Is it me, or are patients getting ruder and more disrespectful each time you clock in for work?
I don't usually let rude patients/families get to me, but last night I had to deal with the most insane people ever. I had the misfortune of informing the patient and his family that he had gone into rapid a-fib and his cardiologist was not on call. The patient didn't believe that he was having a rapid ventricular response since "he didn't feel that his heart was going fast," and had me count an apical pulse and call the monitor tech to see if she concurred with my rate. (I was off by 2 beats).
I was also instructed by the family to print a set of strips indicating that he was in fact in a-fib. Mind you, this patient has a history of a-fib and was on amiodarone for a while, but the family decided to stop it b/c the patient is allergic to iodine. Despite the allergy, he never had a reaction to amiodarone, but the family still didn't want him to have it and... ta-da! He went back into a-fib.
I was also yelled at because I had to start a Cardizem gtt and as this patient has a habit of going hypotensive, decided that BP checks q30 minutes was a prudent thing to do. Oh, I was also a bad nurse b/c I put him on 2L NC. Oh, and my hospital is ridiculous because we don't have those donuts for people to sit on... oh and there CAN'T be a good reason for us to not have them in central supply.
Did I also mention that I was lazy because I left the BP cuff on him and set the machine to recycle every 30 mts? Yes... I did that so I wouldn't have to go in the room all night. (He told this to the PCA and she came and told me) So he refused to leave the BP cuff on, and preferred for me to go in every 30 mts to put the cuff on and off (this only went on for 3 cycles... at this time, he fell asleep and I slipped it on over his gown). This is the same man who complained that us night shift don't let him sleep.
I just had to run out of the room at this point and cry... I usually handle these kind of people really well. Before last night I don't remember the last time I let a patient/family make me cry. I actually felt bad giving report on this patient in the morning... I felt horrible to pass this person on to another nurse!
*oh and the KICKER. During one of my visits for a BP check, I accidentally bumped his foot which he REFUSES to leave on the bed. He prefers to let his foot hang off the bed on the side I do my care on. He totally went off on me! Apparently during my BSN program I was taught not to be careful, but to bump patients' feet and cause them pain. I also after 3 years of working cardiac, am unfamiliar with caring for dialysis patients and I don't know how to monitor an a-fib patient. He can't wait until I'm sick in a hospital bed so he can give me what's coming to me. this is the most hurtful thing ANYBODY has ever said to me. I couldn't even respond. I just turned around and left the room.
Sorry this is so long, guys. I just really needed to vent.
Specializes in Telemetry, IMCU, s/p Open Heart surgery.
Did I also mention that I was lazy because I left the BP cuff on him and set the machine to recycle every 30 mts? Yes... I did that so I wouldn't have to go in the room all night. (He told this to the PCA and she came and told me) So he refused to leave the BP cuff on, and preferred for me to go in every 30 mts to put the cuff on and off (this only went on for 3 cycles... at this time, he fell asleep and I slipped it on over his gown). This is the same man who complained that us night shift don't let him sleep.
Recently had a patient who was confused but was evil confused...fighting, biting staff, kicking, the whole nine yards. I can handle confusion, but physical abuse is another thing. (Kicker was, when the patient was A&O, she was just as evil but anyway). It was one of those nights and she had started in by trying to seriously harm one of my co-workers. As I was holding her down to restrain her, she looked at me and said "You're one ugly fat b****". And before I could stop myself, I swear it just came out of my mouth, I said "Takes one to know one!" Guess you can tell it had been one of those nights! My co-worker looked at me and started choking as she tried to keep from laughing. Thought for sure I was going to get called in for that one.
Specializes in acute rehab, med surg, LTC, peds, home c.
