By 1. “How May I Help You?”
Makes you feel like a waiter, right? Tell us about it. As in retail, in the hospital the patient comes first. Your first responsibility as a nurse is to make sure the patient’s needs are taken care of and that you are acting as their advocate. As tiresome as this phrase is, it’s most likely one of the first things you ask a patient and/or his family — every single time you meet a new patient. And when you have several patients, that means you’ll be fielding family requests, updating multiple charts and monitoring many different cases. It all comes with the territory.
2. “Because Your Doctor Said So.”
But unlike in the world of customer service, the patient is not always right. Unfortunately, that’s not always clear to some people. While you should have your patients’ interests in mind, it’s the doctor that makes the final call on how they are treated — not their concerned wife or something they read on WebMD. Stand firm and stick with those great nursing instincts. The patient doesn’t always know what’s best for them — that’s up to you and the doctor. You’ve got the power!
3. “I Swear, if That Patient Rings the Call Bell One More Time…”
Some patients will do anything just to get a nurse’s complete attention — right? And, unfortunately, it’s your duty to answer that annoying ring each time, because you never know when it will be a real emergency. Whoever invented the call bell obviously never knew the ways that power would be abused. We know it’s hard sometimes, but be patient with your patients. Hopefully there’s no Dr. House at your hospital paging the nurses for no reason.
