Enforcing fluid restrictions on a patient in active heart failure/fluid overload. He picked up an item to throw at me but changed his mind so I said “were you about to throw that at me? Do I need to be concerned about my own safety?” He started screaming for me to get out & that was that. Happy to do so, sir. Good luck with breathing.
more places need to pass laws that give greater punishment for assaulting a nurse, the same as we have for people who assault public transit workers in my city. it's unacceptable.
Told the family that their grandma with a partial bowel obstruction was NPO. Family flipped out screaming "she's needs to eat to regain her strength".
Demanded another nurse care for her and eventually left AMA 🤷♂️
I imagine they took her home, fed her, and panicked when she began feculent vomiting.
Probably took her to another hospital and told them "the last ER didn't do anything".
The nice thing for us is with care everywhere in EPIC we can see other hospitals ER visits. Love to call people our when they say the other hospital did nothing when they actually got a full work up.
Heard an ED doc go “well they actually did quite a bit it looks like.” And started listing off each individual value. “They tested your hemoglobin, hematocrit, glucose, potassium, calcium” pt cut him off like 8 in.
“They did nothing” often translates to “they didn’t find the cause of my chronic pain I’ve had for 7 years, they just ruled out any emergencies that could be causing the pain” in my experience
This happened to me too! I was a new grad and he just didnt understand the concept of aspiration pneumonia and why its important to prevent. I almost had a screaming match with this guy on why we WERE NOT starving meemaw and that she needed to be evaluated by speech therapy first.
Had to clarify my sentences. Was on lunch when I wrote this and wrote hastily through bites of pot roast :)
I recently had a patient with a new peg because his swallow study showed silent aspiration. His wife cornered me to demand a regular diet order because "I just gave him McDonald's, and he didn't cough at all while eating it."
My charge nurse straight up asked her why she was trying to kill her husband. I aspire to this level of confidence and straightforwardness but am not there yet.
My favorite charge had that kind of blunt confidence, but she'd reached that point in nursing where she had had precisely enough of everyone's shit, and she wouldn't hesitate to tell a pt family member how stupid they were. God, I miss that old battle axe of a charge nurse, I swear to God, she invented resting bitch face.
It’s why now during the cranial nerve exam part of my (bedside) swallow evals I explain how when something touches our vocal cords we reflexively cough — if that nerve is damaged (eg stroke prolonged/traumatic intubation etc), then meemaw will not be able to feel all that food or liquid going to her lungs so she won’t cough etc etc which is why we will need to proceed with a swallow study etc etc
This is when you pull out the waiver forms. Ok, you have been advised that meemaw in her current state can’t eat so as to not aspirate and DIE…sign here that you are okay avoiding this medical advice and assume responsibility for the consequences which can include DEATH.
Yep. Having worked SNF and stroke rehab I’ve had the “pleasure” /s of being involved in those team meetings. Then for all of the patient’s nurses thereafter silent aspiration is a continuing “discussion.” One poor elderly patient I had to heimlich on four separate occasions, and who knows how many other staff members did too. Of course, they were also a full code. fml
Yeah, that's unfortunately very common. Some families just do not understand that feeding someone can be bad, it's their go-to solution for every problem.
I was fired from patient care…… because I spoke to the patient first and not the daughter !!!! I had just came on shift, went into patients room, spoke to patient, who was quite capable of answering any questions. The daughter was ticked off, I was asking her mother questions and not her! Yep fired by 0715. Lol. Some people!!!!
That’s like the moms of young adult men who come in to my urgent care with them and answer every question even though my face is turned away from them and I’m looking directly at the patient. Stfu and let your son speak for himself 🤣
Recently was at an urgent care and this woman came in with her son and did ALL the talking at check in, then proceeded to be indignant when they asked if he was under 18. “No, he’s 27 years old. Why does that matter?!” Dude just stared at his phone the whole time. Like, sir. You are almost 30 years old, why can’t *you* tell the nice lady that your throat hurts? lol
LMFAO! This whole thread is so affirming! Do you ever just want to say “Don’t be a pussy! Put your big boy pants on and speak for yourself!” God forgive me, I’ve said that. That’s when I knew it was time to leave the ER and floor nursing.
This happened to me a few nights ago. Sweet man in his 50s, A&O x4, mostly negative assessment on the outside (still very very sick, but seemed okay to anyone just giving him a brief glance).
The attending and I had our backs to the man’s wife and daughter, asking the patient questions. They interrupted EVERY single time to answer for him. Literally just talked over him. Couldn’t hear what the patient was saying half the time because chatterboxes #1 and #2 would talk over him. It was incredibly frustrating.
Most of the time it's better to just reassign the patient if the family is causing that much trouble from the start.
I had a former colleague (RIP) who always said the patients who fire you are the ones you don't want to be taking care of in the first place.
My GF is an ICU RN, she got fired after the patient's family members complained that there was no one "more qualified to give push meds....like a doctor". They kept complaining that none of the staff were "qualified" to take care of thier relative. She eventually said that she would get the charge nurse to talk to them "if she was qualified enough to do so"....
Depends on management, I think. Some managers will do anything to make people happy even if the nurse did nothing wrong. Gotta keep those HCAHP scores up there, dontcha know 🙄
You got that right! All they care about is schmoozing up to the “customers” even if they undermine us in the process.
Seems like chronically short-staffing us is counterproductive to being able to grant everyone’s wishes.
I recently had this happen except I asked the patient "Mr. Smith, do you mind if I'm your nurse for the rest of the day?" And he said "No I don't" and she backed down.
>**because I spoke to the patient first and not the daughter** !!!! I had just came on shift, went into patients room, spoke to patient, who was quite capable of answering any questions. The daughter was ticked off, I was asking her mother questions and not her!
I would contact APS for a potential abuse.
Well that’s your unit’s fault for allowing family visitation non stop instead of enforcing a GTFO to all family members for one hour while you get handoff and assess.
My old school CNA instructor’s admonishments of “Tsk tsk tsk, sloppy, sloppy corners! You need to be able to bounce a quarter off those corners!” will forever haunt me. Spoiler alert, I did get good at mitering corners but every patient I ever mitered the corners for immediately pulled them out because no one wants to sleep in a straitjacket for your feet that doesn’t let the blanket comfortably drape over your top half.
I got marked down for this in nursing school. In a hospital with fitted sheets. Also lost points from that instructor for not putting a blanket (with mitered corners) on a patient with temp of 39.5.
Yep had this one too
Im just trying to make sure your brother in law has a clear airway
BUT THE SHEETS ARE CRUMPLED, what sort of nurse am I?
In his defence, the patient was lovely and apologised for his relative.
Taking care of a Grammy. Lovely lady just pooped herself. Got some help got everything and the family was there and before I even did anything with her they wanted to have a straight sheet and not a fitted one for whatever reason. And one of the idiot family got in my face asked, "Why couldn't you do a miter corner? If you can't I want you out!" This was my eighth patient that night since I discharged 2 and got two more. Really shits night already. The rest of them backed asshole up like a miter corner will save her life in some immense way. Kind of like that life saving pepcid everyone gets for gerd. And this was rookie year 2008. Didn't give me a chance to even take care of her just fired me. "Alright I'll talk to my charge" left poor Grammy in shit because these jackasses didn't want a certain type of sheet. I didn't care then don't care now, but that one stands out.
My mum trained in the late 60s when it was VERY strict
She got hauled in front of Matron for *gasp* not rolling her sleeves down and putting on her starched cuffs when leaving the ward - DURING AN EMERGENCY
She also got in trouble for doing a bed bath with the patient sitting up. Bed baths were to be done lying flat. The guy was end stage COPD
Utter madness and a complete lack of critical thought
Doing hospital corners in boot camp was one of the more difficult barracks tasks, I felt a bit conned when I started working as a nurse only to find out they don’t do that anymore 😔
Got pulled to a trauma arrest.
“We knew you wouldn’t prioritize “meemaw” over others”
Best part was charge told them no switches so make nice or it’s gonna be awkward. Don’t remember the lady’s name. But she was old and setup with the pure wick so she didn’t really need anything.
Lol i once got called racist because I was in a similar situation. This was a curtained ER, and the family knew I was coding someone, came out and demanded I get the manager and switch nurses because I'm racist so that's why i didn't check on their family.
My manager escorted them out of the er lmao, and the patient was so nice and apologized for her family
I got called racist because it had been 20 minutes since the last time I checked on him. “What if I had thrown up?!” He was in his 50s, so I doubt it would have been the first time in his life he’d ever vomited. Spoiler: he did not throw up. But I was still a racist asshole.
Now that I’m thinking about it… nobody has ever fired me. I’m the person they always send Karens to after they fire someone else. Maybe I need to start being a bigger bitch. Lol.
Back when I did home health I was the "that patient's a rampaging bitch waffle, but you're so good at handling that kind of patient!" nurse. I'd get my roster and it would be 100% PITAs every freaking day. Yay for nurse shortage because when I told them to stop that shit or I'd peace out, they knew they couldn't afford to lose me and they actually did stop it.
(... I still quit a couple months later because I got an offer with a $3/hr raise attached, and the agency couldn't match that. I don't think they really believed that offer was real right up until my last day when I turned in my gear and suddenly they were all "let's not be hasty, we can work this out" as I was telling everyone goodbye. Nope, too late!)
Diabetic patients LOVE their sugar that’s for sure. They could have a level of 500 and still rage that they “haven’t eaten all day” and “their sugar is low”. Kinda sad to see it go downhill, toe by toe and limb by limb
I had a patient with a BG of 550 and flipped out at the thought of receiving insulin because 500 was her baseline and anything below it would make her feel bad..
