Be Patient With Your Nurse to Get the Best Care

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As a nurse it is absurd to think about prioritizing pain over hemodynamic instability. Especially, if the pain is expected. Of course treating pain is important, but if there is no other nurse available to assist the patient in pain. I don''t see another option than to prioritize someone in pain after dropping blood pressure.
Be patient with your nurse!

Maureen of IN 7:25PM February 04, 2011

Here's what I've concluded on getting a nurse or cna to help.
1) Only ask for something if they are in the room. Even though it may be twice a day, ask only then.
2) If you need assistance (if you're not ambulatory, etc) call and wait 45 minutes before calling again. If after 3 hours, no one comes, threaten to call patient relations. And then do it. Understand that nurses won't adjust you in bed, won't bring your food to you when you're not ambulatory, won't change you and your linens when they didn't help you to the bathroom 45 minutes ago. The cna does that and may have 30 beds to deal with.
3) Time is relative. In a hospital, "I'll be right there" doesn't mean a thing. "First thing in the morning" may be a day and a half later. "As soon as I can" means that they are with another patient and will get to you as soon as they can. They just may need to be reminded.
4) Unless the dr specified otherwise, medications are dispensed for the times they are prescribed. If you are to take a pain med every 4 hours, asking for it 3 1/2 hours after you took the last one won't get it to you sooner. The nurse doesn't have it in for you. Most, if not all hospitals have a system that will not allow staff to dispense prescriptions before their allotted times.

Crystal of NY 1:55PM July 15, 2010