Patients have some crazy requests sometime

[MScott1851]

Disney Doll.. I understand what you were trying to say. Sometimes the family unconsciously makes it very difficult to care for the patient by being unfairly demanding or expecting to take priority over every other patient.

Amazing Grace, that is definitely the worst part of my job...I've had to go into a room and act like nothing was wrong while I was waiting on the PMD to come in and talk to the family, but knew that the beautiful child in the bed had acute leukemia. I've sat in the bathroom floor and cried with a 15 year old who had just had a postive pregnancy test and promised her that I wouldn't leave her while the doctor told her parents.

I've been a hysterical wreck all night and unable to sleep because of something that happened yesterday. The hospital I work at now doesn't encourage family members to be present during codes. I disagree wholeheartedly with that, and I hope this demonstrates why. Right before I was supposed to leave, and this adorable little old couple came in, the lady was having some shortness of breath. Her husband rode in the ambulance with her, and as soon as we got her in the room the clerk whisked him outside to get her registered. He said, "I never leave her alone while she's sick, can I come back in when I'm done?" I said, "Yeah, come on in as soon as you get her registered," but the other nurse and the doctor said, "No, he better wait in the family room while we get her settled." To make a long story short, and to save myself some more grief she arrested and DIED within 30 seconds after that. I've never seen anyone go so quickly, and it is haunting me that I was the last face she saw, not her husbands. She was sitting up in bed gasping for air, looking toward the sound of his voice as he left the room, and then she looked back straight ahead at me, and then she just was gone. Afterward, I sat with her husband and cried with him as he told me how they had never been apart more than two days since they had been married. Even in his incredible grief, he took the time to thank me for being there with her and for all I had done, and for sitting with him while he waited on his daughter. After they had left, my shift was over, and I went home and hugged my husband until I thought he was going to pop, thanking God I didn't have to stay and deal with anything else that day, because I don't think I could have handled it.

So sometimes it's not that we aren't sensitive to your needs, it's just that we've been an emotional punching bag for 12 hours and need a little TLC ourselves. I had such a horrible night last month that I actually cried because the lab was NICE to me! (and all nurses know that the lab is our mortal enemy! )

 

[aprilgail2]

Originally posted by Disneycrazymom
I want to say thanks for all the caring work that nurses do everyday. My DS was a premie and I spent 10 days on bedrest in the hospital, then he spent 4 weeks in the NICU. I honestly do not know how we could have made it thorough that difficult time without the nurses. They were so wonderful and caring. I will always be indebted for the way they helped us.

Actually the nurses in the NICU here were great too....I am not sure how it works bu everyone else but on the regular floor you get to actually see the nurse once a shift if you are lucky...all the work is done by numerous aides, none of them RN's....you get to see the RN's at medicine time, anything else is all done by aides, not well paid aides at that....they give the nurse so many rooms, its like one nurse for a whole ward so they are not able to do much for any one person.
One place where the nurses/aides drove me nuts was Sloan Kettering....my godson was about 2 at the time, his mom and I were switching off staying with him, she had to catch a train home for a dr appt with her litle baby and I had to catch a train in after working nights...well there was a gap of about 2 hours where he was on his own there (they kept them in a little crib with a big plastic top where they couldn't climb out. She infomred the desk that he was going to be on his own in there for a 2 hours until I could get there....I got there and his food tray was on the window sill ice cold, it came soon after she left....he was crying that he was hungry and no one ever came in to even see if he could reach his tray!

 

[6_Time_Momma]

Like it or not, you are there to serve the patients.

Wrong. We are there to help patient's get better or, in some cases, help them leave this world comfortably. Sometimes this means serving them. Other times it means making them do everything they can for themselves.....yes, even if it hurts.

As to making fun of a patient? Never done that. Laugh at something they have said or done? Yup. There is a difference. If you can't laugh as a nurse, you will never make it.

 

[4cruisin]

I stopped reading this thread after the 2nd page because I was disgusted with most of the nurses remarks. I have seen the best and worst of the nursing profession during my dmom and mother-in-laws illnesses and subsequent deaths. My only thought is "God help me if I become incapacitated".