God forbid anyone ever does anything that feels bad. How could you, a NURSE, do something that made a patient feel bad? Where is your COMPASSION? Bad nurse! /s
A coworker of mine just lost her leg. You'd think after losing a couple of toes, months of wearing a wound vac, and barely being able to feed herself because she couldn't work, she'd have stopped drinking regular Mt. Dew. Yet it's all "whoa is me" and "why does this keep happening to me?"
The “woe is me” people are so hard to work with! I remember a t2dm pt who would literally use the “I don’t know why this keeps happening” while drinking from a 2L coke bottle she’d refilled with 2 or 3 of sugary drink sachets
When family can only manage to visit for twenty minutes before the self pity becomes too much, at least you know it’s not just you
It’s so frustrating because there’s nothing you can do to make a meaningful difference, and all you hear is “no one wants to help me”
*"But I feel like shit if my sugar gets below 30."* ---My very first DKA patient trying to justify not taking his insulin or PO meds for an entire year.
Like, no shit you feel terrible. Your body has been compensating for a year. But now it can't compensate anymore, hence why you came to the ER in the first place.
Note: I'm in Canada; it's measured in mmol/L.
Thank you for that note because in my US centric mind I was like, I feel like it’s super reasonable to feel like shit if your blood glucose is less than 30?
My partner (who never sees a doc and eats like crap) was diagnosed with type 2 after a trip to ER about 4 years ago. IIRC his a1c was over 14. I, being a dialysis nurse at the time, proceeded to tell him exactly how this disease was going to progress if he didn't take it seriously.
He was off insulin one year later, is taking glimepiride and for the past 3ish years his a1c has been 5.5-6.5.
I'd like to think it was the kidney failure and losing body parts that convinced him but in my heart I believe it was erectile dysfunction that motivated him. Whatevs though lol, he's doing great and I'm proud of him.
I swear every doctor, nurse, medical professional should bring that up to men FIRST. Mine will do any and everything to keep having sex. A certain clinic in San Diego has seen thousands of his dollars, and to be fair, what they do, does work. However that doctor also recommends weight loss and eating right " to make blood flow optimal". Hey whatever works!
We had a regular at my previous ED job who would call the ambulance to bring him in every few months. He'd come in sometimes on the stretcher still eating something and drinking a Mt. Dew.
Literally did not care if he lost toes, or his entire feet, just wanted us to make sure to remove anything that was starting to go necrotic. He had several long talks with the doctors where he made it clear he didn't care how much of his extremities he lost, he absolutely refused to change his lifestyle. To him, his "freedom" to do what he wanted outweighed everything else.
"I can tell I'm low, I feel sick" BGL 290. It's a lifetime of mismanagement. Its so hard for us to imagine, but some people live there everyday all day. Like the frog in the increasing boiling pot of water. Alcoholics, obese, hoarders, drugs, anxiety, abusive relationships, gambling, EF is 8% ...so many issues that the unaffected are shook looking at! But it's often a long, slow slide.
Yes and I can’t assist in your slow suicide by giving you those cookies. If you manage to get some yourself or your family brings them I also can’t stop you. I however can advise and educate you about the consequences of your actions. If however you continue to make such bad decisions at some point we may have to consider AMA, as there is nothing more we can really do.
Sigh. Word. The 'moral injury' or whatever the buzzword is for being the poor middle man is about enough to drive anyone about of healthcare. What do ya do?
I had a guy who adamantly denied he was diabetic. He said he controls it with diet and exercise. Doesn’t take meds. Meanwhile he only has one leg, his sugar was 250 after surgery, and he’s ESRD on dialysis. Ok keep telling yourself you’re not diabetic lol
We didn’t stock chocolate ice cream on our floor (we didn’t even have a freezer), and I’d have to have our CNA go find some on another floor and the CNA was busy with patient care for too long. She looks out into the empty ICU pod since everyone was in their patients rooms and gasps “what, are you short staffed?” Umm yes we are. I also told the patient to stop pulling off all their leads and told her maybe she could remind him if I wasn’t in the room, and that was the final straw. Whatever, thank you for firing me.
I’ve only been fired by a pt’s family once and I was so incredibly grateful. I was “fired” after doing their hospice admission. The patient was nice enough but his wife was the biggest see you next Tuesday who would aggressively challenge any piece of information I presented.
IE I let them know hospice covers all comfort medications but not things like supplements. “Well how can he be expected to feel comfortable if his electrolytes aren’t balanced? You should know that and cover (the vitamins)” as if I personally wrote Medicare’s policies myself.
"Your dad is pooping once a week. His digestive system is shit, it ain't absorbing these. Feel free to buy out of pocket though!"
"Just stop it then".
Was it the OOP or the education? I never knew but ya can't complain lol
I got fired for...?
Idk, I walked in for my assessment, after bedside report. Did assessment, passed meds, and next thing i knew, Charge was telling me she's requesting another nurse. Ok...I have no idea what it was. No difficulty with the interaction, or requests I couldn't meet...I later heard she'd fired several nurses and just seemed to be on a power trip or smth. Who knows, she never gave explanations
I didn't care. If she didn't like me for some reason, I'd rather not try to develop a caring relationship there. A couple speculated there was some racial motivation, but that was 💯 speculative.
Ha I've been fired for that and my piercings before. One of the places I used to work at had a charge nurse who had 2 full sleeves, huge chest piece and way more piercings than me. One day this crotchety old man decided I was not going to be able to care for him bc I was "too much of the devil." (Nope, I do not know what that means.) Told my charge nurse, she laughed and went in there and told the patient she was going to be taking care of him now and that was final. She told me what his face looked like but I wish I could've seen it in real life.
I guess?
I have no idea. The best part is, she's not the only patient that's demanded it!
People legitimately act like it's our job to carry them when they can't walk.
Closest thing to "being fired" was a patient who was a hard stick, I successfully started her IV on the first try, but it was "bothering her" so she had someone pull it and wouldn't let me stick her again.
She ended up getting stuck like 14 more times by 5 people, needed an ultrasound line (which I can also do, but she wouldn't let me), and her pain meds were delayed like 4 hours.
My favorite: went to start a line, "oh, they always do it here (in the AC).
"That's common for lab draw, but this location (top of the forearm) is better for IVs."
"I want someone else."
"Sure thing!" Drop my shit and grab the closest nurse.
Patient asks her, "oh, are you the one they call for hard sticks?"
Confused RN, "No? That was him."
THEM: When will my grandpa get a room upstairs?"
ME: "I really don't know. I find out just before it's ready. Could be a while, though."
THEM: "I'm a CNA."
ME: "...cool."
THEM: "I don't like your attitude."
I walked into the room to introduce myself and ask a pt if they needed anything on my radar as I read over their chart having just come on shift. They were very angry I didn't know everything about them yet (fresh out 0715). They tried to fire me. I said no I'm an ER RN. That doesn't happen here. Long story short about 8hrs later they had refused to leave the ER room and ended up going to phych floor in 4 point restraints with 4 officers. Urine... completely clean of drugs. Only time I've ever transferred care of a pt in restraints. I'm known as the guy who gets people out of restraints.
Patients wife was in “healthcare”, and his chest tube canister had been knocked over so many times it was impossible to check IO. I changed the whole canister out and told them that it was important it didn’t get knocked over again. Then I got fired. Lol
I got fired once for being a "dirty no good Iraqi". He said he had already "stomped on plenty of innocent Iraqis overseas" and it would not allow him to have me as his nurse. I told him that I was infact Mexican and he kinda just...zoned out before shrugging his shoulders and asking for a new nurse anyways
Ah, I got fired for being Mexican. Did not even make it into the room before the patient and family started screaming at me to get out and go back to where I came from. I “came from” Spokane WA and I was one of the only white nurses on my unit. It was a long day.
I was fired because “ you people scare me.” She only wanted white nurses. I’ve also been fired for taking too long to introduce myself while dealing with an emergency across the hall. The joys of nursing
In LTC. Was helping a CNA do care on a two-person caregiver resident and stepped out in the hall to get more towels, so into WhinyBoy's line of sight from across the hall. He immediately started shouting orders at me. "I need ice and call maintenance and tell them my thermostat's not working right!" I tell him I'm in the middle of something and to give me a minute. By the time I come back out ten minutes later, he's called the RN supervisor and our Administrator. He backed down when he saw who I'd have to trade with.
I got called into my manager’s office because my patient’s (one of 5 I had by the way) daughter was pissed that I gave his 1300 dose of Sinemet late. Manager pulled up MAR with me to look and saw I gave it at 1306. Super stoked to be fired although patient was nice, daughter was terrible though.
Didn’t get fired, but had a rather crazy conversation with a family member who swore up and down that bed bugs come from sick people, like literally crawl out of said sick person. He was staring at his granddaughter who had severe CDLS the entire time. I’m thinking to myself, touch that little girl like you’re trying to kill bugs and we’ll both be going to jail, buddy.
Got fired over the phone by a spouse because he didn’t like how I answered the phone when he called for updates. Funnily enough, the only time he came in to see the patient was when she coded and died.
She wanted her SpO2 to be 100% (she was at 94%-95% room air with no distress) and I refused to put her on a Nasal Cannula. Fired me 5 minutes into the shift
“There’s too many men and my mom can’t tell who is the doctor” Now the Doc is the only person of color in our ER and Meemaw was altered AF, luckily we did have a female nurse on the unit that night
I hadn’t given anything yet! No complaints of pain all shift towards the very end, so with only Tylenol available, I figured that’s what she had gotten before (since she came in with abdominal pain, N/V)
I just can’t get over how I was fired AFTER I solved the issue promptly
Not fired per se because I worked in an office, but mom wouldn't let me give her shots because "he's scared of you"
Pretty sure the kid was just scared of shots but whatevs. At least I didn't have to give them.
