Hello Mr. VIP! I'm your servant nurse for the night!

[SICU Queen]

So, yeah... VIP patients. I had one for the last two nights and let me tell you how much I wanted to pull my hair out.

Old dude, post exp. lap. w/ lysis of adhesions, stable to the point of taking PO, one maintenance IV, lotso runny diarrhea (15 times the first night with 5 total bed changes :uhoh21: ), you get the picture... sorta kinda COULD be ICU material but not really - but his son is a MAJOR bigwig for our hospital so he got to stay for the better nurse/patient ratio.

He was CONSTANTLY on the call light.

Some of the reasons he called me:

"I need a sip of water." (Cup within reach on bedside table, he wanted me to hold it to his mouth.)

"I need you to pull my blanket up ONE INCH. It's a little chilly in here."

"Can you turn the thermostat down? No, not to 65, that's too much. How about to 66."

"Move my arm up on the pillow."

"Can you turn the thermostat up? No, not to 70, that's too warm. Go to 68."

"My room needs to be cleaned. Get some wipes and clean the area by the window, and get the floor mopped." (This was at 2am. I refused, as I was busy with my second, REAL ICU patient.)

This was ALL FREAKIN' NIGHT, both nights... and my second patient was truly sick (bivad, drips, lines, etc.).

Add to this the CONSTANT harassment of all the doctors and residents who were wanting to brown nose, so they came by out of "concern"... The poor dayshift nurse had FIFTEEN pages of BS orders and looked like she wanted to cry when I got back the second night. He drove her insane as well.

I cannot stand a "VIP" desgination. ALL of my patients are treated with the same diligence, compassion, and respect... and it irks the crapola out of me to be made to feel like I have to serve someone or I'm going to get in trouble. This old fart made it clear, in no uncertain terms, that the "head of nursing" would be coming to see him to see how his care had been. GRRRRRR... administration just perpetuates this superior attitude and I can't freakin' stand it. BY the time my shifts were over I wanted to stick a straw in his eye.

Have any VIP stories? How do you feel when you're told that a patient is a VIP?

[NURSJADED]

Oh, yeah. The whole VIP thing makes me want to puke. All patients should be treated the same. I get so tired of "we need a nurse to sit with this patient all night for the next 3 nights. He/she is a VIP, and we were told home health would do this". Wrong! "But, they are a VIP". I don't care, not my problem. It's all about money. Well, this patient is a big donor. I don't care. They should be donating out of the good of their heart, not so they can get treated better. Sometimes, it's administration that expects it, and the patient couldn't care less. Other times, it's the patient thinking they are more important than they are.

Nope, nope, nope. What I tell the charge nurse/supervisor/whoever is that this patient will get as good care as my other patients, (who are just as important to ME) and they will NOT have any special treatment. If they want an orifice-smacker, find someone else. I would have told this person that their arm did not shrink when they were admitted and that they are perfectly capable of holding their own drinking glass. I would tell them that I will be in every hour to check on them and see to their needs but do NOT put on that call light unless you really need to take me away from my duties. I will be perfectly happy to attend to their needs if they really are NEEDS and not wants. Its funny how these patients tend to respect nurses who are a little more strict with them than the ones who jump every time they say boo.

[lisabeth]

:barf01: Would be my reaction.

Ive had pts like that and they arent even VIP status.

1. can you scratch my head-pt totally intact and able to do himself

just a few

[nutsyrn]

I work in a small facility's ICU. We were shut down one night d/t no patients. We opened the unit with the CEO of the facility coming in with arrythmias. Needed a drip. We (myself and the other RN working) told him even though he was our boss, we were in charge at the moment and he was to listen to us. No problems from him at all. But we've had board member's family that think they own the place and think they have a personal servant while they are there.

[vonxojn]

When we have VIP's on the floor it amazes me how some nurses will break their neck to provide "excellent care" to these people. I think the people of VIP's know that some fear being fired or getting written up and they use that to their benefits. I don't mind letting the other nurses who want to take these patients for what ever agenda they have planned. Then I sit back and watch them get worked over the rest of the shift. Believe me I've worked with some brown-noser you wouldn't believe.

[hecete]

i have one of those. 82 yr.old fmale, 350 lbs. been catered to all her life. won't even move her leg by herself. the family comes in everyday, all 6 of them, and wants to know why she isn't making any progress. they created this monster, and expect us to fix her!!!!!!!!!!!!:angryfire

[purple1953reading]

My first VIP was the CEO, and he was the nicest man to take care of ,I could have asked for. I did not know he was CEO, as I was not from that town, BUT when I went into the room and he lay there in his matching silk pjs and robe, and the air smelled or expensive cologne, EVEN though he had chest tube, I started to wonder. His luggage, and shave kit, etc were all perfect, and his pjs were folded and stacked in closet. When I asked about bath, he was embarassed, I let him do all he could, and then just helped getting on top etc. When xray moved him they knocked over the draingage unit, and his lung went down again. THEY tried to blame it on me, and the guy stood up and said he probably knocked it over. Prolonged his stay another 3 days to reinflate. The other was the mother of a chief of staff whose family literally started the hospital, all private. She was a bed patient only, and the family paid an RN to sit with her from breakfast to bedtime. They paid the bill in cash every month. Her biggest complaint was she did not see her son enough, and she was 96.