My advice to nurses is if you do not like what you do, get the h**l out of it!

Obviously this is a very touchy subject for me so I will stop now before I get into trouble. Suffice to say, I have EXCELLENT reasons for feeling the way I do.

Nancy

BTW, flame away, I will stand my ground on this subject forever.

 

[wilderness01]

6 Time Momma

I couldn't have said it better myself!


M Scott

The Lab is EVERY Nurse's Mortal Enemy aren't they? I want to know, how did they get so much power?

I'm sorry about your story. It is many times emotionally draining to be a nurse but other times rewarding more than words could say.......from one nurse to another, you know what I mean!

 

[6_Time_Momma]

My advice to nurses is if you do not like what you do, get the h**l out of it!

Hmm........I don't think a single nurse on this thread has stated they don't like what they do? Could you point that out to me? Do you NEVER have a bad day at work? No customers that upset you? Honestly, why do people think that nurse's are inhuman and shouldn't have bad days or get upset with some patient's? I am pretty sure that once I graduated nursing school, they didn't check my humanity at the door.

 

[Disney Doll]

6_Time_Momma, there are folks, that no matter what you do for them as a nurse, it will never be enough. That is a hard learned lesson, as I am sure you know, being a nurse yourself. For some reason, nurses are held to a higher standard, expected to be superwomen and men, not expected to be human with all the human emotions that we all possess.

4cruisin, you are certainly entitled to your opinion, and I am sure it comes with very good reasons behind it. The unfortunate part is that your anger toward the profession, based upon your "excellent" reasons, will color every interaction with a nurse from here on in. Thus you will experience a self-fulfiiling prophecy.

BTW, God will help you if you become incapacitated, but so will a nurse...even with your poor opinion of the profession .

 

[MeanLaureen]

Hi guys - AZKathy - how'd ya know I was here!!

This thread certainly is a rollercoaster - it gets ugly it gets friendly it gets ugly it gets friendly... whoah

It's a great place for nurses to vent, patients to vent and everyone to laugh.

Lets keep it that way BUT can't we keep it friendly. If you guys can not act in a civil manner with each other then the thread will have to be closed!

I'm sure that there are people passionate about both sides - nurses and patients.

Nurses, I'm sure in your career you have unfortunately seen a coworker take less than fantastic care of a patient and can feel for them. Patients, I'm sure in your past in the hospital for yourself or a loved one you have had a nurse that made a tremendous difference in your life with their caring.

Can you guys not look at the stories and take them as they are? People venting and sharing stories. They are NOT talking about you. You are not the patient from hell and they are not that nurse from hell that treated aunt Tillie so horribly!

If you don't like a story then as the famous saying goes - HIT THE BACK BUTTON.

Disney Doll, Deluxe Disney Princess and anyone else disturbed by what one person may have said, please do not ruin this thread by taking the opportunity to argue back and forth with each other. I won't tolerate that. I'm sure those enjoying this thread would appreciate it. If you guys have a problem with each other, take it to PM's. Not on my board guys. Lauri "don't play that game."

Thank you for your cooperation - you now may resume your regularly scheduled laughing and posting.

 

[6_Time_Momma]

Sorry, Ma!!! I'm tired.....worked all night, so I'm probably a bit more testy than usual! Guess, I need to go to bed and "nurse" my wounds. *snicker*

 

[CourtasanSatine]

I'll ask my DBF tonight if he has anything to add story wise

 

[katerkat]

Not a nurse, but I know some nurses who got a kick out of me! I was born with a hernia and it was repaired when I was six. I had just learned to count pretty high, and Mom told the nurses, so when they put me under, the nurse told me to count to twenty. I got to eight, was out. Then, when I regained conciousness, apparently the first thing I said was "nine, ten, eleven..."

 

[firstmickey]

After hitting the back button several times, I have finally decided that I have to post!