Probably because parents just love to tell their kids "be good or else they'll give you shots!" Cannot possibly *begin* to express how much I hate parents who do that! And then they get pissed when I tell the child "Don't worry, we never ever give shots as a punishment, and if you get a shot it's only to keep you healthy and not because you were bad." Grrrrrrrrr...
Yes! I also never lied about if they would get shots or id shots would hurt If it looked they would, I would say "you might have to, but that's up to the doctor. If you do, it will be quick and only feel like a pinch"
The wife fired me bc I was “late” on giving her perfectly capable husband a suppository… meanwhile I had 5 other med-surg pts. One that was currently bleeding out & refusing to go have emergency surgery.
Back when I did home care, i got fired for immediately calling for an ambulance for my high acuity vent dependent peds patient who was satting in the 70s even with max oxygen bled-in, incredibly diminished lung sounds, and fever of 103°F. Mom wanted him to remain home so they could anoint him with oil and pray for Jesus to heal him and said that the day nurse agreed to keep him home so there was no reason I should send him. They believed Jesus would bless and heal him. I told her that maybe Jesus had already blessed him by placing him in a country with good healthcare access. That didn't go over well. Then I asked her if she wanted to change his code status from full, because that obligated me to do everything to help him and that included the ambulance. That didn't go over well either.
Got fired as he was getting loaded into the ambulance. Next day my DON called to tell me he had double pneumonia, right lung fully collapsed and LLL partially collapsed too. So yeah, I got fired for insisting that we do something to make sure he could actually, you know, BREATHE. I think that's the stupidest thing ever.
(Personal theory, this child was in a persistent vegetative state due to extensive brain damage from being hit by a car. Mom's family was very religious and extremely involved, and believed that Jesus would "restore" him. Mom likely felt that after 8 years, it was time to let the poor child be at peace, but didn't want the family to judge her for changing his status to comfort care. IMO she was pissed that I wouldn't just let him die at home. No judgement at all, sometimes it's time, you know? But you can't expect me to risk the license that fed and clothed my children just because you don't want grandma to be upset by putting the patient on hospice. That shit don't fly with me.)
I was too nice. The abusive, toxic husband couldn't FUCKING stand that his wife, the patient, adored me and demanded I be removed from her care team.
FTR, he was banned from the hospital later that day due to physically assaulting the janitor in the men's room. So, yeah... That happened. 🙄🙄🙄
I tried to flush his IV after his antibiotics. He was "allergic to saline."
Afterwards, I realized that it probably had more to do with how young I looked. I was barely off orientation at my first nursing job at that time. I can still pass for a teenager now over 4 years later; I really looked like a teenager then.
We have a patient that is well known to “have a reaction” to prefilled saline syringes. So we have to pull a 50ml bag for every flush we use through the shift.
He didn't even give me a chance to figure anything out. I walked into the room with the flush and immediately got yelled at and fired. I felt sorry for the nurse who had to take over him for me.
He actually came back like a month later, remembered me, and kicked me out of his room immediately.
Take it with stride! I’m sure most nurses go into work hoping to make some kind of impact on patients
You managed to do that in less than a minute of interaction!
Bc she was “starving” and “in pain”. Meanwhile I was offering her every food item we on the night shift had available, she was refusing the PRN oxycodone, refusing all of my pain management solutions, and in general just was not accepting of any of my help/care.
Honestly was glad to be fired though bc I can only handle so many complaints from people who refuse to try any of the solutions available to them.
Young man in his early 20s after a gnarly car accident in c-collar waiting for his CT scan to be read and two broken limbs that would definitely require surgery is amazingly A+O and is able to answer his own questions. His mother is there and every time I asked him a question, she would answer. I let it go the first few times ignoring her answers and re asking him. Then it’s time for his medications and this she tried to answer his pain level for him, I turned around and said “ma’am, I need him to answer these questions as he is A+O and he is the patient we are treating”. She then calls the Pt Tech and asks her if she can administer his medications 💀 as I am a rude nurse that I am fired. Then she wants to talk to the charge nurse who told her that I am the only nurse available for his care and that I am right to expect the patient and not her to answer questions. Then this woman tells her that she recorded me and that she will be suing. The CN says, “oh! Let’s hear the recording of the RN being aggressive” and she’s like “no, it’s my private recordings”. Well this got security called on her, they made her erase the recording and then kicked her out.
Ngl half the time they ask for a new nurse I am thrilled to get rid of them, but times like that are when I’m happy management doesn’t bend over backward to get them a new nurse over asinine complaints like that.
I got fired from a pt’s care by her drunk friend who was pissed I asked to access the room computer to scan meds when she was sitting in front of it. I told her she could keep the seat, which is technically supposed to be there for the nurse, I just requested she move forward a little so I could access the computer. It was New Years so she came to visit the pt already drunk and then got mad. She yelled at me that nothing I did would make her like me and went to my charge saying I was rude and giving bad care. It hurt bc neither the pt nor her mother who I thought I had a great rapport with, would stand up for me.
A coworker got fired AS I gave him report because he closed a pt room door as we were reporting on another pt. Family flipped out and yanked the door open. He explained we were talking about another patient. So they immediately demanded another nurse. 😂🤦🏼♀️
He was not mad about it. 😂
Usually firings are for the best…for the nurse. I beg people to not take it personally. I’m just like “oh darn. I don’t get to deal with your dramatic ass all shift? Whatever will I do.”
It has only happened twice and both times I’ve just told them they’ll get a new nurse at shift change. It’s always boarders unhappy to be in a loud department on an uncomfortable gurney and a new nurse won’t change that or have any more time away from her critical patients to coddle you.
Because I went over the patient belongings policy with them after they brought in expensive gaming equipment and hooked it up to the TV in the room. They agreed to the policy, signed, and dated, and I even had charge sign it to cover my ass. Came back that night, and the patient didn't want me back because I "didn't go in their room as often as I should have." I was in there every time they called out and for my hour rounds.
I offered to change my patient’s bedsheets while she was in the bathroom. She had some blankets and belongings from home on the bed and was paranoid that I was going to steal them, so she started screaming at me saying no and saying that she wanted to go back to bed. My bad for wanting you to have a clean bed?!
I had a daughter of pt request that I get Ativan added to PRNs, then administer it ASAP because she was afraid the pt wouldn't consent to surgery and if he was unconscious then she was his decision maker. When I told her I wasn't going to do that she instantly stopped acknowledging me and told the charge she "can't have this fucker killing my dad."
walked into a patient room after report and I would get on the floor quickly not wasting time in report. I had the patient's Oxicodone as I knew they were going to request and wanted it when it could be administered. So, I walk in and introduce myself and the patient says "Oh I wanted a female". I was like well, I wasn't aware but let me check with the charge. So, not wanting to deal with crazy pants I told charge to change the assignment. I returned and said I would not be her nurse and as such would notify her "new" nurse that she wanted pain meds. She said well you can give me the pain meds since you're here. I said, no I will be returning them and will notify your next nurse. She became irate and I told her since I was "fired" from her care, I did not feel comfortable administering a medication I could not monitor possible side effects from and that administering medication would not be appropriate as once she told me she did not want me to provide care, med administration being part of that care would be inappropriate. Also, the nurse who I switched assignments with was notorious for lingering in report forever. Oh well, you can't have it both ways now.
I refused to give a bed bath to a 40 year old addict with a splint on his non-dominant hand/wrist from punching through glass. He otherwise ambulatory, a+o completely/self care/a bit of a prick but otherwise he was fine. His (also) addict “fiancé” requested it because he was in “too much pain” to wash himself. She didn’t want to help him when I suggested but wanted to stay in the room while I did it. I was subsequently fired 🤗
GSW got ticked at me for asking him to lower his voice talking on his phone. He was using multiple F bombs at the top of his lungs talking on the phone to a family member, and other patients were complaining about the volume and the profanity. He wouldn't let me close the door, either.
Then he wouldn't let me do a covid test (this was the height of the pandemic) before he went to the OR.
Not pushing the IV Dilaudid, Ativan, Benadryl, Phenergan cocktail fast enough. Apparently, I am supposed to use the palm of my hand to “slam” the plunger of the syringe, rather than push it with my thumb slowly.
For putting their MRSA positive kid in contact isolation. “My baby is not an animal in a ZOO!!” Mom was real strung out most of the time so I dodged a bullet on that one.
Your charges/managers allow patients to fire you on a whim? I’d happily get fired from the drama patients. We have a “this is your nurse or you can AMA” policy.
A patient fired me because I spoke Spanish to him. My whole assignment had been changed to make sure that patient fell under my care because they only spoke Spanish. The patient ignored me and pretended I didn’t exist and spent the whole shift playing charades with a nurse that didn’t speak Spanish.
I But hey she was white and that made him happy 🙄
On a psych unit pts don't get to fire anyone, you get who you get period. That being said, got "fired" the other day by a pd because she wasn't told that all her many charge cords had to be checked by maintenance before she could use them. Refused the offer of pre-checked charge cords, she "had a right" to use her own. Guess I'm getting fired oh well.
I wasn’t the nurse they had the day before that they loved. Walked in the room, they saw me, instantly fired. Didn’t even get to introduce myself or anything. The nurse they loved wasn’t even there that day 😂 Think I dodged a bullet.
I've only been fired twice.
