Tired Of Abuse!

[Y2KRN]

Hello Fellow ER nurses,

I just have to vent!!! I am soo tired of the abuse we take as ER nurses. Here is the scenario, just happened on my last shift!

Come in get report, have a patient little boy, six up for discharge after his bolus of fluids are infused. Told little boy had tylenol for his fever. Go into room, mother out smoking, father in the room, tylenol laying on counter not adminsitered. Fluids on the IV pole not attached to the prn adapter. No pump in the room, however some progress is made, buretrol tubing is primed and hanging capped off.

Mom comes back from smoke break and has another little boy with her who is waiting to be triaged. I get him triaged his temp is 104.5, I agree to take on the child as an extra patient so we can keep the family together, charge nurse not happy.

Then mother decides that she needs to be seen. Kids don't seem to be comfortable with Dad, Mom is the one who they want and the one who calms them. So, I go to the Doc. tell him that mom wants to be seen as well. I triage her and start a line. Again Charge nurse not happy but, works with me to keep family together. Now I have a seven patient load, and of course my trauma room is occupied.

One child has bronchitis the other a virus that we treat for with antibiiotics. Discharge finally comes and I go in to re-vitalize the family. One of the little boys fights getting his temp taken. I understand he is sick and just wants to be left alone. After much convincing by the parents the child allows me to put the thermometer in his mouth. He starts gagging immediately and says I am sticking it down his throat. I tell the parents that I am going to go check another patient and that I will be back. As I leave the room I hear the mother say, that f#$%*^& b!@*& better stop sticking my kid or I am going to punch her in the face. I spin on my heels and go back into the room and explain that the child is not feeling well and that I did not stick the thermometer down the childs throat. They then started screaming that I have been mean to them all night long and that I kept giving the children dirty looks. They stated in a not so nice way that they wanted me removed from the case. I really wanted to let them have it both barrels! I didn't though I just said fine. I got one of my co-workers to go in and discharge them. I was soo mad though. I am tired of going the extra mile to be treated like crap!!!

I wish we could bring back some respect for our profession. Or at least be able to defend ourselves when white trash people such as these decide they want to threaten us, without feeling that if we did so the hospital would have our job! It is all about customer service and I felt that I gave those little boys excellent care and kept them together for their comfort. I know I did the right thing for the boys but, the mother and father (who by the way were not even married anymore) needed to taken out back and shot in the head!!!!

UGH, I was supported by management, staff and the physcian in the case thank-goodness. I really hope that they call and complain!!! However, I wonder how much support I would have been given if I would have told them exactly where to go and what kind of parents I thought that they were? For the record the kids had been sick for a week. Mother did not give a lick of medicine and brought herself in two days before and was treated, before she ever brought the little boys in.

Thanks for letting me vent

Y2KRN

[cannoli]

That brings to mind a thought I have had more than once, the public should consider themselves damn lucky that there are people that are willing to do this work.

[MrsWampthang, BSN, RN]

That's the one thing I love about this forum, you can vent all you want and not get flamed about not caring, or "you need to find another job" or other BS that can be hurled at you if you have the nerve to vent somewhere besides a nurses forum!

Pam

BTW, big hugs to you for the day you had!

[FlyingED]

Quick note: Threatening a healthcare professional in Washington is a Class C Felony. Assaulting a HCP is an Class B Felony, go to jail now, thank you very much.

You should be very glad that your management supported you.

[athomas91]

i agree w/ you - we take alot of UNCALLED for abuse - I however was lucky to be "brought up" by very supportive doc's and nurses - and that is never tolerated - some of my doc's i work w/ now have actually thrown patients out of the ed for being abusive to the nurses - most of the nurses have followed suit -

i was charge a few wkends ago when one of our regular drunk/drug seeking patients was verbally assaulting a co-worker - the co-worker was in the room cleaning the patient of her own puke - i promptly went in the room and told her that she could leave - she looked at me like i was crazy and i flat out told her - if you can keep your nasty mouth shut - you can stay - otherwise you will be leaving momentarily - she hadn't had her pain meds - so she became very nice.....

