Source: Reddit
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Friends, in this week’s episode of the podcast, I share with you even more AITA Reddit stories of nurses vs patients.
I know you’ve loved the last episode I did on this (and if you haven’t watched it yet, make sure to check it out!) so I’m sharing even crazier stories with you today.
Are you ready?
Let’s dive in!
Story #1: AITA for Snapping at a Hospital Nurse Because She Wouldn’t Smile?
“I am at the hospital with my mom who is getting surgery. When we were checking in (6AM) a nurse was helping us but she was being anything but [helpful]. She took the papers from us to check us in but didn’t say good morning and glared at me because I had coffee. She was short and curt when asking for information and didn’t smile or seem happy. My mom tried to make small talk and the nurse was like “huh? I couldn’t hear you over the scanner” all meanly. I finally said “ma’am, you need to learn to smile. We are patients and deserve to be treated kindly ” and she just looked at me and looked back at the computer and made swift movements against the keyboard. She then said “Have a wonderful day, SIR” very meanly and I snatched the papers out of her hand.
When we got to the waiting room my mom said I shouldn’t have said anything but I told her we can’t let mean people get away with it. Especially in customer service roles. I texted my wife what happened and she said I should have dropped it. Now I’m just questioning if I was out of line.
EDIT: Nursing IS customer service according to the internet. A google search leaves this top result: Nurses play an important customer service role for hospitals, doctors offices and other medical facilities. … They act as a liaisons between doctors and patients and leave lasting impressions. Providing excellent customer service to patients will increase customer satisfaction.”
Here is what the top comment said: “YTA. Corrector of all things female I’d bet.”
Another comment stated: “YTA – 1) She isn’t in customer service. Her job isn’t to make you happy. She is in healthcare. Her job is to keep people alive. 2) To the end, you don’t know if she was just in another room where they lost a patient. Would you want the nurse that helped your mom walking around happy and smiling if your mother just died moments before? 3) She doesn’t owe you or anyone on the planet a smile. She is entitled to control her facial muscles in any manner she sees fit.”
I am so happy to see the consensus is that the OP is absolutely the a**hole. This is such an inappropriate comment to make towards anybody, especially since we do not know what just happened prior to our current interaction. It is not our place to tell anybody to smile.
Excellent customer service is keeping me or my family members alive. Is it a bonus if the healthcare staff is friendly and has great bedside manners? Absolutely! But this OP literally admitted in the comments section that he would not have made this comment if the nurse was a male. The OP clearly does not know how stressful the nursing profession could be.
Story #2: AITA for Lying to a Patient and Not “Exceeding Expectations” as an RN?
“I (25F) am a registered nurse that’s also a new grad. I got my BSN and work in the same state that I got my education and license in, if that matters/is relevant. I work on a med-surg floor and really hate it for reasons that are worth their own Reddit post, but I try really hard to make sure my patients don’t pick up on that energy. I want to be vague with details about this particular patient; all you need to know is that the patient is in her mid-twenties like me and she’s going to be on the floor for a good minute because of some nasty leg injuries she has. She’ll make a full recovery and be fine, which is great.
She’s the only patient of mine that I have that I like, which I guess sounds harsh to non-healthcare workers, but I don’t care. So sometimes I go above and beyond for her to do things I would never do for the four other patients I have (as a disclaimer, you would never know I hated having you as a patient, if I felt that way. The patients that I’ve irrationally hated having are sometimes the same ones who bring back a gift basket or give me $100 grocery store gift cards to say thank you for the care I gave them).
It ended up last week that I worked three days in a row on day shift and those were the same three days that Poppy, my favorite charge RN, was also working. The patient that I really liked was really struggling to sleep because of her injuries, had no family coming to stay with her while she was in the hospital, no friends, nothing. I felt really bad for her. She was so agitated because she had nobody except for us, and couldn’t sleep well so I’m sure that added to her own frustrations. I paid my mom to go to Costco and get her this really nice, large heating blanket (after getting Poppy’s go-ahead to do this).
The next day I walked into this patient’s room and went, “Hey, [Jane] Doe. So we have a lot of extra supplies that we keep around for nurses, especially if they’re on nightshift. I found this heating blanket that’s unopened and new, want to try it out and see if it helps you sleep?” She said yeah and she ended up having a much better night. Poppy had helped me make sure the blanket covered everywhere that was safe for the blanket, heating wasn’t too bad for her, etc. So everything was safe, it wasn’t affecting charting/getting blood work, she was comfortable, etc. I couldn’t cover her legs because that would’ve contaminated her leg injuries and the blanket, but everywhere else she was snuggled up under it.
I got called into work yesterday to talk with one of the nursing supervisors for lying to the patient about where I got the blanket, being too familiar, etc. I stood my own ground because I feel like I was in the right and I wasn’t going to let the patient take home the blanket, but maybe I’m wrong.”
