Wrost day ever as a nurse

[amberdouglas]

I had the worst day I have ever had as a nurse today. The kind of day that makes you say "I wish I had chosen another profession." I swear I hate dope heads, why can't all my patients be old and nonverbal and have no family whatsoever?

[cougarnurse]

I like my old folks to have decent families.

What all happened with the users?

[hppygr8ful]

Originally Posted by amberdouglas

I had the worst day I have ever had as a nurse today. The kind of day that makes you say "I wish I had chosen another profession." I swear I hate dope heads, why can't all my patients be old and nonverbal and have no family whatsoever?

I sympathize with your day - I used to work acute psych and had my share of very bad days with addicts and psychotics including the day a patient gave me a black eye and that same day my dad died. I went to his funeral with a shiner.

Still the current population I work with developmentally disabled adults in group homes are mostly nonverbal and in general have no families. It's really kind of sad that they have no one - or if they have a relative who only wants to know if they are dead.

Every populatin has unique challenges
Yesturday I had to admit one of my guys a 68 Y/O MR with alzheimers , who is blind and deaf and as we brought him to the floor the nurses were loudly arguing about who was going to get stuck with the GOMER! I had to explain how innapropriate their comments were. All people even dope heads need to be treated with dignity - it was an ER doc and nurse who introduced me to recovery and changed the course of my life.

ok I'll get off my soapbox now!

Peace and Namaste

Hppy

[Kdog]

Hey Amber,
Sorry you had a lousy day.. today families are so demanding and rude that they ruin everything and
THEY DON"T CARE!!!!!!!!!!
So let it go, it's not worth it.:

[cougarnurse]

Ya know what? Maybe those PITA family members will get treated the same way when it's 'their time'.

WE can still make a difference, right?

[amberdouglas]

I'm not even going to get into the whole story, highlights of it though area patietn that AVERAGES 3 visits in the ER a week in for "chest pain," becasue these people know what to say to get what they want, screaming and crying for pain meds after the md wrote "no narcotics" on her, i give her toradol and she starts screaming and crying that she's allergic to toradol and that she's dying and calling all of her dope head family members to the hospital saying wer'e trying to kill her, and their all in every one's faces yelling and screaming that they are going to sue and threatening to "stab" people...on and on and on for HOURS...all the while the patient laying in the bed screaming that she's having an allergic reaction and that she's dying (btw, she never did have an allergic reaction), and screaming and SCREAMING...there is nothing I hate worse than a sorry dope head. oh yeah, and the family also said they are going to call the city council and the NAACP on me and the doc, becasue apparently this is a civil rights issue? yeah right.

[Ricu]

I've often found that extremes happen in a balanced fashion. Whenever I've had the patient, or family, or whole day from hell, it's followed by an experience that makes all the bad worthwhile. Amber, I hope this happens for you.

Keep looking,

R

[amberdouglas]

Your absolutly right, it does. The very next day I discharged a man I had been taking care of all week long who is mildly mentally retarded who told me how much he loves me and how I'm the best nurse ever, and I'm like an angel...he even gave me a big hug and cried. He told me I'm the first person who has treated him like a normal person...those kind of people DO make it worthwhile

[Ricu]

Originally Posted by amberdouglas

Your absolutly right, it does. The very next day I discharged a man I had been taking care of all week long who is mildly mentally retarded who told me how much he loves me and how I'm the best nurse ever, and I'm like an angel...he even gave me a big hug and cried. He told me I'm the first person who has treated him like a normal person...those kind of people DO make it worthwhile

What a great upper! I love to hear stories like that.

Thanks,

R