If I hear that one more time I swear I am going to stop wherever I am and scream. Literally. I will stand there and scream until The People come to take me away for evaluation. :uhoh21:
I haven't worked staff at a facility for a very long time so I haven't had to deal with this issue personally in eons but it still chaps my hide every time I hear it.
Today I was supposed to meet my sister for lunch. I arrived at her facility and waited in the car at the designated spot. She didn't come down after 15 min so I called up to the unit (I used to work there). The secretary told me she said to meet her on the unit and we could eat in the staff cafeteria instead. I didn't understand why but when I went up to the floor I saw a huge semi-circle around Nursing Station B comprised of nurses, aides, administrative big-wigs, and family members of a particular resident. Particular as in picky. I hear, from the ENTRANCE of the unit the man of the family (father, uncle, whatever?) yelling "I want her fired!" He is pointing at this poor aide slinked low against the nursing station half crying, half yelling something about new bed linens. The rest of the staff, my sister included, are trying to calm down the man and his female companion, meanwhile he is still yelling "I want her fired. If this is the type of trash you hire in this facility then you should be closed down and I'm going to call State."
:nono:Oh, no, not those words. That's a bad threat.
So now this poor girl may lose her job. I don't know for sure because obviously my sis didn't get a lunch, or rather, I had to leave before I even spoke to her, so I don't know if she got a lunch or not. But she missed OUR lunch date because some layman read somewhere or heard somewhere that if you threaten to call State you can get anything you want. That is an abuse of power and it peeves me to no end. Further, I feel it is highly improper and rude that a family member can dictate who is or isn't employed at a facility.
This is not to say that she didn't deserve to be reprimanded. I don't know what she did, but I highly doubt it is worthy of being fired and even if it IS, that should be at the discretion of the facility not a family member.
Our hospital takes it one step further and gave the family $50.00 worth of Red lobster coupons ( they originally gave them Outback Steakhouse ones but they refuses saying they wanted seafood instead) and sent the pt himself one of those large carved fruit bouquet arragements. This was someone who had been admitted to the unit for cocaine related cardiac issues. The family ( his brother and girlfriend) looked as if they partook in these activites too and smelled of alcohol. I cannot believe they did that! All over tylenol being given 40minutes late due to a code on the unit!!!! Blows my mind!!!
Egads.
That's not one step further, that's a whole ******* flight of steps backwards.
Resolving family concerns over patient care - no matter who the patient, the chief complaint, the situation at hand, and whether or not fault is involved - with fruit baskets and restaurant coupons is an insult to everyone on every side of the equation, IMHO.
Specializes in ICU, Paeds ICU, Correctional, Education.
Our hospital takes it one step further and gave the family $50.00 worth of Red lobster coupons ( they originally gave them Outback Steakhouse ones but they refuses saying they wanted seafood instead) and sent the pt himself one of those large carved fruit bouquet arragements. This was someone who had been admitted to the unit for cocaine related cardiac issues. The family ( his brother and girlfriend) looked as if they partook in these activites too and smelled of alcohol. I cannot believe they did that! All over tylenol being given 40minutes late due to a code on the unit!!!! Blows my mind!!!
Unreal!!!!! Where's your manager? Where are your leaders? Who represents you? This is sanctioning unreasonable and selfish behaviour in a place for the sick. A hospital is not a hotel and nurses are not servants.They make judgement calls and prioritise all the time. Who is running these hospitals? Obviously people who don't live by principles or ethical behaviour
The social worker for the unit called it "patient abuse," and called security up to investigate. If the roommate had not spoken up, we could have been turned in to the state Board of Nursing for the "abuse."
I'm interested in getting into a less frenetic area of nursing where patients come to you for help with, say, diabetic issues. This adrenalin can I get it done before my brain is completely fried is really getting to me. But you know what occurs to me a lot? A line from Dr. Phil's book about the fact that we can deny or not, but it is reality that we are constantly teaching others how to treat us. WE are participants, not victims. There have been so many times when I felt like slinking out the back door because issues would come up at work and people would choose very agressive ways in which to solve them. I gues I'm just tired now.
