I'm on a rant!! Add to my list if you feel so inclined!
A book/pamphlet/note card in the style of "What to Expect When You're Expecting" needs to be written and given to anyone who is going to be in the hospital for any length of time. It can be written collaboratively by nurses, doctors and ancillary staff.
THE TRUTH MUST BE TOLD:
The H sign on the side of the road doesn't stand for Hotel.
Your _____ is broken or your _____ was just cut into. You will be in pain. 0/10 at this juncture is not really expected but we will do everything within reason to keep you as comfortable as possible.
Your family being demanding, aggressive, passive-aggressive, haughty and demeaning to those taking care of you and you thinking they are protecting you so that you'll get better care in the form of more attention is usually dead wrong. We stay away from patients like that unless it's absolutely necessary to go in. If three call lights are going off, yours will be answered last since it is absolute torture to deal with you and/or your family.
It's 7:00 am and yes, I know where your surgeon is, She's performing surgery just like she was doing on you at this same time yesterday!
RubyVee, since you were good enough to address me, I have something to say to you in return. I recall a thread you started titled: "The Worst Family Member Ever." You seem to think "venting" about patients and their family members/visitors on the internet is an innocuous pastime. I am addressing my comment directly to you when I say that what you appear to consider harmless "venting" is actually often mockery of patients and their family members/visitors behavior (and, just to be very clear, I am not referring to the original poster's posts in my conversation with you; the OP has nothing to do with what I am saying to you). Of course some patients/family members/visitors are difficult, but as a nurse, one has other places to express negative thoughts about one's patients/family members/visitors, and to let off steam, etc. The nurse-patient/family relationship is based on trust. The general public can and do read what is posted on AN.
It's a nursing website. Sorry all others are visitors.
The important thing is to be polite and not snub the patient or their family. Yes, you are a professional and worked hard to pass exams. Patients families are anxious when their dear ones are in hospital. Trust me when I say this.
Again, it's only some nurses that are rude. As a result of the snub the patients never ask for more information and feel that they're being treated unfairly. Nurses are healers of the mind, body and soul.
You had your thread regarding this issue closed because people didn't agree with you.
I think it's not fair that the general public expect us to be Mother Theresa, Mahatma Ghandi, and a brain surgeon all rolled into one person.
Not happening.
I have bad moods, people ill and dying around me, my own illnesses, and the other stressors of life. All of this before I come into work and get dumped on.
Do patients give a darn? Nope. They just want to know where their apple juice and next shot of Dilaudid are. I don't have a Disneyworld attitude, because I don't work there. I work in the bowels of Med-Surg.
Sometimes compassion needs to be a two-way street.
As much as I can suck it up and put on my nurse face, there are some days when a patient is being a d*** that I just don't have the bottomless patience of a martyr to put up with it.
It's good for the general public to know that nurses are real people and not statues of Flo on a pedestal.
It's bad when they come on AN with their entitled attitudes and expect to be treated with kid gloves. This is where we vent so we don't spew (as much) all over them when they've asked us to move their foot one-quarter inch to the left for the 12th time.
Bitter rant over.
Is there anything else I can do for you before I leave? More water? A foot rub? Be sure to call if you want something. (AAAARRRRRGGGGHHH!!)
As much as I can suck it up and put on my nurse face, there are some days when a patient is being a d*** that I just don't have the bottomless patience of a martyr to put up with it.
You reminded me of something one of my favorite nurses did, and I think you'll love it.
We have a relationship with a shelter that specializes in helping homeless people convalesce after hospital stays. They need to be fairly independent with ADLs to stay there, and often when they decline and can't meet that standard anymore, they'll get one of our inpatient beds.
So there was this guy who was continent and perfectly able, with assistance, to use a bedside commode or sit on the side of the bed and use a urinal. He didn't like the urinal and preferred the commode. That's fine....except....he expected us to be there within seconds of him hitting the call light. When we didn't get there fast enough for his liking, he would purposely urinate and/or defecate all over his bed and the floor so we would have to change the linens and clean him up. (I tried to diffuse some of my more infuriated colleagues' anger by telling them that people who are socially well-adjusted don't end up long-term homeless.)
Anyway after several days of this, and aides getting to the end of their ropes, this totally amazing RN went into his room, shut the door, and said, "Why do you wanna be that guy?" He said, "What guy?" She said, "The guy who pees and poops in his bed on purpose, like a little boy, because he's mad. We're all here to help you, and the way you're treating my aides and the other nurses isn't right." As she told it, he tucked his chin in his chest, quietly said, "I'm sorry," and never did that again.
He stayed with us until the end, and all of us were grateful to that nurse for having the courage to change a toxic dynamic. Because let's face it, that was risky. But that's one of the reasons I love her, because she does it anyway. Seriously considering asking for her as my preceptor when I graduate.
You reminded me of something one of my favorite nurses did, and I think you'll love it.
We have a relationship with a shelter that specializes in helping homeless people convalesce after hospital stays. They need to be fairly independent with ADLs to stay there, and often when they decline and can't meet that standard anymore, they'll get one of our inpatient beds.
So there was this guy who was continent and perfectly able, with assistance, to use a bedside commode or sit on the side of the bed and use a urinal. He didn't like the urinal and preferred the commode. That's fine....except....he expected us to be there within seconds of him hitting the call light. When we didn't get there fast enough for his liking, he would purposely urinate and/or defecate all over his bed and the floor so we would have to change the linens and clean him up. (I tried to diffuse some of my more infuriated colleagues' anger by telling them that people who are socially well-adjusted don't end up long-term homeless.)
Anyway after several days of this, and aides getting to the end of their ropes, this totally amazing RN went into his room, shut the door, and said, "Why do you wanna be that guy?" He said, "What guy?" She said, "The guy who pees and poops in his bed on purpose, like a little boy, because he's mad. We're all here to help you, and the way you're treating my aides and the other nurses isn't right." As she told it, he tucked his chin in his chest, quietly said, "I'm sorry," and never did that again.
He stayed with us until the end, and all of us were grateful to that nurse for having the courage to change a toxic dynamic. Because let's face it, that was risky. But that's one of the reasons I love her, because she does it anyway. Seriously considering asking for her as my preceptor when I graduate.
That's called having a "come to Jesus moment".
Risky, yes, but I haven't ever been fired nor reprimanded in my nine years of nursing whenever I need to have them; and the implication is always in my back pocket.
I have no plans to stop or fear retribution in using it, either, only because it's honed enough that it's not even looked at to be "hurtful"-it's a wonderful nursing skill to have.
4. I can't just order you Tylenol, Benadryl, ibuprofen, cough syrup, or any other OTC medication. I need to call the physician even for "basic" medications.
This is one that always got me working on a floor at night. The patient has a med rec done in the ED. They come to the floor, see his/her doc, go over and order "all" the patient's meds. Then at 11 pm, call bell goes off. I go in to see the patient. "Can you just get me a Benadryl? I always take one at bed time." After I explain to the patient how it works…"oh I am close to Dr. Soandso. You have to call him at home. He won't mind?" A midnight phone call for Benadryl? Want to bet on "he won't mind."
Well, regarding blood pressures and blood sugars for family members, I would do it if I have time and/or the person in question is symptomatic.
We have a code to put into our glucometers if we do a test on a family member. I don't know how much $ the hospital misses for one non-billed CBG test, but I'm going to do it rather than scrape the family member off the floor.
This is one that always got me working on a floor at night. The patient has a med rec done in the ED. They come to the floor, see his/her doc, go over and order "all" the patient's meds. Then at 11 pm, call bell goes off. I go in to see the patient. "Can you just get me a Benadryl? I always take one at bed time." After I explain to the patient how it works…"oh I am close to Dr. Soandso. You have to call him at home. He won't mind?" A midnight phone call for Benadryl? Want to bet on "he won't mind."
Oh, gawd, the patients who believe they are bestest buddies with their GPs or cardiologists just because they have their cell numbers on speed dial, handed over with some trepidation, I'm sure. I've found those patients to be the most needy and demanding ones ever.
I have been with the same GP for 22 years, and I often take care of her patients at my hospital. Until she asks me over for dinner, we are most certainly not BFFs.
After I explain to the patient how it works…"oh I am close to Dr. Soandso. You have to call him at home. He won't mind?" A midnight phone call for Benadryl? Want to bet on "he won't mind."
kidfloat
12 Posts
It's a nursing website. Sorry all others are visitors.