Working triage last week, I was involved in a bit of a confrontation.
A lady had come in to emergency after being bitten by a snake. She had previously had a few drinks, and was proving to be a completely non-compliant patient (ie – I’m here for treatment but really don’t want to do anything you suggest!)
So basically, this lady didn’t want to immobilize her arm, wasn’t interested in staying in bed, and whinged and complained about how she just needed to go visit her husband in the morning (who was in jail!)
So here we have a rather common problem – patient’s refusing to do what is advised. Just as an aside, I remember a patient recently who got smashed up quite a bit from a car crash. he had lung contusions and a small pneumothorax – and what was the most important thing he absolutely needed to do? Go for a smoke….!
But I digress.. The snake lady. Putting up with this lady was an annoyance, but nothing compared to her drunk friends. Two friends she had with her were in and out of the department all the time, and finally wandered back in to triage asking to go through & see snake girl. One of the friends by now was staggering a bit, obviously they’d had some more to drink before coming back to visit.
So I had a chat to the co-ordinator and it was agreed to let these girls back through on the condition they stayed with snake girl, were quiet, and didn’t cause any disruption to the dept. I gave security a heads up, then gave these girls a bit of a talk to & advised them they had one chance to behave.
Ten minutes later, they’re being shown the door due to ‘disruptive behaviour’ which is great – too bad, don’t come to emergency drunk when you’re visiting… Except for the fact that 10 or 15 minutes later, they rock on up to triage asking to be buzzed through again.
The Confrontation
So now I’m telling these two drunks they can’t come through, and I can see them starting to arc up. So I’m saying things like “this is a hospital, you can’t come in when you are staggering”, and “security have made the decision to not allow you through, don’t blame me” etc. So then the screaming – “You’re nothing! Who are you anyway? Some guy behind a desk who’s nothing!, you *&%*#!!” One of them starts to hit the perspex screen, and a psych patient jumps up from the waiting room and starts yelling back at the girls, and then the whole waiting room started yelling and it’s on for young and old!
Anyway – security threw them out in the end, but I was thinking about this event later – it’s quite a common occurance. I can think of many many times where similar things have happened – nurses are expected to cop this kind of behaviour all the time. How many professions are there where you cop abuse constantly but don’t really do anything about it because the people are drunk, drugged up or there’s some other factor like head injuries? Is anyone else not thrilled about this?!
I’m with you on this. If I didn’t have to spend so much time trying to battle family, friends, and bar acquaintances who think they should be able to camp out in the ICU, all 12 of them, anytime they want and continually touch equipment, ask the same question 10 different ways, and make endless demands as though they were the patient……I might actually have time to get some work done! When they are asked to retreat to the waiting room for a while they become indignant and can become hostile. What? Many people have the perception a hospital is a hotel and they have a RIGHT to do as they please. When they find out they can’t, they get irate.
Hi Cynthia – I totally agree with what you’re saying.. nothing is more irritating than a tribe of 4, 6, 8 family members and friends that all want to hover around a bedside that is already tight on space! And yes, they do like to ask the same questions over and over, like “is he going to be alright?” etc.. very frustrating to actually try and care for the patient when you spend so much time dealing with family… and people get VERY irritated when you deny them access to the patient for some reason or other…
Sue the government or your employer and obtain compensation from them! This is what police do and they receive thousands from the Australian government compensation. If you are a policeman and someone spit at you, you get paid and even receive food with separate cutlery. It is about time nurses start making the government pay for this behaviour. Further should criminal charges been laid against the guilty parties. Place a sign they will be fined $1000 each for abusive use and provide security with the legal rights to institute these fines. Rocking up drunk at a hospital should be a criminal offence. Australia has laws for blind strings to have labels to provide safety to kids, but can not protect nurses from abuse!!! The government is to blame for the nurse shortage and at the end the poor health service provided to tax payers.