Hi! I don't know if this is the right forum for my topic so please feel free to move it as the mods deemed fit.
I'm an RN-BSN with around less than 2 years experience as a med-surg nurse. I currently work in a critical care unit with a slightly different set-up than most CCU units. I get 5-6 patients in a shift. When I say that out loud, a lot of nurses (from other hospitals) wonder how does that work? Well, I get 2 critical care patients, 2-3 med surg/tele patients and couple of rehab patients so if one practicies prioritization and time management, you can actually get things done within your shift. Like, give meds to the rehab patients and not worry since PT/OT will be working with the patients all shift long.
Anyway, I said all that to give you guys an idea of what my work environment was like yesterday (my friday). I've been taking care of this rehab patient 3 days in a row this week. This patient (Z) has been in the facility since the start of the year. A lot of nurses have been taking care of him but I've only taken care of him this week for the first time. Even though it's my first time with Z, I see how other nurses take care of him. I don't say anything about it but it's always bothered me that they leave this post-CVA patient lying in a fetal position. He's 60+ years old, alert, oriented but non-verbal, contracted in all extremities and all the other nurses leave him in a fetal position.
So when I had him this week, I stretched out his legs a bit because in the back of my mind, this guy will go home someday and I don't want him to go home looking like this. PT/OT doesn't work that much with him except that OT puts a hand splint on his right arm. Anyway, the thing is the son yelled at me so loud that every one in the nursing station heard him yelling at me even the other patients' and their families heard his yelling at me. He yelled that I'm not gentle with his dad and that I feed him too much (of the pureed diet). I politely replied that his dad his contracted and I wanted to stretch out his legs but he wouldn't hear anything of it. He started threatening me about a lawsuit and my license. When it boiled down to that, I just remained quiet. This son was bigger than me and angry so I didn't want to aggravate things further. As for the feeding, a part of me wanted to tell the son that I'm actually one of the very few nurses who take time out to feed and encourage his dad to eat something. Most nurses in the unit would brush that off to the CNAs and since the CNAs are busy, they just only offer 2 spoons and report that the patient doesn't want to eat. I take time out from my other patients to stand their and feed his dad and coax him to finish at least half of the tray. I coax his dad to at least drink all the thickened juice.
Then the wife complained that for the 2nd day in a row, I supposedly left the tube feeding bump beeping and that I did nothing about it. Well, for the last 2 days of my work week, I had harrowing time since considering my experience compared to the other nurses in that unit, I bore the brunt of the critical care patients. That means, I got the severely ill ones.
Anyway, what I'm saying is that --- I was just hurt that the family didn't appreciate my good intentions and efforts about their dad. I do one good thing compared to the other nurses and I get yelled at. I know I'm supposed to grow thicker skin but sometimes, being unappreciated hurts especially when I, for one, believe in my profession. I was just wondering if other nurses have experienced being unappreciated and if so, how do you deal with it?