Has anyone noticed a change in treatment from patients/families

[askater11]

???

I have especially in the passed few year's. Patients/families have become very demanding.

I don't know it could be me--but I notice people treating me different then they did in the pass.

Last time I worked--I had a male patient in his 50's--would give me minimal to no eye contact. He was very blunt with questions/answers. He'd say comments like..."gosh would you leave me alone" I'd again explain why I take vitals and check his dressing often.

At the end of the shift I heplocked his IV. I explained what I was doing. He gave me the evil eye when I took off his dressing. A drop of blood came out of the IV from the antecubtal angiocath. He was yelling at me...."What the h*ll is wrong with you"...and went on...

A family member came in at 9:10 A.M. and was disappointed their mother's bed wasn't changed. I could go on and on.

Maybe it's the hospital I work at...I've changed hospitals a few times.

These patients/families are making my enjoyment of nursing challenging.

Though I do get a few compliments--most from female patients.

[bellehill, RN]

Our problem is the MD telling the patients that "we will do everything possible to get you a private room so your family can stay with you". You know what the patient hears..."You WILL have a private room and your whole family can stay in the room with you". This has caused more than one problem in the last month and with only one private room on the floor it shouldn't even be an option-it is always full.

I too love the family members who "help out" by writing down everything that happens. I am all for family being helpful and knowing what is going on but some people take it to the extreme.

[carehope]

I have to agree. People have really changed. I work in a Hospital in Cincinnati, Oh and we were all just discussing this same thing. we all agreed to that society has changed and the news media has made our jobs a nightmare. I am getting ready to go back in the field (homecare). Hospital nursing has just gotten to be to much. We have to many patients and all our hospital cares about is filling beds. Patients get no care anymore and the abuse you take from family members make you wish you never became a nurse. And I have always loved being a nurse:) I have stayed on as SST so I will do a day or two a month but sure will miss taking care of hospital patients:confused: My husband is also a nurse and works in long term care. I sure feel for you all. Families are the worse and are impossible with their demands. They are 25 to 1 on evening shift and sometimes more then that. Knowone seems to care any more . Makes you wonder where it will go from here. We all thought for a short while about a year ago that nursing here was turing around but that was short lived. It was just till some places found nurses that they could get to sign 2 year contrats.

[nellie_nurse812]

dont u think so of these reactions from patients and their families are generated from fear????????

[Katnip, RN]

Yes, some of it is related to fear. But that fear has been there for millenia--the rudeness is new. The total lack of regard for rules and regs is new. Sure, there have always been difficult patients and families, but not on the scale it is today.

[SmilingBluEyes]

fear is not new to illness and hospitalization. this sense of entitlement and rudeness, at this proportion, however ARE.

fear is NO excuse in my book.

[BBFRN, BSN, PhD]

Originally posted by bellehill

I too love the family members who "help out" by writing down everything that happens. I am all for family being helpful and knowing what is going on but some people take it to the extreme.

Sometimes family members do this so they can pass on info and events of the day to other family members. My family members and I ((2 nurses and an RT included) did this when my grandfather was gravely ill and in the hospital. We didn't do this for lawsuit purposes, but in order to prevent repeated questioning of the staff by our rather large family who was taking shifts staying at his bedside. It also helped us to make informed decisions about his healthcare as he was declining, and it allowed for the staff's attention to be placed on him- not us and our questions. I think it's great when a family wants to be informed of what's going on with their loved one.

I also think fear is a factor in some of the ways family members act. We have to take into account that the public is bombarded almost daily with stories of nursing shortages and how they are related to higher death rates. Most people don't care how to fix these problems, they just want them fixed (and preferably before any of them or their loved ones end up in the hospital). Add to this all the other fears related to hospitalization, and it's no wonder they act loony sometimes.

[gwenith, BSN, RN]

Igflamini - what ever happened to your Friend who was bitten?

[BBFRN, BSN, PhD]

Gwenith, I PMd you. Thanks for asking!