Why do patients.....?

Nurses Humor

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It behooves me to understand why do these little old ladies especially...you know the ones,they are the nicest patients ever who got like 100 pills. You take you time pull and verify each pill. Place it neatly into a medicine cup then these nice patients take your medicinal cup then all of a sudden dumb all the pills onto their sheets on their stomach, pills start rolling everywhere and they start taking them one by one by one.....WHYYYYY!!!! :banghead::banghead::banghead:

Specializes in LTC, Rehab.
The one resident who will refuse his H.S. pills if not given within a certain timeframe. In his case you have from 1855 to 1905 to give it or else.

Oh My God yes. I had one lady who absolutely wanted 1 med at 21:00. Had another guy who had it in his head that his blood glucose MUST be checked at 19:30. Another guy who wanted all of his meds way too early. And so on...

Specializes in ICU.

I always ask: how many can you take at once? If they say three pills, I put the first three in the cup, let them take the pills, and then give more. It really annoys me when they say, "Oh, I take all of them together," I say, "Great!" and put all of the pills in a cup, and then they complain that it's too many and spill them everywhere.

I asked! I did everything I could... it would be nice if they could just meet us halfway!

Random thoughts, from in my brain-jelly...

I have every sympathy for patients who cannot swallow a handfull of pills at once - I know I couldn't - and for those who lack the dexterity to pick them out of the medicine pot...

...however....

If that's the case, what's your alternative method? You tip them into a tray? Fine. You spread out a tissue and pour them onto it? Spiffing.

But all too often the alternative method is: tip them out onto my bedspread and watch glumly as they roll off onto the floor.

Or: tip them out onto a hand - which you were last able to hold anywhere-near-horizontal when Max Headroom was a thing - and watch glumly as they roll off onto the floor.

How did I know that was going to happen? 'Cause that's what happened yesterday.

Frequently, "How I take my tablets" is actually "How I spill my tablets".

I don't mind going along with any personal method of tablet taking, as long as your personal method works.

As for questions...

Doctor: So, your blood's a little thin at the moment, and we're going to stop your warfarin for a couple of days, then check it again. I've prescribed you a new tablet called a statin, to help lower your cholesterol a bit. Is there anything you'd like to ask me?

Mrs Jenkins (Beaming beatifically): No, thankyou doctor...

Doctor: Lovely, well, I'll see you tomorrow. (turns to leave)

Mrs Jenkins: No, I think I'll wait 'til the 22:00 med round, when everybody's hitting the call-buzzer simultaneously and every IV pump's alarming, and somebody's pulled out their cannula and there's a code brown of epic proportions going on, and the lady in the bed opposite has gone very quiet and a bit grey, then I'm going to ask where my little brown ones are. I always have the little brown ones. And what's this one? I don't have that. These aren't my medicines. I'll need an antacid. Taking tablets always gives me heartburn.

Doctor: What was that?

Mrs Jenkins: Nothing......

Specializes in Med nurse in med-surg., float, HH, and PDN.

"But this is the way I alwaystake them at home..." (May I have a dollar for every time I've heard this one? After 40+ years, I could buy a new car on this comment alone.)

"I don't have any red pills! I'm not taking any red pills!" (this, after an explanation that the med is the same as the ones she's been taking all along, just manufactured at or received from a different company.)

The patient with Macular Degeneration who holds the round, white pill in their hand really close to their eyes, and still can't identify it except to say that it is not what the doctor prescribed. (And this decision is based on what criteria?)

The people who CHEW time-release meds.

Specializes in retired LTC.

I was always amazed at dialysis pts who could seem to swallow the BIGGEST handful of pills without a blink.

I guess it had something to do with their fluid restrictions that made them swallow everything all at once so as not to waste their water allowance.

Oh My God yes. I had one lady who absolutely wanted 1 med at 21:00. Had another guy who had it in his head that his blood glucose MUST be checked at 19:30. Another guy who wanted all of his meds way too early. And so on...

It's a PITA. Especially, when (God forbid) all hell breaks loose around those times.....

Then you're stuck groveling/begging/ pleading for them to take it because you really don't want to spend a lot of time doing paperwork, faxing the MD about it, and writing a book in NN explaining why they didn't get their pills. UGH!

Specializes in Case manager, UR.

If they had a large amount of meds, I'd put them in a drinking sized cup first before opening them. Then would open one by one stating the name of the med. Put however many at a time they wanted into the small med cup. That way I didn't open one they didn't want or said was wrong, or have that tiny little soufflé cup overloaded.

Specializes in Med nurse in med-surg., float, HH, and PDN.

The way things go these days, I'm happy to have become completely UNfacilitized!

The only meds I deal with are my own...all 5 of them, 3 in AM's and 2 in PM's.

I don't fuss, question, spit out, hide or refuse them.

And I hope if a time comes when others are handing me my meds...I pray that

God says, in his best Snaggletooth impersonation, "Exit...stage left!" Then I can fling my straw-boater aside and permanently Shuffle-Off-to-Buffalo :laugh: where NO meds are EVER needed!

Specializes in Med/Surg, Gyn, Pospartum & Psych.

I hate when I go through the whole list of meds....verify that they aren't refusing anything and they are okay with the meds before I open them..and after I give them the cup of meds, they start asking me which pill this one is and oh, I don't want to take that one at this time "so I'll just save it".... ?????

Next time, I am prepared. Stack of paper cups. I give two or three at a time per cup so I can remember what is in that cup when she changes her mind or questions....other nurses think I am crazy but I promise I get out of there faster this way.

I once had a VIP early dementia patient who told me that she didn't want to take more than 2 or 3 meds at a time....so I was in her room every 30 minutes trying to get the pass done. Luckily a family member was in there because one time she got upset that I didn't give her a particular med...and the family remembered me going over each med as I passed it and could back me up..."Mom, she did give you that med first because you said it was the most important one".... (in my mind EVERY patient is a VIP and I don't have time to kiss the butt of one whom the hospital is expecting a huge endowment from...if she is that important, give her a private nurse)

Specializes in Hospital medicine; NP precepting; staff education.

Elaborate with unnecessary information but give almost none when I need more information.

Residents who complain of severe pain and so you bring them their narcotic pain meds. Do they take it right away? No. They want to spend 20 minutes telling you all about their severe pain BEFORE they will actually put the pain pill in their mouth.

Specializes in LTC, Rehab.
Residents who complain of severe pain and so you bring them their narcotic pain meds. Do they take it right away? No. They want to spend 20 minutes telling you all about their severe pain BEFORE they will actually put the pain pill in their mouth.

Or, when you ask them why they're not taking it now, they'll say "Oh, I might need it tonight"... and then I'll take it back and tell them that we need to know when they take it so that we'll know if/when they can have another one.

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