You're not going to pull that on me

[TeenyTiny]

So, mostly I lurk off an on here on allnurses (as you can tell from my lack of posts yet years of membership) but in the spirit of calling for more threads to share stories with I thought I would start this. In fact, it was my first thought of a story when I saw the title for the Not Today Satan, Not Today thread.

What are your favorite stories of not letting patients and/or their families pull one over on you?

For example, mine:

I was just back from maternity leave so I wasn't familiar to this family (NICU so many with long stays) whose reputation, as I was told, was to try to cause trouble. Clearly all of my coworkers had done their time and as I was back it was my turn. The mother used the morning to feel me out, commenting on how she didn't know me, wondering about my experience (all questions that were easy to answer), etc. Really the usual for a family.

During the morning, we had discussed what labs had been drawn on the infant, including labs to be sent out. It was clear that the family knew all about the labs, they had been well planned in advance, and they were interested in when they would be able to expect results. No big deal. Family goes to lunch and I wonder what all the warnings were about.

When the mom came back to the bedside after lunch, she looked like she was on a mission and confronted me with this statement:

"You know, all those labs that you all took on my baby this morning, I never signed consent for you to do them;" as took a stance that stated she was ready to see me falter and stutter over a reply.

Without I pause, I looked straight at her and stated, "actually you did, as part of the consent for treatment that you signed when your little one was admitted."

Her eyes widened as she let out a little defeated sigh and walked back out of the unit. Nothing else was ever said about that interaction, although there were quite a few others that came from her.

All I could think during that interaction was you're not going to pull that on me.

[canoehead, BSN, RN]

Sharpen my colored pencils! and buy me candy!

Fluff my pillow! Bend my straw!

I can't even. I'll be back after I calm down. The sad thing is that if they were nice we'd have no problem doing those little extras. But they think they are entitled to have a slave, and it's just not happening. I would ignore those pencils for days, just because it's one small thing I can say No to.

[~Mi Vida Loca~RN, ASN, RN]

So I thought of one I was gonna post in my "Not today Satan, not today thread" but that can loosely (very loosely) fit in here. I promise this story is 100% true.

Patient comes into the ER via family. Very very sickly man, you can tell by looking at him that he is on his last few months maybe year. So getting him worked up and we move him to the trauma bays so we have more room, docs are suspecting that his aortic aneurysm might be starting to dissect and want a CT, but he is very unstable and so we are trying to stabilize him. Well he codes, his family is waiting in the family room. We code him for like a good 30 mins before the doctor calls time of death. Doctor and nurse leave to go tell the family. Me and a tech go to cover the body and clean up so the family can come in and say their goodbyes. X-Ray tech and a couple interns are still in the bays. As we are cleaning up I sh^t you not, this man sits up and looks around and says "what's going on". We all looked at each other like what in the world. I finally say "Hey Mr. %*$ what's going on? Let me get you a warm blanket. The Tech goes to get the doctor who has already told the family.

Comes back and I have him back on the monitor and all that and the doc comes in and looks him over and asks him some questions and says "Well let's get him to CT". The patient ended up passing away (again) the next day. The rest of his family had arrived from out of town later that night and all got to see him.

He pulled one over on us alright. Never had anything even close to that happening prior or since and had there not been MULTIPLE other people there I might have thought it was all in my head.

[caffeinatednurse, BSN, RN]

My short term rehab pts are the worse for this. Not a day goes by where I don't have to explain to a pt that no, I'm actually not here to spoon feed you pain pills. You actually do need to get up and work with therapy. Word spread quickly by phone of this horrible nurse ratchet. And then the family shows up and demands "special treatment" (i.e. more pain pills, better food, a nicer facility, etc.). My favorite moment is when my pt's families realize that their loved one has been pulling their leg the entire time and they come to apologize to me and the other staff for their behavior.

[Ruby Vee, BSN]

I had just come back to work after a lengthy medical leave for cancer discovered during the pre-op work-up for bilateral knee replacements. Naturally, cancer trumps knee replacements, so I came back to work in every bit as much pain and with no more mobility than when I left. (I thought I was doing a good job of hiding it, but subsequent remarks by my colleagues tell me that was a fantasy on my part.) On my second day back, a colleague told me she needed help ambulating a patient. Part of my job; I'll do it. But she seemed a bit giddy to me.

So Ana and I go into the patient's room with the portable monitor, oxygen tank, walker, etc. and she tells the patient "Come on Mr. Imawhiner, it's time to walk around the unit." Patient insists he doesn't need to walk, doesn't want to walk and Ana gives him the standard line about the importance of mobility post-op, and that his surgeon hadn't identified a reason that this would be an exception.

The patient whines, "I can't walk. I need a knee replacement."

Ana steps back to let me handle things, and right on cue, I blurted out "Well I need TWO knee replacements and if I can HELP you walk around the unit, you can do the walking."

He got out of bed and walked around the unit.

[Horseshoe, BSN, RN]

Sharpen my colored pencils! and buy me candy!

Fluff my pillow! Bend my straw!

I can't even. I'll be back after I calm down. The sad thing is that if they were nice we'd have no problem doing those little extras. But they think they are entitled to have a slave, and it's just not happening. I would ignore those pencils for days, just because it's one small thing I can say No to.

I would have a problem being asked to buy and stock a patient's candy dish on my own dime. I don't care how nicely they asked.