Life as a nurse, doctor or any other healthcare professional can be incredibly rewarding and unbelievably difficult at the same time. There are many pros, but the list of cons can sometimes seem to be equally as long (if not longer), especially after a hard day of helping patients, not all of whom are the brightest of the bunch.
A British nurse, who goes by the nickname GoddessBadger on Imgur, shared her work stories about the most oblivious, impolite, and downright bizarre patients she’s ever had to deal with. Upvote the stories you enjoyed the most, share them with your amigos, and keep on scrolling. While we’re on the subject of nurses, be sure to check out our post about the best and funniest nurse memes — they’re sure to get a chuckle or two out of you.
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"We, of course, explain to her that cola is not an appropriate food to be giving to her child."
"Carry on with your c**p and you will be booked in for an autopsy!!"
"Truly amazing how much this gets thrown at us NHS nurses when somebody can’t get their own way... Do they not realise that we pay taxes too?"
GoddessBadger’s work stories were a booming success on Imgur. It even made the front page! Her meme collection got 4,930 upvotes and was viewed over 150,220 times at the time of writing. But these numbers keep on getting bigger and bigger, as the stories go even more viral.
The emergency room nurse from England detailed just how weird her shifts can get: from one patient refusing suppositories because they’re ‘not gay’ to a mother giving her baby fizzy drinks instead of formula. [Groans internally]
It takes the patience of a saint to get through to people who are as oblivious as this. So we’re probably all grateful that there are so many healthcare professionals out there who are patient enough to excuse our mistakes.
"She was at LEAST 80 years old"
My (now passed) 90 year old grandmother said she didn't want to date anyone in her retirement home because they were all too old for her and she didn't have the energy to lift her butt in the air anymore. She had 8 children and said that every time she took her pants off she got pregnant. I hope I'm as spunky when I'm 90.
Speaking of patience with patients (pun intended), Jacksonville University has some great advice on how to deal with incredibly inconvenient individuals. The most important thing for a healthcare professional is to remain calm and maintain control.
Furthermore, it’s vitally important that nurses, doctors, and other hospital staff be as empathetic as they can. If a patient is angry or upset, they might simply want to complain a tad, so try talking to them, show them that you understand their pain and that you’re on their side. We’re all human beings and we all want to be heard.
"Racism is surprisingly common. I am British but not white so I face a lot of these comments. Sometimes I can be on an entire shift without a white British staff member...
If you’re a racist, I have one thing to say to you... 'Grow the f**k up.'"
I understand asking for someone who is more fluent in your language due to misunderstandings and language barriers but definitely not because of race. That’s just ignorant. My regular GP is an Indian and there are rare occasions where he says something that I need him to repeat and he is happy to do so. He is one of the best GP’s I have come across in a very long time.
I must admit I saw my psychiatrist on Monday, he's Indian, and we got into a disagreement about NHS funding (as you do) and unfortunately I couldn't understand most of what he was saying as he started talking more quickly and he has a strong accent which I struggle with already. Other than that one small issue I couldn't care where, what or who they are as long as they know what they are doing.
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Like when some people ask "Where are you from?" and once replied they go further with "but where are you from ORIGINALLY?" From your very same birth place, f****r.
I hate that s**t. Just ask my ethnicity or STFU with “where are you from”
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I know a german doctor working in London, at a time he was the only white doctor at the hospital there, all the others were African or Indian. So some of the (white) english patients, especially the older generation, were happy to see him, they considered him to be a "true" doctor because he was white...until he started to talk with his strong german accent... one of the patients said "the only white doctor is a f*cking nazi!"
FFS people - let it go. The war has been over for 74 years.
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Well, it works both ways.... My NHS GP speaks slowly in simple sentences to me & my partner (but not our kids!). Thanks, we both have science PhDs, both speak 5+ languages, lived and worked in English for two decades; and yes we've established weird accents --- to maximize understandability for non-native speakers... Natives can figure it out anyway, but to say a Spanish, Russian or Indian colleague it can help a lot if you basically pronounce most letters that are written; like not pronounce "car" and "call" the same as in some accents.
Of course the language barrier can work both ways, unfortunately many GP’s can’t just change patients. But if they are able to swap patients with another Dr because of the language barrier, then I don’t see an issue with them doing so.
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Oh, you want a white nurse? Well, I told my supervisor I didn't wanna deal with any a******s on this shift. I guess neither one of us gets what we want today.
I think the patient meant "I want someone from the culture I grew up in and who speaks the language I do perfectly". It was just worded poorly. I don't think the actual skin colour was the issue.
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My aunt urologist is an Indian guy and he is one of the best doctors that our family has ever come across.
I don't know, sounds like the kinda guy who really takes the p**s outta your aunt... /s
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I was returning from New York to Bombay with my father-in-law (a neurologist) and on the flight a guy had some seizure. The pilot asked if there was any doctor on board. When my father-in-law came back from seeing the guy, he told there were 11 indian doctors on that one flight. It ws funny as health sector in India continues to be very poor.
While someone has every right to refuse someone access to their body, for whatever reason, they have no right to demand a specific type of member of staff. It could be a long wait, buddy.
Grow up! Is that just for the white racists or can we include "people of colour" in that admonishment??? After working in both Africa and Asia in a hospital I can positively confirm it's completely normal to want someone the same colour as you with a similar accent, especially when your either scared or older! It's only in western countries do they make a big thing about this, in Asia, it was a given.
Most of the nurses I've had are of all different nationalities. I've never thought about that, until just now.
