SweetieBeeSandy

Thank you so much for reading my post, and taking time to reply. I read all the comments many times. Each comment left me something. Some lead me to reflex and think, some shared experiences in a field that I've never been before, some made me smile, and some gave me an encouragement. I am happy that I had a place to ask a question, and am very grateful that so many people gave me a helping hand. I'm very sorry that I cannot reply to each comment. Yes, I have heard people swear before, but truthfully not very often. I don't recall hearing profanity at home, the one I grew up in or the one of my own. And this male patient was probably the third, maybe the fourth one that I heard swearing in recovery room since I started working here 7 years ago. The previous patients were, just as someone said from his/her experience, said it once and apologized a few seconds later. So this patient was my first that kept swearing every 10 seconds, and this was the first time that I requested to stop swearing. His pain was very severe, and I maxed out with pain medication and asked the anesthesia team for help. By the time he felt better we had given him more than 4mg Dilaudid and 250 mcg Fentanyl and Ofirmev, taking as long as one hour before he was able to drift off to sleep. It was very inspiring to know about the study that shows that swearing reduce stress or pain. That helps me find an answer to what I was wondering. It reminded me of when I had a hip surgery due to a congenital issue, or when I had hydronephrosis due to kidney stone, both in my 20's. I was in an intense pain that I could barely breathe. I became tearful and had no control. If someone asked me not to, it would've been very difficult if I tried. And with the study I see that swearing is a way that people cope with some form of crisis, just as crying is what I do to deal with it when I'm very emotional or stressed. Then I must say that it was unprofessional that I asked him to stop swearing. Of course if he couldn't, there wouldn't have been any way for anyone to "make" him stop. But he should've been able to say what he needed to say. Some people mentioned my ability of handling anything when I had a hard time handling profanity. Yes, it has been 15 years since I started working as an RN but I still learn something new everyday. I am probably not a great nurse who can handle things well as suspected here, but I'm trying to be better with any help that I can have. Some come from people that I know, some come from people that I can only meet in the cyberspace. Thank you so much again for all your comments to help me be better. I think I can start a great new week. Hope this will be another great one for you as well.

Hi, I am an RN working in PACU. The other day, I received a male patient from OR, and as soon as he woke up from anesthesia he started complaining excruciating pain. Of course that's not unusual. But this man was constantly swearing. "Oh, G--D----- it hurts. Oh F--- it, Oh it F---ing hurts". While I was medicating him as much as possible he kept swearing so much to the point where I had to ask him to stop. "I understand you're in so much pain and I am doing everything I can for you to lower the pain. But it's very difficult to be here and hear you swear. I do not want to hear any more of swearing words". He heard me, and he tried so hard to hold it. "Oh f,fff, it hurts, ohhh fff... so painful!". After an hour medication kicked in and the pain became much better, and he started smiling. And before sending him to a unit, I said I appreciated that he stopped swearing. Now I wonder, was what I did, asking a patient to stop swearing reasonable? Or is it unprofessional? I always thought it's okay for patients to cry and scream if they had to, because they're in so much pain, and I don't tell them not to. And while I do not use swearing words myself, I know there are people who use them on a regular basis. Then, he should've been allowed to say what he normally say considering it was not personal? Or do I have a right to refuse to hear dirty language(which I thought I did)? Please let me know what you think.