I have had the PITA type too, but usually are drs. wifes, or patients with no insurance or medicaid who feel like we aren't going to give them the same care private insurance patients get. Little do they know, I don't hve time to check that,unless it it noted on the chart. I treat all patients with respect, dignity, and the best care I am capable of giving. THEY DON"T HAVE TO ASK FOR IT!!

One tele patient called every 3 minutes, and wanted nothing, but to move something, etc. I was CCU charge, and finally went in and told her, that I would spend as much time as she needed with her while I was in the room, but that after that I had 23 patients to supervise, and her nurse had 6 tele patients, to see that they got treatments, meds, etc. I asked her to please refrain from the light for at least 30 minutes, and just make a list of her non emergent needs, and go over them when she did need something. I encouraged staff to make sure to ask did she need anthing else, arrange bedside table, call light, etc before leaving room. YOU GUESSED IT in exactly 30 minutes, SHE RANG!!!!

Another lady was in excess of 450 pounds, and we literally could not get her in scanner, Had to send her down for some special deal, and on monitor, we took her to bathroom, always small anyway, and she barely fit from wall to wall on toliet, Left, told her to call , stood in room. SHE called and asked me to WIPE, and I looked at her and said:" WHAT do you do at home, about that?" She said she kept a towel on the bedpost and used it as she walke back by. MORE like what I did not want to know!!!

[RJ---RN]

Hey, this dude must travel the United States, I have taken care of him several time!

This old fart told his roommate that nurses make REALLY good money now a days. We are now up to $50 or $60 a week!

:angryfire

[Nurseboy1]

I once took care of the son of a foreign country's president. The patient was nice but slightly pampered. Patient/Visitor relations was a real problem, they had identified the patient as a VIP and were constantly coming in the unit to ensure that his needs were being catered to. They even parked additional things such as an IV pole in the doorway as a "coat rack" . Finally I told the PVR rep that the patient was in ICU for a reason and stacking non-essential equipment in the way hampered his care and could endanger his life if he decompensated further.

Taking care of him could be challenging at times. The first day I had him he had a BM, and was sitting in it waiting for his wife to come in and clean him. I brought linens in the room, pulled the curtain and said it's bath time. He protested his wife would do it later in the day, I told him he was covered in stool and would be cleaned, my patients do not sit in stool if I have anything to say on the matter. We wound up intubating him the next day which precluded any demands. The real production came when his father the president came to the hospital to visit his sonl, he was a real nice guy though, and really appreciated the level of care provided to his son.

[primitive]

Since When Is One Human Being A Vip And Another Human Being Is Not? Money Is The Vip!!!!! Lord Help Those Who Would Ever Judge A Human Being According To Financial Status---judgment Day Is Real!!!!!!

[mshultz]

The other was the mother of a chief of staff whose family literally started the hospital, all private. She was a bed patient only, and the family paid an RN to sit with her from breakfast to bedtime. They paid the bill in cash every month. Her biggest complaint was she did not see her son enough, and she was 96.

Whenever I read these threads on patients expecting VIP care, I keep asking "Why don't they hire a private duty nurse?" I was thinking an agency charged about $50 an hour. One website listed rates at $720 a day for an RN, and $300-$350 a day for a CNA.

Even at $50 an hour, this is quite affordable (at least for my middle-class income) for a stay of a week or so. Perhaps I don't "get it" because I do not expect to receive something for nothing. One of the nurses called me a "low-maintenance patient" when I was in the hospital.

Maybe hospitals should explain to patients what basic care is, and provide a list of healthcare agencies for those who want additional services.

[GoldenFire5]

I've also been known to take it a step further.

"Don't you know who I am?"

"Yes sir. Do you know where you are today? Do you know the date today?"

-----

This is hilarious!!

[once-a-nurse]

My neighbor's husband... Mr. Big Business Man... was in the hospital to have stents put in. He was told he would be discharged in the morning and ordered his wife to pick him up at such-and-such a time. When she arrived, he was still hooked up to monitors, etc. When the nurse came in to disconnect him and discharge him... he reamed her a "new one" about his time being valuable. She calmly told him that he wasn't the ONLY patient in the hospital and perhaps if he learned to control his stress... he wouldn't be there in the first place!

"GOOD for her!" I said to my neighbor... who replied... "She was really out of line."

YIKES!!