I’m curious about how you, being a nurse, would prefer that the patient behave in situations like this? There don’t seem to be great options—is there a least-bad attitude?
...I feel like a lot of that boils down to stuff out of patients’ control, like “don’t be confused or delirious.” Assuming that my patient is totally with it and can reasonably be expected to try to behave politely, I prefer that patients tell me right away when they need something, listen to my explanation of what I’m going to do about it and when I’ll be able to do it, or why I can’t do anything about it, and then accept that and not keep bringing up the same complaint repeatedly unless it gets worse. I have had patients who rang the call bell every 5 minutes for hours to tell me that they were thirsty, when I’d already explained that I couldn’t give them anything by mouth, or that their biggest concern was being thirsty but I was more concerned that their heart rate was 180 and I really really needed to deal with that first.
I obviously prefer it when patient’s aren’t embarrassed and I can joke around with them and chat about their grandkids while cleaning their poop. But emotional reactions aren’t under most people’s control either, so it’s not a reasonable thing to ask.
I’m curious about how you, being a nurse, would prefer that the patient behave in situations like this? There don’t seem to be great options—is there a least-bad attitude?
...I feel like a lot of that boils down to stuff out of patients’ control, like “don’t be confused or delirious.” Assuming that my patient is totally with it and can reasonably be expected to try to behave politely, I prefer that patients tell me right away when they need something, listen to my explanation of what I’m going to do about it and when I’ll be able to do it, or why I can’t do anything about it, and then accept that and not keep bringing up the same complaint repeatedly unless it gets worse. I have had patients who rang the call bell every 5 minutes for hours to tell me that they were thirsty, when I’d already explained that I couldn’t give them anything by mouth, or that their biggest concern was being thirsty but I was more concerned that their heart rate was 180 and I really really needed to deal with that first.
I obviously prefer it when patient’s aren’t embarrassed and I can joke around with them and chat about their grandkids while cleaning their poop. But emotional reactions aren’t under most people’s control either, so it’s not a reasonable thing to ask.