Five Habits By Patients that Annoy Nurses

Nurses draw much fulfillment from doing their work. Nonetheless, it is not a smooth ride all the time. Sometimes it requires much patience for a nurse to cope with frustrations from patients, their families and even colleagues who ordinarily should be respectful of the service. Unfortunate, these are issues that nurse plays down to avoid confrontation or assumption of rudeness.

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Some of the most frustrations you should expect to encounter frequently include:

1. Interference by Patient's Families

Most of the time, patients under the care of nurses cannot do much for themselves or at least, there is one thing that they cannot do without help from a nurse. The families of such patients spend much time by the bedside. From their point of view, they are there to offer support and mean well. However, nurses wish they could leave. It is frustrating for nurses when they cannot do their work without someone checking and questioning their every move. It is frustrating for the nurse when visitors stay long at the bedside as it intrudes on the privacy of the nurse/patient relationship when it is time to perform care related tasks.

2. Over-reaction to Conditions

When a patient has serious illness or injuries, the family members at their side are incredibly stressed both emotionally and mentally. Nurses can understand empathize with their situation but as a result of the stress, some of them overreact. They snap at nurses or become rude as they assume that their action is inadequate. Since you cannot engage them in a verbal confrontation and there is no time to explain everything, it is upon you to stay sober while doing the best to save the patient’s life as well as relieve pain.

3. Misunderstanding of Roles

There are patients who appreciate the role of nurses yet a few think of them as mere ‘helpers.’ It is painful for when someone demeans you without considering that you are educated professional who chose to be a caregiver and caretaker. Due to hygiene maintaining tasks such as cleaning bedpans or changing adult diapers, some patient of their families thinks of the as some sort of maids. You feel frustrated that these people seem not to understand that like a doctor, you spent years in school to earn a Bachelor’s and probably a Master’s degree.

4. Late Consultation

When you work in urgent care or emergency room, you cannot help it but feel angry at some patients who check into a hospital when suffering from serious conditions that a physician could have controlled if they came earlier. Some people are hesitant to consult a doctor only to rush to the hospital in a more critical condition such as a heart attack, stroke or damaged bones. As a caregiver, you have no option but to provide necessary care as you cannot quarrel them for taking too long to seek medical attention and worsening their illness or injury.

5. Exaggeration of Pain

In the course of your work, you must have death or at least seven patients who are joking and even laughing with their friends but suddenly act as if they are in much pain the moment you walk in. Pain is subjective and there is no way to truly verify the extent of pain that someone feels as people react differently. Such patients are attention seekers trying to get faster or more attention than necessary.

The above behaviors by patients leave nurses wishing they could complain and do something about but nature if their job holds them back. Struggling with someone who is out to give a hard time is part of nursing. Nonetheless, you should not let the irritating patients ruin your mood as there are much more who appreciate your work.