Have you ever had a pt that you knew in real life?

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I was just wondering if this ever happened and what is the right thing to do. Let's say you are working and a person you know (friend, neighbor) is brought on to your floor. Would you accept them as a pt under your direct care or would it be better for another nurse to care for them? What if they wanted you to be their nurse? Would you, or could you, take that assignment?

I've learned that nurses are faced with so many situations,you take them as they come. It's probably why nurses are great improvisers.

I look at the level of care and how well I know the person. For example, I had to admit one of my father's friends father. I never met the man, however I bounced on Sal's knee when I was a baby. Starting the iv was easy but the foley was a tad awkward. Sal thought because he knew me that he wouldn't have to leave the room. I said " it's because you know me that you have to leave the room and more importantly, it's an issue of my pts privacy.

The second time it happened to me was an entirely different situation.

I had to admit a guy I had a one night stand with and then I sort of blew him off. Yes, I was a little wild when I was 25. I was a 32 y/o mother when I had to face him. These things happen when you live in the smallest state in the country. I wanted to bury my head in the sand. He was a direct admit, so I had to get an iv going, blood work and all the paperwork with his father right by his side for all of it. My colleagues had a ball.

It's true when they say your past always comes back to haunt you!!

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Specializes in acute rehab, med surg, LTC, peds, home c.
I've learned that nurses are faced with so many situations,you take them as they come. It's probably why nurses are great improvisers.

I look at the level of care and how well I know the person. For example, I had to admit one of my father's friends father. I never met the man, however I bounced on Sal's knee when I was a baby. Starting the iv was easy but the foley was a tad awkward. Sal thought because he knew me that he wouldn't have to leave the room. I said " it's because you know me that you have to leave the room and more importantly, it's an issue of my pts privacy.

The second time it happened to me was an entirely different situation.

I had to admit a guy I had a one night stand with and then I sort of blew him off. Yes, I was a little wild when I was 25. I was a 32 y/o mother when I had to face him. These things happen when you live in the smallest state in the country. I wanted to bury my head in the sand. He was a direct admit, so I had to get an iv going, blood work and all the paperwork with his father right by his side for all of it. My colleagues had a ball.

It's true when they say your past always comes back to haunt you!!

This is my worst nightmare

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Specializes in Intensive care, Operating room.

My best example of this, scrubbed in for surgery, the circulator wheels in my Dad's Ex-wife. I was already scrubbed in, kinda too late to make changes. She knew I worked there, we greeted each other, surgery proceeded.

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Specializes in ORTHOPAEDICS-CERTIFIED SINCE 89.

Walking rounds one day I got, this is a 40 year old retarded man with chronic diarrhea... I walked in smiled and gave him a hug! He was my first cousin who had a stroke at age 16 following a motorcycle accident that killed his father. Indiana to SC he had hitched, worked odd jobs, been in and out of hospitals and somehow found this hospital where I happened to work.

He couldn't talk or swallow and had been missing since he got out of the hospital after the stroke. He had crohn's dissease, but was neither deaf nor retarded. He could whip out that writing tablet and communicate as well as you or I. I excused myself for a minute got on the phone and called his brother. Within an hour we had a family reunion right there in his room.

I was told that wasn't appropriate, that I should have waited til my shift was over at 7 PM. In my mind I said ***** you. It had been 24 years and I wasn't waiting another 12 to let my family know he was alive.

**Addendum He was murdered by a guy who lost to him playing pool, who stole his brother's truck and killed him with the tire iron. He then went on to NC to kill several more.

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Specializes in Med/Surg.
Walking rounds one day I got, this is a 40 year old retarded man with chronic diarrhea... I walked in smiled and gave him a hug! He was my first cousin who had a stroke at age 16 following a motorcycle accident that killed his father. Indiana to SC he had hitched, worked odd jobs, been in and out of hospitals and somehow found this hospital where I happened to work.

He couldn't talk or swallow and had been missing since he got out of the hospital after the stroke. He had crohn's dissease, but was neither deaf nor retarded. He could whip out that writing tablet and communicate as well as you or I. I excused myself for a minute got on the phone and called his brother. Within an hour we had a family reunion right there in his room.

I was told that wasn't appropriate, that I should have waited til my shift was over at 7 PM. In my mind I said ***** you. It had been 24 years and I wasn't waiting another 12 to let my family know he was alive.

**Addendum He was murdered by a guy who lost to him playing pool, who stole his brother's truck and killed him with the tire iron. He then went on to NC to kill several more.

:eek: YIKES

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Specializes in Psych ICU, addictions.

I've never had a patient I knew in real life and I never will: our facility's policy is that if we have a relationship with someone outside of here, we can't care for them while they're a patient (they called it having a "dual relationship"). So I would have to notify my supervisor to get assigned to another unit while the person is a patient here.

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