Patients We Love to Hate

Published

Well, it's finally happened........I've met her at last.......the only patient I have ever truly disliked.

I've long been famous for getting along with some of the most aggressive, petty, mean, combative, rude, hostile, nasty, abusive patients ever to come through our hospital doors. "Kill 'em with kindness" is my motto, and even if I couldn't make such a patient turn into a pussycat, I could at least keep them from killing ME. I've never been hit, and other than having a man who wasn't allowed to see his crack-addicted newborn threaten to shoot me, I've rarely been scared at work. (That's not to say I haven't dodged a few kicks, as well as a telemetry unit that was thrown at me by an 80-pound LOL.)

But now I've experienced it: caring for a patient I can neither stand, nor get along with. She came in over a week ago, this middle school teacher (who happens to work at my 12-year-old's school:eek: ), for an open cholecystectomy.......should have been no more than 3 days, but her pain was a 12 out of 10, so she ended up with an epidural. Then her legs were numb, so she couldn't walk. So we turned the epidural down, and the pain came roaring back, and in the meantime she's whining about the room temperature, the bed, the food, the nurses, the roommates, the visiting hours, the physical therapists, on and on, ad nauseam.

OK, I thought, I can deal with this. But I spent over half my shift in that room and STILL couldn't do anything right......she accused me, as well as the rest of the nursing staff, of being clumsy and incompetent and uncaring. (Me, uncaring??! I've NEVER been accused of that in my entire career.) I busted my hump doing everything I could to make her comfortable, and nothing was enough.

Then yesterday, I was caring for her roommate, a perfectly nice TKR patient (I'd assigned Ms. Complainer to another nurse) and this woman just kept going on and on to her visitors about how all of us were just "unbelievable" and the care "terrible". I put my patient on a bedpan because I didn't have the time or the help to take her out of the CPM machine while serving dinner, and off the woman went again: "God, these people are so lazy, my roommate couldn't get up to the bathroom because the nurse wouldn't unhook something!" A few minutes later, she demanded that I not touch her food tray since my hands were dirty from handling the bedpan (DUH), then told me to spray some room freshener around because of the "urine smell". I had to look in four different rooms to find some, then when I went to the middle of the room to spray, she yelled at me, "DON'T SPRAY THAT STUFF IN MY FOOD!! GOD, ARE YOU PEOPLE COMPLETELY STUPID?!"

Well, I wasn't anywhere near her OR her food when I was doing this, and I couldn't help gritting my teeth when I said, "YOU were the one who asked for the spray, and as you can see, I'm over HERE." I had to leave the room just then, because I was about to explode, and she was proceeding to show off again to her visitors how disgusted she was with the hospital, how NOTHING had gone right, etc. "I know I'm just being b****y", she sighed, and her visitors just petted her and told her she had the right to be, because of all she'd been through, poor thing, yada, yada..........:angryfire

Where's that puking smilie when you need it?

All I know is, I'm sure glad she's not one of my son's teachers.......I'd like to think she's not that way at work, but I'm afraid that if he ever does end up in one of her classes, I'm gonna pull him out of there!!

Thanks for letting me rant. I feel better now.:)

Specializes in Case Management, Home Health, UM.
Originally posted by caroladybelle

PS. The nursing staff has no control over the food - trust me, most of us wouldn't eat where we work. We frequently have no control over the thermostat - I wish that we did. So, why does the public abuse us?

If you have a problem with those issues, speak to food service and environmental services, as they generally control those issues.

I once had a patient who b******, because she couldn't get waffles for breakfast.

Honey, please!:(

I want my MTV!!:D

Specializes in Med-Surg.
Originally posted by Doglover

>

Surely having such serious complications after surgery and being unable to walk are among the worst things that could possibly happen to a human being. This patient needs compassion and emotional support, not such hatred and criticism. It is not "whining" to want one's room temperature adjusted or to dislike hospital food (when a family member was hospitalized last year the food was so terrible that I had to regularly pick up Starbucks coffee and carryout food to bring to their room).

I read this posting several times before replying and for the life of me, I can't see that this patient did anything to deserve such dislike.

Marla is a sweetheart. We aren't there to hear to tone of the patient or the looks the patient gave her. If she pushed Marla over the edge, she's probably one of the worst human beings alive. Marla gave her plenty of emotional support and compassion. It was spit back in her face by this miserable human being.

Kudos to you for stopping by Starbucks and bringing in food to the patient. Since the food is so horrible I'm sure you do that for everyone?

As was stated above, with epidural pain control, there can sometimes be the side effect of numbness, nothing to get excited about. We're not talking permanent paralysis here.

Specializes in Case Management, Home Health, UM.
Originally posted by warrior woman

I want my MTV!!:D

LOL!!:roll :rotfl:

Specializes in ICU.

Hey Marla! I think I looked after that patient over here!! Did they have an accent?

