A few nights ago, I had this patient that seemed determined to push my buttons all night long. The first thing I noticed when I went into introduce myself was that he did not treat his girlfriend very well at all. She was trying to help and all he would do was complain and yell at her that “she didn’t know what she was doing and how could anyone be so stupid”! Well that should have been my first clue as to how my night was going to go…
He set in on me before I could even finish my sentence of explaining who I was. “I’m in pain and I want my meds right now…why did you come in here without my pain meds!!!! What kind of nurse are you?!!!!” Goodness was I livid…but of course I smiled and went and got his pain meds (and they weren’t even laced with arsenic lol). After that he had me running all night long. If it wasn’t the pain meds, it was dressing changes, the television wasn’t working correctly, he wanted to eat and had no regard for his diet, and of course the big issue…he was not happy he was on a 1800mL fluid restriction and of course he wanted something to drink NOW!!!!
I honestly have to say…by about an hour into my shift I was ready to pulverize the guy…Let me tell you it was the longest night of my career because of course he was too busy making demands to get any sleep. I was so glad to be able to leave in the morning, only to return the next night to find that this patient was still there and assigned to me…I wasn’t sure I could do two nights in a row. The second night was just as bad as the first night...I have never been more tempted to neglect a patient and walk away but I smiled and pushed through it. And I learned that for some people I just need to tell them "Welcome to the Hilton".
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