Here is what the top comment said: “I’m an RN who’s been qualified for 8 years and often works to a senior/charge nurse level and from my experience, if you hate your place of work that much, leave. Find something that you will enjoy, even if it’s just a change of scenery. If you don’t you will become an asshole because eventually you’re not gonna be able to hide the fact you don’t want to be there. It is good that you are trying to make your patient more comfortable but there is a fine line between improving patient care and being too familiar. Your charge nurse who was on duty at the time may have approved the blanket. However the blanket would have likely needed electrical safety testing done by the hospital and also could be a burn and infection control risk too as depending on the cleaning method may render the blanket single patient use only. Also depends how hot the blanket goes for the burn risk. Hence why the supervisors above her have gotten involved. You’re newly qualified, you have a lot to learn and it’s a balancing act of caring for our patients, being their advocate and improving their care whilst also biding by our guidelines and policies. The important thing is that you can justify your decisions, even if they’re not always the correct one. NAH”
I can see why this comment had the top upvotes. It had a therapeutic response and provided an explanation of why the actions taken may not be appropriate. However, the other comments all stated that the OP actually IS the a**hole. So this story actually gave mixed feedback!
Take a look at this other comment: “YTA. You need to follow the instructions of the head nurse. Your hospital clearly doesn’t have a supply of these blankets available for patients, so how will other patients, or their families, react when/if they find out Jane was given a blanket, but they’re told there aren’t any such blankets? Listen to the more experienced nurses, they’re trying to keep things running smoothly for everyone.”
The other YTA comments pretty much fall in line with this one and I would have to agree that this could get out of hand quickly.
I worked at this clinic where some dialysis chairs had a heating function and the older chair models did not. Patients literally argued with each other over this and some would even refuse to get treatment without the chair with the heating function. After that, it was such a relief to work at a clinic where none of the dialysis chairs had a heating function. I did not have a single patient at this clinic complain about the lack of heating function. See how quickly it can escalate when some patients get better treatments than others?
Story #3: AITA for Kicking Out a Patient’s Family Member?
“Hello, I have a patient who is a fresh open heart surgery patient, freshly extubated. We have some pretty strict rules here about having children in our unit, the minimum age being 12. The daughter of the patient just hadn’t been able to find a babysitter and had begged our higher management to let her five-year-old daughter in with her. I really do feel for her. She said she had recently started on some anti-anxiety meds because of the stress of her mom being in the hospital. And she’s juggling a high energy kiddo on top of that.
However, while updating the mom on the patient, her daughter was running all over the room and opening multiple drawers. It’s an ICU, we have heart carts for fresh post-ops so we have a lot of sharp objects. She ran to the bathroom, pulled the emergency cord. I asked the mom to perhaps hold her while we talk or if we could wait to update until her daughter is calmer because it genuinely seemed like a safety risk to me. She said her daughter would be fine and shortly after her daughter jumped directly on top of the patient in the bed. This patient had her ribs cracked open for surgery, had multiple chest tubes, and in the distress of having someone jump on top of her, she almost yanked out an IV out of her neck that was running several pressors keeping her BP up.
I won’t lie. I was very stressed. I hate confrontation but I sternly told her she needs to take her daughter out of the room and go home because she’s actively putting the patient in danger. I think my exact words “You need to take your daughter and get the h*ll out of this room and go home because she could have caused serious harm to the patient.” I know the cursing was unprofessional. But this could have easily turned into a very messy code.
Mom just started sobbing openly. She said this was the only chance she would get to see her mom this week and she needed a break from her kid. I learned later on that the house supervisor said that since my patient was a 1:1, I could help babysit the kid. I reiterated I cannot let her keep her child here. If someone can come to the hospital and watch her kid in the waiting room, she can stay, but under no circumstances is the child allowed to stay. She ended up leaving the hospital entirely.
House supervisor came by and said I was extremely out of line and unprofessional and that it was not my right to remove visitors. I felt awful already. Still do. But my charge nurse and other nurses were backing me up. AITA?”
Here is what the top comment said: “Not your right to remove visitors BUT it IS your right to protect your patients and this visitor put your patient at risk. NTA”
Another commenter stated: “I agree. It was kind of the hospital to try and help the woman visit her mother. But the child LITERALLY could have killed the patient by jumping on the bed, not to mention hurt herself on medical equipment, contaminate equipment used for delicate post-op patients and at the least distract the full team by calling the code bell. All mom had to do was sit down and hold the squirming kid tight; sure that’s no fun but then she could have gotten the update.”
I agree with these commenters that the OP is absolutely NOT the a**hole. The priority of the nurse is the patient, not to babysit some child.
As a nurse, I did not sign up to be a babysitter. The mom really should’ve held onto the kid if the kid is just running around. My own 4-year-old nephew knows better than to be running around like that. It’s crazy for ANYONE to think that a nurse can do her job AND babysit at the same time. This nurse needs to document and not feel in the wrong.
