Don't giver her a drink! It'll make her have to go to the bathroom!!

15 A patient asks, "May I have a glass of water."

"Okay, I'll get you one." I tell them.

Then a co-worker says, "Don't give her a drink! It'll maker her have to go to the bathroom!"

I do not like to argue. I feel like slapping that girl who is giving me orders when she is not a charge nurse and she doesn't have a licsense.

On one occasion, the girl ordering me around and demanding that I abuse and neglect an elderly patient was so popular on the floor that no one would listen to me, ie, "I'm sorry J... but we can't use you...."
I didn't think this joke made by the charge nurse was funny!! I finally did report this girl's attitude to the administrator who just listened and made no comment.

The second time someone said, "Don't give her a drink," after a patient asked for one I had been doing patient care for about ten years and I walked up to the charge nurse and asked, "What's the situation with this
patient....." when I knew quite well there wasn't one. Then I reported the CNA ordering me to be abusive. The charge nurse was on top of her in no time.

Unless they have a fluid restriction this is patient neglect and emotional abuse. It is also abusive to staff members who have feelings for these patients and who are stressed out when they are not permitted to give them good care. Last edit by Saiderap on Jul 12, '10 : Reason: readability
Sounds like to me your coworker doesn't want to take the time to toilet or change this patient. Looking out for her needs more than the patients..................for shame!!! You are right, unless they are fluid restriction or npo, there is no reason to limit fluids unless per physician's orders. I don't know what part of the country you are in but where I am the heat indices range from 100-115 daily; now is not the time to refuse someone a drink.

Not only that, but some people get migraines from not drinking enough. Some people by the time they get one, they are not able to talk.

It sounds to me that your coworker is lazy and doesn't want to change the patient or walk her/him to the bathroom. Some people think they can get paid without doing anything....

Neglect and abuse are represented here. Who ever this "nurse" is that does not want to give a resident water because she will have to pee...needs to be placed in the same situation as the patient and have her fluids held..so she can't go to the bathroom. The only way to change someone's mind set is to make them walk in the shoes that they are looking at, ie...make them go through the same thing..withhold fluids for 24 hrs and refuse to take that person to the toilet, that will change them for sure. And the mean streak in me says..., never mind I won't go there.I am glad you stuck up for the patient, you get an A+ from lowly me.

I would have just looked at the girl and said, "yeah, so"? If this person isn't even licensed why are you listening to them? I would've gone to get the patient a drink and then MADE SURE that lazy unlicensed nurse (?) or is she a CNA (?) was the person to toilet them. Then I would make sure that person who told me to withhold liquids understands the importance of drinking and using the bathroom and it's okay to ask them if they were the patient, is that the care they would want?Sometimes when you are a patient advocate, it takes a little conflict but this situation could have been handled professionally without the charge nurse. Good luck!

That person does not deserve to work in such an environment. They are cruel and insensitive to a human's need for basic necessities, where in the world did they learn to care for someone? It is part of the job to care for someone despite the number of toileting needs. This makes me sick. And you're exactly the right person for this job to advocate for patient rights. Good job!

If you're feeling good and salty, you might reply, "Great, maybe she'll get a DVT or a UTI. Good thinking there, Ace."

correct me if i'm wrong, but it sounds like this took place in a ltc facility, and it was a cna who was doing this, yes?if so, i have worked with cna's such as this, at my very brief stint in ltc.and while it is totally abuse and neglect, a cna had a meltdown after i had observed and written her up r/t a similar incident.while she conceded how wrong she had been, it was the pressure of having 10 residents on her assignment, with 70% of them being total care.knowing that many of these residents are on polypharmacy with many having anticholinergic components, these folks are always complaining of thirst.for a resident to continually have to be assisted w/toileting, cuts into the cna's time w/other residents, who are time-consuming.i'm telling you, i don't know how these aides do it, and still be expected to deliver superior care.anyways, i told that i heard everything she said, and would take it into consideration.that day, i conferred w/the DON.by the end of the week, additional help had come on, and the assignments were reduced to a more manageable 5-7 (on days).now i realize that most facilities only care about the bottom line, and whatever the reasons are, it still is abuse/neglect.and, i have also dealt w/cna's who just didn't give a crap.they were just insensitive, cold-hearted people.a nurse needs to differentiate betw those who are totally frazzled, versus those who are lazy and indifferent.i happened to know this cna, and was incredibly disappointed to have observed what i did.2- way communication can often produce further insight into any given situation, and sometimes, there is even a solution.my point being, is not everything is as it seems.and hopefully you can go to the adon or don with your concerns, and something will be done.leslie

Why are you listening to this person? I would stay as far away from this person as I could. Do not let this person risk your license or cause you a lawsuit!!!!!

Are you sure that she really withholds water from her patients, and was really advising you to do the same? Or is it possible that she was just talking nonsense as a way of venting her stress, or mistakenly thinking that she was amusing you?Others have said on the thread that this is abuse, but I think there's an important distinction to be made between talk and action. Actually withholding water from the patient is abuse; saying to your coworkers that you want to withhold water is not.I hear my coworkers make threats about the babies (or occasionally directly to the babies) on a regular basis, such as threatening to tape a pacifier into someone's mouth, or slip Ativan into their milk. But nobody actually does these things. Sometimes these comments spring from frustration, and sometimes they're part of a jocular late-night mood. Talking nonsense might not be ideal behaviour, but it's a far cry from actually carrying out the threats.It may be that Saiderap's colleague meant what she said. But I'd at least consider the possibility that she was just venting and didn't mean it literally.

What if a patient or a patient's family member overheard the conversation ? Even if the "nurse" was venting, that sounds terrible for a professional to say.

I agree - the possibility of being overheard is one of the reasons that this comment isn't ideal behaviour. But I think it's still a lesser evil than actually withholding the water (which this girl might also be doing, but we don't know that).