While this is not exclusively LPN related, I feel that as an LPN I should still discuss my nursing dilemmas here with nurses such as myself.
I go to triage a pt and he says in a lively and over the top voice, "I'm not doing so well."
I look at the pt. I smile at him and say, "I'd imagine you're not doing so well if you needed to come to the ER." His wife laughs and he glares at me and I slightly shrink back- oops. I begin the triage and ask him questions pertinent to the triage. He cuts me off at every question and begins to rant. He goes on and on...... and on... and on.... he belittles the physicians and nursing staff who made him this way. He's yelping and yowling about his problems. The pt is so over the top with his complaints... I get to the question, "On a scale of 0-10, how would you rank your discomfort right now?"
"Uh. A 20!" he states like it is the most blatant thing in the world.
My manager once told me, "I knew I had to leave the bedside in the ER when I sat and listened to a father yelp and howl about how he ran over his daughter and all I could think about was how he couldn't cut tot he chase and tell me the pertinent triage information. I knew it was time for me to go after that."
I look at the patient and say, "Well, anything after 10 on the 0-10 scale is reset back to 0, so if you really think your pain is a 20, then I thin I have send you back. Do you still want to call it a 20?"
The patient hesitantly looked at me, then glanced to his wife behind me, then back at me with confirmation of his indignation, "Yes! Its a 20!"
"Okay. Just so we're clear on that..." I respond.
From that point on, it was smooth sailing. The triage was easily completed. About 15 minutes later, the Primary RN comes to me and says, "No offense, the patient requests you not come back to their room"
Luckily I have never had anyone request that I not be their nurse. I've seen it happen to other nurses. I think it's usually due to a personality conflict. The nurses that I've seen that happen to were more animated, vocal and perhaps "irritating" than other nurses. It's not that they were bad nurses by any means, just the pt's didn't mesh well with their personalities. It could happen to the sweetest, most awesome nurse.
I'd take it with a grain of salt unless it happened on a regular basis.
It's not our job to question a pt's pain level, just acknowledge and follow the orders to treat it. If someone tells me they're 20/10, then I document 20/10 pain scale. To me it says they're in pretty major pain and need relief.
I've been "fired" by a pt because I mispronounced their name. It started with an odd letter and contained more letters than the alphabet, and the last syllable had a short "a" sound instead of the long "a" sound. Pt would roll eyes if they saw me and demand a different nurse and would sit and wait until someone else was available.
What a drama queen. ha ha. I had a maiden name such as the one you mentioned. In my entire life, it was never pronounced "correctly" by outsiders. Not even one time. I expected it to be butchered. It's nobody's fault that I had such a difficult name.
Specializes in Oncology; medical specialty website.
I don't get into a lengthy dissertation about how 10 is the highest number the patient is allowed to choose so I'm going to change your answer to 10 if you go higher than 10.
I know that when they say 15 or 20 . . all it means is they are hurting really badly and I need to help them. They are saying "please help me". I couldn't care less if they abide by THE HOLY PAIN SCALE.
As to being fired by a patient . . . yes, that happens. And yes, I've fired myself as well. But that only happened once.
Seeing as my 15/10 comment has drawn so much humour, I'd just like to ask how many of you have suffered severe pain?
Ever been diaphoretic, chilled, unable to sit/stand/lie in any position, unable to eat/drink or void all as a result of medical condition that came out of nowhere? Ever had your BP drop suddenly while having your pulse hit 180? Faced the sudden and unexpected prospect of dying?
Too many of you seem to find humour in it that I wonder about the compassion of my fellow nurses.
Oh, and if it's any consolation, I do know who fathered my children.
I hope you realize that nobodys mocking or insulting you. Its just a simple nursing discussion.
Esme12, ASN, BSN, RN
20,908 Posts
MODERATOR NOTE:
This thread is about patients requesting that they not be cared for by specific staff after we have done proper care.
Please stick to topic
If you wish to talk about specific experiences about personal pain please start another thread