Saw a nurse yelling at a patient in ICU

[inspiredbynavy]

So today was my first day volunteering at the hospital and I was walking in the ICU when I hear a nurse yelling at a patient. Just the tone and volume of her voice made the already decaying stench in the ICU palpable. This is more of an ethical topic rather than patient safety but I think it could play in the patient's stress levels.

I'm a pre-nursing student and I'm not aware of the whereabouts on ethics for nurses and hospitals yet. Do nurses have ANY rights to EVER yell at a patient, especially one in the ICU?

[inspiredbynavy]

Thanks, MomRN0913.

RIP to my preconceived notions.

[sammiesmom]

I'm relatively new nurse and after all the old people who can't hear who had been my patient, I tend to use this loud voice to talk to elderly. It's a mistake that I should avoid but in reports most nurses miss reporting visual and auditory insufficiencies that one day I ask a patient to show me in the face scale her pain scale. Guess what? The patient is blind! Geez. Something I ought to know in report right? Some elderly patient also likes to nod like they understand you rather than to tell you they can't hear you! Anyway, this nurse voice of mine, some patients have mistaken it for yelling, patients who are weepy and uber sensitive. As far as actually yelling, I have only done it once because a patient almost yank on his central line. But I always thought you can tell it's not a mad yell because I was doing a loud vibrato sing songy NO NO NO NO!