Whiners! UGH!

[ebrooks]

I cannot stand a whiner that complains about every little thing. My friend is in the hospital and when I went in to visit her today, her "roomie" was constantly calling the nurses station whining about everything from needing towels in the bathroom to needing a bedside table repositioned. Let me just say, this was a pt that had just came back to the room after a 45 min. smoke break outside. She was perfectly capable of fixing the table herself. She seemed fine to us and come to find out she was fine indeed. They couldn't find anything wrong with her (we overheard the dr. informing her of the dx).

HOW DO YOU DEAL WITH A WHINER?

[NurseyBaby'05, BSN, RN]

I have spoken to the patient and set intervals to check on him. I told one that I would check back in half an hour or so and followed through with it. Give or take about ten minutes. Then told him that he was really doing good and that his neighbor down the hall wasn't in as good of shape. I was probably going to be in the neighbor's room more often than not. I told him that I would get to see him, but that it would take me a little time to respond, If he needed me though, I would be there.

Now when he would be on the call bell wanting me to do things he could do on his own, I would answer the call bell and tell him it was ok for him to do what he wanted done. He wanted "wiped" a lot, but could get up, around and strategically position himself for the best "show." His hands worked perfectly well then. I would hand him the tp or wipes and tell him to call me when he's done and I'd get the bedside commode out of the way. Another nurse had him gradually do more and more for himself as the day would go on, but made it a point to answer his pages as soon as she could. We also provided a lot of encouragement and positive feedback when he began to do more on his own.

There's no foolproof way to deal with needy patients, but it has seemed that if they feel a little independent instead of helpless, it goes a long way. Kind of like that teacher that has high expectations of you and because they are there, you try to meet them.