Hi, my name is AngelfireRN, I'll be your nurse tonight.
I am not a waitress, nor am I your slave.
Yelling and hurling obscenities at me will not get you your pain meds any sooner than they are ordered. Nor will having your family member or entourage do the same.
Threatening lawsuits and having umpteen family members camp out in the halls or hold up the nurse's station will not get you preferential treatment.
Physically grabbing me as I go down the hall is NOT a good idea.
I do not give the orders, but I do have to follow/enforce them. This is something that you should take up with your doctor.
No, I will not call him again to ask him for more pain medicine. He has been called twice and has said no both times.
No, I will not give you his number so you can "straighten him out".
No, you are not my only patient, and I highly doubt that you are single-handedly paying my salary. On the off chance that you are, let's talk about a raise.
NO, NO, NO, I most empahatically will NOT come get you when it is time for your next pain shot while you are having a smoke break. I also will not bring it to you in the smoking room. (Have actually said that, I am allergic to cigarettes. I did it once, had an asthma attack, desatted to 83, and turned blue, according to the patient and my charge nurse, after the patient had to help me back to the floor).
No, I don't really care if your family has not eaten all day, they drove here by themselves, they are not sick, and no, I will not call for 6 guest trays. (This of course, is if the patient in question does not need all 6 family members present, and is not at death's door).
No, you may not have 3 six-packs of soda from the kitchen, there are other people that would like a snack, too.
No, they will not open up the kitchen up just for you, at 1 in the morning, because you don't like the snacks we have on the floor.
I could think of hundreds, but those will do for a start. I know it sounds mean, but this is why I got out of bedside nursing. When a hospital becomes the Hilton, I'm gone!
To a pt's family member: I seriously doubt you'd pass "the nursing test" just because you've "been in and out of hospitals so much."
Also, please DO NOT touch the ventilator settings. (I actually did say this loud and clear...This same family member offered to "mess around" with the vent whenever it beeped.
I have had to say this too. Why do people think they can just touch stuff? I don't just walk into a restaurant and go put my order in on the computer at Chili's.
Specializes in Trauma, ER, ICU, CCU, PACU, GI, Cardiology, OR.
i have had to say this too. why do people think they can just touch stuff? i don't just walk into a restaurant and go put my order in on the computer at chili's.
unquestionably, i agree with you, sometimes they don't realize by them touching the equipment or fooling around with any medical machine, they give us more work to do on account of their good intentions
So sorry, when I saw your heartrate was 180 on telemetry, the emergency light from the bathroom was wailing and you didn't answer my knock on your bathroom door - I didn't realize your girlfriend (not you wife who brought you to the hospital with chest pain, but your girlfriend) was.....um......'servicing' you. Totally understandable. After all a man has needs. You'd been in the hospital a whole THREE HOURS!
Why do you say "I will go AMA" like it's a threat? You are a pain in my *** and my day will be so much better if you go. Please, leave and don't come back. Here is your paper. I printed it out just in case!
Specializes in Cardio-Pulmonary; Med-Surg; Private Duty.
why do you say "i will go ama" like it's a threat? you are a pain in my *** and my day will be so much better if you go. please, leave and don't come back. here is your paper. i printed it out just in case!
and i brought four pens, too -- just in case the first three are out of ink, you'll still be able to sign your name on the ama paper!
No your baby does not have RSV just because she sneezed. HOW is it possible that you don't even know how to change a diaper or feed a baby a bottle? Have you never even been around a child? And even if you really don't know how to do this stuff, don't you think it would have been a good idea to take a class BEFORE the baby was born? That way, you might not look like you are dumber than dirt.
I have had to say this too. Why do people think they can just touch stuff? I don't just walk into a restaurant and go put my order in on the computer at Chili's.
"No, I can not give your friend any medication for heartburn. No, I can not give her your prescribed PRN Mylanta. There is a CVS right down the street with all sorts of antacids waiting for her!"
nrsang97, BSN, RN
2,602 Posts
I have had to say this too. Why do people think they can just touch stuff? I don't just walk into a restaurant and go put my order in on the computer at Chili's.