our patient:
- doesn’t take his medication, we inform him about the risks and document. He says he’ll take them ‘later’, never does.
- refuses his insulin, we inform him about the risks and document as well as chart.
- refuses his blood thinners, we inform him about the risks and document.
- turns his phone obnoxiously loud, also talks loud.
- insults us several times every day, gets passive-aggressive.
this is not psychiatry, patient is a young, AOX4, fully competent adult.
Fine, you’re a free man and free to do with your life what you want. But why go to a hospital in the first place if you are going to behave like this?
Yesterday we found him unconscious on the floor, vitals were normal, didn’t hit his head. He is being released tomorrow. Doctor agrees.
I have the feeling we’re going to see him again very soon, but he is the biggest asshole I’ve met in my nursing career.
Why do people behave like this? we are literally trying to give him some quality of life and he attacks us each time we open the door. why?
If any of you is a nurse and has some insight, I’m all ears.
Do please notice that I’m not asking how to deal with people like this: we document, chart and move on, but to understand why in the fuck people are like this.
That’s a lot of medication for someone young.
I imagine he could feel very angry, sad and resentful about that. And the yet he can’t express it to the thing that’s being so unfair to him how do you tell your illness it’s being unfair?
So it’s just sat there until someone comes along and reminds him of how unfair it is and how angry he is by telling him to take his medication, and again he’s feeling powerless.
So he takes what little power he has back, he refuses his medication and attacks the nurses.
Extreme situation, given it’s potentially life and death stuff, regular human behaviour. Who hasn’t snapped at someone when we’re in a bad mood when they were trying to help?