Working in med/surg for the past five years, I can think of quite a few memorable moments but there is one incident that really sticks with me: it was almost the end of my shift (I work nights 7p-7a) and one of my patients asked me to get her a cup of coffee. On my way to the pantry, an alarm sounded- one of my other patients was crashing! We coded her and she ended up being rushed to ICU (she made it!) When I got back to my floor, I remembered my other patient's coffee request and brought it in to her:
patient "what's this"
me "it's the coffee you asked for"
patient "I wanted it 45 minutes ago, I don't want it now."
me "I'm sorry, we had an emergency and I wasn't able to come back right away."
patient "you mean in this entire hospital NOBODY has the time to get an expletive cup of coffee for me when I want one!?"
me (starting to get a little annoyed) "Did you hear the alarm sound earlier? One of my other patients was dying. I'm sorry you had to wait, but that takes priority over a cup of coffee."
patient "if they had to look at your ugly lazy mug all night then they would be better off dead! I needed my coffee THEN you expletive. How dare you make me go without my caffeine, expletive. People like you shouldn't be nurses."
At this point I just turned and walked out of her room because I didn't trust myself not to say something I shouldn't
patient "Yeah, that's it. Go away. Just waddle your fat butt out of my room when I'm talking to you!"
As I was walking away, miss rude patient proceeded to throw the full cup coffee at me, getting it all over the back of my scrub top. Sheesh. Talk about a sense of entitlement. I was a bad nurse because I didn't get her coffee on time. The worst part was, she was an alert and oriented x3 40-ish year old with no psych history.
In a case this bad I might be tempted to just say exactly what I was thinking at the time and then later deny, deny, deny, if she went to management about it. I know how bad that sounds but my god, how much are we supposed to put up with?
Specializes in acute rehab, med surg, LTC, peds, home c.
Perhaps I'm lucky in that I've always worked in places and with managers who supported the staff's right NOT to be abused.
I am not sure how my NM would expect us to handle this coffe throwing incident. Can we hear from some managers about how they would handle this if it happened to their staff? Maybe I'll start a new thread on this topic because I really want to know. Please be honest too.
Well, I was mentioned in a letter once. It was not flattering.........and what made it worse was.............the person writing the letter was so genuine.
I was a CNA at a nursing home. My first job ever in the medical field. Got an elderly woman who was in our facility while she got rehab for a broken hip. She had an Italian accent, one of those patients who talks to EVERYONE like you are her very own grandchild. Lovely woman.
She never used the call bell. Thought it was (ahem) being too pushy and she didn't want to bother me. For some reason she took a shining to me, so whenever I worked on that side, if I walked past her door, all's you'd hear was:
"Hey boy, come here, you come her now."
"Hey boy, you pick up that paper mess over there..........good boy."
"Hey boy, you help that woman I saw with the cane get to the dinning area."
Yeah, lucky me, I had a friend forever. I felt like a dog chasing a stick for her. She went home and wrote us once. Said how much she loved us and the time spent with us. It was really a beautiful letter. She had her daughter do the writing for her since her hands shock too much. Her words and her daughters handwriting made the letter truly special. It was placed in a plaque and hung in the hall right by the elevator.
There was one part.........covered though. And, in fact, I was told it was the best part of the letter, her favorite worker.................Me.
I was like why are they covering my part up. Don't I matter too:sniff:. So the charge nurse, with a large grin on her face told me to go ask to see the copy they had made of the letter. It was in the DON's office. They had made a copy of it for me to keep.
I understood as soon as I read the part concerning me. I read something like this:
"As I write this letter for my mother, I must admit I was shocked while she told me about her favorite "helper". But, after hearing about what a gentleman he was and how hard he worked, I can understand how everyone deserves a second chance in life and (fill in my name) is making the most of his. He really is a big part of the reason my mother was so comfortable staying with you. I hope he has learned his lesson and continues to grow as an employee for you and as a person. I will pray God forgive him for his mistakes."
Turns out, the patient had somehow gotten it into her head I was an Orderly, and even more than that...........a work release Orderly. Yes, she had, for some unknown reason, gotten it in her head I was in jail for murder or something. I came to work in the nursing home in the day, and went back to jail at night.
