My friend is a nurse - she is getting stressed by ungrateful/demanding patients..

[Alcsaar]

I have a friend of mine who works as a nurse, and lately shes been getting very bummed out and stressed by a couple of her patients that she works with. They are being overly demanding, ect.

I want to help remind her that there are those patients who are incredibly grateful for everything she does for them, and that I understand her sacrifices for her job as well. I was thinking maybe a quote of some kind on her coffee mug would help remind her when she needs it that not everyone is ungrateful..

Does anyone have any ideas?

I know its a vague topic and all..I spent a bit of time trying to figure out a way to remind her when she needs it most, but I couldn't really think of anything else.

[Rhine101]

Take a break. This will only end badly for her no matter how horrible her patients are.

She will either have a nervous breakdown, or she will flip on them. Then we will see a headline reading how a nurse beat the shit out of a disabled old war vet or something.

[Arthas242]

Not enough Energy!

[Alcsaar]

She has a vacation coming up in a couple weeks Rhine, so thats on the books. Still, it would be nice to help remind her that not everyone is ungrateful. After all the people she deals with are incredibly sick, and although it isn't an excuse for them to be rude, they will still have those issues occasionally when dealing with their problems.

[LiiLoSNK]

If you're in a line of work so that you can get pats on the back, pick a new line of work. Pick something that makes you happy even though nobodies coming up and constantly thanking you for doing it.

[Vlinx]

Or maybe if nurses didn't act like such assholes to us patients, they wouldn't be as stressed out?

[Kasierith]

There's a reason why the majority of older nurses turn into callous jerks over the course of their career.

[vindicatorx]

Does anyone have any ideas?

Tell her to get used to it or, change professions. My dad and brother are both Pharmacists and get treated like shit by customers. I mean my brother has a PHD and gets treated worse than a Mc Donald's employee. you either get used to it, or you find something else to do.

[Dsonsion]

Tell her to give generous doses of sleeping pills to all the nasty patients. She'll have a more pleasant time with them.

[Kasierith]

Tell her to get used to it or, change professions. My dad and brother are both Pharmacists and get treated like shit by customers. I mean my brother has a PHD and gets treated worse than a Mc Donald's employee. you either get used to it, or you find something else to do.

What has been found over the course of time across the thousands of pharmacies across the country is that things like that are often reciprocative; people will readily respond to the observable tone of the pharmacy. A lot of it comes down to problems being solved by the pharmacy itself inducing a change in its interactions.

Unless they're working at a place like Walmart or Kroger. An atmosphere of seeing personal health care as on par with a discount lawn chair breeds a pretty shitty clientele that tips the scales.

Also, PharmD or PhD? Because I've never heard of someone going for a full PhD who didn't go into education or research; bit of a waste of a few extra years.

[Tradewind]

What exactly is "ungrateful" or "demanding?"

Maybe she needs to temper her expectations for praise and enthusiasm from people who are in hospital. Chances are they're having a worse day than she is.

[dwightyo39]

It's almost like she took up a profession dealing with people who are sick, in pain, or mentally ill.

[Fenixdown]

That cat on a tree branch poster that says "Hang In There".

I like that one.

[thatmikeguy]

Wrong line of work. Things are becoming worse for anything dealing with the public.

In the last two months I've seen 3 service industry people smile (out of ~450). My dad started counting and I started looking for it. I'm not saying they have any reason to smile, just counting.

[Independent voter]

or


"I am your nurse, what stupid f***ing thing did you do today?"

[Dispraise]

Spent a lot of time in the hospital with my sister over the years. Met no shortage of nurses. Most of the ones I met were exceedingly nice people. Attentive, friendly, personable. Others were rude little rat-dicks, who had obviously chosen the wrong profession. Very few inbetween.

[Tziva]

Nurses have a high burn out rate for a reason. It's a very demanding job (both physically and emotionally) and is pretty thankless.

And honestly, this isn't really the fault of the patients, either. You have to remember that people who are sick are not at their best and may be investing what little energy they have into themselves, which might have negative repercussions for the people around them. They're not trying to be malicious, but self investment means selfishness which means that sometimes they are demanding or ungrateful.

There's nothing your friend can do. The job is unlikely to change. The patients will change but will always be the same. Your friend is just going to have to decide if the rewards of helping people and the other benefits (being a growing industry that always needs employees meaning you will seldom be out of work provided you are not injured) outweigh the negatives.

[Alcsaar]

Yea I want to make things clear. She loves her job and she isn't expecting thanks from everyone. But shes dealing with incredibly negative patients who are demanding things from her WHICH SHE CAN NOT POSSIBLY PROVIDE. They are things out side of her education/specialization, and shes tried to let them know that she has to refer them to other doctors for those sorts of questions and then they blame her for her failure to diagnose them on the spot (which she cant do anyway!). They'll also constantly dodge appointments and then call to complain about how things aren't going well and demand to meet with her or her other employees at closing time or with no appointment, ect.

Those are things that are not okay.

[Deleted]

If you're in a line of work so that you can get pats on the back, pick a new line of work. Pick something that makes you happy even though nobodies coming up and constantly thanking you for doing it.

Or maybe she likes what she is doing but she hates how people react ? Also, yes a thank you to a person that's an active part in making you live longer wouldn't feel completely out of order.

Or maybe if nurses didn't act like such assholes to us patients, they wouldn't be as stressed out?

Chicken or the egg ? I feel nurses may become "assholes" for a reason. Maybe not assuming they are assholes before even knowing anything would help I guess. But hey keep on treating them like assholes and then be surprised at the results.

What exactly is "ungrateful" or "demanding?"

Maybe she needs to temper her expectations for praise and enthusiasm from people who are in hospital. Chances are they're having a worse day than she is.

Chances are they get to deal with it for 1 day while she has to deal with it every day. Chances are, real serious patient might actually give two shits about her. I know I'm fucking happy to see someone taking care of me when I need medical help. Strange right ?

I don't even know any nurses or care that much about the issue, but why do you need to be such assholes ? What's the fucking point ? This is a person who helps people as her job, she's feeling down, it's a hard job to deal with, why the need to dismiss it. This is just pathetic.

EDIT: make her understand that some people are just going to prey on her weaknesses. The more people sense fear and weakness the more demanding they are, because they know you won't do shit about it and just get shat all over. Self confidence/assurance goes a long way into making people shut the hell up, and possibly making them understand that they have to take their treatment/ask someone else/etc. Pro-actively working on those traits could help her a lot.

[LiiLoSNK]

Or maybe she likes what she is doing but she hates how people react ? Also, yes a thank you to a person that's an active part in making you live longer wouldn't feel completely out of order.

I should go work in some desert warzone medical relief hut and then complain because my patients have such bad attitudes about starving to death and being killed all the time. Someone should force them to thank me for doing my job.