you know you are in for trouble when.....

[ktwlpn]

I was just thinking about the family of a recent admission.We knew we were in trouble when we met the adult children. The #1 contact had tardive dyskinesia and it quickly became clear that reasoning with this person would not be possible. We were taken aback a when we saw the list of meds which he provided. Narcotics,benzos galore. It seems that if his mom couldn't sleep he would just pop her a second ambien and if that failed another klonopin was given. If her back pain did not respond to "vikadin" he had plenty of ms contin handy. A days worth of thorazine was her regular bedtime routine.

It was also apparent that the full time care giver/crack ho was under the influence of something-possibly some of her patient's meds? A few days ago the social worker received a call from the same son-seems mom's social security check did not arrive.He just could not understand that it goes to the home now.

What kinds of things strike fear into your heart when you first encounter a new admission or their significant others?

[Magsulfate, BSN, RN]

oh crap,, I could go on forever...

You know you're in trouble when daughter #1 comes to the nurses desk and insists on telling you how to take care of her mother in a fashion that takes over an hour,, and at the end of the conversation says,"oh yes, and my sister will be calling from new york,, she's the crazy one".

Let me just go ahead and edit this post to add some more...............

you're in trouble when.... the grandfather of a patient insists that his ALS grandson (late stage) might get addicted to narcotics, so he's not allowed anything stronger than a tylenol.

or........

when same patient's wife comes to visit him with hickies on her neck...... (what? he's on a vent? i know he didn't do that)ooooooo that makes me mad.

or.......

when daughter/son has OCD and can't stop primping and turning and repositioning mother/father.. and needs your help with it every five minutes, and every time they see you sit to chart......

or.......

when patient is about to die,, from withdrawl of life support,, and there are 20, count them, 20 family members falling out on the floor in the room,, passing out from grief. each and every fall has to be documented and sent to the ER.

I have more, but I'll give someone else a chance now. lol

[oramar]

I know it is likely to be a problem patient when our nursing home gets the referral instead of the other home. We are the smaller home, in the country, older bldg, as opposed to the county home with all those county funds.

We have one lady who, no matter what anyone else has, she has it worse. Last wk it was, "Oh, Lord, what am I gonna do...I have the swine flu...Oh, do something.." and on and on. She has whatever she hears about on tv. Thank God she doesn't watch House!!!

Our winner though has to be the constantly intoxicated husband of a very nice little lady, who understandably lost her mind. By the middle of the month, he has spent all his money on booze and a prostitute (no joke), and he demands that "mama" come back home. Fortunately, a sensible daughter (along with her constantly intoxicated brother) are co-POAs. Dau. says mom is not going anywhere, so I have to excort Mr. Drunker-than-Cootie-Brown out the door screaming and threatening me with bodily harm, removal of my license, invoking the wrath of God, etc....and i do this job willingly???

You are a saint. But then again most nurses are saints. A lot of people try to tell us we are angels but actually the truth is closer to saint.

[mauxtav8r]

. . . as you are waiting for the off-going nurse to give report, you hear (from 4 rooms away) a patient bellowing "Get me out of here!!!", and the nurse you are looking at says, "Yes."

[Batman24]

When before you can even smile and introduce yourself they cut you off and start whining and moaning. Let me at least fully enter the room first.

[southernbeegirl, BSN, RN]

YOu know you're in trouble when..............

You turn a younger adult patient who cannot turn himself,,, and he is perfectly fine,, but then is mother walks in and GASPS "OH MY GOD YOU TURNED HIM!!!! DO NOT EVER TURN HIM UNLESS I AM HERE! EVER AGAIN!!"

omg mags! i had that same patient too!

[Morning-glory]

You know you are in trouble when the patient comes on to the unit with shopping bags full of meds. Some with expiry dates that go back to before you were born.

Got to love it.

[mama_d, BSN, RN]

from mi vida loca:

i know i am in trouble when my first and middle name is used. my kids know they are in trouble the same way.

i work with quite a few nurses who are the same ages as my younger siblings. being that i'm the oldest in my family, and have four kids of my own, i am quite comfortable calling out both first and middle names at people in that "mom" voice...and i do sometimes to the "younger" nurses i work with when they are annoying me (they're anywhere from five to ten years younger than me). it cracks me up every time b/c they all get the same "what'd i do, mom?" look on their face before they laugh at it. (i should also add in here that we're a tight knit bunch, and it's done out of exasperated affection when it happens.)

from southernbeegirl:

i knew we were in trouble recently when i got report on 2 pending admissions and the first words out of the mouths of the nurses calling report said ..."i'm sorry".

i do that to people when i'm calling report...part of me hates doing it, but the other part considers it a needed heads up.

from mauxtav8r:

. . . as you are waiting for the off-going nurse to give report, you hear (from 4 rooms away) a patient bellowing "get me out of here!!!", and the nurse you are looking at says, "yes."

which is only slightly better than having three day shift nurses look at you and say "run, just run" as you're clocking in. that's when you know almost the whole floor is full of those patients.

when their etoh level is higher than their weight...and the reason why they're not on the floor yet is b/c you're waiting for that bariatric bed to arrive.

when the ed nurse starts off report with "you know that security has to be called to unlock leathers, right?"

when i start singing the ama song in the med room, you know it's gonna be rough.

when you hear that dreaded name...we all have them...and the entire staff goes "it's not my turn, i had him last time!"

when the only test that's negative is their pregnancy test...positive for mi, pe, crack, meth, pot, pcp, etoh, uncontrolled seizures, possible cva, and new spot on the lung on the ct scan...

when the patient's daughter calls you up before the patient even hits the floor to say "mom called me and said she was dying, i just wanted to see if she was lying again before i got out of bed."

[GomerPyle]

you walk into the room to introduce yourself to the new admit...and before you can say "hi, i'm _____ , they say " is it time for my dilaudid yet?":uhoh3:

[ChineseRN]

This happened when I was a student:

You know you are in for trouble when, you walk into a pt's room, you introduce yourself, and the pt takes one look at you, closes his eyes, and says, "I need to rest. Leave me alone."

When administering meds, he would question the class of the drug, generic name, etc. As a student, I don't know of all the meds yet, so I whipped out my PDA and read of Davis's drug guide. He was satisfied for the moment.

Later you find out he is a pharmacology professor.

And he eloped in the afternoon. :smackingf

Paperwork, paperwork, paperwork!

[sissiesmama, ASN, RN]

i knew we were in trouble recently when i got report on 2 pending admissions and the first words out of the mouths of the nurses calling report said ..."i'm sorry".

Oh no! I thought I was the only one who lucked out and got that kind of patient! And on my old unit, it never failed. That was always MY patient, it seemed. It makes you want to just clock out right then, and save yourself the possible nervous breakdown or worse!

Anne, RNC

And the nurse usuallt goes with that patient when they are transferred, like the patient couldn't go any faster if they had a rocket ship in the butt.

[TuTonka]

I know I am in trouble when my first and middle name is used. My kids know they are in trouble the same way

Hmmmmmmmmmmm did your mom know mine? lolol:yeah::smokin:

[rngolfer53]

When the family member in the room says, "I used to be a nurse."