I don't know where that came from. We pondered........had we made a joke that was misunderstood in front of her? Was there a TV program that would make her think that? We couldn't think of anything. Nonetheless, the facility did not want visitors thinking we employed work release program aides, so.......my section of the letter remained undercover forevermore.
It definately is not you!! Patients seem to be much ruder and at times down right abusive these days. Many think that they are staying at a 5 star hotel and the nurses are there to wait on them hand and foot. I had an obese women who had perfect mobility and 2 good hands want me to wipe her ass for her. I did not do it and told her she was perfectly capable of doing it herself. She then called the CNA and asked her to do it. (who did it for her at home?) I work on a post operative floor and have witnessed alot of strange behavior, a patient that threw his feces at people. A man detoxing walked into another patients room and peed in her waste basket, scared the lights out of the poor woman. One time a patients son asked me to massage his mother's eyeballs!!! But my favorite patient is the women who refused pain medication over and over again, she then insisted on being discharged, so I called the MD and he felt she was stable for discharge so she was discharged. Then I find out that she wrote a very nasty letter to my manager sayint that I refused to give her pain medication and she was in so much pain when I took care of her and that I "forced" her out of the hospital before she was ready, because I wanted to push her out to get another patient in the room and that I am a horrible nurse and all the other nurses were wonderful but I was horrible. Good documentation really covered my butt in this case., when my manager looked at her records she could see the many times I offered pain meds and she refused and my documentation about the patinet insisting on discharge was very clear, thank goodness.
We work so hard to care for these people and many of them are wonderful but many treat us very poorly and it is upsetting to know that you are doing everything possible for someone and still have them beat you down. Usually these people have other issues that they are taking out on us. Many of them have mental illness, and dysfunctional families and they take their problems out on us.
Think about all the people that you cared for, saved their life, or touched them in some way. Those are the people you should think about when you get someone who wants to beat you down like the man and the family that you describe.
Specializes in Management, Emergency, Psych, Med Surg.
I could not tell you the worst thing a patient ever said to me because they would not allow it to be posted on this site. Just let me say that he used the C word a lot.
Specializes in acute rehab, med surg, LTC, peds, home c.
When I was 22 and just out of nursing school, I worked in LTC. I had a pt that had multiple wounds that I had to do time consuming dressings on every nite. During the day, out in front of people, he was just nasty. Alone in his room at nite, he was a lecherous pig. He would tell me in disgusting, revolting and sometimes violent detail, what he wanted to do to me. I basically ignored him and just got out of there as quick as possible, but looking back, I should not have had to put up with that. But being a new nurse and with no 3-11 supervisor at the time, I just dealt with it.
Specializes in Telemetry, IMCU, s/p Open Heart surgery.
Think about all the people that you cared for, saved their life, or touched them in some way. Those are the people you should think about when you get someone who wants to beat you down like the man and the family that you describe.
It is SUCH coincidence that you said this b/c my nurse manager invited an old patient of ours and his wife to come and talk to us at our staff meeting about how great the care was on our floor and how often they still think about us. (He was on our unit s/p CABG and ended up staying with us for a month, discharged, then readmitted when his wires snapped). It felt so nice to hear their story about how much they appreciated our staff especially after we've been getting complaints from all these crazy people lately. lol
Specializes in Telemetry, IMCU, s/p Open Heart surgery.
Yes I do! I've been working since i was 16 years old and this is the BEST manager I've ever had. I love her sooo much. She's the reason I came to work on my unit!
I actually felt bad giving report on this patient in the morning... I felt horrible to pass this person on to another nurse!
why are they covering my part up. Don't I matter too:sniff:. So the charge nurse, with a large grin on her face told me to go ask to see the copy they had made of the letter. It was in the DON's office. They had made a copy of it for me to keep.
NurseStephRN
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