I remember mine - the surgeon was so upset at how she was treating the staff that he was patting me on the back in sympathy:eek:

This was the patient who loudly proclaimed we were "starving her to death" (Pre-op/post-op NBM you are going to miss a meal) so I went out of my way to get a plate of sandwiches brought up from the kitchen especially for her (half an hour before the meal was due anyway) and she took one look and accused me of trying to poison her with food she did not order and tried to throw them on the floor and this is in a PUBLIC hospital!!!

Specializes in ER.

gwenith- what a stitch! You just can't win sometimes.:rolleyes:

Specializes in Community Health Nurse.
Originally posted by Doglover

>

Surely having such serious complications after surgery and being unable to walk are among the worst things that could possibly happen to a human being. This patient needs compassion and emotional support, not such hatred and criticism. It is not "whining" to want one's room temperature adjusted or to dislike hospital food (when a family member was hospitalized last year the food was so terrible that I had to regularly pick up Starbucks coffee and carryout food to bring to their room).

I read this posting several times before replying and for the life of me, I can't see that this patient did anything to deserve such dislike.

The way the food taste in a hospital is not the nurses fault.

The way the coffee taste is not the nurses fault.

Nurses are fully aware that patients need compassion and emotional support.

In acknowledging these matters that you mention in your post, it is so obvious to me that you have no clue what nursing is all about, nor do you have any clue of the level of responsibility each nurse has when she/he is on duty.

We are NOT handmaidens! We are NOT there to service patients every whim. There are their NEEDS, and there are their WANTS.

In today's nursing, we do good to meet the patients NEEDS.

Originally posted by mjlrn97

Then her legs were numb, so she couldn't walk.

In a perfect world it would be "Then her legs were numb, so she couldn't speak". lol

this is one reason i'm glad i changed my major to surgical technology. at least most of the time the patients will be a sleep and then we send them on their way still asleep. :p :devil:

no complaints or mutterin there.....

Originally posted by Doglover

>

Surely having such serious complications after surgery and being unable to walk are among the worst things that could possibly happen to a human being. This patient needs compassion and emotional support, not such hatred and criticism. It is not "whining" to want one's room temperature adjusted or to dislike hospital food (when a family member was hospitalized last year the food was so terrible that I had to regularly pick up Starbucks coffee and carryout food to bring to their room).

I read this posting several times before replying and for the life of me, I can't see that this patient did anything to deserve such dislike.

This one is too much!! Has anyone else read this person's other posts. Obviously not a nurse....doesn't have a clue. This person goes on and on in other posts about how nurses don't respect Veterans and on and on and on!!! Why are u even visiting allnurses, doglover. Go find a website about canines and get involved in things you actually understand.

Specializes in 5 yrs OR, ASU Pre-Op 2 yr. ER.
Originally posted by Doglover

>

Surely having such serious complications after surgery and being unable to walk are among the worst things that could possibly happen to a human being. This patient needs compassion and emotional support, not such hatred and criticism. It is not "whining" to want one's room temperature adjusted or to dislike hospital food (when a family member was hospitalized last year the food was so terrible that I had to regularly pick up Starbucks coffee and carryout food to bring to their room).

I read this posting several times before replying and for the life of me, I can't see that this patient did anything to deserve such dislike.

:rolleyes:

Specializes in LTC, assisted living, med-surg, psych.
Originally posted by 3rdShiftGuy

Marla is a sweetheart. We aren't there to hear to tone of the patient or the looks the patient gave her. If she pushed Marla over the edge, she's probably one of the worst human beings alive. Marla gave her plenty of emotional support and compassion. It was spit back in her face by this miserable human being.

Kudos to you for stopping by Starbucks and bringing in food to the patient. Since the food is so horrible I'm sure you do that for everyone?

As was stated above, with epidural pain control, there can sometimes be the side effect of numbness, nothing to get excited about. We're not talking permanent paralysis here.

Tweety: THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU!! :kiss I don't know if this particular patient is one of the worst humans alive, but she had a nurse with 18 years' experience in TEARS yesterday.....I'm sure glad *I* didn't have to deal with her, because I probably would've given her both barrels this time!

Doglover: You would be well advised to try walking a mile (or ten) in a nurse's beat-up Nike Airs before you judge them. We are NOT robots, but flesh-and-blood human beings with feelings just as sensitive as your own, which can be hurt! NOBODY gets paid enough to be abused, disparaged, and treated like dirt---nurses included. Most of us, myself included, work very hard at being nice and accomodating patients' needs and wants, but there are some who totally reject everything we offer them and then behave as if we are their personal enemy. When that happens, there's nothing we can do but give them the required care, and PRAY they never darken our doors again since we are such bumbling, incompetent, lazy, worthless, b*****y nurses!!

Everyone: Thank you for the moral support:kiss In 11 years of being in health care, this is the very first patient I've been unable to tolerate.........never before have I refused to care for someone, and being an easygoing sort, I'll probably go another 11 years before I run into another one like her........at least, I hope so!!

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