What age of patient's are the most difficult for you?

Glycerine82, LPN · Apr 29, 2014

I love the demented people. I know, I am a weirdo. For me, its always the family of a demented patient. "Its ME, Mom, Remember? Shirley" " No Mom, Dad died 50 years ago" "Don't you remember the time you took us to....." ahhhhh I just wanna scream!

ChristineN, BSN, RN · Apr 29, 2014

People in their teens and early twenties, particularly those with DKA. I abhor all of the stereotypical adolescent and young adult behaviors that are magnified X 195195718751 when they are sick. They also frequently lack understanding of their condition, play dumb, wonder why they are so sick and expect you to fix them. At least when all other adult age groups are stubborn, I can say that they are more likely to have time and experience under their belt and can handle the consequences of their behaviors. When teens and 20-some year olds decide to refuse meds, go ballistic, leave AMA, develop diabetic ulcers etc. but still expect mom and dad to care for them, it drives me up the wall.
Oh, and when they are in DKA, I have to get close to them and deal with their whining so often for blood sugar checks and titration for drips.
KIDS THESE DAYS
(I swear I was born a crotchety person from the start)

You just described my favorite pt all rolled into one. I love adolescent pts, and I love DKA's. I have always loved taking care of teenagers, I feel I am able to be nonjudgmental and understanding about some of the mistakes or decisions in life they have made, but am not afraid to call them to task if they are being non-compliant with care. Teenager girls are more drama queens than the boys, but a good hair wash and mani is a good way to get the girl to open up to you.

My least favorite population is babies. They can't communicate, so I have no idea why they are crying, and feel like I spend my shift playing detective trying to figure out what each cry means. Once in a while I get a baby that pulls at my heart, but those are usually pts that are ready for discharge.

Esme12, ASN, BSN, RN · Apr 29, 2014

Toddlers.....I love caring for them but to do ANYTHING is a battle

enchantmentdis, BSN, RN · Sep 25, 2014

Awake patients.

haunani, BSN, RN · Oct 29, 2014

14-20 or so. They rarely listen to anything we have to say when providing education and generally treat their babies like dolls and possesions rather than little human beings.

QuarterLife88, MSN, RN, NP · Oct 29, 2014

Patients in their 30's and 40s. Blech. They seem to be the least receptive and most entitled/whiny. Give me a pleasantly confused 80 year old any day.

CrunchRN, ADN, RN · Oct 29, 2014

The ones with heart beats. Sorry, couldn't resist! :roflmao:

MECO28, BSN, RN · Oct 29, 2014

18-25 year-olds! I know this lap appy is the worst thing that has ever happened to you but you are not dying and yes, you need to get the H out of bed.

Also middle-aged adults who need their elderly parents to hold their hand and/or spend the night after an ERCP or lap chole or something.

NotMyProblem MSN, ASN, BSN, MSN, LPN, RN · Oct 29, 2014

Females 20-35 have been a freaking nightmare in my experience. It seems that every one that I've had make a point of setting the alarm on the cellphone so that they won't sleep through ONE dose of Dilaudid or Morphine. Heavens forbid I should walk into the room with a pain 'pill' instead of a pain 'shot'.

While we're on the subject, FWIW, how can we say that alternative pain control measures were unsuccessful if we never pulled out the pain 'pills' to offer the patient? The computer (Pyxis) keeps track of everything that we remove. Of course, many times we already know our patients want the good stuff. But if we keep pushing the IV stuff, eventually, somebody's gonna code (if they haven't already) and the recap is not going to reflect that we tried other meds before reaching for the IV stuff.

Just reliving a brief teaching session that I gave the other night at work....

QuarterLife88, MSN, RN, NP · Oct 30, 2014

Females 20-35 have been a freaking nightmare in my experience. It seems that every one that I've had make a point of setting the alarm on the cellphone so that they won't sleep through ONE dose of Dilaudid or Morphine. Heavens forbid I should walk into the room with a pain 'pill' instead of a pain 'shot'.

Do we work in the same place? Good lord. On that note, if I even have the audacity to walk in 30 sec "late", off with my head!

I get to the point where I just tell myself it's a job, and it will be over soon, don't let them run you down. Sad that I have to take that approach mentally some nights, but I reach a point of no care when it comes to their pain. I will give them their meds and do my job; call the doc if they need a new regimen, get them ice packs and re-position them. But if they are still whiny and ******** at me that they are 10/10, I just.don't.care. (*note* I'm talking about my middle-aged able bodied surgical patients who were on heavy narcotics prior to surgery for years. Not much I can do for you at this point).

NotMyProblem MSN, ASN, BSN, MSN, LPN, RN · Oct 30, 2014

^Agreed. Whenever I hear "but I was taking Xmg of ABC, Ymg of DEF, and Zmg of GHI, I can't help but wonder if they caused their own injury so that they can come in and have their dosages tripled because if they take all of that at home, NOTHING that we do is going to touch what they take at home.

RNsRWe, ASN, RN · Nov 4, 2014

Depends on the setting. Med-surg, I'd rather have taken my eye out with a fork than try to deal with yet another 18-30 year old male! Doesn't even matter what he was in for: if he has to stay in a hospital room, I'm gonna be dealing with whining from him AND his Significant Other until he's (finally) discharged. Sometimes it's a girlfriend, sometimes a wife, and if I'm REALLY SUPER lucky, it's his Mother. Only THEY know how very special/ how much in pain/how much of a trooper Bobby REALLY is....it's just that no one has ever experienced the kind of pain Bobby is currently going through (did I mention Bobby is in much better shape than at least half of my patients, and they aren't whining to me constantly?).

Thankfully, I'm outta med-surg :)

And now that I'm thinking about it, I'd say right after the young males would be 20-something to30-something females. They, too, are experiencing a pain that NO ONE ELSE on the planet could possibly have survived. Even though each time I walk in the room, they're sleeping....until their cell phone alarm rings and wakes them for their next round of IV narcs

And why is it so many young women feel compelled to bring a teddy bear or stuffed puppy dog with them to the hospital? They aren't four.....they're 22, but......there's the stuffed thingy!