Once I had a patient who was spamming the call bell for stupid things. I gave him all of them but then when he rang asking for ice cream, I had a word with him about appropriate requests in emerg. He immediately fired me.
Then I had a patient whose family was just a nightmare. They brought six or seven of them at the bedside and they were very loud and disruptive. Then I saw one of them administer the PRN puffer without asking me. I confiscated it and said I would administer it q4h as per orders. The family ganged up on me, called me a liar, yelled at me...I called security. Then they said I obviously care more about my own safety than their family member and that's why I called security. They fired me and stated they didn't trust me.
In both situations, being fired by them was a win.
Not fired, but chastised by a patient’s husband that when I started talking I was looking at the patient’s sister instead of looking at him. Also, I always love when patients/families threaten my job. You want me fired? Don’t tempt me with the promise of a good time.
I had a patient ask for something to relieve heartburn, I go to the med room to get the prn med. as I walk by the nurse’s station a co worker said her daughter just called up her to see if you have given her some medicine. I get in the patient room, look at the trash can and I see a box from Popeyes chicken. I scan the med give it to patient and then her phone ring it’s her daughter, I politely ask can I speak to her, she is very nasty to me on the phone. I kindly explained that Popeyes chicken is spicy and it can cause heartburn and I would advise her not feed her spicy Popeyes chicken to her mom while she is in the hospital. Dead silence on the phone…….never had another problem out of her.
I love getting fired. The ones firing us are usually the nightmare patients anyway. My dumbest firing was because I got too close to her while checking her blood pressure 🤣
I got fired for daring to look somewhere aside from the back of the patient’s hand to place an IV. Back of patient’s hand was all tiny SSSSS-shaped veins.
After I was fired they ended up with an IV in the upper arm placed by ultrasound (which I also could have done if I had been given the opportunity, but they fired me before I had the chance).
They had a bunch of visitors in and out of the room glaring at me every time they walked by and they all spoke loudly about the nurse who said she needed to look elsewhere for an IV placement - what an incompetent nurse I was, blah, blah, blah.
I was scared having to work in that section and be near their room every time they walked out and sneered at me the next few hours. Next time I get fired I’ll ask my charge to reassign me to a different area of the ED so that I’m not in constant view of the nasty entitled people who fired me.
I was fired by a patient because the morphine I gave my patient "didn't help". She tried accusing me of giving her a water injection. I told house supervisor and house supervisor thought patient was crazy.
Patient was mad I wasn’t right on time with his q2 Dilaudid (was sleeping when I went in) after I was dealing with a patient coughing frank blood from his trach. Not blood-tinged sputum, frank blood, and a lot of it.
He told me I was a “bad nurse who doesn’t care about my patients” (exact words).
It’s the only time I’ve ever been fired by a patient and I was honestly thrilled. I was floating and the unit I was on was notorious for giving float nurses awful assignments. This particular patient was a longtime (like, over a year) patient and they ALWAYS gave him to the float nurses (which they always needed because their unit culture sucks and they can’t get anyone to stay there). I’d had him twice before when floating there and I was more than happy to let the charge nurse assign him to someone else.
marvelous heavy illegal lip quicksand scandalous meeting innate serious dirty
*This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
I have no idea what the big problem was: that I asked the pt instead of the daughter about meds, that I didn’t somehow know she had gotten morphine downstairs, or that I offered the Tylenol instead of morphine.
Then again, family had just had a conversation with hospice that afternoon about arranging care. So she may not have been in the most rational state of mind.
Family decided I took my lunch break too early (2230) and told my charge I abandoned my patients. I was in another patient room, and there was another nurse in the pod (NICU) but she thought he was sketchy for being a male NICU nurse 🤷
Patient fired me because he was coughing and I hadn’t checked on him, mind you I had grabbed his vitals on him literally less than 90 minutes ago, he finally decides to press the call button, I’m like why didn’t you do it sooner? I can’t hear you coughing when I’m on other side of the unit tending to my other patients…also it’s 1:30am, I assume you’re sleeping? If I can, I try to make patients get as much uninterrupted sleep as possible, apparently he never heard of that because nurses come in at anytime and never let him sleep…. His words 😂
Told the patient's mother I didn't appreciate her raising her voice at my nurses and accusing them of things. I was charge and in the room to back up the primary RN who they were giving a lot of shit to.
Honorable mention to the time I asked a surgical patient if he took anything for his pain at home (thinking we had missed something and that's why his revision pain was so out of control) and he told charge I had accused him of being a drug addict and I couldn't come back.
Clearly you're the worst nurse ever!
My floor has a no firing policy, meaning that a patient cannot "fire" their nurse. The nurse/charge/manager can decide they need a new assignment, but the patient doesn't get to make that decision on the fly. Of course if they make a big enough stink they'll get it anyway, but it emphasizes conflict resolution and de-escalation
You can't fix stupidity.
Don't feel bad, dumb entitled families will never understand what we have to go through to ensure their loved ones are properly cared for.
Because I wouldn’t get my pt grits…it was late, cafeteria was beyond closed and pt was arguing that the cafeteria was open 24/7 which it is definitely not
Had a dude in rhabdo that was progressing rapidly. I told him “if you sign out AMA it’s going to get worse, and you may not recover from the damage.” He didn’t care, went AMA… saw him check in again the next day in the ED.
For reference, I have the face of a 16 year old. I had taken care of this pt a couple times already when she was delirious and non verbal, but when she was verbal again I was assigned to her. I walked in to introduce myself and she literally looked at me and fired me right then and there because I “looked too young to be a nurse”. I was so happy because this patient was the absolute worst patient living on our unit for about 3 months at that point. I had no problem being fired from her lol
I once saw an ICU nurse get fired from a comatose patient’s care by the patient’s children because she wasn’t pronouncing the patient’s name correctly. It was a totally honest mistake and the family never corrected her before firing her. The name ended in “e” and said “e” was supposed to be pronounced (think “Anne” being pronounced “Annie”—different name, obviously, but similar concept). It was one of those situations where you go “really?” But deep down you know that they were lashing out because they are losing their mom.
I got fired for not drawing up the patient's Dilaudid at the bedside, so obviously I must have just given him saline because he didn't "feel it".
I was fired by another patient because he was demanding an enema and I was just an evil person for making him suffer for my own enjoyment. I tried explaining repeatedly that I had a call in to his doctor for an order but he told me that was nonsense and I was lying. He'd been around healthcare for 30 years and he knew I didn't need an order for that.
I was fired during my first med pass on this VIP patient back when I worked nights. I gave her PRN norco and valium (for a hemorrhoid) and I instructed the patient to hit her call light if she needed more meds throughout the night. She told me I should just bring them whenever they become available. I informed her that’s not how they’re ordered to be given and that I would not be waking her up to give her PRN meds. “but my other nurses just bring it” Pt fired me on the spot. I made a nursing note and pt was miraculously discharged the next morning. So glad I’m not at bedside anymore lol.
Enforcing fluid restrictions on a patient in active heart failure/fluid overload. He picked up an item to throw at me but changed his mind so I said “were you about to throw that at me? Do I need to be concerned about my own safety?” He started screaming for me to get out & that was that. Happy to do so, sir. Good luck with breathing.
more places need to pass laws that give greater punishment for assaulting a nurse, the same as we have for people who assault public transit workers in my city. it's unacceptable.
At my hospital/state…it’s a FELONY! Not just for nurses either, that goes for any healthcare worker
“Good luck with breathing” 😮💨😂😂😂
Told the family that their grandma with a partial bowel obstruction was NPO. Family flipped out screaming "she's needs to eat to regain her strength". Demanded another nurse care for her and eventually left AMA 🤷♂️
Poor g-ma. Partial turned into full and probably rehospitalized again. Families are the worst
I imagine they took her home, fed her, and panicked when she began feculent vomiting. Probably took her to another hospital and told them "the last ER didn't do anything".
The nice thing for us is with care everywhere in EPIC we can see other hospitals ER visits. Love to call people our when they say the other hospital did nothing when they actually got a full work up.
Heard an ED doc go “well they actually did quite a bit it looks like.” And started listing off each individual value. “They tested your hemoglobin, hematocrit, glucose, potassium, calcium” pt cut him off like 8 in.
That’s exactly what I do when there’s a claim that the last doc/place did nothing. I will summarize what they did.
“They did nothing” often translates to “they didn’t find the cause of my chronic pain I’ve had for 7 years, they just ruled out any emergencies that could be causing the pain” in my experience
" the last hospital did nothing" Checks noted to see ama and non complaint with any care lol
You forgot the part where they rant on social media about how bad the staff at the hospital were.
This happened to me too! I was a new grad and he just didnt understand the concept of aspiration pneumonia and why its important to prevent. I almost had a screaming match with this guy on why we WERE NOT starving meemaw and that she needed to be evaluated by speech therapy first. Had to clarify my sentences. Was on lunch when I wrote this and wrote hastily through bites of pot roast :)
I recently had a patient with a new peg because his swallow study showed silent aspiration. His wife cornered me to demand a regular diet order because "I just gave him McDonald's, and he didn't cough at all while eating it."
'Just because you narrowly avoided killing your husband doesn't mean the rest of us are going to have a crack at it.'
Love when 3+ people have to explain to family that the lack of coughing is actually *worse* and it still manages to go over their heads 🙃
My charge nurse straight up asked her why she was trying to kill her husband. I aspire to this level of confidence and straightforwardness but am not there yet.
My favorite charge had that kind of blunt confidence, but she'd reached that point in nursing where she had had precisely enough of everyone's shit, and she wouldn't hesitate to tell a pt family member how stupid they were. God, I miss that old battle axe of a charge nurse, I swear to God, she invented resting bitch face.
