I'm still a human just like all the other nurses. Though I always blog about being compassionate to my patients, I admit that I sometimes get irritated with some of them. Some of the patients get on my nerves especially those who think we're just their slaves.
Patient 16's diagnosis is breast cancer with brain metastasis. It is very difficult to communicate with her so we usually just talk to her maid and his husband who are both grumpy. Her relatives are very demanding that they even asked us to give them a space in the station's refrigerator. Just so you know, that refrigerator in our station is used only for drugs that need to be kept in a cool place like antibiotics, insulin and heparin. They always complain about our poor services when they're actually the ones who are making a fuss. One time, one of the relatives told us that if they buzz (like an intercom) us, we should be in their room within or less than one minute. Wow. Just wow.
Anyway, about the patient, she is always in pain so we give her morphine solution every 4 hours. If she still feels pain, we can give her a rescue dose as long the last dose was administered more than 15 minutes. One thing I know about administering morphine is that you should get the blood pressure first. And because I don't want to put my patient into danger, I always check her blood pressure first. The other day, morphine was due at 12 noon. I went to the patient's room and she was sleeping. I told the husband that I need to take her blood pressure before giving the morphine. He told me that she is sleeping and that I should just administer the drug without taking the blood pressure. I insisted because I don't want to do harm. We discussed for a few minutes, took the blood pressure, gave the drug and left the room immediately.
The next day, the nurse on duty from night shift endorsed to us that we will only take the patient's blood pressure when she's awake. I went there at 8 am, the patient was still asleep. I told the husband that I will give the morphine without taking her blood pressure.
"Eh ikaw lang kase makulit. Lahat nurse payag wag BP. Ikaw pilit BP siya ((he's a Chinoy)), " he told me.
"Eh sir, sinusunod ko lang po kase yun mga responsibilities po namin sa pagbibigay ng morphine," I answered.
At 12 noon, the patient was still sleeping. I, again, gave the morphine without taking the blood pressure. At 2 pm, I went to their room to give their receipts then the husband made a comment again.
"Diba kayo may oras para BP. Umaga walang BP. Hapon walang BP. So buong araw wala siya BP," he said.
"Sir, diba sabi niyo wag namin siya i-BP pag tulog siya? Yun po sinabi niyo eh. Sinusunod ko lang po. Pero sige, bi-BP ko siya ngayon," I replied while trying to control my temper.
I was so irritated when I got out of the room. Why would they provide us vague instructions and blame us after? What the heck. Our head nurse and the rest of the staff nurses got irritated with them but of course, we all tried to keep our cool.
Another example is patient 17. She was literally described as maarte and demanding. She snobs the nurses, talks to them in a very disrespectful manner and thinks that we're maids. One time, her intravenous fluid was about to get empty. She buzzed us and shouted! "NURSE!!!! YUNG DEXTROSE KO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" Her voice was heard all over the floor. I and my senior nurse ran immediately to her room. She was shouting and crying. Even if we were annoyed, we tried to calm her. Thank God, she cooperated.
I know some people would say "Why would you get mad at your patients when it's their right to demand? They are paying for your services." My answer? Just because you are paying for our services, doesn't mean we deserve to be treated that way.
To be honest, when I am assigned to a very nice and accommodating patient, I always feel inspired in taking care of them and encouraged to do my best. It's like I always want to go to his/her room, and just talk to them all day as part of supportive nursing care. But when the patient is irritating, I limit my actions. I mean, I don't forget my nursing responsibilities but I just go there when I have to just to avoid getting out of my mood.
As a nurse, even if we hate or loathe some of inconsiderate, demanding and annoying patients (or their relatives), we still have to remain cool. We have to be patient with our patients. Even if I experienced being shouted at, I never shouted back. I told myself that I will never do that to a patient. So far, I have been a "good" nurse. Heh.
Lastly, as nurses, always remember that even though a part of you wants to push potasssium chloride to his/her IV line ((this will cause cardiac arrest leading to death, so this is a no-no!)), we have to widen our understanding and patience because it is still our job to save lives.
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Ughh, I totally understand kahit hindi ako nurse. I'm from customer service/technical support and feeling nila magician kami na kayang ayusin ang dsl connection nila. Ugh! Difference lang, walang mamamatay sa mga kausap ko unless ipa-plug ko sa outlet ay hairpin. HEHEHE >:) Hindi katulad sa inyo na very specific at maingat talaga.
ReplyDeleteBut, one thing I've learned kaya sila aggravated or frustrated kasi wala silang internet eh nagbabayad sila. Same thing as your patients/their family, hindi sila comfortable with their situation, takot din sila with death maybe. BUT, it's never an excuse to treat you bad. Iniisip ko lang yun or reasoning ko lang yun sa sarili ko para madagdagan pasensya ko. :) And yes, having someone na super understanding and appreciative ay inspiration din! :)
Like what a more veteran nurse I work with tell me --
ReplyDelete"Naku Baby Viel, yan talaga ang kalabaryo nating mga nurse. Tayo naghihirap alagaan sila, tapos basura ang trato satin."
Sometimes its hard to be patient with demanding patients talaga. One time I had a 28 year old female patient who came in for r/o cholecystitis. Her attending physician ordered a consult with the general surgeon who unfortunately was stuck with back to back surgeries the whole day. By the time I came for the night shift, her and her husband were already irritable and screaming at the nurses. Yung husband pa nya, looks like a mafia gang member and was cursing us nurses in front of the station. It so happens that I was the nurse assigned and because I knew they were going to be trouble I already told my charge nurse that I was going to call the surgeon and find out his status, at least find out kung asan na sya and if he was really coming in to assess the patient.
Yung patient naman the whole time is acting like one overgrown spoiled brat... whining/crying/throwing tantrums at her already pissed off husband. Finally two hours into my shift and no surgeon yet. The husband came up to me menacingly and demanded that they be seen by the surgeon right away. Kahit I was scared of this man, I firmly told him to go back inside the room and sit. Mind you, he's a good two feet taller than me. I went inside their room and told them calmly --
"Excuse me Sir, I understand that you and your wife have been waiting for eight hours to see the surgeon. If I were in the same position I would also be frustrated. But I don't think you should be rude to me, the person trying to help you. I hope you understand that as nurse I have already called the surgeon three times... I have done my end of the job and its the doctor's turn to do his. So if you can please be patient, maybe we can both solve this problem together."
Thankfully the surgeon came to our unit... and because he's actually one of the surgeons that are nice to the nurses, I told him about how the patient's husband was treating us. When he went inside the room to speak with them he said --
"I don't appreciate you being rude to the nurses. They have no fault in the fact that it was me who was late."
Naconsensya yata yung husband that when I came back to hang her IVPB eh he apologized.