NursingLink

Excellent advice. It can sometimes be easy to get stressed out. We just need to remember to take a step back. Works wonderfully for a presentation that I needed to give on a noncompliant patient! Thanks for the information!

Many a patient who is diffiicult to deal with can be "flipped" to a wonderful patient with extra kindness and understanding. You may even find that something occured during the previous shift that upset the patient or family member.

With every patient encounter, the nurse deserves the respect they give to the patient. Every person (no matter where or who they are) are deserving of this respect. The population in general should have this reinforced. Not just when they come into the hospital for care. Give respect and you are deserving of that respect in return. J. McEachen

Good advice thanks

we first need to establish why that patient is crabby. we need to develope techniques that can aid us with dificult patients. we do need to let them know in a professional and compassionate manner that we cannot accept their abuse or behavior. yet we do understand that they are ill and that we will work with them to resolve and meet their feelings and needs. we also need to understand there are people with all types of dementias and behaviol disorders. i find family members and insensitive ,overbearing doctors a great deal harder to deal with. bourdony

I work in an OB department, who can be more crabbier than a pregnant woman having labor pains?! We tend to let them express their feelings and not take any of it seriously. After delivery, the patients are always apologizing for how they have behaved. We see people who are in need of our assistance and are not usually feeling very well. It is our job to look past that and deal with the matters at hand! This is why we love our job, we are helping people!!!!!!

The "Be up front and sincere" section is particularly helpful, the rest of the article was quite good as well. I have found that if I give patients a heads up about what to expect, as well as a quick explanation of what I am doing and why, is preventative. There will always be patients who ARE mean, maybe even cruel. I've found that taking the high road is the best, and it is o.k. to tell them to not abuse you. Cruelty never acceptable, and "being sick" is not a justification for such behavior. Dementia is another story altogether...

heart4kids, I think that you will be a great nurse. There is nothing wrong with being sensitive; I am the same way. Over time you will find that there are some things which just do not bother you, but it is important to identify what is most difficult for you before you become a nurse. If you have an idea of what those situations are, then you can plan for them. I think your skin may be thicker than you think if you survived McDonalds!

This article was very sufficient because dealing with pushy patients is kind of hard sometimes......