When Your Patient Hates You

I was under the impression while in nursing school that your patients will generally appreciate you to some extent, but I have unfortunately learned the hard way that this is definitely not always the case.

I hate to stereotype people but I have found that there are some patient populations who share certain characteristics: burn patients are often drunks and/or drug addicts, transplant patients are nice but can be very anal, and gun shot victims are usually jerks.

Stop - Drop - Roll

Lesson #57 in fire safety: alcohol is flammable.

Tell that to the patient who catches themself on fire while engaging in a little recreational drug use and then attempts to extinguish said fire with the cocktail they also happen to be drinking. 

This is a kind of one-up to the traditional smoking-while-on-oxygen style of self immolation but doesn't quite top shooting oneself --although CAREFUL: not as a suicide attempt (per patient's report) which made this other self-inflicted injury quite unique.

The day I work with sane patients suffering from banal ailments is the day I die.