This is an oh-so-common happening. I want to preface by saying that in the following I will not at all exaggerate the timing of the events. In true scientific nature I will report clean, unadulterated data.
I answered a call light today, and the patient was rather gruff sounding and needed her nurse "Urgently to get back in bed." Now, it's rather common for patients to be in a chair expanding their lungs for 2 minutes and requesting to get back in bed (and just asking for a nasty bout of pneumonia) so we learn to check with the nurse who has the patient about the situation before putting a patient back into bed for them. I hang the call light up, and immediately seek out the nurse who is taking care of the patient. Less than a minute later and I've found her and am describing what just happened and asked her what she'd like me to do. The nurse then partially smiled and told me about the patient's anxiety, and that she hasn't been up long and needed to stay longer. So, about another minute later (less than 2 minutes total from hanging up the call light) I was on the way to the patients room--which was conveniently next to the nurse's station.
I'm about 5 steps from the doorway to the room, I can see the patient at this time, and I watch her push her call button again and re-demand to see her nurse. Talk about a little trigger happy! I did as any good nurse would do, explained the reasoning for her to be in the chair and got her to agree to stay in it for "A bit longer" (always being vague in exactly how long that will be.)
As I walked away after the intervention I hear her AGAIN push the call button.
And patients wonder why we sometimes don't answer call lights. It's because we can't get to them thanks to all the other patients who have anxiety and cry wolf!!
Monday, September 17, 2007
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2 comments:
In my biz, I get the people who want something, get an answer that is rational and fully backed by fact, policy, and several laws of physics, but who assume that I'm lying to them, or too lazy, or that I can be bullied into giving another answer. Frequently this kind of person will go around me, or over my head, shopping for answers.
All this for some stupid computer thing that often means nothing to that person's daily life. But they get it stuck in their craw.
Thing is that if I was fighting, say, an insurance company over coverage, I'd want that person on my side.
I'm the kind of person who wants to get along. I can be just as annoying in the wrong situation.
I only know that people, when they're scared or tired or just plain miserable, act like jerks. They probably aren't actual jerks, but we're doing a good job of playing one.
My heart goes out to you.
Thank you again Rob for your thoughtful input!
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