im a baby-faced nurse with a young voice and a mousey demeanor, i have pts who i have to wake up to give their 5 am ( shift ends at 6:30 a) meds.
one pt keeps always insulting me, and made a rhyme with "danger, danger [my name] always waking me up and ruining my day and walking out of the room when i told her not to" ( no neglect he was just insulting me from the night before and i wasnt going to deal with it)
how do i stop it??? he keeps saying more and more stuff to me and i usually just explain the same thing i always do. his 5 am meds are important because the doctor ordered it. you have to take it before your other meds so it works. he usually shutsup but i cant deal with it. apparently he keeps talking about me to the other nurses and its frustrating. im just doing my job!!!
the other nurses roll their eyes at it since its all recorded im giving the meds but at some point i need to figure out how to get him to stop being such a dickhead
Synthroid is an easy fix. Ask to give it at night. When I worked rehab/long term many residents (because in long term, that is their home. They aren't patients, they are residents) wanted certain meds at certain times. If a patient didn't want it at 5am.. We'd move it to 11pm. I mean, the choice is the guy refuses or move it to another time when he's willing to take it, even if it won't work as well.
Another option. Do you go in with the CNA? Maybe be there holding the pill as he's being toileted. If not, just have the time moved. Think of this as a great exercise in advocating for your patient (resident). He doesn't want this med in the morning. Find out how to get it moved and move it.
Work on some come-backs. You could laugh and say, "yep, it's me, again. So nice to see you, too." "Good morning, Mr. [blank]. Please take your Thyroid and you can go back to sleep!" "Wow! And, here all this time I thought you were a gentleman." Work on this w/your co-workers, you could have some fun!
Specializes in Neurosciences, stepdown, acute rehab, LTC.
I'm small and sorta shy too but have been a nurse for a while. If he already knows what the med is and why he needs to take them then you don't have to explain every morning. He can sense your emotional reaction. No nervous smile, no teary eyes, no retracting body language. Just pretend you are the flattest no bull* person ever and say. "It's your Synthroid." Put it in his mouth, give a sip of water and leave. His reaction may even get WORSE for a few days as he finds he didn't get to you. Then he'll just either stop or tell on you for being rude or something, but it won't be your problem either way. And yes, they always have a right to refuse- if he refuses, he already has the education, no need for more every single day.
Miss.LeoRN
234 Posts
Synthroid is an easy fix. Ask to give it at night. When I worked rehab/long term many residents (because in long term, that is their home. They aren't patients, they are residents) wanted certain meds at certain times. If a patient didn't want it at 5am.. We'd move it to 11pm. I mean, the choice is the guy refuses or move it to another time when he's willing to take it, even if it won't work as well.
Another option. Do you go in with the CNA? Maybe be there holding the pill as he's being toileted. If not, just have the time moved. Think of this as a great exercise in advocating for your patient (resident). He doesn't want this med in the morning. Find out how to get it moved and move it.