I can't believe the hootzpah of some people!

Batman25 · Jun 21, 2010

Clueless. And unfortunately the atmosphere in some hospitalss has patients and families thinking they can do no wrong and everything should just be done without question. The sense of entitlement out there at work and outside of it astounds me.

One day it might go like this:

Daughter: Nurse, can you have my baby?

Nurse: Why no sorry but I can't.

Daughter: But you are supposed to please me. I don't want to get fat. You do it.

Nurse: I don't find this appropriate. I won't have your baby. Please research other options.

Daughter: I want to see your manager.

Manager: Yes, can I help you?

Daughter: This nurse won't have my baby. I asked nicely and everything.

Manager (turns to nurse): Have her baby or no raise.

LOL

PetiteOpRN · Jun 21, 2010

I can top it:

A surgeon (who is on vacation in another state) walks into the ER with his daughter who is bleeding profusely from a large laceration on her scalp. ER isn't that busy, and there's a lot of blood, so they get right back.

The surgeon says to the ER doctor, "I'm a surgeon. Size 8 gloves. Prep her so I can suture the laceration. No need to shave. Put the stapler away, those are for lazy doctors."

The ER doctor does as she's told. Then the surgeon says, "I left my scopes back at home. Give me your glasses." And yes, she gave him her glasses.

The surgeon was never questioned or asked to show any credentials.

It seems that if you walk in and act like you own the place, more than half of the time people listen to you. I'm not at all surprised by the granddaughter's request, and I'd bet a fair amount of nurses would have accommodated her.

ShayRN · Jun 21, 2010

LOL, that was funny. Thanks for the giggle. :lol2:

SlightlyMental_RN · Jun 21, 2010

Wow...and here I go out of my way to resist the urge to fix the IV pump that's beeping incessantly, when I go to the hospital with my relatives. (And let me tell you, it's incredibly hard to keep my hands off of it, when I have a relative asking me to please make it stop beeping like that. I have, however, after pleading from my relatives, silenced it and gone searching for the RN to let her know that there's air in the line or an occulsion and that I hit the silence button.) At most, I've helped the aide or RN with cares and transfers and education, as I know how much I appreciate a helping-hand. I think it would sooooo rude to just barge in and act like you own the place. Sheesh!

Zookeeper3 · Jun 21, 2010

another day in the life as a nurse.... no one but us, would ever believe us.

murphyle, BSN, RN · Jun 21, 2010

Likewise, the patient's relative that starts asking you for OTC pain meds for a headache or cramps or whatever, and then gets all pi**y with you when you politely explain that you can't medicate someone who isn't a patient and has no orders. Bonus points to those who whip out their insurance cards and shove them in your face, as though your decision is driven by payment capacity rather than patient safety. :devil:

On the subject of medical professional families taking over a sick relative's care, it's a tough subject for pretty much everyone in my family and one we've all dealt with. When Mom was admitted for a traumatic amputation twenty years ago, she insisted on doing all her own dressing changes because she (an OR nurse) felt that the floor nurses had no concept of sterile technique. Three times a day, she would request all the dressing supplies and go to work. The floor nurses fought her the first few times, and then they started just poking their heads through the door to observe the wound and then go on their way. Meanwhile, I found myself assisting one of my soon-to-be colleagues when Dad wound up in the EC; putting him on a monitor for suspect vitals, locating his specialist consult when the unit secretary couldn't, and KVOing his main IV bag and alerting the nurse when it ran down to 50 mL. Luckily, that nurse was grateful for the assistance, and I was very careful to ask her what she wanted my help with.

I do have to admit that I laughed at the story about the surgeon bum-rushing his way through the EC staff. Playing the "I'm a doctor/I'm a nurse, I get priority" card is something none of us would ever do... that and the fact that there's always a few Dermabond vials and a packet or two of Vicryl in the household medical supply kit. Why go to the EC when you've got your own fully staffed care team at home? :nurse:

Davey Do · Jun 21, 2010

It's difficult to have to explain the scope of our practise when it comes to obstinate uninformed non-licensed individuals.

