Me... Me... Me: A Sense of Entitlement

Nurses Rock Toon

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We've all seen this type of patient. They start out in the ER insisting that they be seen first because no one else could be in as much need of medical attention as them. This behavior carries over to the floor once they've been admitted. They want it, and they want it NOW. What are some experiences you've had with such privileged characters?

Specializes in Oncology; medical specialty website.
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It's like the people who call 911 from the waiting room... Or even their bedside phone... Because they're not getting what they want when they want it so they demand an ambulance come get them.

Or people who think arrival by ambulance is a golden ticket... They get so mad when you direct the crew to the waiting room.

When I worked in the ED, we had a patient pull that stunt. He was discharged (no meds), and a few minutes later I took a call from med-command. The dispatcher said, "Uhm...did you happen to have 'Mr. X' in your ED recently? I said "Yes." Dispatch said, "Well, he's in the lobby of your hospital saying he's sick and you wouldn't take care of him. Do we need to come out?" I told them we'd take care of it, called security, and they showed him out.

That was back in the days when we kept a box with 3x5 cards with names and details of patients who were either FF or problem patients.

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Specializes in Oncology; medical specialty website.
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I've many times refused to let them off of the EMS gurney... vitalize them and send the crew to the waiting room door for offloading.

Another one of my ♪♫ in my ♥-isms... same patient, different face.

Love it!

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Specializes in Gerontology RN-BC and FNP MSN student.

We have an awesome lady in LTC who calls 911 when her brief needs changed.....

Yes the officers have to come no matter what....so we are familiar with them on a first name basis. She also calls the administrator while she's waiting on the cops to get there. No, she hasn't turned her call bell on, she prefers to call everyone else!!

Needless to say....she's on bathroom checks q2h!!

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Specializes in Emergency Room, Trauma ICU.
OCNRN63 said:

When I worked in the ED, we had a patient pull that stunt. He was discharged (no meds), and a few minutes later I took a call from med-command. The dispatcher said, "Uhm...did you happen to have 'Mr. X' in your ED recently? I said "Yes." Dispatch said, "Well, he's in the lobby of your hospital saying he's sick and you wouldn't take care of him. Do we need to come out?" I told them we'd take care of it, called security, and they showed him out.

That was back in the days when we kept a box with 3x5 cards with names and details of patients who were either FF or problem patients.

We've had to call the cops to arrest patients who wouldn't leave the property after discharge. It can be beyond frustrating.

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Specializes in Maternity.

Just today. I caught a family stuffing suitcases with bags of diapers, blankets and shirts. I couldn't figure out why they kept asking for supplies claiming they never got them. So finally I told them that if their newborn baby was going through that many diapers, I needed to notify the doctor so we could run tests on the baby and cancel their discharge. They quickly tried to explain that maybe they just didn't really need all those diapers then I saw the suitcase! Oh vey!

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My favorite was many years ago when I was in nursing school on my ER rotation. The man came in (this was in August) with a rash. "how long have you had this rash?" "Since November." November? This is August. What made it an EMERGENCY today???????

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Specializes in None yet..
HappyWife77 said:
We have an awesome lady in LTC who calls 911 when her brief needs changed.....

Yes the officers have to come no matter what....so we are familiar with them on a first name basis. She also calls the administrator while she's waiting on the cops to get there. No, she hasn't turned her call bell on, she prefers to call everyone else!!

Needless to say....she's on bathroom checks q2h!!

I don't know whether to laugh or to tear my hair out! It sounds just a few blips short of some of my residents!!!

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Specializes in Critical Care.

I had a similar experience. My CNO had an ex-in-law rehabbing post-surgery. Every hour I asked if he needed anything, and he always denied pain and all other problems. However, when his wife showed up, that all changed. Instead of talking to me about it, she went straight to the CNO's office and complained about everything. The CNO called me into her office and accused me of willful patient neglect and suffering, failure to be an advocate and provide ADLs (holding a water glass up to his mouth when he was capable of doing so himself), and how I was less than the "normal" nurse. Not the best experience for a new grad on her first job. :notworthy:

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The CNO called me into her office and accused me of willful patient neglect and suffering, failure to be an advocate and provide ADLs (holding a water glass up to his mouth when he was capable of doing so himself), and how I was less than the "normal" nurse. Not the best experience for a new grad on her first job.

That is just so wrong! You better should have taped the whole thing while you are talking to him but yeah.... Things happen like these that you could not prevent. Not to scare you but soome patients are just worse that these, ready your heart.

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Specializes in Emergency.
mhy12784 said:
Not to interrupt the pity party

But how many nurses are there with the same attitude in the OP

Talking about how horrible and tough their job is, and how they have to care for all these damn sick people.

All the while their patients usually have it 1000 times worse than they do.

You're venting about people venting? Very Seinfeldian.

But enough about me. Let's talk about how you feel.........about me.

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I actually had a patient on the LTC wing of my building call 911 and tell them she needed CPR.

When I was charge nurse for the whole building....

That was fun times to explain to both the cops who had to show up and the DON when she arrived the next morning.

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This expression of 'entitlement', of self-righteous entitlement, is pervasive in all walks of life by almost all of humanity since it bolsters a self-image of significance which is usually beyond appreciable perception by others.

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