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Discussion

RUDE!!

So I've been do some agency work at some smaller outlying hospitals in my area. I've been working a couple of them long enough to recognize the frequent flyers which generally consist of nursing home patients that ping pong between the facility and the hospital about once a month, a sizeable number of non compliant diabetics and COPD patients, and of course the "I'm out of my pain meds and I'm dying. Can I please have some lortabs?" crowd. Granted, there's the sweet old ladies that remember my name (or at least my face), and the reasonable patients who for one reason or another just can't seem to stay out of the hosptital for very long. But lately I have had several patients who are just downright rude and demanding. I guess in a smaller hospital where they feel like they know everyone, they may feel like they have more control and can act any way they want. But seriously...

One lady didn't like the chicken strips on her tray (come on-that's one of the better meals at the hospital!) so she violently flipped the tray over and it crashed onto the floor. One of the other nurses went in and asked what happened, she just went into the bathroom and shut the door. Her visitor stared sheepishly at the floor. Of course, housekeeping came and cleaned it up-admonished as soon as they walked through the door with "Its about time you got here to clean this up!"

Another one of our FF likes to yell from his room, "BRING ME MY PAIN PILL" and berate the techs that go in and out. I'll take alot from a patient but I will not tolerate him treating my coworkers so terribly.

Here's my point: I wouldn't let my kids act that way (if I had any), I don't let my DOG jump all over people and act so undisciplined. I get dementia patients, I understand severe mental illness. But I am tired of the health care profession making excuses for patients who act out. My new motto is, if you're going to act like a child, I will treat you like a child. I told the nurse of the chicken strips patient I would have handed that lady a trashcan and told her when she calmed down and was ready to have an adult conversation she can hit her call light.

And I told my pain pills patient that when he acts so rudely, no one wants to come in his room and take care of him, that everyone would be a lot happier (himself included) if he would be kind or at least civil.

But inside I'm seething....grrr

I paid a lot of money for school and I am a highly trained, capable professional.

Does anyone else struggle with this? Or is it just me...

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    • Featured Replies

    • Admin

    Welcome to nursing, where customer service comes before everything else. Between management not supporting nurses and giving in to ridiculous demands from patients/taking the word of the patient over anything the nurse says and the entitlement attitude of so many patients, is it any wonder we see this behavior so often?

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    Each time an alert and oriented patient acts this way, and there is seemingly no medical reason, ask for a behavioral consult. Patient teach about coping skills. Ad nauseum. Maybe something will click.

    It is disheartening to say the least that even when you have the most even tempered patients, one wrong answer from the almighty "survery are us" and everyone will need education on how to be more "customer friendly"....like the folks at the amusement park in Florida and California. And that company DOES teach customer friendly skills as a mandatory in a lot of places......cause there are sooooo many similarities between an amusement park and a hospital......not.

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    I will never treat someone who screams and talks that way to me with respect. those kind of patients behavior should stop, politely tell them that they need to behave better, write an incident/occur acne report of what happened to cover your butt. Being nice to people like that will only push that behavior further. I'm not a slave, I'm a nurse and I didn't go through nursing school to be talked down to.

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    • Author

    I don't have the expectation when I'm out shopping or anywhere else that I frequent that I am always right. I recognize that I should have a certain level of expectation but that people have off days, things happen beyond their control and that sometimes there are just hateful or ignorant people you encounter, however, generally, the person working at whatever establishment I'm visiting knows what they're doing and is trying to help me out. I think whoever invented the slogan "the customer is always right" has done a great deal of disservice across a wide swath of american life. It just isn't true. This is the difference between admin and direct patient care. Admin views them as "customers" and nursing staff views as patients. All in all, they're human beings that have the right to be treated with dignity but the RESPONSIBILITY to treat those trying to care for them with dignity too.

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    • Author

    Agreed. But I am so sick of writing incident reports. The wheel fell off a bed with a patient in it yesterday, scared the both of us to death when it crashed to the floor but fortunately that's all-no injuries. When I called my supervisor immediately after, I didn't get a "Is the patient ok? Do you need help?" I got, "well, fill out an incident form and a maintenance form." Really? I spend so much time filling out forms I can't even take care of patients anymore...

    Don't get me wrong-I get it. CYA. Not charted, never happened so its to my own benefit...

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    Good for not taking that nonsense. I will tell my patients "when you can speak to me without yelling/swearing etc i will be happy to help."

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