Ok, maybe that's a little harsh but some of them are getting on my last remaining nerve.
I've had my license for a year now and have worked pretty much exclusively in the ICU. I love having the opportunity to really make a difference in someone's life on a daily basis but I find myself coming up short with some of these people.
The diabetic population in my area is about 3x the national average so there's a preponderance of these patients in my unit following complications- PAD, neuropathies, CABGs, heart caths, etc. and I'm sick to death of them whining and moaning about how uncomfortable they are lying still for hours post sheath removal, or how they can't have double portions on their meals, or how I won't let their family bring them snickers bars.
I recognize that I haven't had my license long enough to be so jaded, but sometimes I just want to scream. One patient last week told her family that she "didn't feel safe with me" after I wouldn't sit in the room and hold her hand all night. PLEASE!!!
I'm whoring myself out to other units on my extra nights to break up the monotony a little bit. I hope it works. Thanks for letting me vent.
Specializes in Trauma,ER,CCU/OHU/Nsg Ed/Nsg Research.
I completely understand. I find the patients easier to deal with in ICU, well because they are mostly too sick to communicate. Its the families that piss me off.
I completely agree. I had a family member come into the break room to demand that her husband's CT be done immediately. I had spent 8 hrs keeping this patient off the vent, correcting his lytes, etc. It was 3pm, I had not gone to the BR or eaten since I had come on at 0645. I was shoving a piece of cold pizza down, and she was acting incredulous that I hadn't taken him down to CT 20 minutes after it had been ordered. I kind of snapped, I admit. I told her CT wasn't ready for him yet, and that I was darn well going to eat that piece of pizza.
She was ticked at me for the rest of the shift, but geez. The guy had been a transfer from the floor in resp. distress (which I had corrected without him ending up on a vent, BTW), and she's ticked at me for eating a piece of pizza and not getting the pt's non-stat CT done fast enough.
At the end of the shift, the pulmonologist patted me on the back and told me I had done a great job- he thanked me, because the pt would probably have an extremely hard time getting off the vent once he got intubated. The wife just stood there scowling at me.
Sometimes, you just want to tell then that you are too busy saving their loved one's life, and preserving whatever function they have left to accommodate what they (the family member) thinks need to be done.
i think there are days when we have good patients and bad families and days with bad patients and good families..... and really bad.... is bad patient...bad family.....it is the days with good patient and good families that are so refreshing.....we had a patient in the icu that had a right necrotic stump after a bka.... three necrotic toes on the left....infected old dialysis femoral site...infected new site on the leg with the necrotic stump...she arrived with all this.....and the family was concerned with a small skin tear on the arm.....go figure:uhoh21:
Thanks for posting this thread. It has been one of those weeks for me as well.
I work with post CABG patients, mostly, and one of my coworkers was reporting off to me on Mr. G, who is just a jewel, as is his wife. I wish I could clone them. My co-worker says, "Mr. G is probably going home tomorrow,(Post op Day 4) He's doing great. Why is it that our favorite patients always leave us so soon?"
"Because they do what we tell them to."
Seriously. If I hear one more person complain about using their IS, who complains that I don't wake them up when their pain medicine is "due" (Q 4 hours, and the patient is POD 4) or that calls me back into the room 4 times after I have been in there to take vitals and sweetly asked, "While I'm here, is there anything else I can do for you before I go see the rest of my patients?" I may just scream.
Time for a day off, and I don't have to be into work til Tuesday!
Yeah, I feel you all on this topic. Sometimes I do get tired of hearing the b*tching and moaning of some of the patients I care for. Honestly, I love my job, but there is no way I could do bedside nursing for the rest of my life. I want to start climbing the managerial ladder soon and have started by working on a dual Master's degree in nursing and health administration. What most patients need to realize is that it is not humanly possible to be 100% comfortable every minute of your life! Living includes experiencing some pain or discomfort sometimes...get over it!!! I will make every effort, within reason, to make patients comfortable, but sometimes you can't make everything perfect.
Yeah, I know how you feel. I like to use a bit of subtle humor with these patients. I would rather laugh than hate them. Sometimes my humor can be sarcastic also.......but that is better than hating the patients.
For the whining post sheath removal, I will offer them all the drugs I can give, assess them for any bleeding, hematoma, etc. In other words, I will do everything I can do before I would say "Would you be more uncomfortable pushing up daisies" or "How comfortable would you be with a femoral artery bleed watching your blood hit the ceiling".
For the Snicker bar or double portions person I would say "You are in the hospital in INTENSIVE CARE. Do you really NEED a snickers bar?" or "you are laying in bed 24/7, do you really think you need those excess carbs, calories, etc"
It's not therapeutic communication, but you will meet patients that are WAY beyond using therapeutic communication on.
Personally, I tire of DKA patients. I don't want to see them unless they are so acidotic that they are on the verge of intubation.
Hoozdoo! AAAAAHHH! Get out of my head!!! That sounded just like me
Yes, some patients are way past therapeutic communication, that's when a small Louisville Slugger would be helpful. Gotta face it folks, seriously, if it wasn't due to our nations abuse of food, drugs, alcohol, cigarettes.....MOST OF US WOULDN"T HAVE JOBS!!!!
I work with post CABG patients, mostly, and one of my coworkers was reporting off to me on Mr. G, who is just a jewel, as is his wife. I wish I could clone them. My co-worker says, "Mr. G is probably going home tomorrow,(Post op Day 4) He's doing great. Why is it that our favorite patients always leave us so soon?"
"Because they do what we tell them to."...
My insurance agent told me that the tragedy of the insurance business is that they see their best customers the least. I think I have had 1 claim in the past 27 years.
One of the Critical Care nurses told me I was a low maintenance patient. I was in for a bad GI bleed due to aspirin abuse for headache control. Since then, I have sworn off all analgesics, and have had success in cutting down my caffeine consumption, too. I hope that my lifestyle changes will keep me from being a repeat customer.
I'm whoring myself out to other units on my extra nights.
Interesting choice of words. I guess my age is showing (sorry). I think you do need to change units. If you are burnt out with ICU patients you're not helping them or yourself no matter how professional you are.
My own dh is a non-compliant diabetic. I have talked to him and tried to educate him until I feel blue in the face. Food is more important than his legs, his eyes, his kidneys, and evidently his family. I have told him that when he faces a diabetic crisis not to look for me to be his caregiver and I am serious. I have no patience with whiners who would rather eat than walk, pee or see.
Interesting choice of words. I guess my age is showing (sorry). I think you do need to change units. If you are burnt out with ICU patients you're not helping them or yourself no matter how professional you are.
My own dh is a non-compliant diabetic. I have talked to him and tried to educate him until I feel blue in the face. Food is more important than his legs, his eyes, his kidneys, and evidently his family. I have told him that when he faces a diabetic crisis not to look for me to be his caregiver and I am serious. I have no patience with whiners who would rather eat than walk, pee or see.
congrats's on the new grand baby....girl i assume.....Morgen is sort of a co-ed name.
Maybe you should try another department. For example, Pediatrics, O.R or PACU..... Not as much hand holding, and not the same disease different day kind of thing. Good luck!
Diary/Dairy, RN
1,785 Posts
MINE too cher - but you are sooo right - the families can be so incredibly unrealistic!!