Things you'd LOVE to be able to tell patients, and get away with it.

Just curious as to what you would say. Mine goes something like this: Nurses Relations Video Nurse Life

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You are reading page 21 of Things you'd LOVE to be able to tell patients, and get away with it.

rph3664

1,714 Posts

EarthChild1130 said:
1. Don't wait until 4:55 Friday afternoon to call me and tell me you need a prescription for Ritalin...you know it needs to be a hard copy RX and unless you can be here in the next 3 minutes we are GONE...and no, I am not going to wait here until 6 p.m.

2. Calling me every 3 minutes is not going to make me call in your script any faster.

3. Please leave the pharmacist alone...don't make him fax a refill request for your Valium to my office 7 times in one day...I got the first one, I promise...He and I have other people ahead of you who also need their meds.

4. I'm sorry you lost the month's worth of Seroquel I gave you for the 2nd time...I can't give you more!

5. Don't tell me you can't afford your $5 copay for Zyprexa...I can smell cigarettes on you.

6. If your son's RX for clonidine says HALF a tablet, give him HALF a tablet! Don't play doctor with his meds and then wonder why he says he feels 'kinda funny.'

7. I can't give you samples just because you don't want to go to the pharmacy until next week.

8. I'm sorry you think the NP is a you-know-what...I can NOT prescribe meds, and if you're out of Ativan 5 days early, I will NOT call in a refill for you until 5 days from now.

9. If you don't like me handing out your meds to you daily, STOP SELLING THEM TO YOUR CRACKHEAD BROTHER.

:yeah:

Specializes in FNP, Peds, Epilepsy, Mgt., Occ. Ed.
EarthChild1130 said:
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5. Don't tell me you can't afford your $5 copay for Zyprexa...I can smell cigarettes on you.

I think we've worked the same place!

I had a patient tell me once he "couldn't afford" his medication (less than $10 a month). I looked at the pack of cigarettes in his pocket, and asked him how much he paid for them (more than $10 a month).

I looked him in the eye and told him "I want you to understand that you are making a choice and you are choosing to smoke rather than take your medications." He just looked down and didn't answer me.

And if anyone wants to say I'm mean and lack compassion, go ahead.

BlueRidgeHomeRN

829 Posts

Specializes in Home Care, Hospice, OB.
santhony44 said:

and if anyone wants to say I'm mean and lack compassion, go ahead.

where did that "you all sound so mean" post and its replies go to--or am I having another senoir moment?:confused:

Specializes in ortho/neuro/general surgery.
eccentricRN said:
Not exactly the same, but get this...we had an elderly man as an inpatient who normally cared for his wife at home... well obviously that's not possible seeing as he's at the hospital... so the MD said it would be okay for the family to dump her on us... she "stayed with him for the night..." She needed assist to toilet & wore briefs... I was beyond belief... SHE was MORE work than her husband the patient... plus she disturbed him to the point he kept trying to get OOB, when he was on bedrest... the kicker the family left her meds & asked that we give them to her!!:banghead: Most certainly will NOT!!

WOW!! I am pretty sure my facility wouldn't allow that. I sure as h wouldn't stand for it.

I love my cat!

630 Posts

Specializes in ER, PACU, Med-Surg, Hospice, LTC.
blueridgehomern said:
where did that "you all sound so mean" post and its replies go to--or am I having another senoir moment?:confused:

good question! I was following the thread and posts seem to have disappeared. hmmm?

anyway, I shall post this emoticon because when you posted it blueridgehome RN. I laughed and laughed. it really made my day for some reason.

kiki_me

34 Posts

Specializes in Cardiovascular OR / Cardiac Cath Lab.

I encountered a patient once who was in for executive check-up. She was in her mid 20's, quite fit (obviously goes to the gym regularly).. She was very indifferent, she didn't even look at me (the least) as I greeted her and told her i was going to take her vital signs. So, when i was about to leave her room, she told me:

"Could you FETCH me that?" (pointing to the remote control which was on the foot of the bed, IN THE VERY SAME BED she was lying on!!!!)

:angthts: :flmngmd::angryfire

As much as i wanted to hand her the remote after hitting her head with it and saying "Here you go." with an innocent smile on my face, I told her:

"Look ma'aam, i don't know about the previous shift, but in my shift we PROMOTE INDEPENDENCE. Especially to people that we know are MORE THAN CAPABLE. Please get it yourself." :cool:

imanedrn

547 Posts

Specializes in ED/trauma.
SchnauzersRock said:
It didn't offend me at all. People need to just get over themselves if they can't handle the truth. I see it all the time. It makes everyone's job in health care that much harder. It's totally unnecessary.

Agreed! I'm a body mod lover, but when I knew I wanted to work as a professional, I knew I'd have to cover my tats and remove my piercings. I have my nasal septum pierced. I take that out every time I go to work. And I love my tats, but they're all in places that can't be seen.

If I want to be treated like a professional, I have to look like one too.

Specializes in FNP, Peds, Epilepsy, Mgt., Occ. Ed.
blueridgehomern said:
where did that "you all sound so mean" post and its replies go to--or am I having another senoir moment?:confused:

if you're having a senior moment, then I'm joining you in it!

