Patient Entitlement

YUP!!! Had this last night as a lady was cursing at our triage nurse screaming the "f bomb" every other word and calling her names because her four year old with a fever of 101 wasn't taken back yet but the 78 year old man who walked in with chest pain did. I love the inflation times people yell at us too - "I've been here FOUR HOURS." "Nope, you've been here 38 minutes. I'll let you know when you hit the four hour mark"

all time favorite?

the lady who stood outside of the room watching us intubate a crumping family member complaining that we weren't take her dad to his med/surg bed fast enough.

I'm not a nurse yet, but I thought I would add something I once saw.

I was waiting to be seen at a walk in clinic, for whatever reason. LOTS of people were waiting, lots of people had been there for a good while. Well, this one lady nearby starts to act a bit loopy. Moments later, she slides out of her chair, unconscious, to the floor. A couple of nurses came out to tend to her, and the woman in the very next seat starts ******** out the nurses, demanding to know when she was going to be seen. One of the nurses looked at her and said "You will be seen, but right now we need to help the person PASSED OUT ON THE FLOOR."

What I hate more is when a "VIP" is the patient and the manager tells you, "Mr. Kiss Butt in room 200 is the CEO's brother, so make sure you tend to his needs." REALLY!! What about my other patients, do I not need to tend to THEIR needs? I don't treat VIP status any different than the patient who is private pay.

Well when I have patients who feel like someone is getting more attention than they are... Chairs may go flying, walkie-talkie patients with no fall history suddenly " passed out" in the bathroom, or general attention seeking behaviors. Gotta love Axis 2.

I'm not a nurse yet, but I thought I would add something I once saw.

I was waiting to be seen at a walk in clinic, for whatever reason. LOTS of people were waiting, lots of people had been there for a good while. Well, this one lady nearby starts to act a bit loopy. Moments later, she slides out of her chair, unconscious, to the floor. A couple of nurses came out to tend to her, and the woman in the very next seat starts ******** out the nurses, demanding to know when she was going to be seen. One of the nurses looked at her and said "You will be seen, but right now we need to help the person PASSED OUT ON THE FLOOR."

It absolutely disgusts me how selfish people can be. I hope that woman was ashamed of herself after that nurse said something to her!

Vent alarms and family members man...

I had it happen as a patient, well my son. We had taken my son to the urgent care for extreme thirst and urination. Was told to go to ED, do not pass go,do not collect $200. We get there and they knew he was coming so he went right back and some lady (I use that phrase loosely) went ballistic because she was there first. My husband told her that she was going to get to take her son home, ours we did not know when he would go home. She shut right up.

cardiacfreak said:

What I hate more is when a "VIP" is the patient and the manager tells you, "Mr. Kiss Butt in room 200 is the CEO's brother, so make sure you tend to his needs." REALLY!! What about my other patients, do I not need to tend to THEIR needs? I don't treat VIP status any different than the patient who is private pay.

This.

All the patients I cared for were VIPs, whether they were the CEOs or a homeless.

Before becoming a nurse I learned a great lesson.

One day while working in a clinic we had two patients waiting for the doctor in rooms next to each other. I could see both patients from our work station. One man had a brief case. He was dressed in a nice suit. He was clean cut. The other man was disheveled, looked like he could be homeless.

I asked the doctor, after he saw the two patients (and they were gone), what his thoughts were on the common practice of many doctors: Would these two patients be treated the same or not depending on how they look/status (money/education)? He said, "Unfortunately the business man would probably be treated better." This is when I knew I wanted to treat all patients the same, with dignity and respect.

I had a female patient in for 24 hour observation for chest pain with history of angina. So far all tests were negative. She would really ham it up and become a drama queen when her daughter visited her. Once while the patient's daughter was visiting, there was a code in the room across from her. The daughter was upset that I was not in her mom's room (even though I was in there for a good 45 minutes just before the daughter came). I think we may have even called the daughter to see if she could visit so I could get back to my other patients.

I explained to the daughter that another patient had an emergency. The daughter said, "I know. I understand that but this is MY mom and I am worried about HER." Yes, I get that, she is worried about her mom but did she NOT see the rapid response team and all the activity that was occuring?