How do you not get caught up with long winded patients?

I guess it really hasn't been a problem. I have a couple of A&O residents who want to talk while I'm getting their meds ready, but by and large it hasn't been an issue. I'm always afraid of making a mistake when they are trying to talk to me though, so I don't always answer them right away or have had to say "sorry, I was making sure I had the right dosage of coumadin, I didn't hear what you said!" and that has worked well to keep the short.

Keep in mind this sort of interaction is very important in LTC. I've had nights where I feel like you do, but then I've had night like last night. When I left, a resident who was still up saw me punching out and said "oh darn, you're leaving already?" I told her I was, and wouldn't be back until next week Tuesday. She said "oh darn, I'm going to miss you" I thought she was teasing me, and replied with yeah, I'll bet--I'm always trying to get you to take medicine.

She said "no, I mean it when I say that, I love you!" and added something to the effect of she likes chatting with me and I treat her like she still has a brain in her head.

While our days seem so busy, their days passing slowly.

I absolutely do not mean to sound cold, but I have just started working in LTC and most of it is a very long med pass.

While doing the med pass, I have found that alot of time is "wasted" (I really don't mean to sound mean) by the residents who want to talk, or complain, or whatever.

I swear I'm not being cold, I love my residents, but I can't ever get to do treatments too if I spend all my time on the med pass.

How do you guys past that without being uncaring? I really want to say to them, "I just don't have time to stand here and listen to you tell me about the day you met Elvis back in the 60's"

Ya know?

"Mr. Jones - I love your stories. I need to get everyone else their meds, and then I'll come back to chat if I can. I can't wait to hear the rest. I hope I make it back!"

Most people just want to know that they're important to you, and that you care about what they have to say. When you DO have a free minute, try to spend it listening. Rotate through the residents, and you'll be their favorite nurse ever.

This is an issue that every nurse runs into. We all want to be able to spend time with our patients and provide them with the company and conversation that they need. It's part of caring for them wholistically. In a long term care setting, there are so many people who just CRAVE attention and love to talk. It's the same in the hospital setting.

BUT, we also know that we have a job to do. I run into this all the time. I have assessments, med passes and treatements on 6 other patients to do, and Mr. B wants to tell you all about his doggies and then his kids and then his cars he likes to work on and then.....

The way that I handle this is to get to everyone else first. I still prioritize my care, but I keep in mind the people who will inevitably want to chit-chat and I get to them near the end. If there is something that I absolutely have to get in and do quickly, I enter the room and say something like "I need to hang this antibiotic real quick and then I'll be back to check you over!" That lets them know that I am in a hurry and sometimes (not all the time) they won't get into a big story. They are also aware that I will be back and if I save them until close to last, then I can afford a little extra time.

If you have med pass and then treatments, maybe save the "talkers" for last meds and do their treatments with their med pass. ?? I don't know how your facility works but that could be a possibility. Prioritizing care is DRILLED into every nurse's head in school. As long as one of your "talkers" doesn't have something crucial going on, saving them for last will be better for them, you, AND your other patients.

"Mr. Jones - I love your stories. I need to get everyone else their meds, and then I'll come back to chat if I can. I can't wait to hear the rest. I hope I make it back!"

Perrrfect...thanks, Ilstu; I'm gonna use this one!

I work in a pscy facility and there are a couple of ways.

1. Schedule a time w/ limits. Like I will talk to you for 10 mins at 4pm or something like that. Just make damn sure you can make it.

2. Say "I'm really busy right now, I would love to talk to you and I will try to make some time later."

3. Get another staff to talk to them. Sometimes of course you don't have the staff but sometimes it works.

Bottom line is most of my patients can understand what's going on enough to know what I can and can't do. I always make sure if I have the time I will talk to them, they know that so it generally makes it easier to stop them when I need to.

Thank you for the really helpful replies.

I am such a "nice" person who never wants to hurt anyones feelings, so it really is going to be a challenge for me to kinda cut someone off...I just have to practice!

On one hall that I work on, most of the residents are talkers so I think when I work that hall, I just have to make up my mind to go in with the "Hi Mrs. So and so, I have to give this med and get back out here but I'll check back in with you in a little bit" right off the bat!

Thanks again!

I try and do my 'talkers ' last so that I can spend time with them.The day staff are always too busy to stop and speak so I try and spend some time with them at bed-time.

I'm on a tele floor, and sometimes we have time to chat, but most nights we don't. For folks that are scared, fearful, waiting for test results, etc., I've actually called the admin rep to come talk to them if we can't spare the time. For the really over the top, nothing wrong with them, nobody-else-in-the-hospital-but-me types, we always get another nurse to page us to room 47 after 5 minutes.

We don't have a room 47.

When I worked on the wards I'd always make it perfectly clear to my patients that I'm busy and don't have time for chit-chat. Yeah this probably sounds a bit cold but at the end of the day I'm not going to work back late because a patient can't see that I don't have the time for long conversations.

The funny thing is that there are nurses out there with the same problem. We have one at work who is a lovely person but just want to chat all day and while your busy doing stuff. You can't get away from her without having to say i've got to go NOW!

My patients are typically already intubated or they are sucking pond water.

A-I tell someone to come in and pretend someone else needs me

B-I tell someone to page me overhead after 5 minutes

C-I tell the person the truth, that unless it's an emergency, I don't have time to chat right now....

D-I work nights, so I tell them we need to let thier roomate sleep

But I do try to keep them company and give spiritual and emotional support when I can...

The funny thing is that there are nurses out there with the same problem. We have one at work who is a lovely person but just want to chat all day and while your busy doing stuff. You can't get away from her without having to say i've got to go NOW!

Yes, there are nurses like this. I was dumbstruck the day I ran into one of those ladies. She knew I had things to do and she had things to do as well, yet she thought nothing of spending 20+ minutes talking to me in the hall about anything and everything! I would have thought out of all the people in the world a co-worker and a nurse at that would understand that sometimes you just can't talk!

But, I too have issues with the yak-yak patients. I don't want to be rude or sound insensitive. I'm still learning to be aggressive with them when I need to be, but for the most part, they recieve things last from me. Meds, treatments, etc. Unless it's urgent of course. But generally, they are last on my list.