[Uptoherern, RN]

I'd love to be able to tell all the nasty, foul-mouth drunk and smelly people to leave..............that would be great. But,,,even if they are not drunk, and are alert/oriented (except to manners), can you legally make them leave? What about emtala? Is there anything they can do to us? I mean, if they are drunk, and get run over in the parking lot, that's one thing. But if they are alert/oriented, etc. then what?

[traumaRUs, MSN, APRN]

In Illinois - we boot them. However, like most states its a felony to threaten a healthcare worker and personally, I think the jail is fine for these people. I'm the night charge RN and I don't take much from anybody, nor do I expect other nurses to do so.

[athomas91]

if they are drunk (ie: obvious by behavior and speach - and documented or via documented breath/bal) then no - you cannot make them leave - UNFORTUNATELY - if they threaten you can call the police - the problem is - due to the etoh - they may have a valid medical emergency that they/you are ignoring - better safe than sorry and just chemical restrain

however - if someone is just your average joe - no drugs/etoh effecting behavior - sure you can make them leave - by threatening you they are breaking the law - AND compromising their own care and the care that you provide to others - generally these kind of people have no legit medical complaint anyway! Most of the time - the doc's we work w/ back us 100% and will just write up d/c instructions (this way there is no legal ramification) - they had tx and were d/c.....

[Speculating]

Originally posted by Y2KRN I hear the mother say, that f#$%*^& b!@*& better stop sticking my kid or I am going to punch her in the face... They then started screaming that I have been mean to them all night long and that I kept giving the children dirty looks. They stated in a not so nice way that they wanted me removed from the case... I am tired of going the extra mile to be treated like crap!!!

I wish we could bring back some respect for our profession. Or at least be able to defend ourselves when white trash people such as these decide they want to threaten us, without feeling that if we did so the hospital would have our job! [/b]

I find it my policy to get a serum stupid level on these types of people whenever possible. I had the chance to get a high-five several days ago during a bad situation. Mom comes in four-thirty or five in the am with her six y/o daughter. Mom says baby has been sick she threw up at approx. midnight. This was obvious since there was dried emesis all over the front of the little girl's white t-shirt. States her also has been running a high fever "Tylenol" No "of course not". Oh yah, I'm leaving something out Mom was completely trashed along with the person who had driven them to our ER. This was again obvious since they drove from another city "yes city" strictly to get a script for some..."are you ready"..."Tylenol". That's right a script for Tylenol. Kid turns out clinically fine no N/V since first event and afebrile. I tell Mom it's going to take a little while as I need to send to pharmacy to get some Tylenol since we weren't allowed to keep it on the floor. I needed to kill some time. I called the cops. It was a no brainer. I'm not sure whether I would break any kind of confidentiality laws, but I didn't care. Morally there was no way in the world I could let that baby get into the car with two ETOH'ers. So the police finally get there, and it takes them some time to wake Mom up because she fell asleep on the stretcher. Oh no Mom has two outstanding felony warrants. She gets cuffed and sent to jail. The police were nice enough to call Grandma and wait for her to come and pick up the little girl. They couldn't do anything to the driver. They did however wait outside till she got into her car then they turned on the cherries. What a way to end my shift huh? But, I drove home with a nice warm fuzzy and laughing the entire way.

[stressednurse]

Nice job speculating.. I love when that happens. More work for us but the warm fuzzies after are worth it.

[Y2KRN]

Hey Speculating,

That was a lot of extra work but, sounds like the outcome was well worth it for the child!!! You did the right thing!! I wish I could have had the warm fuzzies after my situation. I know I did the right thing for the little boys, but still to be treated the way I was, was awful.

They have not complained as of yet so I will see what happens. I know that mom probably never followed up with a peditrician. I know I would do it again. However, I will have security with me the next time.

Thanks for all the posts. It is nice to have support from colleagues!!!

Y2KRN