Specializes in ICU, Paeds ICU, Correctional, Education.
I'm interested in getting into a less frenetic area of nursing where patients come to you for help with, say, diabetic issues. This adrenalin can I get it done before my brain is completely fried is really getting to me. But you know what occurs to me a lot? A line from Dr. Phil's book about the fact that we can deny or not, but it is reality that we are constantly teaching others how to treat us. WE are participants, not victims. There have been so many times when I felt like slinking out the back door because issues would come up at work and people would choose very agressive ways in which to solve them. I gues I'm just tired now.
I think we are unknowingly conditioned to be dysfunctional communicators. The media promotes dysfunctional communication by stupid sitcoms where wit is perceived as slagging off one another,sentence by sentence. Reality TV doesn't cut it unless there is conflict. We have become voyers of aggression; Jerry Springer, Judge Judy and even your Dr Phil with our fascination for dysfunctionality. Political speeches are made by yelling at us;evangelical people scream at us semi-hysterically.We love watching arguments and one-upmanship. After a while this becomes the norm for communication. Just watch a group of children or a child who wants something. Where did they learn that? Somewhere in amongst all of this is the loss of respect. Turning away from aggression is not slinking out the back door, it's just not buying into it. Keep doing it luv; at the end of the day you will have the calm and the inner sanctum.
My husband does his rounds at 4 am so that he doesn't get caught up in family complaints. I used to think - so why should we have to bear the burden? Well, I haven't done bedside nursing in a while, but these days, what the patient complains about is getting heard, no matter how they say it.
Somebody with authority should have moved from the nursing station into the room and for heaven's sake and find out what the poor dear did that was so wrong. Why have him scream and yell and upset the entire milieu - go in there and talk to him, if he isn't demented....
after 40 years of nursing, i fully and honestly believe visitors should be banned from hospitals. along with tv's and telephones in patients room. if patients are sick enough to be in the hospital then they need a quite place to rest and heal. nurses can't ever get to the patients bedside from visitors blocking the way, or a patient talking on the telephone and don't want to be interrupted to take their meds!
today, society is trying to force nurses to the acceptance of abuse by visitors and patient.
and what incompetent parent would bring their child into a hospital to visit a patient? they push the child around in a dirty stroller exposing both the child and patient to all types of germs, know and unknown?? parents that expose their children to this gern abuse should have their children removed from their care. hospitals are the dirtiest (germ ridden) place in the world.
and what incompetent parent would bring their child into a hospital to visit a patient? they push the child around in a dirty stroller exposing both the child and patient to all types of germs, know and unknown?? parents that expose their children to this gern abuse should have their children removed from their care. hospitals are the dirtiest (germ ridden) place in the world.
you raise an interesting point about the tvs and telephones. i'm not sure i agree with you, but it is interesting nonetheless. hospitals can be very lonely places, especially if you are sick. in today's economy there is a greater need for people to work longer hours to make ends meet. gas prices are grossly prohibitive, and let's not even talk about how insane hospital parking costs have gotten. sometimes a phone call is all a person has. sometimes oprah is the only friend a cancer patient has access to at 4 pm on tuesday. jmho.
as for incompetent parenting with children visitors: well, personally i take exception to that comment. i know it wasn't personally directed towards me but i am guilty of the "crime" of bringing a child to the hospital on multiple occasions, and i know how dirty hospitals are. grocery stores are pretty scummy too when you think about it. i digress. my grandmother passed away in february. she went in on a thursday for a fall that emergency said was pretty routine in the elderly. they admitted her due to a spot on her liver she refused to have biopsied previously. she finally agreed to have the test that friday. she was diagnosed with ca that had metastasized on monday and she passed away less than a week later.
