What Patients do to make you mad!

[MichaelFloridaRN]

I seldom loose it over my patients. One thing however gets me every time.

When a patient, even more so if they are not old, has no teeth, and mumbles so you can not understand them even after asking them to repeat for something the fifth time, gets all mad at you for not being able to understand them.:trout:

If they are 20 and have no teeth because they did too much meth it makes me loose it even more! I had one little crackhead tell me the other day she lost all her teeth because of bad genes at age 20, funny part was that only the front ones were affected by this genetic defect !

Don't get me wrong, I will take best possible care of anyone, regardless of their bad choices in life, but some things get beyond absurd and make you want to pull your hair out!:angryfire

[twotrees2]

I feel frustrated with a LOL (yes, I fully acknowledge and respect her personhood) who believes everything is better if the nurse does it.

"I want the nurse to put me on the bedpan"

"I want the nurse to adjust my blinds"

"Could you ask the nurse to get me some ice?"

I had a looooong discussion with her about why I wouldn't transfer her from wheelchair to bed. She is a two-person transfer with severe right side weakness, and thought that because I was the nurse I could make up for two CNAs. She told my supervisor that I refused to help transfer her.

The kicker is, this lady used to be a nurse.

what is an LOL? sorry - doesnt sound like lots of laughing would work for the statement lol.

[twotrees2]

You know what bugs me is when you are dealing with another patient with some critical problems and a family member stands outside the other patients room, or else comes to the nurses station as you make a frantic call. They then launch into some trivial bit of information that they want relayed to the doctor. Yesterday a patient's sister did this and wanted me to call the doctor about her brother's toenails that needed to be cut.

i had one family member complain i wasnt getting to mom quick enough - when i told her i would be there at her turn ( there was no emergency or id have been there stat) - she snuck to my cart and attempted toopen the med book to my book mark to see how many pts were ahead of mom - i always kept in site of cart and was able to promptly reprimand her for unauthorized access - she wasnt happy but it turned out i ened up being her fav nurse for mom. maybe cause she knew i would protect her mom and do all i could as i would for others. who knows cause i really did loose it on her - oopsie lol.

[RNDreamer]

little old lady

lovely old lady

what is an LOL? sorry - doesnt sound like lots of laughing would work for the statement lol.

[MrsCaseyRN]

It really pushes my butons when pts think (and family) that they are "dying" and we're doing "nothing". They watch too much tv. They want a preformance worthy response to a hang nail and when we as nurses are lacking the dramatic attitude they want, then we're doing nothing. I just want to say, (sarcasticly) :bowingpur "Its really great that you are so much smarter that all the doctors and nurses here. We only have more knowledge and experience in the medical field, but you "just know" when people are really in danger. With out you, we would have continued to do nothing until you/ your family member died, because that's what we do here."

Do people really think we are just that stupid and lazy? Would it be too much too ask if they thought, for just a second, that they were over-reacting?????