Not allowed to say "I was busy w/ another pt"

[General E. Speaking, RN]

I work Tele. I was recently told by my manager (after a patient complained) that I cannot tell patient's that I am busy with another. Where does this leave me? What should I say? "I'm sorry I am an incompetent nurse who cannot time manage very well 'cause I didn't know that my nap and eating those bon bon's in the break room would take so long?"

Seriously, I came straight out of report and went to see my first patient (turned out to be unstable). Older gent on a bipap that he pulled off, he was hypoxic (60%), restless, pulling at his IV lines, etc...Managed to get the bipap back on but he was slow to oxygenate up. I was at his bedside continuously, then his SBP was running 180-190, DBP 100's. Called the MD, lots of new orders. FULL CODE btw. Call from lab: another patient with a critical K+ of 2.9- needed riders. I quickly go down to assess her IV site which is red as hell and infiltrated. She was crying about getting more K+ thru her IV so I had to call and get a Lidocaine order for Pharmacy to mix in the bag. No veins, of course. Charge nurse managed to get another line in her for me. Another patient going for surgery, etc...on and on- I was running! Charge nurse was helping (thankfully)

I know this patient well who complained about me. She is a frequent flyer who is a frequent complainer. I did manage to go in and make sure she was breathing and no acute distress. She kept calling for nonessential things during my busy time (see above). I sent the tech in and the charge went in a couple of times. When I finally got my other patients somewhat stable and settled (although I had a dry mouth and a full bladder) I went in to see her (her light was on AGAIN- no surprise) She started complaining that we weren't paying attention to her needs, etc. It just came out. I said, "I am sorry but I was busy with an unstable patient. I am here for you now. What can I do for you?"

When the chaplain did his "customer service" rounds, she complained that my nurse said she was busy with another and didn't have time for me, blah blah He immediately went to my supervisor. They gave her a balloon as an apology!:angryfire

In the end, my supervisor and others shrugged off her complaints (as she is well-known for never being satisfied) but I am still struggling with the whole 'I can't tell patient's I am busy'. Is it just word play? Am I getting unraveled for nothing?

What do you think?

[RedWeasel, RN]

I didn't read all of these but what bothers me is that they reprimanded you for it...it is one thing to take the pts complaints and give balloons to make the pt feel better but to give such credence to the complaint she made and be so official about it is insulting....I mean they should take the complaint, nod smile and let you do your job...

[wooh, BSN, RN]

I didn't read all of these but what bothers me is that they reprimanded you for it...it is one thing to take the pts complaints and give balloons to make the pt feel better but to give such credence to the complaint she made and be so official about it is insulting....I mean they should take the complaint, nod smile and let you do your job...

I 100% agree. A lot of times all people want is to get their complaint out, and I can get behind the fact that often the easiest thing to do to smooth over the situation is to listen, and maybe give them a gift certificate for the gift shop or whatever. But reprimanding a nurse for putting patient NEEDS ahead of patient WANTS is unforgivable.

[Bluehair]

Yeah it's the same everywhere. We are never to say we are busy or give an implication that we are "too busy for you" to a patient for whatever reason (I once had a family member tell me he didn't care that I was in an emergency as I was flying down the hall for meds for a patient with chest pain--his mother needed care, too, and she was out of ice! At the time, i had 18 patients on a med-surg/renal floor.)

My lie: "I'm sorry, I was assisting a physician with a procedure..." Somehow it's ok for the DOCTOR to be busy but not the nurse

I recently cared for an adult 40 something male who was admitted to ICU for an acute MI. He had received all the usual first-line meds (aspirin, beta blocker, yada yada) and was currently pain free. Got admitted from the ED, and we were waiting for his cardiologist to come evaluate him. Vitals were stable, EKG was okay - he was, for the moment, doing alright. Enter Mom, his 'emergency contact' (even though he was married to a very nice woman, didn't quite understand that part). Mom: "You know, he hasn't had anything to eat all day long, he really needs to eat right now!" I explained to patient, mom and wife that he can't have anything until after the cardiologist sees him in case the doctor 'wants to do any more tests this evening' (like maybe a cardiac cath). Meanwhile, back at the ranch, said cardiologist was IN the cath lab, working on a very sick individual who eventually coded, had a balloon pump inserted, etc. etc. etc.

MD was delayed several hours as a result of being with the other patient. When Mom called in from home distraught because her son still had not had anything to eat, I did tell her (and had told pt very nicely) that the MD was with a very sick patient elsewhere in the hospital. Reassured them that he would be there as soon as he could, and would give this patient the same focus and attention. Used the rhetorical example of 'wouldn't you want the same attention if you or your family member was that sick?'. It didn't do any good at all, she was quite mad, certain he would suffer some long lasting effect from being NPO longer than necessary.

Sheesh.

So - all that to say some patients/families don't think it's okay for the DOCTOR to be with another patient either.

[psalm, RN]

Sometimes I feel like we are all "gag-ordered" when it comes to this silliness about not being *allowed* to say or do something when we can't possibly be there for a patient demand.

[grace90, LPN, LVN]

when i've been delayed from caring for one patient due to unexpected unevents with another patient, i have apologized and told them i had an emergency to take care of or a blood transfusion to hang, etc, but it was squared away now and i was available for them.

i don't remember getting a whole heck of a lot of negative complaints about that. but i'm sure my employer wouldn't want me to say that.