I'm kind of feeling bad about this. I work on a Medical Unit at my hospital and one night last week, I found out a patient I had the previous night requested that I not be his nurse again that night.
We can have up to 6 patients a piece on our floor with no CNAs. We do "RN total patient care".
The previous night, I had 6 patients, a very busy group. One was ETOH detox where I was doing CIWAs every hour, two patients were actively dying, and two LOLs that had to use the restroom every half hour....but this one patient was very irritated that I didn't answer his call light fast enough and forgot to get him his ice cream he wanted. He was my most stable patient.
I feel bad, but at the same time, I was irritated too. I can't be everywhere at once.
Just had to vent. I'm sure this happens a lot to others as well.
You will find that the ones who fire you are the ones you don't want to deal with. It's rarely an indictment of how you are as a nurse. It usually reflect how evil of a person they are.
Specializes in Critical Care; Cardiac; Professional Development.
I think "evil" is probably a little bit harsh. It may be more reflective on how they are coping with what is happening to them in a lot of cases. Yes, there are people who are just plain mean, but just as often there are just people who aren't dealing with things very well.
The ones who do this are almost always the PITA patients, so they are doing you a favor. Nobody needs those negative attitudes. Welcome the opportunity to save your efforts for those who might be a little more appreciative.
Perhaps, OP, when the patient has gone through "firing" the entire staff of nurses who do not attend to his ice cream needs in a timely fashion, they will think about discharging him home.....
I was once 'fired' for refusing to let the boyfriend of a teenaged patient spend the night in the room of said patient. The MOTHER 'fired' me for this. Actually got in some mild trouble for this because the family didn't like my 'attitude'.
I was "fired" by quite a few patients while I was in Nursing Home Hell. One was racial- I was the only non-white nurse on the wing, and a note appeared at the nurse's station and in the chart saying "caucasian caregivers only". He ended up with a Filipina nurse, and didn't mind her at all. Another was a female patient's very, very overbearing husband, who yelled at all of the staff and fired at least half of them. His wife was more embarrassed than anything.
I've also been fired by a handful of home health patients. One family lived in the middle of nowhere, and they were religious and very conservative, with Bible verses posted throughout the house. My client was the youngest of 6 kids. The other nurse on the case was also very religious, very conservative, lived off the grid in the middle of nowhere, and had raised 6 kids of her own. I was a childless urban liberal. I never said a word about politics or religion (though the nurse asked me what I thought of Obama), but they requested I not come back after 2 days. I admit, it was interesting hearing a woman whose kid was on Medicaid and a woman whose job depends heavily on Medicaid funding talk about the evils of government healthcare.
A second case was a kid who lived with Mom and Grandma. Mom was a very hands-off parent (though we were trying to get her more involved) with chemical dependence issues. Aside from being nonverbal, the kid was a normal, active 4-year-old. If I said we needed to stop things, and he shook his head "no", I would start putting the activity away. Mom barely spoke to me, but I think she thought I was too firm with him. I was let go after 3 shifts.
I ended up staying on a case for about 3 months after they requested a new nurse, because the office couldn't find another nurse. Mom liked me, kid liked me, Mom's Girlfriend hated me, and made very little attempt to hide it. I was grateful when Mom started cancelling shift after shift because it meant not dealing with Girlfriend. I was finally pulled last month, when Mom cancelled 7 of 9 potential shifts (I worked one, and had to call out for a second).
Specializes in CCU, SICU, CVSICU, Precepting & Teaching.
I'm kind of feeling bad about this. I work on a Medical Unit at my hospital and one night last week, I found out a patient I had the previous night requested that I not be his nurse again that night.
We can have up to 6 patients a piece on our floor with no CNAs. We do "RN total patient care".
The previous night, I had 6 patients, a very busy group. One was ETOH detox where I was doing CIWAs every hour, two patients were actively dying, and two LOLs that had to use the restroom every half hour....but this one patient was very irritated that I didn't answer his call light fast enough and forgot to get him his ice cream he wanted. He was my most stable patient.
I feel bad, but at the same time, I was irritated too. I can't be everywhere at once.
Just had to vent. I'm sure this happens a lot to others as well.
It happens to everyone. Usually the ones that fire nurses are Pains in the Patoots to deal with, so it's probably a blessing he fired you!
Yeah, getting "fired" by a patient happens. The second firing for me happened recently. One family member was fine with me, and told me that they had gone through three PCPs over a few years because they didnt like their "attitudes." The family had also complained to management earlier in the hospital stay. I should have seen it coming. The day I was fired, one of the residents was too! The reason? They didn't like our "attitudes." How much more nebulous can you get?
imintrouble, BSN, RN
2,406 Posts
If you're a nurse long enough, it's going to happen a time or two.
I've never had a patient fire me, that I didn't want to fire them first.