Patients who are too lazy to open their own splenda packets

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Good grief, some patients want to revert back to being 9 month old infants!!! They also like to ask requests one at a time. Then, after you wait on them hand and foot all shift with the patience of a saint, they turn on you in an instant when their latest trivial request is not immediately granted due to the fact that there is someone circling the drain in the room next door. :rolleyes:

Although I don't go back quite as far as lamazeteacher, I have seen many changes in nursing, many good , some not so. The "hospital as business" mentality has seen the pendulum swing to an absurd degree, where the customer is always right and the nurse is always on the defensive. I don't want to go back to the days when patients were kept in the dark about their meds, etc. I can remember a hot seminar discussion about how much info patients should have !! However, our "customers" are NOT always right, especially about what an emergency is, about whether they should get the narcs they request, what is the best test to be run, etc. The media have served everyone poorly by giving unrealistic expectations of health care.

I believe the excessively demanding patient usually has another agenda than getting someone to open his sugar packet. There are probably a lot of needs in his life that are not being met. Unfortunately, the RN is not the one who is going to have the time to meet them, esp when someone is crashing next door.

"TLC" is an oft-used crossword answer for something RNs provide, but it is a sad comment that we so rarely get to provide it.

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Specializes in OB, HH, ADMIN, IC, ED, QI.
Why would one put themselves in some of the conditions you described in a society where one can sue at the drop of the hat? Yes, things were definitely different years ago, perhaps I would be more willing to take on too many patients, unsafe conditions etc., when the patients were not likely to sue and take away my family's livelihood.

You're right that in the past, especially in Canada people were less litigious. Nurses were more compliant then, too. An assignment was an assignment, especially while I was in nursing school and hadn't the luxury of refusing one.

At that time, we weren't allowed into hospital training programs if we were married, and or had children. We lived in Nurses' residences with curfews at 10 at night, when we sometimes had to sneak in when late.

People appreciated nurses' personal sacrifices and care more then, too. Lawsuits happen more frequently now, but unless actual harm occurred, there are no "damages", and the case is "thrown out of court" by the judge.

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At that time, we weren't allowed into hospital training programs if we were married, and or had children. We lived in Nurses' residences with curfews at 10 at night, when we sometimes had to sneak in when late.

Wow! Seriously?

I graduated last year and can't imagine being told "no marriage...no kids and you have to be in by 10." That's dedication.

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Specializes in LTC, Med/Surg, Peds, ICU, Tele.

Those were different times. There was value in the old ways, that is for sure. Some things have been lost but other things have been gained. Every generation has it's own trials and challenges, but also it's own blessings.

Good night.

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Specializes in OB, HH, ADMIN, IC, ED, QI.
Wow! Seriously?

I graduated last year and can't imagine being told "no marriage...no kids and you have to be in by 10." That's dedication.

The late '50s, when I did that, in Quebec was a whole other world from the one today. Imagine it as a 3 year boot camp......with pay of $250./month at the end, for which we were very appreciative. Our tuition, room and board, meals at the hospital, books, etc. were not our responsibility to pay. Uniforms - starched white aprons, grey pintucked front, grey dresses (3" below the knee), and 4 mortor board round caps cost $250. for the entire time.

The most amazing thing, I think, is that the 3 years plus a year at University of Toronto getting my degree were the foundation of 48 years of work (better paid as time and costs went on). And as you read, my memory of the things I was taught is intact. However, I do get those "senior" moments when more recent recall is elusive. The "files" in my head do show up, but timing is an issue.

I've just started a new job with a huge company, and have been asked to supply some weird things, for them to get multistate R.N. licensure for me. At this time, I am hunting for my first marriage license, to validate my name change (even though it's clear that for 44 years. the name I have is my married name - I offered wedding pictures.....). I have to equivocate my Canadian high school courses with those in the United States, and when I said to the "licensure" person that Canadian schools had a much more difficult curriculum, she said "prove it". They also want all the licenses from every province and state in which I've been licensed (4).

The reason I mention the latter, is that we must never lose or throw away papers that it may be necessary to have, in the future! Who knows, 48 years later, we may need them......:typing

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Specializes in OB, HH, ADMIN, IC, ED, QI.
Those were different times. There was value in the old ways, that is for sure. Some things have been lost but other things have been gained. Every generation has it's own trials and challenges, but also it's own blessings.

