Health Care Professionals Group

Health care Professionals: What was the WORST patient you ever had?

First what kind of patient am I? I ask questions, but only relevant questions, I don't argue. My only annoying habit is, I laugh when I am getting a shot or having blood drawn. A Nurse said "You are the first person I had that laughed and thought this was funny" (speaking of having my blood drawn)

Public Comments

1. You sound like a wonderful patient! The thing about patients, they are people first, health care professionals generally see them when they are at their worst. Being sick can bring out all kinds of personality traits that most of us keep hidden when we are feeling well. The worst patient I ever had was the one that died.
2. The worst patients are ones who has infectious disease and does not stay in thir isolation room. they walk around the hospital putting others in danger.
3. ok, this is disgusting, but you asked.... My mother works in the public health sector. A woman came in complaining of pain when she had sex. They did a pelvic exam on her. My mother said she was very, um, "unhygienic" I guess is a delicate way of putting it. Anyway, she was diagnosed with a bacterial infection. They gave her antibiotics and sent her home and told her to come back in a couple of weeks for a follow up. When she came back, you could still see the betadine they had used to clean her the first time. Apparently, she hadn't bathed in over TWO weeks. My mother said she claimed the pain had gone away when she had sex though. EWWWWWWWWWWWW!!!!!!
4. It was my first contact with this patient. He urgently needed a college entrance physical, was shabbily dressed, grossly overweight, and of poor hygiene. He said he would gladly pay my fee if I would skip the exam and just sign the form. I refused, so he reluctantly complied with the exam. (The deadline for submitting the form was that afternoon.) In an attempt to break the ice, I asked him what course of studies he was pursuing. He had a scholarship to the college of music, and wanted to be a counter-tenor. Then he said, "I guess you don't know what a counter-tenor is." By odd coincidence I was at that part of the exam where a simple maneuver would have ensured him success in that area, but I restrained myself, completed the exam, signed the form, and never heard from him again... Until I went to the opera five years ago. Much to my surprise, he cleaned up, lost weight and became a semi-famous tenor. No thanks to me except for fitting him in my schedule that fateful day. And no, I did not go backstage after the performance.
5. You sound like a fine patient. I think it is ok to argue and patients should ask all the questions they want/can. Laughing is better then crying biting or punching! My worst was the mom of a baby born addicted to meth and crack and going through withdrawals. It was my maternity rotation in nursing school and was very challenging not to show my disdain for a woman who gave no regard to her baby or herself. But it was a learning experience and I have to ask myself what kind of circumstances led her down that path and what I might do in her shoes. That or the guy who kept hitting his call light so he could lift his gown and wag his penis at me when I walked in the room.