Patient Perspective

[MelissaCT]

Hello all.

I know many nurses out there have been patients themselves, but many have not.

I was a patient June 12. I had outpatient surgery. The nurses took very good care of me.

But it was my recovery at home that made me truly realize how it feels to be in a patient's shoes.

I was in pain, helpless, irritable. I did not like having to depend on someone else (my mom) for everything. In fact, I felt like I was troubling her when I had to ask for something. However the fact remained that I did have to request her aid. I had a whistle 'at the recliner side' to summon her, as my make-shift call bell.

I suppose what I am trying to say is yes, there are patients out there that nurses perceive as "bad" or "annoying" patients. But they are most likely not at their best, or they wouldn't be in need of a nurse!

[NurseDennie, BSN, RN]

Very true, Melissa. Let me tell you about the most irritating patient I've EVER had. It was my darling daughter. She'd had an MVA and had a hairline skull fracture and had CSF draining from both ears. She had to have surgery to repair her ear and by the time she came home she was just completely post-concussive.

I don't have a BIG house, but she was set up in her bed which is the top bunk. She would need something, and I would have to get on a chair to give it to her. No, she didn't want to rest in the recliner, which I wanted her to to keep her head up - I had to build a pillow fort on HER bed to keep her in the correct position. I'd fulfill request "A" and go back to the kitchen. "Mama!" Then request "B" and I'd go back to the kitchen and get whatever "B" was, and then ask her if she needed anything else, and go back to the kitchen. "Mama!"

Back in her room for request "C". Repeat and repeat and repeat.....

That think of thing. Yeah, we always know that the people we're taking care of are in need, and not at their best, but even when it's our own nearest and dearest, it's annoying. Not that we'd show our annoyance to the patient (95% of the time, I'd say) but it registers. You hear the page and it's just an inner *sigh.* That kind of thing.

Love

Dennie