I seem to be hearing more and more comments from patients and families that just leave me speechless. I can think of no good response except helpless laughter, which I can't indulge in, so I bite my tongue and say nothing at all.
Here's two from last night:
Family observing nurse use barcoder to give insulin (or rather, struggle valiantly to use the barcoder, since it malfunctions about every three minutes): "Aren't you glad that you won't have to worry about making so many medicine errors anymore now that you have a great machine to do your thinking for you?"
And from a patient who wanted the max in IVP pain meds and slept very soundly through one of the prn time windows: " You should have woke me up or at least have it all drawn up and been standing by my bed waiting for me to wake up." What in the world can you say to comments like those? :smackingf
That weird family dynamic reminded me about an elderly man I once looked after following a stroke. His wife was demanding to the point of ridiculousness, from wanting us to order meals for her (not standard practice at all) and eating his to marching in on nurses caring for other patients with the door shut if she thought he needed something.
She was in our NUM's office several times a day because the nursing staff had been doing something less important (admissions, hand over, codes) instead of tending to her husband immediately.
We weren't good enough to perform his hygeine, so she would shower him. Naked. That would be her nbaked, as well as the patient.
Imagine our shock when we discovered she wasn't his wife, she was his sister!:eek:
OMG! we just had the same thing in our facility
sister providing total care for her brother. he is actually married and the sister and wife are fighting over "custody" of him. the sister was unreal.
she did EVERYTHING for him. she even held his member while he peed. now mind you...he coulda held the darn thing himself but she insisted on it.
a couple weeks before his discharge (which couldnt have been soon enuf for us) she tells us one of his testicles is swollen and larger than the other.
WHAT??????????????????????????
i am married and unless my husband told me, i probably wouldnt notice if one of HIS testicles is slightly swollen like this guys. and i'm SUPPOSED to be down there on his. but a sister??? nuh uh...that is wrong on so many levels.......
I was in the exam room with a patient and the patient's SO. My back was turned as I was transferring samples to containers when the call light went off. I asked the SO to hit the button to turn it off which the person did.
The SO laughing stated, "Wow, maybe I can be a nurse!" and the said, "Nah, you have to be really smart to be a nurse."
The patient immediately said, "NOT THESE DAYS."
My back was still turned, I was surprised and was going to say something, but didn't. It wasn't worth the effort to argue with this type of person. But seriously,.....some people!
I was taking care of a newborn in the NICU for presumed sepsis. The baby daddy called and was very upset...kwpt asking if the baby's brain was OK, was it going to be OK, etc and said he was on his way to see the baby. When he got to the unit, he, again, kept asking about the baby's brain. Since that was not the reason for the admit, I was puzzled by his continuous questions about the baby's brain.
Imagine my surprise when I found out the reason for the many questions. He told me the doc had talked to him and told him the baby was admitted because "the memBRANES had been ruptured for longer than 24 hrs"!
Two years ago when it was my turn to work Christmas Day I was surprised to hear from two different visitors " Gee, I didn't think you girls would be working today". Who did they think was going to take care of the pts??
I also had a son come to the desk at supper time and announce that his mother doesn't like mashed potatoes and was there another choice of potato? Where did he think he was? a restaurant?
I was in the exam room with a patient and the patient's SO. My back was turned as I was transferring samples to containers when the call light went off. I asked the SO to hit the button to turn it off which the person did.
The SO laughing stated, "Wow, maybe I can be a nurse!" and the said, "Nah, you have to be really smart to be a nurse."
The patient immediately said, "NOT THESE DAYS."
My back was still turned, I was surprised and was going to say something, but didn't. It wasn't worth the effort to argue with this type of person. But seriously,.....some people!
I had a relative who said something like that once. My response: ballsy move, insulting the nurses. Probably a good thing X is the patient, not you.
When I was a new nurse several years ago, we had this patient in ICU who'd coded in dialysis. She circled the drain for several days. One night it was obvious that she was going to die in spite of our best efforts. I called her sons and her "boyfriend" and they rushed to the hospital. She had already passed (we'd coded this poor lady for about half an hour). One of the sons asked me, "Can't you keep her going a few more days? We get her check on the 3rd."
She had already passed (we'd coded this poor lady for about half an hour). One of the sons asked me, "Can't you keep her going a few more days? We get her check on the 3rd"
"No, it's too late for that but maybe we could bribe the doctors to make out her death certificate for then. How big a check is it?"
I was in the exam room with a patient and the patient's SO. My back was turned as I was transferring samples to containers when the call light went off. I asked the SO to hit the button to turn it off which the person did.
The SO laughing stated, "Wow, maybe I can be a nurse!" and the said, "Nah, you have to be really smart to be a nurse."
The patient immediately said, "NOT THESE DAYS."
My back was still turned, I was surprised and was going to say something, but didn't. It wasn't worth the effort to argue with this type of person. But seriously,.....some people!
I would have said, "Oh, do you have a family member who's a nurse?":saint:
Family asked if they could stay in the room for the night after the body of patient went to the morgue.
When I worked the hospital I had a patient leave AMA one night and the next night show up with his suitcase in hand. Seems he changed his mind and wanted to check back in to his room from last night.
How do you respond to this nonsence?
Mr. X, Motel 6 is right down the street. If you want back in the hospital then you're going to have to get a physician call with a legit medical reason and make you a direct admit!!!
southernbeegirl, BSN, RN
903 Posts
OMG! we just had the same thing in our facility
sister providing total care for her brother. he is actually married and the sister and wife are fighting over "custody" of him. the sister was unreal.
she did EVERYTHING for him. she even held his member while he peed. now mind you...he coulda held the darn thing himself but she insisted on it.
a couple weeks before his discharge (which couldnt have been soon enuf for us) she tells us one of his testicles is swollen and larger than the other.
WHAT??????????????????????????
i am married and unless my husband told me, i probably wouldnt notice if one of HIS testicles is slightly swollen like this guys. and i'm SUPPOSED to be down there on his. but a sister??? nuh uh...that is wrong on so many levels.......