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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
This isn't a funny one, just shocking. It left me speechless, which is very hard to do.Intubated, sedated patient - with continuous diarrhea (no Cdiff). Her skin was starting to breakdown from the constant contact, so I explained to the SO that I needed to put a tube in to collect the stool so her breakdown could be controlled. He left the room and we put the flexiseal in.
When he came back to the room, he asked me, "So, did she enjoy it," without the least bit of sarcasm in his voice. I thought I had heard him incorrectly and said, "Excuse me?" to which he repeated he question. I was speechless most of the night.....
Wow. You really can't make this stuff up. That poor, poor lady.
some of the things people say!!!i had this one lady that insisted that she had to be turned or tolieted every hour. she had to use a sit-to-stand lift to get out of bed and pt refused a request to use a bedpan. she would litterally hang on the lift never stood up and could not understand why her shoulders hurt now when they never hurt before. i just wanted to tell her that is your fault b/c you are lazy. mind you that it just took 30 minutes to take to and from the bathroom that does not include the time on the toliet. please. every hour!! with a house full of q2hr turns.
i guess i must be missing something here. why should pt (physical therapy) have anything to do with whether or not the patient (pt) uses a bedpan? if your pts assist pts with bedpans, i'm envious!
OHBOY.... not just ding bat families.... how 'bout ding bat RN? At 0600 on a nightshift (new for me) and an unfamiliar hospital with unfamiliar equipment.... remember I was tired. I was taking VS on my little old lady pt when I noticed her O2 sats were in the low 80's. So the Doc just happened to come in and I do all the neccassary things for a low sat. It's apparently working 'cuz her sats go up. all the way to 100, then 101, 102, back to 100, etc. So me and the doc look at each other like HUH???? Yup. It was her pulse.
HAHA, I've done this before too!!! I had a little old man at the nursing home who's sats I "thought" were in the 70's. Was giving him extra albuterol treatments and everything. Didn't help that he was ALWAYS SOB.
I'm always shocked when people bring their kids to ER to get sutures b/c they don't want them to have a scar! I can understand if it's something like their face, but when it's a little cut on the knee I just don't get it. Maybe it's just me though.
I think she meant that the PT wanted to encourage ambulation/self care and said the nurisng staff couldn't allow her to use a pan. When the nursing staff protested (because, as sweetpea says, it took forever every hour to get her to and from the loo) the PT took it higher.
Exactly!! She was dismissed from PT after 2 weeks of this due to the fact that she was not following her plan of care. When she was longer skilled she split.
"That's what you get paid to do"(to any RN,LPN,PT, CNA or other staff) that refuses a patient or family request that is unsafe, not ordered, wierd, crude, unprofessional, and sometimes unethical. Sad thing is, at one time administration backed staff, now they want staff to find some way to do whatever the patient or family requests.
GracedRN, Physical Therapy said NO on the bed pan not her. When we refused to her toliet her every hour she went to administration. Mean to say we got out tails chewed.
I never judged you, sweepeanurse. I only commented on the woman who's SO made comments about fecal management, not to you.
FYI, I agree with you 100%. But reread my comment. Thanks.
Magsulfate, BSN, RN
1,201 Posts
Oh wow,, I've had a few like this,, but I told them I could get them up maybe once every four hours,, in between they'd have to use the bedpan. There was no choice given,, I think I would have to just let her throw a fit or something,, there's no way I would have gotten her up every hour....