Your Ideal Patient

Nurses General Nursing

Published

If you could tell your patients anything, what would you tell them that would help them be your ideal Patient?

For instance: I would ask my Patient to bring extra blankets and pillows for themselves and any family member staying with them. This would help my Patient to be more of an ideal patient for me, because we usually only have enough bedding for each patient to have 1-2 pillows and 1 blanket. But yet many of them always want more than this and also want us to provide their family members with pillows and blankets too.

Thank-you! :)

Angie O'Plasty-

Thanks for the explanation. Well, now I guess I get what you are saying but I still feel the same way. Sorry, I guess that is just me that feels that way. Its nice that you feel good about what you wrote I guess that is all that matters. However I am still entitled to my opinion and I cannot help but feel the same way. Guess that is just how I am. I have just had so many horrible experiences with nurses doing the same to me when I was a patient. Over hearing a nurse out in the hall say, "Just give her some MSO4 and that will shut her up, when really I needed a hand to hold onto and a nurse who can sit with me for a couple minutes telling me they understand". I guess that is too much to ask for these days. Just because I am a student, doesn't mean you have to explain yourself, I already know. Maybe you haven't had the joyfull experience of being that patient. Oh well, I am not trying to start an argument just trying to prove my point. Take care. Curleysue

Specializes in Utilization Management.
Just give her some MSO4 and that will shut her up, when really I needed a hand to hold onto and a nurse who can sit with me for a couple minutes telling me they understand". I guess that is too much to ask for these days.

Sue, I understand that you've gone through quite a bit of hell in your life. I have all the respect in the world for you because you keep getting up on that horse each time life gets you down.

But I have to ask that you understand something. Nurses are people, too. We are not mind readers.

I have to ask you what on earth you're going to do when you are a nurse and find yourself in similar circumstances. What should have been done for you? What should someone have said?

We want to learn.

And nowadays, yes you're right. We're not independent anymore, we're hospital employees. As such, we have to follow their dictates on patient care and patient loads. We can't be there for you exclusively all shift. We have other patients and in most cases, too many patients, to care for. If you've read anything on this Board, you'll know that we hate it too. You'll see the steps that the California Nurses Association is taking to assure that patients DO have someone who is really there for them instead of some harried automaton who has no time for anything besides giving that shot and hanging that antibiotic.

But I'm serious. What could we have done to help you so that someone else does not have to go through what you did? I know you're not trying to start an argument, Sue, and guess what? I wouldn't argue with you anyway because you're describing your experience, and none of us are experts on what you had to go through. But we all do want to become better nurses. And if there's something that we missed, we will sincerely try to correct it.

(My apologies to the OP--no intention to hijack the thread, but I really feel that we can all learn something important here.)

The perfect patient for me is unconscious and has a PICC line, a DNR, and no family.

LOL! Hopefully they have a foley as well.:chuckle Plus, you have a nurses aide to clean up if they poop in the bed.:rolleyes:

My ideal pt is an interesting, sharp as a tack elderly man or woman with a good sense of humor. He or she has a facinating life story to share, a deeply spiritual aura about them, and does not have a needy personality. They use their call light appropriately, are steady on ambulation, continent, and are getting better each day!:)

Angie O'Plasty-

I don't know how to awnser your questions cause I don't quite get what you are trying to ask me. I can see how a lot of nurses would agree with you that the ideal patient would be the one you described. PICC line so you don't have to worry about access, no family so you don't have to worry about them breathing down your back and unconscious so you don't have to deal with an agitated patient. Its just the way I interpreted your reply that made me upset. Also my experience with bad nurses like I stated.

My medical history is really complicated: on a lot of medications, have a lot of medical problems and some that are not understood even by doctors (like the hypomagnesiumia) and my chronic pain. So, I can see how I frustrate nurses because my H and P isn't easy to write and can be rather lengthy, and also my medications are a lot which can be time consuming getting them ready. SO I can see why nurses are a little high strung when they take care of me. ALso my pain tolerance is not very well. I have gone through many extremely painful experiences and have a high tolerance for pain medications so it takes a lot to make me comfortable. THat also makes nurses really upset.

Patients like me are not infrequent. So, I guess I just wish nurses would understand what I am going through and have a little sympathy or emphathy when taking care of me. I have had some wonderful nurses who do everything possible to help me through my stay and its those nurses who really have a special place in my heart for them. I do understand nurses these days are very high strung because of patient load and other things so asking for a nurse who really understands and makes time to sit and hold my hand for 5 min may be too much to ask for. I understand that. I just want every nurse to know that putting out that extra effort to make sure a patient is physically and emotionally cared for is not that much to ask and makes all the difference in the world to that patient. It only takes one nurse to ruin the whole stay but it also takes one nurse to make it the most wonderful experience ever! And as a nurse you can usually tell by how the patient reacts to you that you have touched them in a way they will never forget. Just that feeling should make the nurse want to come back day after day.

I hope I have proved my point. I am the kind of person who has a hard time saying the right things that I am trying to get across to someone. But I just wish nurses would look at how they interact with patients and realize, "am I doing the best possible job I can do for that person in the amount of time I am allowed?" Doesn't it make you feel so good when a patient says "what you have done for me I will never forget, you are the best to me!" ? I know when I hear that as a student nurse and as a caregiver, it gives me goosebumps and tells me that I am in this type of job for all the right reasons.