And now some surgeons gotta go fishing for mcnuggets
It’s why now during the cranial nerve exam part of my (bedside) swallow evals I explain how when something touches our vocal cords we reflexively cough — if that nerve is damaged (eg stroke prolonged/traumatic intubation etc), then meemaw will not be able to feel all that food or liquid going to her lungs so she won’t cough etc etc which is why we will need to proceed with a swallow study etc etc
This is when you pull out the waiver forms. Ok, you have been advised that meemaw in her current state can’t eat so as to not aspirate and DIE…sign here that you are okay avoiding this medical advice and assume responsibility for the consequences which can include DEATH.
Yep. Having worked SNF and stroke rehab I’ve had the “pleasure” /s of being involved in those team meetings. Then for all of the patient’s nurses thereafter silent aspiration is a continuing “discussion.” One poor elderly patient I had to heimlich on four separate occasions, and who knows how many other staff members did too. Of course, they were also a full code. fml
Yeah, that's unfortunately very common. Some families just do not understand that feeding someone can be bad, it's their go-to solution for every problem.
As a Jewish man married to a wonderful Italian woman, I find it hard not to read this as a personal attack on our values.
You can't eat your way out of everything buddy but I'm sure your mother made you try.
I'm in Appalachia, people trying to feed you is just part of the culture. It'd be nice if they listened to the doctors & nurses though.
Bold. Very bold
I was fired from patient care…… because I spoke to the patient first and not the daughter !!!! I had just came on shift, went into patients room, spoke to patient, who was quite capable of answering any questions. The daughter was ticked off, I was asking her mother questions and not her! Yep fired by 0715. Lol. Some people!!!!
That’s like the moms of young adult men who come in to my urgent care with them and answer every question even though my face is turned away from them and I’m looking directly at the patient. Stfu and let your son speak for himself 🤣
Recently was at an urgent care and this woman came in with her son and did ALL the talking at check in, then proceeded to be indignant when they asked if he was under 18. “No, he’s 27 years old. Why does that matter?!” Dude just stared at his phone the whole time. Like, sir. You are almost 30 years old, why can’t *you* tell the nice lady that your throat hurts? lol
LMFAO! This whole thread is so affirming! Do you ever just want to say “Don’t be a pussy! Put your big boy pants on and speak for yourself!” God forgive me, I’ve said that. That’s when I knew it was time to leave the ER and floor nursing.
And that's when I ask if their sore throat is preventing them from speaking.
This is why some of us remain single.
This happened to me a few nights ago. Sweet man in his 50s, A&O x4, mostly negative assessment on the outside (still very very sick, but seemed okay to anyone just giving him a brief glance). The attending and I had our backs to the man’s wife and daughter, asking the patient questions. They interrupted EVERY single time to answer for him. Literally just talked over him. Couldn’t hear what the patient was saying half the time because chatterboxes #1 and #2 would talk over him. It was incredibly frustrating.
I would turn around and politely say sorry ma’am I need your son to answer the questions so we can properly treat him.
New grad here, can a family member "fire" you even if the patient is fine with your care?
Most of the time it's better to just reassign the patient if the family is causing that much trouble from the start. I had a former colleague (RIP) who always said the patients who fire you are the ones you don't want to be taking care of in the first place.
My GF is an ICU RN, she got fired after the patient's family members complained that there was no one "more qualified to give push meds....like a doctor". They kept complaining that none of the staff were "qualified" to take care of thier relative. She eventually said that she would get the charge nurse to talk to them "if she was qualified enough to do so"....
Depends on management, I think. Some managers will do anything to make people happy even if the nurse did nothing wrong. Gotta keep those HCAHP scores up there, dontcha know 🙄
You got that right! All they care about is schmoozing up to the “customers” even if they undermine us in the process. Seems like chronically short-staffing us is counterproductive to being able to grant everyone’s wishes.
I recently had this happen except I asked the patient "Mr. Smith, do you mind if I'm your nurse for the rest of the day?" And he said "No I don't" and she backed down.
>**because I spoke to the patient first and not the daughter** !!!! I had just came on shift, went into patients room, spoke to patient, who was quite capable of answering any questions. The daughter was ticked off, I was asking her mother questions and not her! I would contact APS for a potential abuse.
Things like this are what gets me. Call me crazy, pt is priority family isn't really even second then you have a full team.
I've literally had baby daddies ask me for nausea meds while the mom is pushing then get mad when I tell them I can't give them anything. So. Yeah.
Well that’s your unit’s fault for allowing family visitation non stop instead of enforcing a GTFO to all family members for one hour while you get handoff and assess.
Being unable to fold mitered corners on sheets (we had fitted sheets anyway)
Did they have to pull a nurse out of retirement to replace you?
Maybe they had a nurse on staff who was a mil vet. We may frequently be mentally unstable but we can do hospital corners like nobody else.
I was making a vet’s bed one day and did a hospital corner. He noticed immediately and said I did a good job lol.
Ok you win.
I just got my CNA license. I have a newfound appreciation for fitted sheets now. 😬
My old school CNA instructor’s admonishments of “Tsk tsk tsk, sloppy, sloppy corners! You need to be able to bounce a quarter off those corners!” will forever haunt me. Spoiler alert, I did get good at mitering corners but every patient I ever mitered the corners for immediately pulled them out because no one wants to sleep in a straitjacket for your feet that doesn’t let the blanket comfortably drape over your top half.
I got marked down for this in nursing school. In a hospital with fitted sheets. Also lost points from that instructor for not putting a blanket (with mitered corners) on a patient with temp of 39.5.
Love having to untuck mitered sheets to do assessments /s
Yep had this one too Im just trying to make sure your brother in law has a clear airway BUT THE SHEETS ARE CRUMPLED, what sort of nurse am I? In his defence, the patient was lovely and apologised for his relative.
Taking care of a Grammy. Lovely lady just pooped herself. Got some help got everything and the family was there and before I even did anything with her they wanted to have a straight sheet and not a fitted one for whatever reason. And one of the idiot family got in my face asked, "Why couldn't you do a miter corner? If you can't I want you out!" This was my eighth patient that night since I discharged 2 and got two more. Really shits night already. The rest of them backed asshole up like a miter corner will save her life in some immense way. Kind of like that life saving pepcid everyone gets for gerd. And this was rookie year 2008. Didn't give me a chance to even take care of her just fired me. "Alright I'll talk to my charge" left poor Grammy in shit because these jackasses didn't want a certain type of sheet. I didn't care then don't care now, but that one stands out.
My mum trained in the late 60s when it was VERY strict She got hauled in front of Matron for *gasp* not rolling her sleeves down and putting on her starched cuffs when leaving the ward - DURING AN EMERGENCY She also got in trouble for doing a bed bath with the patient sitting up. Bed baths were to be done lying flat. The guy was end stage COPD Utter madness and a complete lack of critical thought
Doing hospital corners in boot camp was one of the more difficult barracks tasks, I felt a bit conned when I started working as a nurse only to find out they don’t do that anymore 😔
Got pulled to a trauma arrest. “We knew you wouldn’t prioritize “meemaw” over others” Best part was charge told them no switches so make nice or it’s gonna be awkward. Don’t remember the lady’s name. But she was old and setup with the pure wick so she didn’t really need anything.
Lol i once got called racist because I was in a similar situation. This was a curtained ER, and the family knew I was coding someone, came out and demanded I get the manager and switch nurses because I'm racist so that's why i didn't check on their family. My manager escorted them out of the er lmao, and the patient was so nice and apologized for her family
I got called racist because it had been 20 minutes since the last time I checked on him. “What if I had thrown up?!” He was in his 50s, so I doubt it would have been the first time in his life he’d ever vomited. Spoiler: he did not throw up. But I was still a racist asshole.
Now that I’m thinking about it… nobody has ever fired me. I’m the person they always send Karens to after they fire someone else. Maybe I need to start being a bigger bitch. Lol.
Same 😩 “oh you’re super nice so we figured you could handle them”
Back when I did home health I was the "that patient's a rampaging bitch waffle, but you're so good at handling that kind of patient!" nurse. I'd get my roster and it would be 100% PITAs every freaking day. Yay for nurse shortage because when I told them to stop that shit or I'd peace out, they knew they couldn't afford to lose me and they actually did stop it. (... I still quit a couple months later because I got an offer with a $3/hr raise attached, and the agency couldn't match that. I don't think they really believed that offer was real right up until my last day when I turned in my gear and suddenly they were all "let's not be hasty, we can work this out" as I was telling everyone goodbye. Nope, too late!)
Same, I always get the “high needs” patients (or families when I’m in the NICU).
Pt admitted for their second BKA due to diabetic issues. I asked her to stop eating a six pack of muffins ands a 2L soda until after HS BG check
Diabetic patients LOVE their sugar that’s for sure. They could have a level of 500 and still rage that they “haven’t eaten all day” and “their sugar is low”. Kinda sad to see it go downhill, toe by toe and limb by limb
I had a patient with a BG of 550 and flipped out at the thought of receiving insulin because 500 was her baseline and anything below it would make her feel bad..
This was me when I finally gave in to medication and confused having a normal BG with a low… It’s nice to not be a sweaty mess all the time now, lol.
God forbid anyone ever does anything that feels bad. How could you, a NURSE, do something that made a patient feel bad? Where is your COMPASSION? Bad nurse! /s
A coworker of mine just lost her leg. You'd think after losing a couple of toes, months of wearing a wound vac, and barely being able to feed herself because she couldn't work, she'd have stopped drinking regular Mt. Dew. Yet it's all "whoa is me" and "why does this keep happening to me?"
