What Patients do to make you mad!

Nurses General Nursing

Published

I seldom loose it over my patients. One thing however gets me every time.

When a patient, even more so if they are not old, has no teeth, and mumbles so you can not understand them even after asking them to repeat for something the fifth time, gets all mad at you for not being able to understand them.:trout:

If they are 20 and have no teeth because they did too much meth it makes me loose it even more! I had one little crackhead tell me the other day she lost all her teeth because of bad genes at age 20, funny part was that only the front ones were affected by this genetic defect !

Don't get me wrong, I will take best possible care of anyone, regardless of their bad choices in life, but some things get beyond absurd and make you want to pull your hair out!:angryfire

Specializes in Med/surg, cardiology, ER, geriatrics.

I get frustrated when a patient calls and can see you're ripping and running and they find 20 things for you to do knowing you are crazy busy. For example asking you to fix their pillow and then not liking the way you did it and being picky about it for 20 minutes.

I get frustrated when a patient calls and can see you're ripping and running and they find 20 things for you to do knowing you are crazy busy. For example asking you to fix their pillow and then not liking the way you did it and being picky about it for 20 minutes.

Fussy old ladies are THE worst!!!!

They are sooooo the worst!!!!

Specializes in Hospice.
Oh my, LOOSE IT???, loose as in loose pants???? OR lose as in lose your cool???

AND "I'm glad he died" ?? What in the world??

Just say that I am truly shocked!

I truly can't say I'm shocked. As an old AIDS nurse, I've felt exactly the same way about abusive, mean patients. Not all of us are Mother Theresa ... and in this business, it's best to be honest, at least with ourselves, about our feelings ... it's the only way to cope with them. Leslie has too much integrity to pretend to a phoney sweetness and light. Trying to force our emotional responses into some kind of PC box is perhaps the most damaging thing we can do to ourselves. The difference between the amateurs and the pros is that the true professional is able to keep negative responses from affecting the quality of her/his care.

yes sweet pea it is me. it is good to hear your antics once again. so much has gone on in the past two years i just was not able to get online. first of all i had to have a triple bypass changed jobs, lost my mom, my eldest moved out of house, 19 now can you believe it?? hope life has been treating you great girl, you are just the sweetest, that's why i just was "shocked" to see that from you, although you are known to print what you think aren't you. i knew i was takin a chance saying I'm shocked, but what the heck, i knew you would understand where i was coming from. and sweetie you are a kindred spirit/soul to all who meet you. love you sweetums. p.s. hope i didn't offend you as much as some of the others:loveya:[/quote']

aaaaaaaaaaaaawwwwwwwwwwwwww, lil girl, i've missed you.

and you've been through so darned much.

i'm so sorry.

nah, my claim to fame, has never been being "sweet".

ugh.

not me at all.

but whatever...

and of course i didn't mind you speaking your piece.

that's the way it should be.

hope to see lots more of you.

truly, you've been missed.

leslie

Specializes in LTC.

Oh Leslie you are sweet and you know it! How many times you helped me while I was in school, giving your advice. Okay, okay, I won't say you are sweet anymore, BUT darn it I think so! Glad to be back, got my check in the mail to Brian for premium membership (no plastic for this chick) so should be on any day now. Hugs to you.

Specializes in Rehab, LTC, Peds, Hospice.
Oh yes I would have been too but I would NEVER say something like that.[/quote']

Well I might not say it, but if I'd been in her place I would've definitely thought it and then begged God for forgiveness;)!

Specializes in LTC, Med/Surg, Peds, ICU, Tele.

You know what bugs me is when you are dealing with another patient with some critical problems and a family member stands outside the other patients room, or else comes to the nurses station as you make a frantic call. They then launch into some trivial bit of information that they want relayed to the doctor. Yesterday a patient's sister did this and wanted me to call the doctor about her brother's toenails that needed to be cut. :rolleyes:

Specializes in OR.
the truly evil ones.

i had a pt whose colostomy bag was half-filled w/wretcherous, loose stool, and inflated to the max w/gas.

he asked me to come closer to the bed so he could tell me something.

when i got near the bed, he had pricked the bag, and it exploded everywhere....over my face, hair, top as well as linens, floor and even reached the bathroom door.

i'm glad he died.

leslie

Did you really die? this story is sooo funny. you are making me LOL!:lol2:

Specializes in Hemodialysis, Home Health.
Trying to force our emotional responses into some kind of PC box is perhaps the most damaging thing we can do to ourselves. The difference between the amateurs and the pros is that the true professional is able to keep negative responses from affecting the quality of her/his care.

Amen to that. Very well said. :)

Hi,

Re: the man at the ALF who throws urine from the urinal--If this is something that goes on a lot why is he given a urinal if he can walk ? This is abusive behavior and throwing body fluids is not cool at all.

Re. Striking with a cane--it would have been taken away from him in my hospital if he was hitting people with it. We have a zero tolerance for violence. So sorry you had to deal with this. I'm a psych nurse so I really don't know what goes on in other types of settings. This might be why many nurses are leaving nursing

Meh. If a patient purposefully sprayed feces in my face he would have died that very day.

Posts like yours are the reasons why there is a nursing shortage and no one wants to enter the profession. We are expected to eat poo and do it with a smile.

No thanks.

amen.....what if he had hepatitis A??

When a pt that is A,A & O x4 calls and says I need a nurse now!! get in the room and pt says could you get me my water right there on the table. Smile and say, no, you are suppose to be doing those type activities for yourself so you can get better and get back home!

Then leave the room and swearing under my breath.

Or the ones that say, I haven't slept all night was in too much pain, no came to see about me, yet this is the same pt that you can here snoring even though the door is closed and when was assessed at beggining of shift" Denies, any pain, discomfort and says I am just fine!'

i have enjoyed this thread- i have had to chuckle at many of these- not because they happened to you butbecause they have many times happened to me and isuspect a lot of us lol. we all know how frutrsting these pts can be.

i am laughing, and crying, with all here. many blessings.

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