To want to know what’s the meanest patient you’ve ever had? A question for nurses and anyone else working in the healthcare industry!

[Bellad19]

I’ve only worked in healthcare for 5 years, but NEVER in my five years have I had a patient be horrible to me until today. I am baffled as to how somebody could be so RUDE to someone who is trying to look after them!!
Please cheer me up and share your stories of awful patients with me so I know that I’m not alone 😭 I’m a sensitive person anyway but for some reason today really got to me and I’ve just cried ever since I got home! I’ll blame the pregnancy hormones!!

Someone started to give me dogs abuse because their appointment at a totally different clinic in a totally different hospital was at an awkward time. Despite the fact the appointment was absolutely nothing related or anything to do with our side it was still all my fault apparently!

@FannyFifer Why would someone wish to pretend they have an LD? Curious

We also had someone threaten to gouge a pregnant nurses eye out. Again, full capacity

Yes the most serious threats have been from MH patients where there are no concerns over their capacity (at that time)

And unfortunately often not taken seriously enough

The threat I have at times felt has stayed with me for days after I have been shaken to the core the continued harassment that you will be on the receiving end of is draining and it’s hard to switch off

And because I don’t get enough support my team is losing yet another professional that is very good at their job and works very hard

my mental health also matters sadly this is so overlooked in my nhs trust (unless you are a consultant)

And people will pretend to have a LD (or MH issue) to take a different route through the system and for some to get out of working

@gypsywater
For what they see as an easier detained option.
For example a paedophile with a learning disability wld end up in a very different setting than someone without an LD.
Wld also be safer than being in with a general prison population.

Wow that is abhorrent

Not that bad in the scheme of things but really upset me at the time. I'd been working as a doctor for a week. One patient on our ward had loads of visitors - theoretically only two allowed at a time but every time the nurses kicked some out more seemed to materialise. They encroached on the neighbouring beds, played loud music and generally took over the place. I had to get to the patient next door and very politely asked some of them to move so I could actually get down the side of the bed. Eventually they did, very grudgingly, but then loudly discussed my looks and weight from the other side of the curtain while I tried to concentrate on taking a chest drain out on my own for the first time. At one point I took a slight step back and touched the curtain, and one of them gave me the most enormous shove through it - I fell over and really whacked myself on the bed, all the sterile equipment I had went on the floor and the patient got a terrible fright, as you would when the person brandishing a sharp blade around your stitches suddenly goes flying. When I stuck my head round the curtain to remonstrate they all just sniggered and denied doing it. 5 middle-aged people, acting like horrible bullying children.

My hat goes off to all the NHS staff coping with all the shit they have to put up with. Fair play to you for going to work every day. I salute you.

I worked in the nhs for around 10 years. I got a fair amount of verbal abuse.

I thought id share a bit from a book im reading written by another ex nhs employee.

Warning its very graphic but clinical staff should be ok. Apologies for photos.

I've worked in mental health for 30 years & I've had every shitty,derogatory,hurtful,fucking crappy shite thrown at me. I don't mean literally shite!! But that has happened in the past!!
I've also seen patients who have been so bloody poorly that they couldn't function & couldn't complete basic tasks. And we as a team have worked so hard to help them and to have them discharged.
By the way we constantly fighting for beds as the government are constantly cutting beds.
I work in a massive trust & only the last few week we have had to have an admission in one of our leave beds as they were no male beds in the whole of our trust. Bearing in mind our ward is a rehab ward which aren't supposed to accept admissions.
Say a thank you to our government!!!

Also as it's mental health when we are attacked we are told constantly it's part of our job!!!!

I have a slight “accent” as I’m partially deaf, there are sounds I have never been able to hear so I have some problems pronouncing some sounds.

We had an old patient that we needed to call to arrange lifts every month. She would scream at me “Talk to me in English!” and put the phone down every single time. Eventually we stopped arranging anything for her and let her to sort her lifts herself.

When I was in labour with number 2, I screamed at the midwife “do not fucking touch me, Leave me the fuck alone.” In my defence I struggle with everything to do with pregnancy and birth, it had taken my husband everything to get me to agree to go to hospital (I was ready to give birth in my mums kitchen/the car, anywhere to avoid having to deal with the NHS) and I know my own body. I didn’t apologise for saying it either and never will do.
The worst I have seen is in the post labour ward, a rather aggressive lady who’s native language was not English, kept saying derisive things about the nurses to her friends. She slapped a cup out of one nurses hand, laughed and called them “dumb and useless”. I can speak the other language and translated what she was saying to a senior doctor, who had the lady removed from the ward!

@ToffeePennie Why on earth would you not apologise for that?!

I didn’t apologise for saying it either and never will do

Why not? You sound lovely

Sadly this is typical of many patients attitudes towards NHS staff I was in pain, I have MH issues I couldn’t help it and it’s all part of the job so why should I give a shit

It is part of the work and we understand that hostility and aggression can come from fear or feeling out of control but we are not emotional punchbags so please do not think we are not worthy of at times an acknowledgement of what we do deal with to support others going through a difficult/emotional/frightening/immensely painful experience

Why would I not apologise? It was in my birthing plan that the midwives were made aware of my preferences, they were told repeatedly by my husband “please can you not touch her, it’s very important to us that you let her get on with it” and it was written in red across all the notes on my computer. They still touched me, I still had someone try and perform a VE without my consent, so yeah I told her to back off and no I didn’t apologise.
I think that’s fairly reasonable when you are off your head with pain and have just one specific thing that they have all been made aware and still try to do.
I did however, apologise for everything that happened the following day - I even apologised for fainting and kept saying how sorry I was that the angel of a midwife ended up pretty much taking care of me, when she had other patients. I guess it depends on how much consent there is.

I think that’s fairly reasonable when you are off your head with pain and have just one specific thing that they have all been made aware and still try to do.

Its completely reasonable when you're off your head with pain. Its completely unreasonable to settle and normalise, know what you've said is horrible and STILL not apologise for it.

Mr gran was a nurse. One night an elderly lady soiled the bed several times, ok when bed bound it can happen. My gran asked why she hadn’t rung and asked for help and they could have got her onto a bedpan (this was before commodes). The lady in her very posh annoyed voice said ‘it’s your job to clean me up so just get on with it!’

Why should @ToffeePennie apologise? She states that her notes and her DH both made the MW aware of the "no touching" - but that request was ignored and even a VE attempted without consent. Quite frankly, if the MW can't deal with a simple and clear request, perhaps it's time to find another less challenging role.

We are often given instructions of what patients want and at times we can’t deliver because we have to asses the risks involved you know it is about being professional

@PanamaPattie it doesnt say any of that in her first post

Amazed at the pps who think it's ok to verbally abuse a midwife.

It isn't, even if she has potentially made an error in deviating from a birth plan.

Toffee I think you should be ashamed of yourself for saying that!

How do you give birth without being touched? What if baby is in distress?