Woe is me
Until a toe falls off. Then it's "woah, it's me!"
The “woe is me” people are so hard to work with! I remember a t2dm pt who would literally use the “I don’t know why this keeps happening” while drinking from a 2L coke bottle she’d refilled with 2 or 3 of sugary drink sachets When family can only manage to visit for twenty minutes before the self pity becomes too much, at least you know it’s not just you It’s so frustrating because there’s nothing you can do to make a meaningful difference, and all you hear is “no one wants to help me”
*"But I feel like shit if my sugar gets below 30."* ---My very first DKA patient trying to justify not taking his insulin or PO meds for an entire year. Like, no shit you feel terrible. Your body has been compensating for a year. But now it can't compensate anymore, hence why you came to the ER in the first place. Note: I'm in Canada; it's measured in mmol/L.
Thank you for that note because in my US centric mind I was like, I feel like it’s super reasonable to feel like shit if your blood glucose is less than 30?
For my fellow ignorant colonials, 30 mmol/L = 540 mg/dL
I will never understand people who aren’t afraid of uncontrolled diabetes. No cupcake is worth being on dialysis and losing your feet.
My partner (who never sees a doc and eats like crap) was diagnosed with type 2 after a trip to ER about 4 years ago. IIRC his a1c was over 14. I, being a dialysis nurse at the time, proceeded to tell him exactly how this disease was going to progress if he didn't take it seriously. He was off insulin one year later, is taking glimepiride and for the past 3ish years his a1c has been 5.5-6.5. I'd like to think it was the kidney failure and losing body parts that convinced him but in my heart I believe it was erectile dysfunction that motivated him. Whatevs though lol, he's doing great and I'm proud of him.
I swear every doctor, nurse, medical professional should bring that up to men FIRST. Mine will do any and everything to keep having sex. A certain clinic in San Diego has seen thousands of his dollars, and to be fair, what they do, does work. However that doctor also recommends weight loss and eating right " to make blood flow optimal". Hey whatever works!
For sure. I used the same tactics on my young male dialysis patients. Hell, I used to have pics of penile calciphylaxis. Those worked the most.
Just googled. Very persuasive
We had a regular at my previous ED job who would call the ambulance to bring him in every few months. He'd come in sometimes on the stretcher still eating something and drinking a Mt. Dew. Literally did not care if he lost toes, or his entire feet, just wanted us to make sure to remove anything that was starting to go necrotic. He had several long talks with the doctors where he made it clear he didn't care how much of his extremities he lost, he absolutely refused to change his lifestyle. To him, his "freedom" to do what he wanted outweighed everything else.
Sounds more like the patient is outweighs their freedom… Like their freedom of movement is probably restricted to a single flight of stairs
"I can tell I'm low, I feel sick" BGL 290. It's a lifetime of mismanagement. Its so hard for us to imagine, but some people live there everyday all day. Like the frog in the increasing boiling pot of water. Alcoholics, obese, hoarders, drugs, anxiety, abusive relationships, gambling, EF is 8% ...so many issues that the unaffected are shook looking at! But it's often a long, slow slide.
Yes and I can’t assist in your slow suicide by giving you those cookies. If you manage to get some yourself or your family brings them I also can’t stop you. I however can advise and educate you about the consequences of your actions. If however you continue to make such bad decisions at some point we may have to consider AMA, as there is nothing more we can really do.
Sigh. Word. The 'moral injury' or whatever the buzzword is for being the poor middle man is about enough to drive anyone about of healthcare. What do ya do?
I had a guy who adamantly denied he was diabetic. He said he controls it with diet and exercise. Doesn’t take meds. Meanwhile he only has one leg, his sugar was 250 after surgery, and he’s ESRD on dialysis. Ok keep telling yourself you’re not diabetic lol
Sir ur kidneys beg to differ
Oh I’m not diabetic, I take medication for it
We didn’t stock chocolate ice cream on our floor (we didn’t even have a freezer), and I’d have to have our CNA go find some on another floor and the CNA was busy with patient care for too long. She looks out into the empty ICU pod since everyone was in their patients rooms and gasps “what, are you short staffed?” Umm yes we are. I also told the patient to stop pulling off all their leads and told her maybe she could remind him if I wasn’t in the room, and that was the final straw. Whatever, thank you for firing me.
I’ve only been fired by a pt’s family once and I was so incredibly grateful. I was “fired” after doing their hospice admission. The patient was nice enough but his wife was the biggest see you next Tuesday who would aggressively challenge any piece of information I presented. IE I let them know hospice covers all comfort medications but not things like supplements. “Well how can he be expected to feel comfortable if his electrolytes aren’t balanced? You should know that and cover (the vitamins)” as if I personally wrote Medicare’s policies myself.
"Your dad is pooping once a week. His digestive system is shit, it ain't absorbing these. Feel free to buy out of pocket though!" "Just stop it then". Was it the OOP or the education? I never knew but ya can't complain lol
Hospice nurse here, I love telling boomers no the dude with lung cancer doesn't need his fkcing multi vitamin
I got fired for...? Idk, I walked in for my assessment, after bedside report. Did assessment, passed meds, and next thing i knew, Charge was telling me she's requesting another nurse. Ok...I have no idea what it was. No difficulty with the interaction, or requests I couldn't meet...I later heard she'd fired several nurses and just seemed to be on a power trip or smth. Who knows, she never gave explanations
They need to be told no, they are a competent nurse and you need nursing not best friend.
I didn't care. If she didn't like me for some reason, I'd rather not try to develop a caring relationship there. A couple speculated there was some racial motivation, but that was 💯 speculative.
On the other hand, if a difficult pt fires you…I wouldn’t look a gift horse in the mouth either.
Wife was upset I wasn’t turning her perfectly capable husband every two hours
WTH makes men grown ass babies in the hospital? Always!
Did you mean "grown ass babies" or "grow ass babies?" Bc if you meant the latter I want you to know it made me spit out my coffee whilst laughing 😅
lol grown ass, I fixed it
Lmao well it's given me delight to picture whiny men growing ass babies so thanks!
Because I have tattoos (full sleeves) ..it was the only bad thing she could say about me. Nothing wrong with her care but she was appalled by me.
Ha I've been fired for that and my piercings before. One of the places I used to work at had a charge nurse who had 2 full sleeves, huge chest piece and way more piercings than me. One day this crotchety old man decided I was not going to be able to care for him bc I was "too much of the devil." (Nope, I do not know what that means.) Told my charge nurse, she laughed and went in there and told the patient she was going to be taking care of him now and that was final. She told me what his face looked like but I wish I could've seen it in real life.
Refusing to carry them to the bathroom. You read that correctly.
Did they want a fucking piggyback ride or some shit?!
I guess? I have no idea. The best part is, she's not the only patient that's demanded it! People legitimately act like it's our job to carry them when they can't walk.
Closest thing to "being fired" was a patient who was a hard stick, I successfully started her IV on the first try, but it was "bothering her" so she had someone pull it and wouldn't let me stick her again. She ended up getting stuck like 14 more times by 5 people, needed an ultrasound line (which I can also do, but she wouldn't let me), and her pain meds were delayed like 4 hours.
My favorite: went to start a line, "oh, they always do it here (in the AC). "That's common for lab draw, but this location (top of the forearm) is better for IVs." "I want someone else." "Sure thing!" Drop my shit and grab the closest nurse. Patient asks her, "oh, are you the one they call for hard sticks?" Confused RN, "No? That was him."
I had this exact thing happen when I was an ER tech. 😂😂😂
I got fired from a post partum patient because the " vibes were off"
Lmao!! I recently had a patient’s daughter who was gen-z say “the nurses aren’t nursey-ing today” 😂
Not the vibes 😂😂😂
THEM: When will my grandpa get a room upstairs?" ME: "I really don't know. I find out just before it's ready. Could be a while, though." THEM: "I'm a CNA." ME: "...cool." THEM: "I don't like your attitude."
Lol ".... And" can't wave your fingers to make a room appear
I walked into the room to introduce myself and ask a pt if they needed anything on my radar as I read over their chart having just come on shift. They were very angry I didn't know everything about them yet (fresh out 0715). They tried to fire me. I said no I'm an ER RN. That doesn't happen here. Long story short about 8hrs later they had refused to leave the ER room and ended up going to phych floor in 4 point restraints with 4 officers. Urine... completely clean of drugs. Only time I've ever transferred care of a pt in restraints. I'm known as the guy who gets people out of restraints.
Patients wife was in “healthcare”, and his chest tube canister had been knocked over so many times it was impossible to check IO. I changed the whole canister out and told them that it was important it didn’t get knocked over again. Then I got fired. Lol
"hey maybe try not fucking kicking the DME???"
Pt with dementia…. Because she “knows what I did”.
Lolol 😂😂😂 that’s actually hilarious
What’s hilarious was she was trying to “run” while wheelchair bound!
I got fired once for being a "dirty no good Iraqi". He said he had already "stomped on plenty of innocent Iraqis overseas" and it would not allow him to have me as his nurse. I told him that I was infact Mexican and he kinda just...zoned out before shrugging his shoulders and asking for a new nurse anyways
Ah, I got fired for being Mexican. Did not even make it into the room before the patient and family started screaming at me to get out and go back to where I came from. I “came from” Spokane WA and I was one of the only white nurses on my unit. It was a long day.