Thanks for listening to me. Curleysue :)

Sue, I understand that you've gone through quite a bit of hell in your life. I have all the respect in the world for you because you keep getting up on that horse each time life gets you down.

But I have to ask that you understand something. Nurses are people, too. We are not mind readers.

I have to ask you what on earth you're going to do when you are a nurse and find yourself in similar circumstances. What should have been done for you? What should someone have said?

We want to learn.

And nowadays, yes you're right. We're not independent anymore, we're hospital employees. As such, we have to follow their dictates on patient care and patient loads. We can't be there for you exclusively all shift. We have other patients and in most cases, too many patients, to care for. If you've read anything on this Board, you'll know that we hate it too. You'll see the steps that the California Nurses Association is taking to assure that patients DO have someone who is really there for them instead of some harried automaton who has no time for anything besides giving that shot and hanging that antibiotic.

But I'm serious. What could we have done to help you so that someone else does not have to go through what you did? I know you're not trying to start an argument, Sue, and guess what? I wouldn't argue with you anyway because you're describing your experience, and none of us are experts on what you had to go through. But we all do want to become better nurses. And if there's something that we missed, we will sincerely try to correct it.

(My apologies to the OP--no intention to hijack the thread, but I really feel that we can all learn something important here.)

Specializes in ICU, ED, Transport, Home Care, Mgmnt.

Angioplasty you have no reason to apologize, you answered this thread in the manner in which it was intended, I think. When I saw this thread my first thought was "unconscious". :chuckle Makes me wonder was this to be a fun thread or a serious one, in which case I have a different answer.

Specializes in LTC.

I had a nursing clinical instructor tell us that her favorite patient was SIR - Sedated, Intubated, and Restrained. (all with the twinkle in her eye to let us know she was kidding!)

Specializes in Women's health & post-partum.

I don't know about "ideal", but my most fun patients while I was working in OB have been people who have some medical knowledge; nurses, medical residents, and practicing physicians; but whose specialty was not OB.

I got to do a lot of teaching and didn't have to --I almost said "dumb down" but that's not exactly what I mean. I guess it's that I get to use technical terms and I'm understood.

Specializes in Babies, peds, pain management.

I work OB/Nsy. My ideal patient is one who is prepared but not so absolute about everything. It always seems that the couple who come in with a "birthing plan" are the very ones with complications. And, "PLEASE", do alittle reading about babies before you come to deliver, I know one mother who researched her soon-to-be son's name for just the perfect meaning but didn't know that babies eat around the clock! :rolleyes:

Specializes in Utilization Management.

So, I guess I just wish nurses would understand what I am going through and have a little sympathy or emphathy when taking care of me. I have had some wonderful nurses who do everything possible to help me through my stay and its those nurses who really have a special place in my heart for them. I do understand nurses these days are very high strung because of patient load and other things so asking for a nurse who really understands and makes time to sit and hold my hand for 5 min may be too much to ask for. I understand that. I just want every nurse to know that putting out that extra effort to make sure a patient is physically and emotionally cared for is not that much to ask and makes all the difference in the world to that patient. It only takes one nurse to ruin the whole stay but it also takes one nurse to make it the most wonderful experience ever! And as a nurse you can usually tell by how the patient reacts to you that you have touched them in a way they will never forget. Just that feeling should make the nurse want to come back day after day.

Yes, I do think I get what you're trying to say, Sue. I think you're trying to say that many times, for one reason or another, we nurses might appear to be abrupt, tense, terse and that all adds up to "busy" to us, but to the patient, it often adds up to "I don't really matter. They don't really care."

It's hard to find the time convey how much we do care to patients nowadays. Sometimes I can go along with my plan and my agenda, and actually get to know a patient a little bit, and sometimes there are real emergencies that prevent me from doing what I really would like to do for my patients during my shift. Most of the time, it's the high acuity, the urgency of too many patients to care for in too little time, the fast pace of admissions and discharges that get in the way.

But you should know that you taught me to be alert for those needs that go beyond the MAR and the labs and the CT scans. You reminded me that I need to stop worrying about getting to that documentation and start worrying about what my patient really needs.

We all need to be reminded of that now and then, Sue. So I thank you for this discussion. I--and I hope a lot of us here--will be better nurses for it.

~Angie

Angie-

No, I should be the one thanking you for understanding. I know its not every single nurse that has this problem with connecting with patient but quite a few. I am truely glad we were able to learn something from eachother and it would be nice if we could get it out to everyone in the forum that patients need nurses so so much when they are in the hospital. Not only for the physical issues but most importantly the mental/emotional issues. Most patients who are in the hospital will remember that experience for the rest of their lives. And if the experience was one with a grumpy nurse who never said a comforting word or never took your hand to hold it through rough times than that is what they remember.

I work with hospice/home care patients right now and I have a little old lady who told me that she would rather die at home then to ever go into a hospital again. She told me that when she was hospitalized for severe abodminal pain the nurses ignored her for 3 days straight. Not even a smile or a "how are you doing". It breaks my heart to hear that. Those nurses who took care of her need a reality check about how much they ruined this nice lady's impression of a hospital.

Anyways, I know when I get through nursing school I will be a better nurse because of all the things I have learned through passed experiences as a patient as what i have learned on this forum.

Take care you'all. Curleysue :p

Specializes in 5 yrs OR, ASU Pre-Op 2 yr. ER.

One that doesn't refer to their medication as "I take a blue square pill, and orange hexagon pill, and a yellow capsule thingamabob".

(True story)

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