Good night.

The training in "the old days" was stringent, and living in Nurse's Residence restrictive, but the comraderie and bonding experienced is priceless. I still get surprised when I meet a nurse who is overtly hostile, for no apparent reason. I've seen that a lot in the USA, with snitching, backbiting, etc. that wasn't present in Canada when I was there. However, it may be now...........:confused:

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Specializes in Ortho, Case Management, blabla.
I asked her just what she intended to do at home with no one to wipe her butt for her. Her reply? "Don't you guys have any salad tongs?? That's what I use at home to wipe with....." GROSS, and would you really want to put them in the dishwasher after that??

Welp, I can only guess as to why her weight-loss plan by eating more green leafy vegetables failed.

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Ewwww - I don't want to think about salad tongs that way....

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I found an interesting thread somewhat related to this. Here is the link. https://allnurses.com/forums/f8/all-old-school-nurses-291147-3.html#post2777424

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Management backing them up, as this is a customer service that is expected of nurses nowadays. Limit setting is something from the past and should be taken out of the nursing textbooks, as limit setting nurse will be counseled by management as being rude, uncaring and disrespectful to out guests...sorry, our customers...sorry, our patients.

I remember one LOL thinking I was her personal maid or something like that. She put off her call light, and when I ran into her room, leaving unattended my five other patients, incontinent, climbing out of beds, waiting to go to surgery, irritated by long wait for doctors to round, she said that she finished her breakfast and now I can take her dirty tray away. Thank you, ma'am. I'm happy to serve you. Anything else I can do for you? I have all the time in the world. :bugeyes:

What did you expect her to do with the tray?

I understand the points you are making, don't get me wrong. But we have to look at stuff from the patient's view point. And we should make a point to communicate and inform people that the aide or dietary will come get their trays and when that will happen. Otherwise, maybe they are just too out of it to think that someone will be back to get it eventually or to be aware of your situation of having 5 wild other patients. Guys, it's not about us at work. It is about the patients. But, as I said, I do understand the frustration bedside nurses feel. I'm one myself. I just try to tell people the truth, try to keep them informed and updated, try not to let the relatively small stuff bug me. It sometimes does but I do try to let it roll off. Just my :twocents:.

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Wow! Seriously?

I graduated last year and can't imagine being told "no marriage...no kids and you have to be in by 10." That's dedication.

That's how it was. Really. We've come a long way, baby, to get where we got to today. I'm not sure it's all good.

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Specializes in Education, Acute, Med/Surg, Tele, etc.

Oh MAN...one of my worse lazy person that wouldn't lift a finger for herself story takes a gross cake award!

Seems this lady..yes obsese...had chronic yeast in the folds because she wouldn't lift a finger to do ANYTHING for herself, and still felt she needed to live in her own home alone! She wouldn't go to any sort of facility, and had CNA's come in on the tax payers dime to help twice a week...but was so innapropriate that none ever came back after one visit!!!!! This woman had cats...lots of cats...and litter boxes filled with no emptying...rotten food, and even EMS had called Adult and Family services 6 times..even the police and NOTHING was done to have her moved out! A rather 'large' situation that slid through the cracks..and that crack she slipped through time and time again must be huge (protocol speaking...not size).

Anywhooooooo...I get this urgent call on the call light that my patient needed 'immediate nursing attention"...so I ran there...only to find out she wanted me to shave her pubic area because it was itching..but first to just itch her vulva! WHAT!?!?!?! She was serious! She wanted me to itch a very personal sensitive spot of her privates without gloves ("oh will you just do it...you can wash your hands!" I was told).

Okay...professional persona and absolute horror took over...not only did I NOT do any of that...but gave her a cool wet cloth to ease the itch and a warm one for cleaning. I told her if she could not wipe herself than she had NO reason to ever go back home, and needed daily assistance, and I would insisist on it...and she would certainly not be moving back home for her own safety!

Needless to say cleaned herself, and I suppose took care of her 'itch'.

I don't want to even even think of what she may do at home to resolve itching or shaving certain areas for comfort in that house of hers! She still lives at home that I know of...no family, and proably the same probelm with caregivers....

I let my recomendation stand for assisted living....

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