It finally happened to me....

[HappyJaxRN]

There was a similar situation being discussed on another thread...about what would you do if a family member of the pt you're caring for asks you for medical assistance....well, it happened to me just the other night....

I was hanging some IV antibiotics and the very demanding, overwhelming wife of the pt stops me and says, "Can you take my blood pressure? I don't feel good. I'm having chest pain." She moved through the room as if nothing was wrong with her. Straightening things, drawing up bath water....you name it. I looked at her and said, "I'm not really sure, but.."

The husband piped in for her to take her own blood pressure with their own machine.

But she insisted that I do something for her because she was having chest pain. So to make sure she wasn't about to fall out on the floor, I asked her some questions. Her chest pain was on her sternum and it was localized. It was new and it was REALLY bothering her. She had no SOB and she was ambulatory without feeling lightheadedness. She didn't eat anything gassy or spicey.

I told her, "If you feel this way, then you need to go to the ER."

She said, "No. I don't want to do that."

I told her, "If you're having chest pain as you describe and you can't tolerate it, you need to go to the ER. We can't treat you up here because you're not a patient."

She didn't say anything again about it.

I went to my teamleader about it later because I thought the wife was alittle odd anyway and she said, "We don't treat family members because all patients that are admitted have to sign a consent form for authorization for treatment. All family members and guests have to go to the ER for medical help.

I just did the quick verbal assessment to make sure she wasn't going to pass out on the floor or if I needed to call someone to come in and help her down to the ER.

So there you have it, no....we can't (where I work) treat people on the floor who aren't patients. Makes sense....

[SmilingBluEyes]

You handled it correctly.