I think education is a large part of a nurses job. Unfortunately, with the nursing shortage, poor staffing, higher acuity of patients, etc., the bedside nurse does not have a lot of time for education. She/He tries to mix it in with nursing care as she/he goes. Quite frankly, as an ICU nurse, you are more worried about if your patient is breathing, has a blood pressure and gets the meds that they need. Families sometimes perceive this as the nurse doesn't care. I always try to remember that my families are in an unfamiliar environment dealing with the illness of a loved one.
If you happen to walk in at 2 PM and see me laughing at the desk and having a cookie, please do not think that I am not caring for your loved one. Maybe an hour ago, my other patient was arresting and I was frantically trying to get him meds, follow 18 doctors orders shouted at me at one time, and not break down and cry myself. I probably did not eat that day so the cookie is necessary! lol Also, if you do not laugh, you will frequently cry.
Nurses are people, good and bad. Patients are people, good and bad. Families are people, good and bad.
Next time you think a nurse is not "providing you with good care" or not doing something you think she/he should do. Just ask: maybe there is a good reason why the nurse is doing that.
IE: to help make someone a little more independent so they can go home sooner, to protect patient safety, to help meet the needs of another patient, etc.

OK, I have been long winded, but here is just one amusing story.
When I worked in an surgical ICU caring for open heart patients, I had a patient on the ventilator who we were trying to extubate. He was very figidity and became more and more agitated. He was restrained to prevent himself from pulling out his breathing tube before he could breathe on his own. I gave him repeated reassurance and tried to make him comfy. He kept making these really big eyes at me (Kind of like deer in the headlights) and mouthing insults and swear words at me. He kept trying to kick me and pinch me. THis went on for hours until we could finally extubate him. As soon as the breathing tube came out and he could talk to me, he told me that he thought he was in a James Bond movie and that he was a spy. He thought I was an enemy agent trying to interrogate him. Patients perceptions become very distorted in an ICU!
The two of us had a good laugh about it afterwords!

 

[Disney Doll]

Lauri, you're right. I am not going to change negative perceptions, therefore I won't comment on them. I hope the others will do the same, but I can only speak for myself.

A nice nurse/patient story:
We cared for a gentleman on my floor for several months. It seemed he kept developing complications and made very slow, but steady, progress. When he first arrived to our unit, he had a somewhat negative view of nurses, having had a couple of previous bad experiences which colored his perception. In any event, after 7 months on our unit, he became a member of the family. We celebrated Thanksgiving, Christmas, his birthday, his wedding anniversary, and Easter together. When he left, we cried.

Fast forward to a couple of years later. His wife was hospitalized, he requested to have her be on the unit where "his girls" worked, and so she came. Unfortunately, she took a dramatic turn for the worse, and went to ICU. We visited her as much as possible, and he requested the supervisor of my unit be present with him when he and his family made the heart-wrenching decision to turn off the respirator.

A couple of weeks later, he sent roses to my unit, as a "thank you" to "his girls".

And that, my friends, is why I am a nurse.

 

[Planogirl]

Some of these stories are so touching and some are really funny. Please keep them coming!

By the way, thank you to all of the nurses and others in the medical profession for being there. I've run into a few losers and a zillion winners so I'm pretty satisfied.

 

[goodstarr]

I had a new mom who decided to breastfeed-but only on one side. Why? Because the other side was for her husband Hey, whatever floats your boat!

 

[CourtasanSatine]

don't forget home heath,DBf tells me stories of some of the people they help and some even ask him about me(they know he and I are seeing each other)

 

[froglady]

This is actually a funny story about a nurse...me.

I was working the night shift and one of my patients was an eldery man who had a history of "sundowning"; these are patients who function fairly well in the daytime, but become confused and disoriented at night.

He asked me if I could go upstairs and check on his wife. I said she was fine, and at home sleeping. He became more and more agitated, and started arguing with me about wanting to go upstairs to see his wife. I went back to the desk to see if he had anything ordered for agitation, and mentioned the problem to another nurse. She informed me that his wife had been admitted upstairs earlier that evening!

I checked upstairs, and found out his wife was still awake, so I put him in a wheelchair and took him up for a few minutes. He taught me something about jumping to conclusions.

