Warning.....Visitor Vent!

Nurses General Nursing

Published

Every once in a while you get a visitor that makes you want to scream an bang your head on the wall. I work in a very small LDRP unit, where we know all our patients rather well. Anyway, a couple showed up to see our only mom and asked to see John & Jane Doe. The problem is John & Jane are not married and Doe is not her last name. They were told, we don't have anyone by that name are you sure of the name. They got huffy and had to think for a minute of Jane's real last name. After they were able to recall the name the women rolled her eyes and said "What do you want our fingerprints too?!" :angryfire This kind of thing drives me crazy! Why the attitude?

Along the same line, it also drive me bonkers when someone calls to the nurse's desk asking for the S.O. by first name only and then gets huffy when we aren't sure who he belongs to!:nono: We are supposed to know every boyfriend, bestfriend, and monkey's uncle's names so we can just direct the call without an inquisition!:uhoh3:

Ok...end of rant. Thanks for letting me vent! :chuckle

That always amazes the crap out of me. I have to hold up my security card to 5 different doors to get to the locker room in the mornings, yet any Tom, Dick, or hairball can wander on in.

Not at my hospital. :D We're locked down like fort knox. I love my hospital. :nurse:

Specializes in Specializes in L/D, newborn, GYN, LTC, Dialysis.
Then there is the group of like minded souls with leather, chains,buzz cut, or the ones with the trousers to their knees and hats on backwards, or the group of "fine ladies" in their spandex and fishnet hose......one member of one of the groups comes to the desk...."yo, what room is Scratch/Tiny/Jasmine in?"

Now you may know immediately what room your similarly attired patient is in, but you'd be well advised to request more info.

Name? dunno

Age? dunno

Relationship? we're tight

Sorry......can't help and all the while I'm hoping they arent carrying, selling, recruiting.

And you know what else? Open door policy 24/7 for visitors......Nurses have to show their ID to enter. Go figure.

ahh but the customer is ALWAYS right, esp in OB eh???? Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

Glad we are locking down soon. Can't happen soon enough for me.

My ICU is moving toward open visiting. Makes me want to puke. These people get in fistfights in the hallways and we're going to let them visit whenever? I plan to be gone by the time this policy comes into existence.

We have people call and the first thing they ask when you pick up the phone is "I want to find out how my mother/father/aunt etc. is doing." (pause)

Then they act offended when I ask who their mother/father/aunt etc. *is*???

I esp. hate the families on the offensive..they start out with, "You are only allowed once chance to draw mom's blood, then you quit...here's her meds, and they'd better be on time..." and when asked for an updated list since we had a 3 year old med list, were told, 'that's none of your business!" not to mention they wrote everything down that was done and said. Errrrggg...I feel like saying, we aren't the enemy forces here! and if you don't like it, there are several other hospitals in the area, feel free to transfer!

That is a whole other issue there! So many dads get mad that the baby's bracelets say the mothers name. Even when you explain about mom & babe matching for security & safety reasons, some of them still are upset. Especially if mom's name is her ex-husband's or current husband :rolleyes: We can't have a whole bunch fo babies running around in the nursery with names that don't match any mom's. How confusing would that be?

!! YOu have babies running around in the nursery? Wow!!

(sorry..couldn't resist...lol)

Specializes in pedi-onc, Adult Acute care, LTC, more.

How about when they call your facility and say "I have this number on my caller ID, Did someone from your hospital call me????"

Denise

Oh I HATE it when this happens! :angryfire It seems like my department gets the majority of these type of calls! Then you have to play detective. "This is a hospital, the call could have come from anywhere in the hospital. Do you know someone who works here? Or a patient? Are you having a procedure done?" :confused: When I see a number on my caller ID, that I don't recognize and that didn't leave a message I don't call it back. If it was important, they would have left a message. You can't call a wrong number innocently anymore without someone calling back and saying "your number was on my caller ID" This is especially annoying since my department doesn't have a ward secretary.

How about when they call your facility and say "I have this number on my caller ID, Did someone from your hospital call me????"

Denise

Specializes in Specializes in L/D, newborn, GYN, LTC, Dialysis.
!! YOu have babies running around in the nursery? Wow!!

(sorry..couldn't resist...lol)

No, she meant, Fathers OF babies (fo babies). rofl that WAS funny how you read it.

I've had this happen with psycho family members. They call the ICU eight times a day to ask how they're loved is doing (sedated, ventilated, status unchanged, now can I please get some work done?) and then call in a panic because they see our number on their caller ID. First, if we called them because of a change in their relative's status, we'd leave a message to call us back. Second, it was probably the business office wanting insurance info, not us.

How about when they call your facility and say "I have this number on my caller ID, Did someone from your hospital call me????"

Denise

LOL...sometimes I hate Caller ID (although it saves me from having to say 'No' to overtime a lot). I just love it when people think we should be able to figure out where a phone call from the hospital came from...especially when the call was early in the day and its now after midnight...LOL.

How about when they call your facility and say "I have this number on my caller ID, Did someone from your hospital call me????"

Denise

Oh yeeessss, we get LOTS of those!!! That is so annoying! It always puts me at a loss for words, it is such an absurd thing to do...:uhoh3:

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