It Happened Again! :(

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Specializes in Geriatrics.

Today at work one of my patients approched me, I had been taking care of her all day. She asked if I was an RN, I bit my lip and replied no I'm an LPN, she then stated "to bad I wanted to ask a Nurse a question" it took me 5 minutes to get her to ask her question to me... after I had convinced her that I was a Nurse. Of course it was a question that I could answer w/o problem. Sometimes I wonder whats the use! Sorry for the growling, just needed to vent this age old pain.

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Specializes in Community Health, Med-Surg, Home Health.
Today at work one of my patients approched me, I had been taking care of her all day. She asked if I was an RN, I bit my lip and replied no I'm an LPN, she then stated "to bad I wanted to ask a Nurse a question" it took me 5 minutes to get her to ask her question to me... after I had convinced her that I was a Nurse. Of course it was a question that I could answer w/o problem. Sometimes I wonder whats the use! Sorry for the growling, just needed to vent this age old pain.

I hate these types of situations. To be honest, I probably would have made her wait, then. Eventually, they either get the picture, or, look at it this way...if it were that important to her, she would have asked anyone. There is no reason to apologize for how you feel...you needed to vent, it has happened to many of us in varying degrees, and in this case, it is hard to tell a patient to screw themselves.

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Specializes in Case mgmt., rehab, (CRRN), LTC & psych.

Since I have absolutely nothing to prove to anyone else, I would not have wasted my precious time or energy attempting to convince an undereducated patient that I am a nurse. I might have responded with a big smile, "I am a licensed nurse who is capable of answering your question, but I also would be quite pleased to allow you to wait for an RN to answer your query, since I have other nursing tasks to do."

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Point them in the direction of the newest RN on the floor has been my best approach. Said RN usually calls me over to answer the question.

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Specializes in Community Health, Med-Surg, Home Health.
Since I have absolutely nothing to prove to anyone else, I would not have wasted my precious time or energy attempting to convince an undereducated patient that I am a nurse. I might have responded with a big smile, "I am a licensed nurse who is capable of answering your question, but I also would be quite pleased to allow you to wait for an RN to answer your query, since I have other nursing tasks to do."

You worded it so nicely...as usual!

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Specializes in Community Health, Med-Surg, Home Health.
Since I have absolutely nothing to prove to anyone else, I would not have wasted my precious time or energy attempting to convince an undereducated patient that I am a nurse. I might have responded with a big smile, "I am a licensed nurse who is capable of answering your question, but I also would be quite pleased to allow you to wait for an RN to answer your query, since I have other nursing tasks to do."

Point them in the direction of the newest RN on the floor has been my best approach. Said RN usually calls me over to answer the question.

I think that you both answered this so well. I would have tried to find one of the newest RNs available, and then make her wait. I know that is sort of dirty, but next time, she may know better.

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Specializes in Knuckle Dragging Nurse aka MTA.
Since I have absolutely nothing to prove to anyone else, I would not have wasted my precious time or energy attempting to convince an undereducated patient that I am a nurse. I might have responded with a big smile, "I am a licensed nurse who is capable of answering your question, but I also would be quite pleased to allow you to wait for an RN to answer your query, since I have other nursing tasks to do."

I would get this from family members who would call in late in the evening wanting to "speak to an RN." Granted we only had one RN in the building during that shift and around 200 patients that the RN was "in charge" of. It was frustrating for me and the RN to get these requests, especially when the RN is very busy and the questions are very basic.

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Specializes in Community Health, Med-Surg, Home Health.
I would get this from family members who would call in late in the evening wanting to "speak to an RN." Granted we only had one RN in the building during that shift and around 200 patients that the RN was "in charge" of. It was frustrating for me and the RN to get these requests, especially when the RN is very busy and the questions are very basic.

Or, if all fails, the RN hands you the phone, anyway, because she is too busy to deal with petty issues.

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Specializes in Case mgmt., rehab, (CRRN), LTC & psych.
I would get this from family members who would call in late in the evening wanting to "speak to an RN." Granted we only had one RN in the building during that shift and around 200 patients that the RN was "in charge" of. It was frustrating for me and the RN to get these requests, especially when the RN is very busy and the questions are very basic.
I received a phone call from an abusive family member who demanded to speak to an RN. There was one major problem, though. It was Sunday night, and there was absolutely no RN in the building. I repeated this fact to the caller 2 or 3 times, but she was insistent. When she finally figured out that there truly was no RN in the building, she said, "I need to speak to the nurse who is caring for my father."

I said, "The nurse who is caring for your father is busy passing medications and doing treatments at this hour, but I will page her overhead." After 5 minutes of holding, the woman hung up the phone.

I could have handled this situation more professionally, but family members will need to wait for an answer if they decide to phone the facility during an extensive medication pass.

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I agree with all of you...i am waiting for acceptance into the lvn-rn transition program. i am so tired of the separation of rn and lvn. we do the same thing, maybe even more.

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Specializes in Community Health, Med-Surg, Home Health.

While I understand that the patients and families are stressed and pre-occupied, it is unwise to go out of your way to insult a caregiver that has been courteous to you. The reality is that they have no idea or no insurance that their loved ones will be treated well based on their attitudes. In any event, this is why some of them get what they get...including being placed on hold or waiting for longer than they need to due to stupidity.

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Specializes in geriatrics-LTC/clinics/med surg/psych.
Today at work one of my patients approched me, I had been taking care of her all day. She asked if I was an RN, I bit my lip and replied no I'm an LPN, she then stated "to bad I wanted to ask a Nurse a question" it took me 5 minutes to get her to ask her question to me... after I had convinced her that I was a Nurse. Of course it was a question that I could answer w/o problem. Sometimes I wonder whats the use! Sorry for the growling, just needed to vent this age old pain.

:monkeydance:Why do we continue to let people get under our skins with this tired argument:deadhorse I would probably just said " I'm the charge nurse, What's your question?"

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