 

[kidzmom3]

I am the evening supervisor for the acces reps in the ED at our local hospital (the women who work for finance and not nursing who enter your information into the computer for billing purposes). now you know, that people hate to talk to us and feel its a waste of their time. Even though if they fill out their paperwork with us correctly the first time, their chances of having claims denied lessens. But even though we are buisness suited professionals, that do not have anything to do with patient care we get asked for drinks, food, money for the machines, free taxi rides etc.. I respect all nurses, I see them every day, and the requests are outrageous. Its 5pm and a patient just came in for abdominal pain. Mom asks "can we get him a tray, hes starving? No mam, he has to wait until all his tests are back so we can find out whats wrong. If he needs surgery, food in the stomach is a danger. What kind of awful people are you. My son is hungry!!!" The mother who told me after her daughter sneezed on me. I can't ask her to turn her head away, or use a tissue. She doesn't feel well. The mom who asked me if she could leave her four children in the waiting room alone, while she runs to the local Mc Donalds because she "not the patient" was hungry. When I told her no, Her reply. This hospital has no compassion. We also do not have a baby sitting service. The man who yelled at me that he did not have to answer my questions because it was all "in the computer" only to find out they were from out of state and had never been at our hospital. "aren't you all connected???" Every hospital in the US, if only it were that easy.

 

[Pete's Mom]

I learned over the years that there are good nurses and bad nurses, but this can pretty much be said for any job description. The difference is that that where as a waiter can get by with giving shoddy service and you forget all about them, the same cannot be said for doctors and nurses. I have met a few that I will never forget.

I had a great team of nurses who assisted me in delivering Pete. I was a first time mom and scared to death. I was kind of goofy, apologizing profusely when my water broke and trying to help change the sheets, trying to mop up the floor, etc. because I felt guilty and didn't want to be a burden. The nurses were very understanding and kind of chuckled. I didn't take it as an insult, because they were laughing with me. I was a basket case.

However, I did have one particular nurse who came into the game later on. I told her that I wanted to try to have Pete without an epidural (I was going to try to limp by with the Phedinal (sp?) alone). She rolled her eyes at me and said "whatever". After 26 hours of induced labor, I gave in and requested the epidural. She chided me and said in a very condescending voice, "Are you sure?" "I thought you said you wanted to try it without the epidural?" "Not so tough now, are we?" "Maybe you need some more time and pain to think about it?" I'm sure she thought this was funny and so may some of you on this board, but I was not amused. I cannot explain how that made me feel. I was depending on her to help me, putting my complete faith and trust in her. I was crushed and started crying. I felt ashamed like I was BOTHERING the nurse.

My best friend (God love her), gave her THE LOOK and said, look, I think we REALLY need is another nurse, why don't you go clock out? She was gone in about 2 seconds!

I have to say the rest of my delivery team was wonderful. They really took care of me and I was very thankful to them and I TOLD THEM THIS!

THIS HAUNTS ME TO THIS DAY - My son was in the NICU for the first five days of his life. I could not hold him much as less take him home. It was the worst time of my life. Those of you who went through the same thing will know what I mean. He was all hooked up to wires, machines, IV's, tubes down his throat, buzzers going off left and right, I was terrified. I remember getting up in the middle of night at the hospital and sitting next to my son in the NICU just looking at him, praying that he would be okay. It was comforting to me to be there. However, along came a nurse who said to me, "look, why are you here? He doesn't even know you are here. You need to go back to your room, your nothing but a distraction to me right now." Being the mouse that I was, I slunk off to my hospital bed and cried all night feeling like I had done something wrong. I am sure she never gave another thought about how she made me feel, or what I was going through. In hindsight, I wish I would have raked her over the coals and told her how I felt and complained to the hospital but that is just how intimated I was at the time.

I think that in the case of health care workers, a lot of them become de-sensitized in their job and to the things and people they see day to day. Maybe they have to to get by, I don't know.

My advice to nurses would be to put yourself in our shoes, sans the medical experience.

Did anyone ever see the movie THE DOCTOR with William Hurt where he is a real harsh cold doctor and then finds out HE has cancer and has to go through the same rotten treatment he dished out for so long? EXCELLENT MOVIE!!

 

[Deb in IA]

Originally posted by goodstarr
I had a new mom who decided to breastfeed-but only on one side. Why? Because the other side was for her husband Hey, whatever floats your boat!

There are not too many husbands who would find the taste of breastmilk appealing . . .