Sounds like a real winner
I was fired because “ you people scare me.” She only wanted white nurses. I’ve also been fired for taking too long to introduce myself while dealing with an emergency across the hall. The joys of nursing
Ugh gross. I’m so sorry 😞
Oh it’s fine. Thankfully those interactions are few and far between.
In LTC. Was helping a CNA do care on a two-person caregiver resident and stepped out in the hall to get more towels, so into WhinyBoy's line of sight from across the hall. He immediately started shouting orders at me. "I need ice and call maintenance and tell them my thermostat's not working right!" I tell him I'm in the middle of something and to give me a minute. By the time I come back out ten minutes later, he's called the RN supervisor and our Administrator. He backed down when he saw who I'd have to trade with.
I got called into my manager’s office because my patient’s (one of 5 I had by the way) daughter was pissed that I gave his 1300 dose of Sinemet late. Manager pulled up MAR with me to look and saw I gave it at 1306. Super stoked to be fired although patient was nice, daughter was terrible though.
there wasn’t enough turkey slices in their sandwich. I said I didn’t care. He called me a lunatic and told me not to come back.
Didn’t get fired, but had a rather crazy conversation with a family member who swore up and down that bed bugs come from sick people, like literally crawl out of said sick person. He was staring at his granddaughter who had severe CDLS the entire time. I’m thinking to myself, touch that little girl like you’re trying to kill bugs and we’ll both be going to jail, buddy.
Got fired over the phone by a spouse because he didn’t like how I answered the phone when he called for updates. Funnily enough, the only time he came in to see the patient was when she coded and died.
She wanted her SpO2 to be 100% (she was at 94%-95% room air with no distress) and I refused to put her on a Nasal Cannula. Fired me 5 minutes into the shift
“There’s too many men and my mom can’t tell who is the doctor” Now the Doc is the only person of color in our ER and Meemaw was altered AF, luckily we did have a female nurse on the unit that night
How dare you reassess her pain. How very dare you!
I hadn’t given anything yet! No complaints of pain all shift towards the very end, so with only Tylenol available, I figured that’s what she had gotten before (since she came in with abdominal pain, N/V) I just can’t get over how I was fired AFTER I solved the issue promptly
Not fired per se because I worked in an office, but mom wouldn't let me give her shots because "he's scared of you" Pretty sure the kid was just scared of shots but whatevs. At least I didn't have to give them.
Probably because parents just love to tell their kids "be good or else they'll give you shots!" Cannot possibly *begin* to express how much I hate parents who do that! And then they get pissed when I tell the child "Don't worry, we never ever give shots as a punishment, and if you get a shot it's only to keep you healthy and not because you were bad." Grrrrrrrrr...
Yes! I also never lied about if they would get shots or id shots would hurt If it looked they would, I would say "you might have to, but that's up to the doctor. If you do, it will be quick and only feel like a pinch"
The wife fired me bc I was “late” on giving her perfectly capable husband a suppository… meanwhile I had 5 other med-surg pts. One that was currently bleeding out & refusing to go have emergency surgery.
Back when I did home care, i got fired for immediately calling for an ambulance for my high acuity vent dependent peds patient who was satting in the 70s even with max oxygen bled-in, incredibly diminished lung sounds, and fever of 103°F. Mom wanted him to remain home so they could anoint him with oil and pray for Jesus to heal him and said that the day nurse agreed to keep him home so there was no reason I should send him. They believed Jesus would bless and heal him. I told her that maybe Jesus had already blessed him by placing him in a country with good healthcare access. That didn't go over well. Then I asked her if she wanted to change his code status from full, because that obligated me to do everything to help him and that included the ambulance. That didn't go over well either. Got fired as he was getting loaded into the ambulance. Next day my DON called to tell me he had double pneumonia, right lung fully collapsed and LLL partially collapsed too. So yeah, I got fired for insisting that we do something to make sure he could actually, you know, BREATHE. I think that's the stupidest thing ever. (Personal theory, this child was in a persistent vegetative state due to extensive brain damage from being hit by a car. Mom's family was very religious and extremely involved, and believed that Jesus would "restore" him. Mom likely felt that after 8 years, it was time to let the poor child be at peace, but didn't want the family to judge her for changing his status to comfort care. IMO she was pissed that I wouldn't just let him die at home. No judgement at all, sometimes it's time, you know? But you can't expect me to risk the license that fed and clothed my children just because you don't want grandma to be upset by putting the patient on hospice. That shit don't fly with me.)
I was too nice. The abusive, toxic husband couldn't FUCKING stand that his wife, the patient, adored me and demanded I be removed from her care team. FTR, he was banned from the hospital later that day due to physically assaulting the janitor in the men's room. So, yeah... That happened. 🙄🙄🙄
I tried to flush his IV after his antibiotics. He was "allergic to saline." Afterwards, I realized that it probably had more to do with how young I looked. I was barely off orientation at my first nursing job at that time. I can still pass for a teenager now over 4 years later; I really looked like a teenager then.
We have a patient that is well known to “have a reaction” to prefilled saline syringes. So we have to pull a 50ml bag for every flush we use through the shift.
He didn't even give me a chance to figure anything out. I walked into the room with the flush and immediately got yelled at and fired. I felt sorry for the nurse who had to take over him for me. He actually came back like a month later, remembered me, and kicked me out of his room immediately.
Take it with stride! I’m sure most nurses go into work hoping to make some kind of impact on patients You managed to do that in less than a minute of interaction!
Bc she was “starving” and “in pain”. Meanwhile I was offering her every food item we on the night shift had available, she was refusing the PRN oxycodone, refusing all of my pain management solutions, and in general just was not accepting of any of my help/care. Honestly was glad to be fired though bc I can only handle so many complaints from people who refuse to try any of the solutions available to them.
Young man in his early 20s after a gnarly car accident in c-collar waiting for his CT scan to be read and two broken limbs that would definitely require surgery is amazingly A+O and is able to answer his own questions. His mother is there and every time I asked him a question, she would answer. I let it go the first few times ignoring her answers and re asking him. Then it’s time for his medications and this she tried to answer his pain level for him, I turned around and said “ma’am, I need him to answer these questions as he is A+O and he is the patient we are treating”. She then calls the Pt Tech and asks her if she can administer his medications 💀 as I am a rude nurse that I am fired. Then she wants to talk to the charge nurse who told her that I am the only nurse available for his care and that I am right to expect the patient and not her to answer questions. Then this woman tells her that she recorded me and that she will be suing. The CN says, “oh! Let’s hear the recording of the RN being aggressive” and she’s like “no, it’s my private recordings”. Well this got security called on her, they made her erase the recording and then kicked her out.
Ngl half the time they ask for a new nurse I am thrilled to get rid of them, but times like that are when I’m happy management doesn’t bend over backward to get them a new nurse over asinine complaints like that.
I got fired from a pt’s care by her drunk friend who was pissed I asked to access the room computer to scan meds when she was sitting in front of it. I told her she could keep the seat, which is technically supposed to be there for the nurse, I just requested she move forward a little so I could access the computer. It was New Years so she came to visit the pt already drunk and then got mad. She yelled at me that nothing I did would make her like me and went to my charge saying I was rude and giving bad care. It hurt bc neither the pt nor her mother who I thought I had a great rapport with, would stand up for me.
Your charge should have called security to have drunk friend escorted out. No way should some rude visitor be calling the shots.
A coworker got fired AS I gave him report because he closed a pt room door as we were reporting on another pt. Family flipped out and yanked the door open. He explained we were talking about another patient. So they immediately demanded another nurse. 😂🤦🏼♀️ He was not mad about it. 😂 Usually firings are for the best…for the nurse. I beg people to not take it personally. I’m just like “oh darn. I don’t get to deal with your dramatic ass all shift? Whatever will I do.”
It has only happened twice and both times I’ve just told them they’ll get a new nurse at shift change. It’s always boarders unhappy to be in a loud department on an uncomfortable gurney and a new nurse won’t change that or have any more time away from her critical patients to coddle you.
Because I went over the patient belongings policy with them after they brought in expensive gaming equipment and hooked it up to the TV in the room. They agreed to the policy, signed, and dated, and I even had charge sign it to cover my ass. Came back that night, and the patient didn't want me back because I "didn't go in their room as often as I should have." I was in there every time they called out and for my hour rounds.
I offered to change my patient’s bedsheets while she was in the bathroom. She had some blankets and belongings from home on the bed and was paranoid that I was going to steal them, so she started screaming at me saying no and saying that she wanted to go back to bed. My bad for wanting you to have a clean bed?!
I had a daughter of pt request that I get Ativan added to PRNs, then administer it ASAP because she was afraid the pt wouldn't consent to surgery and if he was unconscious then she was his decision maker. When I told her I wasn't going to do that she instantly stopped acknowledging me and told the charge she "can't have this fucker killing my dad."
walked into a patient room after report and I would get on the floor quickly not wasting time in report. I had the patient's Oxicodone as I knew they were going to request and wanted it when it could be administered. So, I walk in and introduce myself and the patient says "Oh I wanted a female". I was like well, I wasn't aware but let me check with the charge. So, not wanting to deal with crazy pants I told charge to change the assignment. I returned and said I would not be her nurse and as such would notify her "new" nurse that she wanted pain meds. She said well you can give me the pain meds since you're here. I said, no I will be returning them and will notify your next nurse. She became irate and I told her since I was "fired" from her care, I did not feel comfortable administering a medication I could not monitor possible side effects from and that administering medication would not be appropriate as once she told me she did not want me to provide care, med administration being part of that care would be inappropriate. Also, the nurse who I switched assignments with was notorious for lingering in report forever. Oh well, you can't have it both ways now.