I think the "you all sound so mean" post came from the same poster who started the "schadenfreude" (sp?) thread yesterday. from reading all her posts, I gathered that the examples she gave may very well have been herself; that she was probably not a nurse; and that she more than likely had some pretty serious drug issues.

she probably got pulled by the mods, and thrown into a dark pit somewhere with last week's trolls!

I guess I'm enjoying someone else's misfortune. again.

it's bad enough, though, to get scolded by our own on these vent threads, without getting it from "outsiders."

I have to say that her "you all sound so mean" post reminded me an awful lot of my kids at about 10 or 12 years old.

Specializes in FNP, Peds, Epilepsy, Mgt., Occ. Ed.
nic_loc said:

"Could you FETCH me that?" (pointing to the remote control which was on the foot of the bed, IN THE VERY SAME BED she was lying on!!)

:angthts: :flmngmd::angryfire

As much as I wanted to hand her the remote after hitting her head with it and saying "Here you go." with an innocent smile on my face, I told her:

"Look ma'aam, I don't know about the previous shift, but in my shift we PROMOTE INDEPENDENCE. Especially to people that we know are MORE THAN CAPABLE. Please get it yourself." :cool:

Hey, you did awfully well not to add "Woof, woof, woof!" to that!!:lol2:

Fetch, indeed! (I don't know if it's universal, but here in the US "fetch" is what you say to a dog when you want it to retrieve a ball you've thrown!)

imanedrn

547 Posts

Specializes in ED/trauma.
rph3664 said:
American poverty, 2007:

Morbid obesity

Top of the line cell phone with all the extras, for each family member, even if it isn't necessary

Cable or satellite with every movie package

All the latest electronic equipment and every game or accessory that accompanies it

All the latest designer clothes

even though nobody in the household has ever had a job, and no, these things were not given to them by a charity or kindhearted soul. They often live on SSI for their obesity, drug addiction, or the kids' ADHD.

The above makes things so much harder for people who genuinely fall on hard times, whether through no fault of their own or by some bad decisions, not a lifetime of them.

JMHO

Sadly, this is a good point. Poverty in America is like the middle class in other countries.

My husband and I went to Mexico with our church several summers ago to build house for needy families. Mind you, what we're calling a "house" for them would barely meet the requirements of a shed in the US. The family my husband and I were paired with actually had an out house. I was amazed because I'm pretty certain no poverty-stricken Americans use these anymore...

On another note, my husband was in the Air Force. When he was stationed in Turkey many years ago, he was being paid a lower middle class salary in American terms. In Turkey, however, this equated to being rich. He lived in an apartment building on the sea and had a maid. (There is no middle class in Turkey -- only rich and poor.)

I know this has nothing to do with what I'd love to be able to say to my patients, but I thought it was a relevant response to the above posting.

imanedrn

547 Posts

Specializes in ED/trauma.

90 y.o. male patient who picked off his scab and was bleeding (all down his forearm!). CNA goes in to take VS, notices the bleeding, and tells me. Pt's in the middle of eating his ice cream. I move his tray, to clean his arm and bandage it. He yells at me, "I'm 90 years old, and if I want to eat my ice cream, I'm going to eat my ice cream." I respond, "Well, I'm your nurse, and you're bleeding, and cleaning up your blood is more important to me than your ice cream!"

70+ y.o. female w/ bilat splints, can't use her hands at all. Dinner tray comes in. (She needs help eating all her meals -- duh.) I go in to help her, and her roommate stays coughing violently. (Older pt, in for COPD exacerbation.) She's slumped down in bed, nasal cannula is out of her nose. Pt who can't eat YELLS at me, "I can't use my hands and need to eat. My food is going to get cold! Why is the care so poor in this place?" I respond, "I know your food will get cold. We can reheat it. Right now, though, this other patient can't breathe, so I have to help her first." Then I had another patient down the hall, older male, looked frail but was very strong, kept trying to pull out his IV... was doing it again. I caught him in the act and went to help him. She starts yelling at me again about needing to eat. "Don't worry, you'll get fed just as soon as I stop this patient from bleeding all over himself."

OMG! :trout:

AngelfireRN, MSN, RN, APRN

2 Articles; 1,291 Posts

Specializes in med-surg, psych, ER, school nurse-CRNP.

I'm doing occupational health now, and the stuff people pull to try to get to go home amazes me. In medical, unless it's dire straits, we do not clear to go home, the employee takes it up with the supervisor, unless it's a B/P that's way up, or they get injured, stroke s/s, MI s/s, out of the ordinary stuff.

So we get an influx of folks every day, "Can you check my b/p?

"Are you on b/p meds?"

"no" (Mind you this is not because they feel weird, this is daily)

I usually check it anyway, just to cover my tail, the nurse before me would not. The pregnant gal with a HTN issue, I have no problem checking. Whiny-butt with a different c/o every day, yes, I do.

Had one come in yesterday (remember, I work in a plant, no lab available) and ask "Can you check my iron?"

I explained that we did ot have the equipment to do that.

She persisted, "My doctor can stick my finger and tell me."

"We can not do that here."

"Well, it's always low, you're sure you can't tell me, my doctor always does."

"Then why don't you go and ask him to stick your finger and tell you? I left my portable lab at home today.":banghead: