"Your job is to make me happy"

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I was taking care of a patient today who told me... "your job is to make me happy".

I was taken aback, but responded "my job is to make you healthy... healthy and happy, but healthy first"

I feel a bit guilty, and I feel that I shouldn't. I'm amazed that a patient would tell me that my job is to make them happy. Has anyone had an experience like this or offer any words of advice?

Specializes in Cardiac, Ortho, Med/Surg, ICU, Quality.
Are you serious???????? My PCP would be writing me a check every visit I had since he is usually an hour late for every appointment.

Never though I would see the day that hospitals send money out!

Yep, just watched a news segment on it. A lady got 1,000 off her bill because her dinner was 45 minutes late.

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Specializes in ED, Med-Surg, Psych, Oncology, Hospice.

I really need to get to bed so I can work my shift tonight (and hopefully, Just my 10 to 6 shift without being mandated to come in at 6) but, I couldn't quit reading these! After 30 years I'm ready for someone to make ME happy! I will see that when Healthcare is divorced from the sevice industry and we get back to providing care instead of customer service. I'm just short of 65 and have been in healthcare all my adult life, first as a respiratory therapist. We are 360 degrees away from what "it used to be like" yet I don't recall all the sense of entitlement and petty discontentment from the care "back then". I could easily retire if facilities quit wasting money on their Press-Ganey surveys, scripted replies, and concierge service. I'll be lucky to have time off for my own funeral.

In my skilled nursing and rehab facility I have 50 people to provide care for with 2 VERY overwhelmed CNAs. Happy? I don't really know how to respond SMH!

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It's this patient satisfaction concept. The idea that the staff will do anything to make patients happy so that they will give the hospital a good review so the hospital gets more money. This allows drug seekers, bullies, and irrational family members to demand any and everything. I work on a floor where a substantial number of patients are confused, drug seekers, or simply non compliant with staff. The level of ridiculousness in attempting to apply patient satisfaction concepts to these patients boggles the mind.

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I think its the new mind-set as customers know they do have rights.

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I think its the new mind-set as customers know they do have rights.

My patients have the right to expect me to provide medications and treatments according to the MDs orders. They have the right to expect me to call their doctors if their condition changes or if they need something that is not ordered and should be.

They have NO right to expect me to be their source of happiness like some kind of magical geisha girl. Their happiness, including both the presence or absence of it, is entirely their problem.

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Lol, that's exactly what I was thinking.

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I think I would have asked, "what does that mean"? In my 30 plus years of health care, I had a patient that comes to mind say, "you don't like me". I always had a pleasant look on my face and but never one of discontent. Well I said that I wasn't getting paid to like anyone and that my job was to care for him. Truth be known, I didn't like him because he was a drug dealer that had been shot in a bad drug exchange. I never cared for him like I didn't like him. He was with us for some time because of his multiple injuries. He also had that entitlement about him. I did treat him with respect because he was my patient. He was very rude, no one wanted to really take care of him.

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I worked in a very busy ER. After wheeling the last of my four patients to the parking lot, I always return to the ER with four brand-new patients who need IVs, labs, urine, EKG, not to mention history and assessments with documentation. Then we get a diagnosis and treatment within two hours, discharge and then four new patients. On twelve hour shifts, I walked about 12,000 steps according to my phone, and never have time to go to the bathroom. I eat a bite of food while documenting at the computer and dare anybody to say anything to me. That ER offer a $10,000 bonus EVERY YEAR in order to keep staff.

I had one man whose heart rate was in the 180s. I went to give him the medication. He refused to give me his arm with the IV and said he will not let me give him the medication until I get him a sandwich and a diet coke. I said, "I understand. I will document that you refused and I will let the doctor know, too. I am going to given the person next door their medication. Let me know if you change your mind, sir." And I walked out. I don't even argue anymore. Aint nobody got time for that. Yes, I am trying to keep him from going into cardiac arrest, but I aint God. I can only do what a human woman can do. I think he called me back in 10 minutes and I gave the medication. Aint nobody got time for that.

They call me the crazy whisperer because all the crazies settle down because I don't engage. LOL.

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The first thing is not to make any assumptions. When confronted with this question, I would ask "How can I make you happy?" so see what the patient is trying to communicate. Once I understand what the patient means by that statement, I proceed based on the patients level of cognition. Individualize the response to the patient. If the request is reasonable and will make the patient "happy", I will try to comply if possible. After all happy patients experience less stress which equals better overall healing. I don't take a patient's meretricious attitude personally. If I cannot comply right away, I explain this to the patient. Sometimes I give the patient options. I always tell the patient my number one priority is their safety. If the patient has dementia or delirium, then my response might be minimal. If the patient's cognition is intact then this is a boundary setting issue. I correct the patient and set some boundaries. I always explain to my patients that we are both members of the same team and I am there to help them heal and recover, not do it for them. They must do their part as well (IS, deep breathing, work with PT, etc). At that point if the patient continues to argue and is unreasonable, I offer them to discuss it with my supervisor. I never argue with a patient. I also will document something immediately even if I need to go back and fill in some details later.

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Specializes in Psych.

The nurse could- with a little sense of humor- have paraphrased an old Calvin Klein commercial ("...when you look good, we look good!") and said " when you are happy, we are happy!" and thus deflected what might have felt like a patient's impropriety. It's unfortunate that, generally speaking, nurses don't nurture more their sense of humor. I hope nurses will always be known for a holistic approach to their work.

From a holistic perspective, without which nursing can and will be replaced in a not-too-far future by push-buttons, robots, software and algorithm programs, I believe it is also our job to at least try to bring happiness to our patients. It can be done very simply with a genuine smile, a kind gesture, a kind word, as well as by the alleviation of suffering whether physical or emotional. It is that kind of compassionate, caring service that has the power to generate healing, hope and even a fleeting sense of happiness. I was dismayed by the string of harsh comments that followed the original posting. I want to stay positive and believe they were just a contagion phenomena and don't reflect the true nature of nursing. Happiness is highly elusive and subjective as we all know but it can also be derived from the most plain, inexpensive, spontaneous gifts. Nurses have the privilege to give those gifts abundantly in so many of those " in-the-here, in-the-now" encounters with our patients.

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The sad thing is that a lot of Administrators want you to make everyone happy so they will get high patient satisfaction scores. Different nursing now. Its like we are in the hospitality and service industry. We have to keep you happy and alive at the same time.

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Specializes in Psych.

Please do not miss the obvious: HOSPITALity-HOSPIce-HOSPITAL. You see? Can you connect? It's not only semantics. Yes, we are indeed in the Service industry, yes we ought to be in the Hospitality business as we welcome and treat our patients/ clients/guests in a hospitable manner. And just like in any other industry or business aside from the Funerary business we are supposed to strive to keep our patients alive and unharmed (we can start by reducing our own medication errors for example) and satisfied/ happy with our Services (we can start by treating our patients with warmth, humanity and positive attitudes just like what we'd like to see when we or a dear one become a patient). Like it or not, patients are consumers of healthcare services, and consumption drives our economy. The more I read the postings here the more I'm led to believe that we, nurses, need a big attitude adjustment. It should probably start at the nursing school curricula level to catch up with the times. Nurses, in general, have unfortunately the least education among professional clinicians in the healthcare industry (eg: MDs. PTs, OTs,SWs, Pharmacists ) and for that reason are the most vulnerable to stressors imposed on them by those who want to maximize profits by any means. Those adversities in working conditions cannot however justify negative attitudes towards the ones we became licensed to serve. We either advocate for change and improvements through the appropriate channels (takes more commitment and knowledge) or else leave the profession with whatever dignity we still retain. Just my two cents.

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