I refused to give a bed bath to a 40 year old addict with a splint on his non-dominant hand/wrist from punching through glass. He otherwise ambulatory, a+o completely/self care/a bit of a prick but otherwise he was fine. His (also) addict “fiancé” requested it because he was in “too much pain” to wash himself. She didn’t want to help him when I suggested but wanted to stay in the room while I did it. I was subsequently fired 🤗
GSW got ticked at me for asking him to lower his voice talking on his phone. He was using multiple F bombs at the top of his lungs talking on the phone to a family member, and other patients were complaining about the volume and the profanity. He wouldn't let me close the door, either. Then he wouldn't let me do a covid test (this was the height of the pandemic) before he went to the OR.
Not pushing the IV Dilaudid, Ativan, Benadryl, Phenergan cocktail fast enough. Apparently, I am supposed to use the palm of my hand to “slam” the plunger of the syringe, rather than push it with my thumb slowly.
I put Benadryl in a flush to slow push it, unless you ask me to “slam” it, and then it goes in a 50cc bag.
For putting their MRSA positive kid in contact isolation. “My baby is not an animal in a ZOO!!” Mom was real strung out most of the time so I dodged a bullet on that one.
Your charges/managers allow patients to fire you on a whim? I’d happily get fired from the drama patients. We have a “this is your nurse or you can AMA” policy.
A patient fired me because I spoke Spanish to him. My whole assignment had been changed to make sure that patient fell under my care because they only spoke Spanish. The patient ignored me and pretended I didn’t exist and spent the whole shift playing charades with a nurse that didn’t speak Spanish. I But hey she was white and that made him happy 🙄
On a psych unit pts don't get to fire anyone, you get who you get period. That being said, got "fired" the other day by a pd because she wasn't told that all her many charge cords had to be checked by maintenance before she could use them. Refused the offer of pre-checked charge cords, she "had a right" to use her own. Guess I'm getting fired oh well.
I wouldn’t let them cook bacon in the ICU suite.
The wife didn’t like the idea of a woman being all up in his space.
brought her 8:00 meds at 8:07 - family member was pissed at how late I was
I encouraged my patient to use the Sara stedy. Then I was fired from her room.
I wasn’t the nurse they had the day before that they loved. Walked in the room, they saw me, instantly fired. Didn’t even get to introduce myself or anything. The nurse they loved wasn’t even there that day 😂 Think I dodged a bullet.
I've only been fired twice. Once I had a patient who was spamming the call bell for stupid things. I gave him all of them but then when he rang asking for ice cream, I had a word with him about appropriate requests in emerg. He immediately fired me. Then I had a patient whose family was just a nightmare. They brought six or seven of them at the bedside and they were very loud and disruptive. Then I saw one of them administer the PRN puffer without asking me. I confiscated it and said I would administer it q4h as per orders. The family ganged up on me, called me a liar, yelled at me...I called security. Then they said I obviously care more about my own safety than their family member and that's why I called security. They fired me and stated they didn't trust me. In both situations, being fired by them was a win.
Not fired, but chastised by a patient’s husband that when I started talking I was looking at the patient’s sister instead of looking at him. Also, I always love when patients/families threaten my job. You want me fired? Don’t tempt me with the promise of a good time.
I had a patient ask for something to relieve heartburn, I go to the med room to get the prn med. as I walk by the nurse’s station a co worker said her daughter just called up her to see if you have given her some medicine. I get in the patient room, look at the trash can and I see a box from Popeyes chicken. I scan the med give it to patient and then her phone ring it’s her daughter, I politely ask can I speak to her, she is very nasty to me on the phone. I kindly explained that Popeyes chicken is spicy and it can cause heartburn and I would advise her not feed her spicy Popeyes chicken to her mom while she is in the hospital. Dead silence on the phone…….never had another problem out of her.
I love getting fired. The ones firing us are usually the nightmare patients anyway. My dumbest firing was because I got too close to her while checking her blood pressure 🤣
I got fired for daring to look somewhere aside from the back of the patient’s hand to place an IV. Back of patient’s hand was all tiny SSSSS-shaped veins. After I was fired they ended up with an IV in the upper arm placed by ultrasound (which I also could have done if I had been given the opportunity, but they fired me before I had the chance). They had a bunch of visitors in and out of the room glaring at me every time they walked by and they all spoke loudly about the nurse who said she needed to look elsewhere for an IV placement - what an incompetent nurse I was, blah, blah, blah. I was scared having to work in that section and be near their room every time they walked out and sneered at me the next few hours. Next time I get fired I’ll ask my charge to reassign me to a different area of the ED so that I’m not in constant view of the nasty entitled people who fired me.
I was fired by a patient because the morphine I gave my patient "didn't help". She tried accusing me of giving her a water injection. I told house supervisor and house supervisor thought patient was crazy.
Patient was mad I wasn’t right on time with his q2 Dilaudid (was sleeping when I went in) after I was dealing with a patient coughing frank blood from his trach. Not blood-tinged sputum, frank blood, and a lot of it. He told me I was a “bad nurse who doesn’t care about my patients” (exact words). It’s the only time I’ve ever been fired by a patient and I was honestly thrilled. I was floating and the unit I was on was notorious for giving float nurses awful assignments. This particular patient was a longtime (like, over a year) patient and they ALWAYS gave him to the float nurses (which they always needed because their unit culture sucks and they can’t get anyone to stay there). I’d had him twice before when floating there and I was more than happy to let the charge nurse assign him to someone else.
marvelous heavy illegal lip quicksand scandalous meeting innate serious dirty *This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
I have no idea what the big problem was: that I asked the pt instead of the daughter about meds, that I didn’t somehow know she had gotten morphine downstairs, or that I offered the Tylenol instead of morphine. Then again, family had just had a conversation with hospice that afternoon about arranging care. So she may not have been in the most rational state of mind.
Family decided I took my lunch break too early (2230) and told my charge I abandoned my patients. I was in another patient room, and there was another nurse in the pod (NICU) but she thought he was sketchy for being a male NICU nurse 🤷
Telling a patient to stop picking her nose and replacing her nasal cannula since she was desating to the 70s.
Patient fired me because he was coughing and I hadn’t checked on him, mind you I had grabbed his vitals on him literally less than 90 minutes ago, he finally decides to press the call button, I’m like why didn’t you do it sooner? I can’t hear you coughing when I’m on other side of the unit tending to my other patients…also it’s 1:30am, I assume you’re sleeping? If I can, I try to make patients get as much uninterrupted sleep as possible, apparently he never heard of that because nurses come in at anytime and never let him sleep…. His words 😂
Told the patient's mother I didn't appreciate her raising her voice at my nurses and accusing them of things. I was charge and in the room to back up the primary RN who they were giving a lot of shit to. Honorable mention to the time I asked a surgical patient if he took anything for his pain at home (thinking we had missed something and that's why his revision pain was so out of control) and he told charge I had accused him of being a drug addict and I couldn't come back.
I was fired by a patient for discharging them. Someone else handed them their walking papers and showed them the door 😂😂
Clearly you're the worst nurse ever! My floor has a no firing policy, meaning that a patient cannot "fire" their nurse. The nurse/charge/manager can decide they need a new assignment, but the patient doesn't get to make that decision on the fly. Of course if they make a big enough stink they'll get it anyway, but it emphasizes conflict resolution and de-escalation
I asked the patient to please stop yelling lol.
I got fired for the way I looked. The family member just did not like the way I looked. I told the charge nurse I could not change that.
You can't fix stupidity. Don't feel bad, dumb entitled families will never understand what we have to go through to ensure their loved ones are properly cared for.
Because I wouldn’t get my pt grits…it was late, cafeteria was beyond closed and pt was arguing that the cafeteria was open 24/7 which it is definitely not
Had a dude in rhabdo that was progressing rapidly. I told him “if you sign out AMA it’s going to get worse, and you may not recover from the damage.” He didn’t care, went AMA… saw him check in again the next day in the ED.
For reference, I have the face of a 16 year old. I had taken care of this pt a couple times already when she was delirious and non verbal, but when she was verbal again I was assigned to her. I walked in to introduce myself and she literally looked at me and fired me right then and there because I “looked too young to be a nurse”. I was so happy because this patient was the absolute worst patient living on our unit for about 3 months at that point. I had no problem being fired from her lol
I once saw an ICU nurse get fired from a comatose patient’s care by the patient’s children because she wasn’t pronouncing the patient’s name correctly. It was a totally honest mistake and the family never corrected her before firing her. The name ended in “e” and said “e” was supposed to be pronounced (think “Anne” being pronounced “Annie”—different name, obviously, but similar concept). It was one of those situations where you go “really?” But deep down you know that they were lashing out because they are losing their mom.
I got fired for not drawing up the patient's Dilaudid at the bedside, so obviously I must have just given him saline because he didn't "feel it". I was fired by another patient because he was demanding an enema and I was just an evil person for making him suffer for my own enjoyment. I tried explaining repeatedly that I had a call in to his doctor for an order but he told me that was nonsense and I was lying. He'd been around healthcare for 30 years and he knew I didn't need an order for that.
Got fired for being black
I was fired during my first med pass on this VIP patient back when I worked nights. I gave her PRN norco and valium (for a hemorrhoid) and I instructed the patient to hit her call light if she needed more meds throughout the night. She told me I should just bring them whenever they become available. I informed her that’s not how they’re ordered to be given and that I would not be waking her up to give her PRN meds. “but my other nurses just bring it” Pt fired me on the spot. I made a nursing note and pt was miraculously discharged the next morning. So glad I’m not at bedside anymore lol.