So I'm white, born in the UK and work within the NHS, I have a very foreign name (Eastern European) which can be seen on my badge, sometimes (normally an older patient) will thank me after a examination and comment on how good my English is. It makes me chuckle and I just thank them.
I have had a wonderful doctor who was of a different race from me, and also many who were of a different gender, and I cannot understand any concerns about race or gender! Yes, people, grow up!
So sad we still see this in the US. I guess I expected the British to be more civilized.
I personally refuse to use a GP or a doctor that I will be seeing regularly that I cannot understand, or who will not listen to what I am saying and actually discuss the problems. 1) I have no time or energy to try to translate what you are saying or try to explain my issues so you can understand, so please speak my native language fluently. 2) If you simply decide my care without consulting me, explaining why, or listening to ideas that I myself may have and explaining why it may or may not work, then you are a "master and ruler" and not a doctor. My health will be far better if I am willing to work at it, rather than just prescribed.
Once at the the University hospital I had a nurse who did not speak French or English (the 2 languages that I know). This woman tried to take a blood sample f rom my arm. After having stuck 5 times the needle in the vein, I told her to stop and ask for an other nurse. She didn't understand what ever I said. Again she was going to stab me and again miss the vein. So I grabbed her arm and brought it up to my mouth, of course I wouldn't have bitten her! She started to yell and there came a wonderful Scottish nurse. This nurse spoke both French and English of course. She toke the other arm and was able in one go take the blood sample. The first nurse came from some East Europe country. I believe that patients have the right to treated correctly vand that hospital staff should be able to speak properly the language in which they practice. It should be required that all hospitals personnel that have contact with the patients must be able to communicate correctly with the public.
And when people from other language groups are patients ?
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"We end up giving them an IV instead since they were adamant they didn’t want a suppository."
"After much deliberation and a look through their medical records, we realised they meant “Sickle Cell” as in anemia."
Arguing with patients is also never the answer because it doesn’t lead to anything other than more arguments: it’s far better to be respectful; the ER is not the place for a screaming match over whose opinion is correct. That being said, you have to set concrete limits on how a patient can treat you. If a person is being disrespectful, say that this is the wrong way to treat you and walk away. At the end of the day, if you’re feeling exhausted and emotionally sapped, just remember, that you’re doing this job for a reason and that the temporary inconvenience is worth it in the long run.
"This was truly one of the most bizarre excuses I’ve ever heard for a dildo stuck up the butt. This patient insisted that he was minding his own business, running as he normally does in the morning when a dildo wielding assailant appeared and started chasing after him. He claimed he tripped and that’s when our mysterious dildo man inserted the toy... Did we believe him... No... and they never caught the dildo wielding man."
"These types end up in the ED often and often they just need to go home and sleep it off. Discharge is often queried with “How am I supposed to get home?!” Why is that my problem? The Ambulance Service is not your personal taxi service."
Well, if you sit awhile over there in that waiting room, you can take yourself home in the morning.
My mother has some neuropathy (numbness) in her feet as a result of chemo. She keeps telling people she has necrophilia.
If you have to take her places...I think is just wait in the car for her rather than catch the strange looks from people that don’t get it! Lol
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Two young men are sitting in hospital and get into a conversation: 1. "So what are you here for? " 2. "I had a castration, and you? 1. "Just here for observation?" 2. "Damn, that's the word I forgot."
Hahahahaha...defiantly to late for an evaluation!
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Half of these belong on r/boneappletea. The other half is just people being idiots. Still funny anyways!
I saw a t-shirt one day that said "Nurse..the first person you see after you say the words 'Hold my Beer' and 'Watch this'"
as long as they dont reveal the patients names these confessions are not hippa violations
These are hilarious! My former father-in-law was famous for using wrong word. He had a cold one time and asked his wife for some of that nitroglycerin instead of Neoitran! He afforded us a lot of laughs!
Number 11 about the drunk people. If Rescue is called for a public drunk and they are alone, they have to be taken to the ER. They can't just be left out there. Because they can and/or will hurt or kill themselves.
The blatantly for-profit hospitals (like the ones run by the Catholics--seriously) tell them to' go home and take a shower, then come back' before they'll even see them. (Only reason I know is this is the complaints I heard while working in the county hospital's admissions office.)
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My mother has some neuropathy (numbness) in her feet as a result of chemo. She keeps telling people she has necrophilia.
If you have to take her places...I think is just wait in the car for her rather than catch the strange looks from people that don’t get it! Lol
Load More Replies... Two young men are sitting in hospital and get into a conversation: 1. "So what are you here for? " 2. "I had a castration, and you? 1. "Just here for observation?" 2. "Damn, that's the word I forgot."
Hahahahaha...defiantly to late for an evaluation!
Load More Replies... Half of these belong on r/boneappletea. The other half is just people being idiots. Still funny anyways!
I saw a t-shirt one day that said "Nurse..the first person you see after you say the words 'Hold my Beer' and 'Watch this'"
as long as they dont reveal the patients names these confessions are not hippa violations
These are hilarious! My former father-in-law was famous for using wrong word. He had a cold one time and asked his wife for some of that nitroglycerin instead of Neoitran! He afforded us a lot of laughs!
Number 11 about the drunk people. If Rescue is called for a public drunk and they are alone, they have to be taken to the ER. They can't just be left out there. Because they can and/or will hurt or kill themselves.
The blatantly for-profit hospitals (like the ones run by the Catholics--seriously) tell them to' go home and take a shower, then come back' before they'll even see them. (Only reason I know is this is the complaints I heard while working in the county hospital's admissions office.)
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