the other "things you'd like to tell" threads have been so great -- how about one more?
to the daughter of today's patient: i understand back pain, believe me. i've had the surgery and was off work for six months. don't tell me you're having such severe back pain that you need to sit in my chair -- the one that reaches all the way up to the computer keyboard -- instead of the visitor's chair (which i hunted high and low to find for you since we only have two on the whole 16 bed unit) when you're walking around in 5 inch stilettos. if your back pain were really that bad, you'd be wearing danskos like me. (or any type of shoe that doesn't involve a 5 inch -- or even 3 or 4 inch heel!) sit in the visitor's chair and be grateful that i found it for you. i'm sure your feet do hurt. again, try some more sensible shoes.
yes, your daughter does have dark skin on her forehead. it's the same color as the skin on the rest of her body. i assumed that was because she was african american, but you tell me she wasn't that color before her heart surgery? i'm baffled. no, i don't know what we can do about it, but i'm sure we didn't cause it. if you want to bring in cocoa butter to rub on her forehead, that's fine with me. you can put anything on her forehead you like, but i guarantee you she'll still be an african american when we discharge her. (oh, that's a picture of your daughter on the wall? she has bangs, but otherwise she looks the same color in the picture as she does right now. if i were you, i'd be more worried about the ventilator and the left ventricular assist device.)
I am beginning to wonder what planet we are on vrs, families of patients/
Some of this stuff surprises me and perhaps it is me that has been on another plante.
Why is it that I cannot seem to remember some of this. Are times changing since I was charge Nurse or have I just had the very best staff ever. I'll bet that it was the later. They might have taken care of it before I had chance to stumble over it for fear of finding bodies strewn all over the unit and the rest put in a room marked families that have overstepped so and sos boundaries.
I don't have to worry about these things. I blurt. Most nurses thing blurting is career suicide. The difference is if you blurt something hilarious and you get everyone in the room laughing, no one's stupid enough to complain. Plus they get the point. Plus the crowd will reinforce your teaching. For years.
I think times are changing. I've been nursing over 20 years. It used to be, when visiting hours were over, people left. Now, they just stay on like its their right.
Society has changed into a very "me" society. If someone doesn't like the rules then they ignore them. When they want something, they want it NOW. People are no longer able to wait for anything. They only care about themselves. They don't care that the pt down the hall is coding and you are trying to save their lives - Grandma wants a drink of water NOW and she should not have to wait.
They might have taken care of it before I had chance to stumble over it for fear of finding bodies strewn all over the unit and the rest put in a room marked families that have overstepped so and sos boundaries.
macspuds
There's a room for that? And here I've been stuffing them in the housekeeping closet....
o the family members/friends of patients who walk out of the patients room and up to the nurses station because they need something : PLEASE use the phone to call me, that is why I put my portable number up on the white board in your room. Ugh.
They are classic for saying Oh I didn't want to bother you. DUH! CALL ME it's my job to be bothered for an IV pump that has been beeping for 45 minutes and you have sat there and pushed the silent button for 45 minutes before deciding I should be bothered? Now the site is bad and I have to stick you again....DONT TOUCH THE PUMPS!
Oh I could go on and on....our hospital has private rooms and allows family to stay over night.
Specializes in CCU, SICU, CVSICU, Precepting & Teaching.
i am beginning to wonder what planet we are on vrs, families of patients/
some of this stuff surprises me and perhaps it is me that has been on another plante.
why is it that i cannot seem to remember some of this. are times changing since i was charge nurse or have i just had the very best staff ever. i'll bet that it was the later. they might have taken care of it before i had chance to stumble over it for fear of finding bodies strewn all over the unit and the rest put in a room marked families that have overstepped so and sos boundaries.
macspuds
treating this as the serious question i doubt that it was, yes. things have changed a lot since you were a charge nurse. (how long ago was that, anyway?) i'm assuming that you left your position before press gainey gained supremecy, while healthcare was still healthcare and not "customer service" and while we still took care of "patients," not "clients." the idea that we're in customer service rather than healthcare has turned our patients into entitled, suit-happy clients who want to "have it their way" each and every time. and sadly, their families are worse. far from overstepping so and so's boundaries, they don't seem to have any boundaries any more.
yes, this thread was intended to be funny, but it was also intended as a vent thread. because if i don't vent sometimes in a nice safe place like this, i might actually say some of those things to some deserving family member!
If you insist on staying the night with your ill mother, please, please do not walk in the hallways with bare feet and in your nightie! You're creeping me out big time. Go home and let your mother get a good night's rest.
I think times are changing. I've been nursing over 20 years. It used to be, when visiting hours were over, people left. Now, they just stay on like its their right.
Society has changed into a very "me" society. If someone doesn't like the rules then they ignore them. When they want something, they want it NOW. People are no longer able to wait for anything. They only care about themselves. They don't care that the pt down the hall is coding and you are trying to save their lives - Grandma wants a drink of water NOW and she should not have to wait.
You're right. I think this is a management thing. Non-practioner administrators don't understand the patient-practitioner relationship. They understand only the customer-merchant relationship. So they have undertaken to remodel health care according to that model. The end result is many patients and relatives treat all personnel like waitresses and cashiers (and certainly waitresses and cashiers shouldn't be treated as they are these days).
and another thing...when I tell you to call for help when your Mother needs to go to the bathroom and you end up taking her out of bed and taking her yourself, DON'T blame me when she falls!
If you call for John Smith and I tell you I don't have a John Smith in the facility, don't call back 4 times with 4 different people asking the same question. His name isn't Smith, his name is John Doe. I can't help if if you don't know the patient's last name, maybe you don't know him well enough to visit anyway.
macspuds
76 Posts
I am beginning to wonder what planet we are on vrs, families of patients/
Some of this stuff surprises me and perhaps it is me that has been on another plante.
Why is it that I cannot seem to remember some of this. Are times changing since I was charge Nurse or have I just had the very best staff ever. I'll bet that it was the later. They might have taken care of it before I had chance to stumble over it for fear of finding bodies strewn all over the unit and the rest put in a room marked families that have overstepped so and sos boundaries.
macspuds