Well, it was this very rare night that I had encountered some very demanding parents at my work as a Pediatric Nurse in our unit. It irks me sometimes to have gotten those kind of assignments. But what can I do, I have to just accept all the shit and just act professionally even though I don't have the knack to deal with those kind of people.
Normally, I am a very patient and understanding person. I can cater to somebody's needs with a lot of patience even though how they demanding they are. As long as I don't have to encounter somebody who will give me a very nasty attitude, that's okay with me.
I can be flexible even though how ruined my night and my mood was. Despite I felt I was the most unfortunate guy in the world having gotten a shitty assignment I can still keep my cool. But the one that will really lose my cool were those people whose trying to pretend that they are more smarter than their primary nurse when in fact they don't have any knowledge about the profession. It is so annoying really to deal with those kind of people.
Well, to cut the story short I would like to tell you guys that tonight at work I felt so annoyed and irritated with one of my patient's parents because of the fact that they gave me a hard time and was trying to seek more attention when in fact she's not the only patient that I had in the first place.
I started my shift a little bit fuming with anger because I got this shitty assignment and I have to start two intravenous starts because the day shift people couldn't get to start the IV line for two of my patients. And the fact that I am the charge nurse added more stress and toll on my part. I really felt it was my unlucky night. I just want to conjure myself and escape from this very stressful place. But I have to face the music and just have to do my job.
But this particular parent of my patient in 663-01 even made my night more shitty and unfortunate. First, the parents had trapped me at the hallway after I started the intravenous line at 667-01 telling me that their son was been fussy and irritable the whole day because they think that their baby was teething.
I asked the mom how old was her baby and she told me he is 5 months old. Well, to my knowledge, babies doesn't start teething at the age of 6 months. So, I immediately told the parents that I need to call the resident-in-house to inform her about the situation and will tell them later what will be the resident's decision right after I spoke to her.
I paged the resident right away and told her about the situation and had convinced her to order the medicine concealing the facts about the baby's age and luckily my convincing power had worked. So I immediately wrote the order on the physician's order sheet and tubed it down to pharmacy then prepared the medicine and gave it to the baby.
Apparently, the baby responded to the medicine and went to sleep immediately but only for one hour time and when he woke up he was very fussy again. Then immediately the mom pressed the call light and called for me.
When I went in the room she looked so tired and harassed and was complaining to me that the baby was still crying and fussy. She asked for another Tylenol dose but I explained to her that the baby had just had it an hour ago and it was too soon for me to give another one because the order was to give it every four hours. She doesn't liked what I told her.
When I saw her that she wasn't happy about the information I just gave her, she deviced another alibi that her son's IV site's tape was probably tight and that made the baby a little bit uncomfortable. Okay..... in order not to get her more upset at me I just went ahead and released the tape from the baby's IV site and told her to just keep an eye with it because I don't want it to get dislodged when the baby squirms a lot.
Well, it's not even thirty minutes later when she comes up to me at the station telling me that the baby was still fussy. I asked her if she had held the baby and tried to pacify him..... you know what she told me? She thinks that the baby is constipated.
As an educated nurse I didn't buy what she just had said to me.... I have to probe what happened for the baby for the whole day..... so I asked her if the baby had pooped today and she told me that; "Yeah, he did pooped twice today and it was very loose green." So I immediately shot back at her and told her; "And why did you think that your baby is constipated?"
But when she didn't answered me back after that open-ended question I immediately changed the tone of my voice and assured her that I needed to call the resident-on-duty to inform her about her little complaint. When the resident called back I explained to her the whole situation and what the mom had told me and I even begged her to come up and talk to the mom, but instead she wanted me to transfer her call to the room so that she can talk to the mom intently via the phone. Then after that I haven't heard anymore from the mom.
I went in the room to check for the baby and I saw him a little more content on the swing with the father watching over him. The bugging had finally abated for a while and after three hours when it was almost midnight the father rushed to the nursing station panting and telling one of my co-nurse that the intravenous line came out and the baby was bleeding badly.
We ran to the room immediately and attended to the distressed call made by the parents. When I got to the room the mom had already put pressure on the dislodged IV line and she was soaked with drops of blood on her gray shirt from the dislodgement. I immediately taped a square gauze on the previous IV site and explained to the parents that I needed to reinsert the IV line because the baby will need it for the antibotic medicine. The father was really upset about the whole process.
I went back to the station and prepared the necessary equipments and had asked one of my co-nurse to help me hold the baby while I was inserting the IV line. When we got to the room, I set-up all the things that I needed and explained to the parents that I have to look for an available vein before poking the baby. When I found one available site on the right hand, I immediately placed the torniquet to bulge and occlude the vein and started to poke the baby's hand.
When the needle was in and had assured that there is a blood backflow, I inserted the T-connector, taped and secured it well then started to flush the catheter. But because the baby was very strong and was squirming a lot I probably taped the catheter kinked that's why when I flushed it I can feel some resistance. I peeled off the tape slowly but the baby still squirms a lot and had noticed that the catheter was kinked so I pulled it back a little bit, straightened it, and slowly advanced it inside.
Then the mom interrupted me sarcastically that the site appears bulge but I couldn't see it because it was already covered with a tape and the T-connector has a good and strong blood backflow. I opened the tape again and double-checked it but there was no bulging noted.
So I irritatedly explained to mom that there is a strong backflow and that the catheter is flushing well. But still she kept mumbling and was irritated about my comment. Her husband had just shot her an annoying gaze and I just continued taping the IV while explaining to them that I am not taping it too tight.Then after that I gave the baby another Tylenol dose to keep him calm down we then left the room and gave them privacy with each other.
When I got out of the room I was fuming excessively with anger and impatience inside me and was about to burst and lose my cool but I held on and just joke around with my co-nurses about the current dilemma. I was almost overstretched about the whole situation and was about to lose my patience and gave way. Good thing I still have the knack to joke around with my friends.
But anyway, I just can't help myself getting enormously annoyed with this kind of parents trying to pretend that they are more smarter than the nurse when in fact they're not. I just can't fathom and decipher that. Yes, I admit I am not that perfect but I know what I am doing and why I am here.
I just can't believe why there are some parents who are like this, making and having babies, when in fact they couldn't tend to them fully. I can't blame them to be overprotected for their babies but at least they just have to also give respect to the professionals they are seeking help. I know I needed to give them enough time to fully trust me and I fully understand that, but this experience that I just had tonight is beyond compare.
I can't really forget this situation and to me this is the worst experience that really happened to me during the entirety of my professional career. I just can't believe I didn't lose my cool.... but believe me I was almost there to a point that I almost burst into madness. But God is always good and I still kept my cool and held on in the end. Wow..... it's really unbelievable!
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