I don't recall seeing a thread like this and it was something someone asked me so I thought I would throw it out there.
What are your favorite types of patients??
Me, I love when I have Pre-Teen and Teen boys. I work well with teenagers in general (outside of my own) but I have had a lot of 11-16 year old male patients lately and they are probably my most favorite patients. I think because I relate well to boys first of all, having 3 of my own, and I relate to teens and I always just feel more motherly to these types.
Anyone else have a general type they tend to enjoy having more?
I work in an outpatient transplant clinic. I like:
1. The patients who are actually grateful for the gift of a kidney or kidney/pancreas and do their part to stay healthy "because someone died for me to have another chance".
2. The new post op pancreas transplant pts. Most of them have been type diabetics since they were kids, it is so great to see them able to live life without checking blood sugars and taking insulin injections. I guess because I am diabetic (although type 2) I can relate to how excited they feel.
This is a great post. I must say that my favorite patients are elderly men and women with grit and spunk. They are tough as nails and never whine. When I float to the med-surg floor I tend to gravitate toward these patients.
I love the pleasantly confused little old ladies and men. I had a great LOL the other night--she was just so cute. I had to answer the same questions about a million times but she was just so darn sweet about it, I didn't mind at all.
I love my day 1 CABGs! I love that when I get them they still have wires, central lines, and 4 chest tubes. I love being the one who gets them to walk for the first time after surgery. I love when they get the IS over one thousand for the first time. I love the sheepish smile they give me when they decide, 'Yes that pain medicine really does work!'
I love watching their Afib/RVR straighten out into SB.
And I LOVE that by the time I discharge them home, they are ready to start a new chapter in life.
My current favorite are the sarcastic old men with a good sense of humor :)
I actually enjoy some of the "tougher" patients because I enjoy the challenge of trying to get them to see things in a different light. Usually they are giving people a hard time because of a personality clash or a misunderstanding, and helping them get through that is a nice challenge.
I used to like POD 1 CABG's too, because when I admitted them they felt sick as dogs, but by day 2 they look like a different person. But recently I have been getting all the people whose pain medicine doesn't work, they can't eat, and zofran/reglan have no effect. For days. That is just exhausting... there is just no telling with those cardiacs...
I second liking anyone without obnoxious demanding family members.
The patients are hard enough to deal with.
I also lurves my little confused old ladies ...and those on the brink of confusion. As LONG AS they're not falling out of bed.
Also took care of a 600 lb BEAST of a man the other day. He was so demanding the entire unit was aghast ... however, I took him one day and he was putty in my hands ... later he pulled out a mini bottle of whisky and asked if I'd like a sip ....lol.
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pedicurn, LPN, RN
696 Posts
The ones with the sensible and polite visitors