whining would restart...now I know better...I just get rid of the worst of the soiled linen wrap some towels around them and fill the water jug and tell them clearly if they insist on continuing to make themself vomit thats up to them..I tell them this is the only water I will be providing for my shift...you can drink it now and be sick or you can ration it carefully and not...the choice is theirs but I wont be coming in every 15 minutes to clean up the mess.So far this has worked quite well...the patient will occassionally keep drinking and vomitting if family is present but I find the family stops wanting to clean up pretty quickly and they usually won't give them any more water...it's better to have the family do the discipline anyway..they have WAY less patience than most nurses.

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Specializes in Specializes in L/D, newborn, GYN, LTC, Dialysis.

bring along obnoxious family members who want us to babysit their toddlers and raid our kitchens bare. that ranks up there with bad things.

dying being bad? depends on the perspective of the patient and family. i can see dying being a really GOOD thing at times. and i have.

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1. Lying - I've known some who call & say they've been asking for pain meds for hours when it's actually the first time they've called or they only called about a minute before and the nurse is already in the process of drawing it up.

2. Pillow fluffers just like the others said. - One patient actually asked a tech to fan her while she was on the bedpan...can you believe that?? Or, some will call and ask for someone to come turn off their light. The light button is on the bed right beside the call light...why can't they push that button too??

3. Let their family/friends do all the talking for them when they are quite capable of doing it themselves. Or, when the visitors act as though they're the patient and this is a hotel. Now, I have no problem if it's someone spending the night and asks for a blanket/pillow...and usually offer it first myself. Nor do I have a problem with getting them a cup of coffee or answering questions about things like where the vending machines are.

4. Won't say what it is that they need/want after someone answers the call light and asks if "she can bring you anything", but will just say, "I just need to talk to my nurse". Then when you get there, it's either something a tech could've done while the nurse was busy doing something a tech can't OR it's something you could've gotten on your way down the hall instead of going all the way down there, then back up to get it, and then back down there again. This complaint isn't out of laziness...it's because of trying to cut out unnecessary steps in order to be able to get more things done that need to be done NOW.

5. Again, like others said...patients who get out of bed & shouldn't and patients who refuse meds/treatments ordered by their doctor.

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Specializes in Pediatrics.

:angryfire :angryfire Nothing angers me more than the parents who:

1) Don't let you assess their precious

2) Don't let you check vital signs on their precious

3) Refuse the meds, sayng 'Oh, he doesn't like medicine

4) Ask, 'do you really need to draw her blood'?, and

5) Invite the whole entire family in to see their sick (or, not so sick) child, stand in the way, and disrupt the roommates. It must be such a site that everyone has to see the poor kid in the hospital. These are the same parents who refuse 1-4, so their kid can get some rest.

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I will go in reverse order like the top ten list

#5 Flinging Feces

#4 Turning Blue

#3 Code Black (charcoal induced vomitting and feces)

#2 Code Blue

and the #1 thing I hate for my patients to do

Press Charges

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and the #1 thing I hate for my patients to do

Press Charges

Gotta agree with you there. That would be bad. :stone

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Gotta agree with you there. That would be bad. :stone

OOPS I guess put the brakes on this one unintentionally! I was making a joke but perhaps I went too far ;)

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Specializes in Neuro Critical Care.

Lie about drug/alcohol intake on the admission assessment...do they think we aren't going to find out?

Lie about mental illness and the meds they take at home for the above mental illness (stopping them cold turkey is bad).

Refuse all treatments and meds.

Pull out IV/catheters/telemetry packs...because "I don't need it". You will end up in restraints.

Take a swing at anyone trying to help you, swearing at people trying to help you.

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Throw themselves on the floor when they know they are going to be discharged.

Keep taking their O2 off when they know they are going to be discharged

Have family members bring in drugs or alcohol in when they feel that they are not getting what they need

Put their lopressor under their tongue and spit it out later because they don't want to be discharged

Complain that they are allergic to every and all antibiotics because they make their stomach sick, make them feel funny, give them the runs, ect.... until you have nothing left to treat them with

Talk their doctors into surgery when they can never get relief from medical mgmt. Always a bad choice.

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Do we really have to limit it to just 5?:chuckle

1-hyperventilate-that drives me up the wall!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I used to try to calm them down forever. Now, tons of drunken dramatic college girls later, I just tell em to keep going and that eventually they will pass out and stop breathing on their own. This usually gets em out of it.

2-Really and I mean REALLY enjoy a foley. How gross!!!

3-Have fam or friends smuggle in booze. (and not share, HA:rotfl: )

4-Leave AMA and then come to the ER 2 hrs later because they can't take the pain anymore.

5-Steal your roomates NG tube in order to give yourself an enema. Yes, i really had this happen. I couldn't even speak I was soooo shocked. I don't know how she thought she was gonna accomplish that. And what was she gonna do with it when she gave up? Give it back? NASTY NASTY NASTY people.

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Do we really have to limit it to just 5?:chuckle

1-hyperventilate-that drives me up the wall!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I used to try to calm them down forever. Now, tons of drunken dramatic college girls later, I just tell em to keep going and that eventually they will pass out and stop breathing on their own. This usually gets em out of it.

2-Really and I mean REALLY enjoy a foley. How gross!!!

3-Have fam or friends smuggle in booze. (and not share, HA:rotfl: )

4-Leave AMA and then come to the ER 2 hrs later because they can't take the pain anymore.

5-Steal your roomates NG tube in order to give yourself an enema. Yes, i really had this happen. I couldn't even speak I was soooo shocked. I don't know how she thought she was gonna accomplish that. And what was she gonna do with it when she gave up? Give it back? NASTY NASTY NASTY people.

ICK take your roomates NG tube to self administer an enema, OF WHAT? Warm water, soap suds, or the nearest bottle of rubbing alcohol she could find?

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Specializes in Surgical.

I had a lady who heard some commotion next door (her neighbor decided to pull his foley out) so she puts her call light on and I answered and she said, did anyone fall? I said no, no one fell..being sure to give this nosy lady no information. Before I could leave the room she started pulling out her dentures saying, you know I havent had my teeth brushed today would you brush them? I gave her a look, put some gloves on and brushed them, brought them back to her and she pointed at a small smear of toothpaste that wasnt rinsed well and asked me to rinse them again...I did. When I returned her teeth to her I thought to ask what procedure she had done and she told me she had her gallbladder taken out!!!!!!!!! I could have screamed and couldnt help but inform this lady that she needed to be getting up and brushing her own teeth and most people didnt get an overnight stay for that, she would be going home tomorrow, is there someone at home who brushes your teeth?

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