I'm sick of taking care of Room 505 !!!!

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Specializes in LTC, Med/Surg, Peds, ICU, Tele.

If I take care of that guy one more day, I'm going to seriously rethink my nursing career. He was an ETOHer who had a fall, with a bottle of whiskey in hand, broke his hip, lay on the floor for two days, while drinking alcohol the whole time. He subsequently had many complications including intubation and a trache, which he still has, along with G-tube, rectal tube, etc. He seems to have become a permanent resident of the hospital, with his only interest in life apparently being fondling himself. He closes his eyes and refuses to do anything with OT and PT.

I really feel soooo totally burnt out on that patient! It's very difficult to find placement for this type of patient, and they are exhausting to take care of! It's a real bummer to walk into the room and try to cover him up, he is constantly playing with himself, it's gross! No family in sight and patient is a full code naturally.

Thanks for listening.

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Specializes in school nursing, ortho, trauma.

Perhaps you can make a mention to your charge nurse doing assignments that you are getting a little burned out with room 505 and would like to take a new block of patients for a little while. It's only fair that some other people get to experience a patient this charming.

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I feel bad for both of you... That's a really tough situation, and I just wonder what has happened in this guy's life to make him that way. It seems like he just doesn't care anymore, and no one really cares about him either. It's sad, really. Hope you find the strength to get through this - while it might not always feel like it, you are making a difference!

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Specializes in LTC, Med/Surg, Peds, ICU, Tele.

I don't think I'm making a difference or that there is a difference to be made.

This guy has not been a fully functional person in quite some time. His son is in prison and his wife in a nursing home from a stroke. He is only 60 years old, and had no visible means of support I'm told.

I wonder how long society can afford to care for people like this? Our system is overwhelmed. It's frustrating and discouraging.

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I don't think I'm making a difference or that there is a difference to be made.

This guy has not been a fully functional person in quite some time. His son is in prison and his wife in a nursing home from a stroke. He is only 60 years old, and had no visible means of support I'm told.

I wonder how long society can afford to care for people like this? Our system is overwhelmed. It's frustrating and discouraging.

Wow, that's only 5 years older than me. 5 years!

It's sad how some people just let themselves get into such a sad shape at such a young age.

There's a guy in the nursing home where I do a little part time work, who is about 2-3 years older than me. We were in high school for a year together at the same time, {altho I didn't actually know him then}.

He looks like a 90 year old man right now.

I'm not sure exactly what happened to him long term, I think someone said he drank alot, and he also had a stroke.

It's just really sad. He does nothing all day but sit in a chair with his leaned over a table, eat and sleep. He doesn't seem to be interested in any activities, just nothing. NO quality of life at all.

Alcohol and drugs will sure make a person old beyond their years in a hurry.

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Specializes in LTC, Med/Surg, Peds, ICU, Tele.

I like to connect with my patients and feel like I'm making a difference, but patients like this make me feel like my job is pointless and that I'm just going through the motions.

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Specializes in ICU.

There have been patients on our unit that were so horrible to take care of that we made a list of who had them each day so that their care was spread out evenly over the nurses. It was a perfect system because no one got burnt out on them.

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Specializes in Med-Surg.

Yep, make a call to the supervisor before your next shift. Tell her to share the wealth. ;)

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Specializes in LTC, Med/Surg, Peds, ICU, Tele.

I'm afraid if I request a different assignment, I'll get the guy in 525 who sounds like he is equally depressing to care for.

*sigh*

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Hmmm, don't worry, he will probably be coming to a nursing home like mine real soon.

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Specializes in ED, PCU, Addiction, Home Health.

When I was on the floors and took care of patient's who drained me emotionally like that, I reminded myself - I get to go home :(

What I mean by that is - I only had to put up with them for the duration of my shift, but they have to live with themselves and the consequences of ALL their choices day in, day out.

Made my trip home filled with a little more gratitude for what I have. And our unit was good about "trading up" with each other when we needed to save our sanity!

Our jobs are never pointless! Even though we might not be impacting the patient, we can be good role models for other nurses that feel the same frustrations. As nurses we face a lot of tough, tough stuff!

Hang in there! All patient's go somewhere eventually!

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I agree with FFRN. Hopefully, you can rotate pts. Somebody else needs to experience this guy for a while. Some pts can be VERRRYYY draining!

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