Let me just ask this ..."Why"

[gloryfied]

Why is it that in this profession alone, a patient can yell and be a jerk to us and we "nurses" shouldnt (for our own good "to keep our job") say anything?

"Why can we be punched, smacked, hit or any form of abuse from a patient and not protect our own selves----I guess it just appalls me that we are told to not do anything. Wow. But get a different assignment or write an incident report. This is clearly different from having children or disables patients, but how is eg. a young woman suppose to walk away from a 50 year old man hitting them,or a guy vice versa. This system is weird

'Why can't we set our patients straight" and when we do, they find something to complain to management about us. smh

"Why are patients fully favored over us, with their complaints".

Is it not understood that patients are the same people we see in walmart, stop and shop, target, and they could be holding their own hurts and grudges and them beiing in a hospital bed gives them no right to disrespect us, and we nurses are the same people who have families, and emotions and deserve not to be treated such way and more importantly have our job at risk because we stand up for unpleasant people."

I just dont get it, why it's like this in this field. A dementia, confused patient, that can be understood, but oriented and alert ones?

This is nuts!

[jadelpn, LPN, EMT-B]

Alert and oriented patients should not be hitting anyone, nurses included. Nor should they be verbally abusive. If a patient is behaving in this manner, I would certainly start out asking the patient why they are agitated. If it is a matter of them hitting, or if they are just being all around jerks with no answer as to why the agitation, I would go to your supervisor to deal. Perhaps they then can get social work involved for a viable discharge plan. There is never a reason that an alert and oriented person should hit. Agitation, however, can be caused by many things including pain. Document everything. EVERYTHING. If pain is not well controlled, then you may need another order for something to perhaps be more effective. And don't rule out that there could be some brain issues if a seemingly A&O patient is lashing out physically. With all this being said, report it to your charge, come up with a plan that perhaps 2 people go in at a time, and strongly encourage social work to discuss this with the patient.

[Blackcat99]

It's all about "customer service" these days. The patients and their families are in charge now. No one at my LTC cares if the patients and families are verbally abusing the nurses.

[gloryfied]

it can be a pain issue, but this post is not about a patient in chronic pain or any sort. This is about patients crossing boundaries, and WE nurses taking it like we are animals. I just dont get it. Theres a lot of risk, patients spitting at your, or hitting you, when management ask if they care the patient is now confused "...what, where am i? who are you PEOPLE" It seems like now, patients know that their word is bigger than ours, because thats the truth. a patient complains about your care, when the real issue MIGHTbe that their personal life is miserable, and they want someone to dump on, and you stick up for your self by giving them a slice of their own damn red velvet cake, and you are sitting in the office. being educated on code of conduct and threatened with a step 1.

...When a patient falls, OMG! law suit, but when a nurse is hit, " hey, write out an incident report and put it inyour notes. " like thats all thats being said. (Personally i dont care if you are in pain, thats no reason to hit anyone, cos now you just ****** off the person who was going to help you control that pain).

...And guys by God's grace, i haven't experienced any of this, but saw it happen to one of the aides who is 5 months pregnant, A patient kicked her in her face, as she was putting his leg pumps on. Like kick across the face. knowing her, she wouldve reacted but i just saw that because she needs her job she said, im fine, it's alright. and cried in the bathroom. Epic fail in this system. Like who cares for the caregivers.

[Blackcat99]

At one of my old LTC jobs, a patient complained to management about one of the nurses. Apparently, that nurse had tried to stick up for herself when she was verbally assaulted by that alert,oriented and extremely hostile patient. A few days after that incident, that nurse was fired.

[Sunny68]

Yes, I just quit the position that I held for 2 years due to management allowing patients and family members to be rude and the "Customer is always right!" policy. It is a sad day when family members can dictate the care of the patient, they should take care of them at home then and not bring them to the hospital. I have had to hold my tongue, take the hits, kicks, and verbal abuse as long as I can. I deal with depression like it is after the sudden loss of my spouse a couple of years ago, so after a long heart felt week and speaking to my therapist, to keep me in a better place I left.

Sic of getting write ups for standing up for myself!