I have two doozies for you. I was working on a very busy and desperately understaffed general surgical ward. We had a patient come back from major abdominal surgery (excision of a bowel ca and formation of a stoma) who almost immediately started to go down the tubes BP of 60/30 HR 140 you get the picture. I fast-bleeped his team then escalated to a crash call. We worked on him a good two hours, got him stable then transferred him to HDU (he came through just fine) I was three hours over my shift time dealing with this critically sick patient.
Arriving for work the next day the Ward Manager calls me into her office and gives me a right royal telling-off for not doing a toe dressing on the patient in the opposite bed (hernia repair, slight graze on toe) When I said I'd had a full-blown crisis situation to deal with her response was "Well you could have asked someone else to do it" Words failed me at that point.
The second delightful occasion (on the same ward) was a lady in diabetic acidosis. Full on emergency. As we were working on her a relative of another patient in that bay opened the curtains around the bed and yelled at us "My mother wants a cup of tea". The medical registrar basically read her the riot act. Result? Official complaint against that doctor.
HEADDESK.
Can anyone top these fine examples of human tolerance and decency?
The pink was "darker" than the white, we must be saving the white blankets for the white patients. Actually, most of the patients try and snatch up the pink blankets because they're warmer and softer.
I had a winner the other day, "My mother's ice isn't icy enough." My manager and I cracked up over that one. She said to tell her to go outside and fill up a cup. lol
Hey, they've been on my unit. The Ice water wasn't cold enough!
I live in a place where for two months of the year it's -30C
Specializes in med-surg 5 years geriatrics 12 years.
Husband of patient who was very unsteady on her feet, morbidly obese. Wanted up on commode. Told him I would get help and in the time it took to get CNA, he was in supervisor's office telling her I wouuldn't help his wife. Wanted me written up. Supervisor found us in the room indeed helping her but I heard about it anyway.
1. Daughter didn't like the colour of spread on her Mom's bed. So she stripped it off, put in in laundry and demanded a new one. Guess what. Only colour available was the colour she just stripped off! Mom said she liked the colour.
2. Pt threatened to sign herself out because the TV wasn't working. Cable TV was out. So I so go ahead. Pt stayed. (damn)
3. Pt threatened to sign himself out if he didn't get private room. So I started to remove IV that took 5 attempts to start. When pt protested, I told him he couldn't leave with IV in. He was in the last available bed in hospital. No privates available. So, if he was going to sign himself out, the IV had to come out. Pt stayed. (damn)
4. Ice water not cold enough. (I sense a trend here).
5. Move glass of water 2 inches to the left. Ooops - too far. Move it back. Back some more. A bit more. OK Thats good. Glass is now exactly where it started. (grrr)
I'm sure I have more. I just can't think of them right now!
I once got called into the office because a patient I had transported had complained that I had gone over too many "bumps" in the hallway with the ER cart, and that it had hurt her. She never said anything about it nor did she mention having pain during the entire transport. Um... ok? What was I supposed to do? Pad the hallway with a red carpet? The best part about it was that the patient was a hospital employee!
I didn't transport her any differently than the hundreds of other ER patients I had before her. Never had that type of complaint before or after that. My manager was slightly amused.
I was working a busy ER...had the Extended Care Unit and was at a dead run. I got a lady who was waiting for some lab results a supper tray. She was basically healthy and in no distress. I carried the tray in and in a few minutes her husband came out and said "My wife doesn't eat meat". "That's OK," I said in my nicest voice. "She doesn't have to eat it." "You don't understand," he said. "She doesn't even want it on her tray." I almost went in and threw it in the trash and said "Now there, it isn't on her tray!" But noooo, I carried the offending tray out and ordered her a vegetarian tray...which had not be requested when she asked for her first tray, and carried it in. They can be exhausting sometimes!
As a vegetarian, I would have first alerted you that I wouldn't want meat on my tray. That's my responsibility. That being said, some people are vegetarians for religious reasons, and will not eat off a plate meat has touched. I'd probably have been annoyed at her for not telling me in the first place, but you have to understand why someone might be offended by the tray.
Glad to know that because I'm a vegetarian I can be "exhausting." I sure hate overburdening the meat eaters by not eating meat. LOL
had a patients son ring the desk he other saying that he couldn't get through to his mother's beside phone. Told him that she was out doing a stairs assessment with the physio. He went on to rant that his mother could climb stairs just fine before she came to hospital..................Uhhh you idiot she broke her hip! It is kind of vital that the physio assesses her for this before she is discharged. to which he replied................well why didn't any of the nurses answer the phone.........hmm we weren't in the room and if we were we would of only gotten an earful from you anyway. This guy rings every day to complain about the phone - which is run by a private company not the hospital - that he gets hung up on.................his mother gets fed up listening to him and hangs up on him...............I wonder why??
1: Pt arrived to floor demanding something to eat (at 2300). All we have is soup, crackers, juice, pudding, peanut butter, cereal and sodas. Pt requests a sandwhich. I tell her we dont have sandwhiches. She said, "Thats just awful. I cant believe you dont have sandwhiches." Never mind the fact that she is over 300lbs...and amazingly enough, her family member "found" her some food that would agree with her renal diet. A chicken salad croissant and a big bag of cheetos.
2: Pts husband comes to desk to find out we we are "doing my wifes blood pressure." We tell him we are monitoring it and medicating it as instructed to by the physician. He says "Her blood pressure is 290 over 110!! I want something done about it now!!" We inform him that the last BP was 165/70. He says, "Well then someone must be lying!!! You need to take her blood pressure more often!!" Uggghhhhhh....
3: A spanish speaking pt and an english speaking pt in a semi private room that complain about what TV channel to watch. "Shes been watching Spanish channels all day!" I wanted to tell her, "You had a massive MI almost died...and your worried about the TV?"
4: The room is too cold, followed by the room is too hot....followed by the "My roomate keeps it too hot in here and I cant breath!"....followed by "She keeps it to cold in here and I cant get well if I dont stay warm!"
5: "This prune juice is too cold. Can you warm it up for me?"
6: "I dont like the way the nurse assistant looked at me."
7: Pt: "I want my coreg." Me: "I understand that, but your physician has DC'd your coreg and does not want you to take it." Pt: "I dont care! I want my coreg! If something happens to me, its YOUR fault! Get out of my face!! Im leaving!" Me: "Ok. Let me get the papers for you to sign." (Pt then changed his mind and decided to stay. Damn.)
8: From housekeeping: "Theres some blood spots on the floor."
9: "I dont like my nurse. She dilutes my Demerol and pushes it slow. I like it pushed really fast close to my IV."
8: From housekeeping: "Theres some blood spots on the floor."
This happens frequently where I work. Housekeeping is not allowed to clean up bodily fluids, the nursing staff have to do it. HK will then happily clean the area once the blood/whatever is removed.
blondy2061h, MSN, RN
1 Article; 4,094 Posts
The pink was "darker" than the white, we must be saving the white blankets for the white patients. Actually, most of the patients try and snatch up the pink blankets because they're warmer and softer.