On the other side of the fence, I've experienced medical professions withholding necessary information when all the i's are dotted and the t's have been crossed.

Case in point: I was a Community Health Nurse working in a program that assisted chronically mentally ill clients to transition from institutional living to living in the community. The other members of the program included a Team Leader, Drug Counsellor, and a couple of Case Managers.

One of the clients from the program was admitted as an inpatient in a local hospital due to an exacerbation of his chronic respiratory condition. I would visit the clients if they were admitted to the hospital. One of my duties was to act as a bridge in the transition back to their homes.

On one such occasion, I presented the completed Releases of Information (both my agency and the hospital's) along with my credentials to a Staff Nurse. I requested certain specific information necessary and gave the reason as being continuity of care. The Staff Nurse refused to give me the information stating, "I'm not going to loose my license over this!" I attempted to reassure her that everything was "on the up and up". She continued to refuse to allow me access to the records. I asked to speak with her supervisor.

The Unit Supervisor supported the Staff Nurse's decicision and advised me to obtain the necessary information from a family member after the client's discharge. I wanted to be sure I understood the Supervisor's advice. So, I reiterated that advice in my own words: "As a medical professional, you are instructing me, another medical professional, to base the medical services I will be providing to this client on a non-professional family member's interpretation of those services. Even though I should be able to examine and copy specific medical reports from the chart, according to the Releases of Information."

Basically, the Supervisor agreed with my interpretation. And stood by the Staff Nurse's decision not to allow me access.

Luckily, the services were not intense enough to be all that complicated. And the client's daughter, the primary caregiver, was a capable individual. And there was always the Discharge Instructions.

However, after jumping through the hoops of our paper-pushing bureacratic society, I was still unable to examine a couple of pieces of printed information.

But this is only one of very few incidents in my nursing career where I've had to deal with this sort of mindset.

I don't know. Sometimes I think it was because, in those days, I had long hair and beard. Maybe those nurses were prejudiced against long-haired hippie-types. Maybe they believed they were defending the patient's confidential information from some radical overthrow-the-system narciscist who would steal the information and use it to blackmail the patient.

I'm sorry if I took theis thread and turned it around. But I love the fact that we can all share stories and perspectives and information. So, thanks for "listening".

See you around.

SweetLikeSugar · Jun 21, 2010

We probably would have been made to give the patient's granddaughter the suture removal kit. God forbid somebody complains!! NO UNHAPPY CUSTOMERS!!

The hospital i work at is soooooo over the top with patient satisfaction and Press Ganey scores that I seriously wouldn't be surprised if they made us give lap dances upon request.

kappykatlpn · Jun 21, 2010

Gummybear,

My facility is same as yours! I work in a LTC facility and they are so overly focused on customer service and nothing else. The other day I was told to drop what I was doing (I was working on Doctor orders and in the middle of transcribing orders) and go answer the lights. (there were already cena's on the floor). I tried to explain I was in the middle of something, they didn't care only stated that customer service was important, I asked about med errors!! If I stop in the middle of transcription, when I get back 20 minutes?, 45 minutes? (lights are continuous), My stuff will probably have been moved or I will forget where i left off!!! They didn't care. Just customer service!!

I would probably would have been made to hand over the suture remover kit too.

Mission · Jun 21, 2010

I work in a community health center. I had a staff member from the peds department come and ask me to give her free birth control (we subsidize bc for our patients based on a sliding scale, we don't give it away) for her adult daughter, who had never been seen in our clinic, because she had lost her job. When I told her no she kept repeating "but I work here!". Then she said she would get the PNP who worked with her to write an order to make me give it to her lol.

lorazepam · Jun 21, 2010

What a great read! I lol'd :) Read similar situations on www.ertards.com