To be, or not to be (Blog #7)

Upon report with the previous shift nurse a few weeks ago, I was told several times that my future patient was rude, abrasive, and inappropriate. She advised me to pick another patient as she said I would feel uncomfortable caring for him. She did not give any examples as to how my patient was inappropriate, but gave several verbal and nonverbal cues that made me wonder if I should pick another person. However, I began to wonder if the cause of my patient's behavior was due to actual bad feelings towards the staff, or if there was an underlying reason to explain his behavior. I chose to approach him as if I had not head a word about his rudeness and treat him as if he was a normal, kind, patient, because I wondered if the nurses' perceptions were being reflected in their care, and that in turn was making my patient rude.

So, after treating my patient kindly and respectfully, I found out that he is truly a nice person who wanted to talk about his concerns with someone. I did not experience any inappropriate behaviors and I enjoyed caring for him. All that to say, I am glad I though his situation over thoroughly and I am confident that all my patient needed was a kind heart and listening ear.

This makes me wonder about my interactions with not only my patients, but my family, friends, instructors, etc. Am I truly aware of the way I come off to other people? I need to make sure that I am cognizant of the way I respond to people, even if I am happy, sad, angry, or stressed. All of our actions (or lack of) have consequences, and in my patient's case, proved to make quite a difference. Hopefully I will always remember this interaction as an encouragement to never take someone else's word for granted and to remain unbiased in all situations, no matter what anyone else says.