worst clinical story please??

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Specializes in Med surg.

Would anyone like to share their worst clinical story? I just survived my very first 3 days of med surg clinical (no nursing experience whatsoever!) and my patient on the second day was a 300 pound, dimented, confused, dependent, biligerant man. No pain meds b/c of the dimentia. Had to clean up a big messy bm (lots of digging!) while he yelled at us. It got to the point where I didn't want to go in the room...He would yell, "I need a bedpan" and then when two people came in to help him he would yell at us asking why we were trying to move him "I don't need to go!!"

Anyway, I survived with my ego intact but keep asking myself, "does it actually get worse?" I hope that was my worst patient and if I can deal with it, then I'll be okay going forward. Any thoughts??

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Please dont worry about others experiences please medidate and do some pranayama breathing exercises you will be able to tackle all kinds of situations and problems in a natural way. All the best for your career. Please do remember what your doing is not just your occupation but also a great social service.

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Specializes in Orthopedic/General Surgery.

Yes it can get worse. But I am so proud of you for not whining or saying you are thinking of quitting. And I'm also proud that you had him for a patient. Most of the students I have had seem to always take all the walkie-talkies. What's the learning experience from that? The best advise my senior buddy gave me in school was to take all the sickest patients. That way I would learn more and I can honestly say that when I graduated I had done, many times, all of the basic stuff and some of the advanced stuff. When I started my first job as a RN I felt like I was ahead of the game with such good clinical nursing experience. Soooooo, hang in there because it really does get BETTER!

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Specializes in NICU.

Hmm, the worst clinical story....there's so many to choose from. Ha, not really but at the time they seemed terrible. That being said, each one of those experiences has tought me something and I learn how to deal with it. My first bad experience was a on my 2nd day of clinical (med surg) no previous hospital experience. I was nervous because I was still not even used to a hospital.

So my pt, like yours, was about 300 lbs. She was 2nd day post op with about a 3 inch incision. This woman wanted a bath so bad and wanted to sit on a bedside comode to do this. Well, she wanted it so badly but was unwiling to help herself at all. So we (me & a tech) get her on the bedside comode and begin to bathe her. The whole time she's telling me I suck at bathing people, I'll never make a good nurse, etc, etc.

Bath is over and I leave feeling about as small as an ant and at that point just wanted to leave. My instructor tells me don't take it personally there will always be people like that. Well, a few hrs later it's time for vitals so I dust myself off and waltz back in the room. She lets me take he vitals but is still grumbling. I finish, walk into the hall to chart, and about 5 minutes later my instructor comes to me and tells me the patient doesn't want me to come back in her room at all, that the pt feels I'm incompetent and don't know what I'm doing. I just about fell apart even though my instructor was saying still not to take it personally. I felt like maybe the pt was right and I never would get this nusing thing down (even though it was only my 2nd day in a hospital).

Well, in December I will be gaduating and since then have never had a patient tell me I was incompetent. Infact many of the patients I'm with tell me I'll be wonderful and they thank me for caring about them. So I learned not to let one angry patient, dr, or nuse to effect me.

Best of luck....you can do this. You learn everyday to deal with things in a different way so that next time it seems like no big deal at all. Just keep putting one foot in front of the other and you will be ok. There will most liklely be some more bad days but you can get throug them....just think about all the good days you have. Is it worth it? Yes. I found out medsurg is not for me but I just started working in the NICU and I love it. You just have to find what interests you and makes you happy....there are so many possibilities with nursing. Best of luck!

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i wouldnt call it my worst experience but I had a very large woman probably 350+ post op abdominal surgery, also COPD'r and very angry! Anyway had to dc cath and straight cath her twice to check residual not cool at all the whole time she was clamping her legs shut kindof playing a game on top of that she had severe diarhhea had to be ambulated to besdie commode every 15 minutes! Not a good day I ended up changing my scrubs and crying in the bathroom!

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Specializes in ED, ICU, Heme/Onc.

Even people with dementia can feel pain! I wonder if he would have been better "behaved" if his pain was managed. Not your fault - you were walking into a horrible situation as a brand new student. As this patient's nurse, I'd have been looking for a solution to his pain if there was a pain issue.

It sounds like you had a horrible day. I give you a lot of credit for rolling up your sleeves and digging in (excuse the pun). It isn't easy when you are just starting out.

My worst clinical night was when I had a patient with C.Diff who refused to use her bedside commode. She was in the window bed and would get up and go to the bathroom and there would be smears of stool (she didn't wash her hands) all over the walls, the doors - everywhere. And she had a fresh post op patient (without C.Dff -- yet) as her roommate. So I was *that* PITA nursing student who insisted that the post op be given a new room.

Blee

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Specializes in Med surg.

oh, I have tears reading this story! Thank you!! It sounds so similar to the day I had yesterday...I just really wanted to hear "it will get better..." I really do plan to hang in there, I just needed a little encouragment.

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Specializes in LTC, home health, critical care, pulmonary nursing.
No pain meds b/c of the dimentia.

What does dementia have to do with whether or not a patient receives pain medication?

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Specializes in Geriatrics, Med-Surg..

During one of my clinicals, I had a little elderly lady spit at me while calling me a b#*ch, then tried to grab my arm and kick the vitals machine, while I attempted to take her vitals. She then tried to attack the next nurse who went in to see her. That was one fun evenining.

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Specializes in LTC, home health, critical care, pulmonary nursing.
During one of my clinicals, I had a little elderly lady spit at me while calling me a b#*ch, then tried to grab my arm and kick the vitals machine, while I attempted to take her vitals. She then tried to attack the next nurse who went in to see her. That was one fun evenining.

Oh, you just described a normal work day for me.

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Specializes in Med surg.

patient was admitted to the floor at midnight from a psych hospital. I guess the md was not feeling generous about giving any pain meds because of his history. they did give him tylenol but not much of a change in him

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Specializes in Med surg.
Oh, you just described a normal work day for me.

why do you stay?

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