Sitting down to calm an upset patient is unprofessional?

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I got reprimanded by a supervisor at work last night for pulling up a chair and sitting down to talk to a patient who was upset. I was told that it's UNPROFESSIONAL for a nurse to ever sit at bedside and talk with a patient, and that a nurse should get in and out of a room as quickly as possible. Nevermind the fact that it was 2am, all of my other patients were ok, and I only had to take 2 or 3 minutes away from charting to get this patient calmed down. She went from bawling to smiling, and when I walked by a little while later she was back asleep. How can sitting down to talk to a patient be considered unprofessional? It just doesn't make sense to me.

I was in for a 5 day video EEG to identify any possible areas of seizure foci that could potentially be removed - stressful stuff. I was off of most of the anticonvulsants, which made every little thing seem like a catastrophe. And I knew I sounded like an idiot, which just upset me more.... one of the nurses came in- I don't remember her sitting, but just being able to blow off steam was a HUGE help- took maybe 5 minutes. And, she validated my distaste for the resident that wanted to look into other stuff I've got going on, and NOT the EEG, which I only had 5 days pre-certified to do... By the time the nurse was there for a few minutes, I'd gone from being really upset to laughing a bit and being much calmer.

The supervisor that chewed out the OP seems to have forgotten that patients are human first- and a bit of human kindness goes a LONG way...... jmho

Specializes in LTC.

Wow. You did the right thing. Your supervisor has issues. I think you need to pull up a chair and talk with him.

It would be quite interesting to hear your supervisors perspective of this interaction. Surely he/she must have had some other ideas or factors they were taking into consideration. NO... I'm not taking their side or in any way saying they are correct. Just curious what they were thinking b/c obviously the one on one personal interaction is beneficial in almost all cases.

I swear nurses get dinged no matter what they do, at times we truly cannot win.

Everyone has a truth- right or wrong, this was the supervisor's. Bashing or calling the supervisor names changes nothing- he/she still holds on to that uncaring view.

What I would suggest is in a less volatile moment(after the initial shock:), you might want to ask the supervisor why he/she thinks that. Human beings mostly want recognition and the most important topic to us is well...us.

Asking your supervisor for more info. could have him/her open up and in so doing, communication can be had. Who knows, you both might have a common interest or if not, at least it frees communication and prevents malice, mostly.

As it is, you're stuck in your ways( rightly of course, of comforting a patient) and the supervisor is stuck in his/hers.

Specializes in PACU,Trauma ICU,CVICU,Med-Surg,EENT.

Please continue to follow your heart through your nursing practice,caring is what it's all about. Based on your description of the event, this person is seriously misguided;good for you for questioning what you were told. If I had a dime for all the illogical ideas passed around as sound nursing logic in my 30 years at the bedside...

Sitting down and talking to patients is encouraged by the company I work for. As a matter of fact, when I did general orientation the CEO came and spoke with us. He told a story about a patient who had been diagnosed with breast cancer, during her first night in the hospital she broke down emotionally. She wrote a letter the CEO telling him how her nurse did the very thing you did, sat down and talked with her. He tells this story to all employees during general orientation. Caring for a patient's emotional needs as well as physical is our job.

Specializes in PICU, NICU, L&D, Public Health, Hospice.
I got reprimanded by a supervisor at work last night for pulling up a chair and sitting down to talk to a patient who was upset. I was told that it's UNPROFESSIONAL for a nurse to ever sit at bedside and talk with a patient, and that a nurse should get in and out of a room as quickly as possible. Nevermind the fact that it was 2am, all of my other patients were ok, and I only had to take 2 or 3 minutes away from charting to get this patient calmed down. She went from bawling to smiling, and when I walked by a little while later she was back asleep. How can sitting down to talk to a patient be considered unprofessional? It just doesn't make sense to me.

You do not want it to make sense to you...she is an idiot and you should probably have her job. Perhaps you could anonymously introduce her to Jean Watson.

Specializes in NICU/Subacute/MDS.

Yes, next time shove a xanax down her throat and take away her call- light!

*** sarcasm over.. your supervisor is either over-stressed and not thinking straight or an idiot.

I got reprimanded by a supervisor at work last night for pulling up a chair and sitting down to talk to a patient who was upset. I was told that it's UNPROFESSIONAL for a nurse to ever sit at bedside and talk with a patient, and that a nurse should get in and out of a room as quickly as possible. Nevermind the fact that it was 2am, all of my other patients were ok, and I only had to take 2 or 3 minutes away from charting to get this patient calmed down. She went from bawling to smiling, and when I walked by a little while later she was back asleep. How can sitting down to talk to a patient be considered unprofessional? It just doesn't make sense to me.

I think you did good. Let's hope that supervisor never has a need for a caring, comapassionate nurse...:cool:

Specializes in ER/ICU/STICU.

How do these idiots become supervisors?

I got reprimanded by a supervisor at work last night for pulling up a chair and sitting down to talk to a patient who was upset. I was told that it's UNPROFESSIONAL for a nurse to ever sit at bedside and talk with a patient, and that a nurse should get in and out of a room as quickly as possible. Nevermind the fact that it was 2am, all of my other patients were ok, and I only had to take 2 or 3 minutes away from charting to get this patient calmed down. She went from bawling to smiling, and when I walked by a little while later she was back asleep. How can sitting down to talk to a patient be considered unprofessional? It just doesn't make sense to me.

This would have to be one of the most upsetting things I've ever read on allnurses!

What are we becoming when there are people in supervisory positions who think it's somehow wrong to spend a few minutes sitting with a patient?

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