Least Favorite Things Patients Say

[remotefuse]

What are some of your least favorite things that you hear from your pts? Of course we are all nurses to help people, but some responses from pts make for an instant eye roll. My least favorite thing is when pts ask to take their morning medications when they "wake up". I work nights, and I hear that ALL the time. This is one of the few times that I can be firm with a pt, especially if they are on something like vanco and need specific blood levels or I will usually just tell them that I can come back in 15-20 min, and if they don't want it at that time then I will "pass it to day shift" which usually means it won't get done. (Not knocking day shift. It just happens that day shift wont pass meds for a couple of hours after report and the med might be do again. So they just ask me to document against it./say they refused it.)

There are plenty of instances where the pt gets to make decisions like when they take their meds, but I'm not staying late to pass meds because a pt not wanting to wake up at 0630.

[chevygirl1987]

"Administration /my lawyer is going to hear about this."

Picture me, unflappable and unimpressed.

Very tall person looming over me screaming the they were going to file a civil rights suit against me, me personally, for not getting them a bed that would accommodate their height.

Me, it's Chevy A. Girl. Don't forget the A because girl is a common last name.

[AuDDoc]

I find when you offer to walk them over to the director's office personally and have a little dialogue about the situation they usually shut up. People tend to not threaten you when they know you will be with them and can give your side of things at the same time. :)

[anewsns]

"And while youre here ......" (Bathroom trip, ice water when there room is a mile away from a kitchen, help me find this item but I have no idea where it is, extensive repositioning, all of the above...) Don't get me wrong, I don't mind helping , but a little help often turns into a lotta help and a lotta time and a very behind nurse .

[Surprised1, MSN, RN]

"I could do your job."

Because they can feed their child through a g-tube, they think they could do my job???😡

Sent from my iPhone using allnurses

[marienm, RN, CCRN]

Family member- "it must be hard to work nights!"

Crabby, crack-addicted, unemployed patient- "no, she gets that big paycheck and goes shopping!"

Me- "Nope, I pay my mortgage and my student loans. Not so much shopping."

Crabby, crack-addicted, unemployed patient- ...suddenly has nothing to say...

Totally different family member/different patient-- "Oh, I would love to be a nurse and be nice to people and tell them everything's going to be okay! It's such an amazing profession! But I don't think I could handle any blood, or the procedures, and you have to know about so many medications..." Trust me, lady, I'd love it if my job involved solely being nice to people and giving them (potentially) false reassurances! In retrospect, though, I should have encouraged her to volunteer if she was that enthusiastic.

[SleeepyRN]

"Administration /my lawyer is going to hear about this."

Picture me, unflappable and unimpressed.

During shift change for NOCs, figuring out assignments and getting report from multiple nurses, takes a good 45 minutes. Well one night, immediately after I got report, I answered a call light. Immediately this completely A&O x3 pt starting screaming at me about how everyone just ignored him. (No, CNAS start shift at 10pm and we nurses at 11 pm for this very reason.)

I learned shortly after that that the CNA had answered his call light, he said he needed pain meds, and the CNA explained that the nurses were changing shift and getting report, and that she would let me know. Before she even saw me to tell me, I answered his call light (because he put it back on again.)

So the screaming about being ignored began, and I tried to say that I just now finished report and I would go get his pain meds. He wasn't even hearing it. He picked up his room phone and whipped it across the room toward me. I was still in the doorway, this all happened so fast.

He overheard me say that he threw his phone at me because everyone in the hall heard it and immediately started asking what was going on. I was still in the doorway and yes, told the other nurse and 2 CNAs that were in the hall that he had just whipped his phone at me. He missed me by only a few inches. He screamed, wiped everything off his bedside table (food, drinks) screaming that I was a liar, that he did not do throw the phone at me.

I got his pain med and entered his room with a 2nd person for both safety and liability reasons, as he already claimed I had lied. When we entered the room, he had his CELL PHONE out and was RECORDING me, saying how I was a liar and ignored his call light and on and on.

Needless to say, I switched patients with another nurse.

I was SO happy when he got discharged.

Pffft go ahead and record me. You're making yourself look like the idiot in the recording while I'm providing competent care for you.

[la_chica_suerte85, BSN, RN]

I have a patient with a trapeze bar who always asks me while I'm trying to get his pillows "just so, " Does it look right?"

I'm like, dude, YOU tell ME if it FEELS comfortable. What it looks like to me does not matter.

With his trapeze bar, I'm starting to try and get him to adjust his own pillows. It's called rehab and part of your recovery.

AHAHAHAHAAHAAAA!!!!

I hate that when pts ask me if something seems right that has no direct bearing on what it looks like but rather what it feels like for them. I just give up at that point.

I think the thing that bugs me most is when family is there and says something along the lines of, "So and so had the same thing and :insert unrealistic outcome achieved by completely inappropriate measures so much so that you know it absolutely was not the same thing:." Cuz then the pt expects everything to be done just so.

[WKShadowNP, DNP, APRN]

or, "My [insert whatever degree of relative here] is a [insert medical profession--probably exaggerated here] and said this (completely wrong diagnosis and/or treatment) after looking at a picture of it."

[ixchel]

or, "My [insert whatever degree of relative here] is a [insert medical profession--probably exaggerated here] and said this (completely wrong diagnosis and/or treatment) after looking at a picture of it."

Ohhhh along these lines....

The one family member who is "in the biz" and who asks questions that sound way smart to the rest of the family, but have absolutely nothing to do with what is actually going on with grandpa. Like, we admit him with sepsis, has no cardiac history, and the CNA daughter in law says, "what's his INR?" *sigh*

I try to not judge or show any exasperation about this at all. Sometimes, truly, this family member is put on the spot by the family and really wants the rest of the family to feel she's trying hard to ensure grandpa is taken care of.

But sometimes, you can see the rest of the family rolling their eyes and they are over Miss Smartypants' smartypantsness and they want her to just shut up so that they can actually focus on RELEVANT information.

[MrNurse(x2), ADN]

When I read physician's notes from the night before when I had the patient and he stated had chest pain "all night" and the note proceeds to describe how nothing was documented. Maybe nothing was documented because the patient doesn't understand "please call if you have ANY chest discomfort or SOB, you are NOT bugging me, you are why I am here" well enough. The same patient doesn't say a word when I check on them in the morning before round/ change of shift.

That is followed by the patient that tells you in the morning how they were cold all night. Sorry, we don't have remote thermometers to gauge that. Is communication really this difficult with some people?

[AcuteHD]

Me: What happened to your BP cuff?

Pt: I took it off because it was squeezing my arm.

Me:

[Rose_Queen, BSN, MSN, RN]

Nurse/anesthesiologist during preop interview: Do you smoke?

Patient: Not anymore.

N/A: When did you quit?

Pt: This morning.