i took my daughter, 18 months old at the time, to the hospital to visit her namesake the thursday following her diagnosis. i knew how dirty hospitals were but it was important that my grandmother got to see kennedy even if she didn't get to hold her. it made momma's day. she hadn't eaten in over 24 hours, she refused her ensure but when i put my baby in the rocker chair and told momma that kennedy wanted her to drink, she drank the whole can. granted it didn't make a huge difference in her prognosis but it made the family feel better and it was evidence of how much of a uplifting experience my baby brought to a very sick woman in pain. :crying2: so, call dcf on me and have me investigated. i am truly incompetent. oh, yes. and let's not even get into how my older children were there (in the hospital) when kennedy was born. :chuckle
I think that sometimes families get their frustrations on the nursing staff, just because they couldn't take care of their loved ones at home, they bring their guilty asses on us and try to point out a mistake on everything we do.
i have seen families who complain over little staff, like oh my mum has been waiting to be put in bed for the past half an hour, what they don't get is that their mum is not the only pt there, and she has to wait for her turn.
and something i have realized with facilities too, they only care about pts whose families visit regularly and mayb have threatend to report them to state.such pts will be turned q2hrs,always clean and dry, call lights answered immediately, but what happens to the granny whose family has never showed up?????? who will call the state for her sake???
Our hospital takes it one step further and gave the family $50.00 worth of Red lobster coupons ( they originally gave them Outback Steakhouse ones but they refuses saying they wanted seafood instead) and sent the pt himself one of those large carved fruit bouquet arragements. This was someone who had been admitted to the unit for cocaine related cardiac issues. The family ( his brother and girlfriend) looked as if they partook in these activites too and smelled of alcohol. I cannot believe they did that! All over tylenol being given 40minutes late due to a code on the unit!!!! Blows my mind!!!
I cant believe that such "Institution" could really shut their eyes to the injustices these people are doing to the medical team, in particular to the Nursing staffs, who works in that hospital. THATS really ABSURD , UNETHICAL , UNFAIR TO MANKIND. They are only encouraging " these people " to do more, inappropriate behaviours , towards STAFF;instead of instilling to them the right & correct manner with FIRMNESS POLICY & PERSONAL INTEGRITY ATTITUDE , COURTESY & WITH RESPECT.
I just hope that Hospital ADM. will change for the better !!!!!!
i bet this man gets his way everywhere by being LOUD AND MEAN
loud doesn't mean right but some people do this all the time and when they get their way the little light bulb goes on
'HEY THAT WORKS, I WILL DO IT NEXT TIME
I ended up missing this post and I have not read each post but I wanted to add my 2 cents here. First of all who ever was in charge, should have took this man directly to the manager or directors office of the unit. He only gains by letting everyone else (staff and other families visiting patients) by how to get your way in the hospital system. The aide should have been told to go wait in the employee lounge til this is sorted out. The guy was trash plain and simple and this aide should have not heard or been chatised in front of the whole unit. Security should have been called and kicked his butt to the curb. So what if state gets called, I'm sick and tired of being afraid of doing the best I can do and being spit on by family members because they can. Visiting hours are a joke anymore everywhere in this country. They wonder why patients are staying longer to get better in a hospital, partly because families think it's time for a family reunion and try to make it a social event of the season. Our patients are sick and we can't do our job if we cannot even get in the room to do it. I've had family members tell me no when I asked them to step aside so I can enter and do my job. Why is there a nursing shortage for experienced nurses? This is why, we are tired of being treated like crap by trash like this and having the administration back them up. Okay I've said enough.
:crying2:
I cant believe that such "Institution" could really shut their eyes to the injustices these people are doing to the medical team, in particular to the Nursing staffs, who works in that hospital. THATS really ABSURD , UNETHICAL , UNFAIR TO MANKIND. They are only encouraging " these people " to do more, inappropriate behaviours , towards STAFF;instead of instilling to them the right & correct manner with FIRMNESS POLICY & PERSONAL INTEGRITY ATTITUDE , COURTESY & WITH RESPECT.
southlandshari
66 Posts
Egads.
That's not one step further, that's a whole ******* flight of steps backwards.
Resolving family concerns over patient care - no matter who the patient, the chief complaint, the situation at hand, and whether or not fault is involved - with fruit baskets and restaurant coupons is an insult to everyone on every side of the equation, IMHO.