While on a call you observe behavior from an officer that you are not comfortable with. The officer is rude to the patient's family and also physically moves a person to prevent them from walking past the cot while the patient is being moved. This action on the family members part has the potential to cause the cot to become unstable. You do not witness this event.
While en route to the hospital the family member states they would like to file a complaint and provides their recount of the event. You remain neutral and ask if you speaking with the person would be sufficient. They agree.
You ask to speak with the officer and you find that they believe their actions are correct and justified. After hearing their side of the story you still feel uncomfortable with the events and also mention your dissatisfaction with the officer's interaction with the patient's family. The conversation takes a turn and your care of the patient is now brought into question.
What do you do?
4 comments:
Complaints about your patient care smack of desperately trying to turn this on you, but I would always take what other people say about my care very seriously. I would make it clear that you are willing to listen to his concerns about you, but that he should do you the favour of listening to what you say about his behaviour too. Then, have an in depth discussion of both topics, until you both understand the other's point of view fully on both topics.
Also, make it clear to him that you are talking to him as a favour to him, in order to avoid the family putting in an official complaint. After the conversation, see whether he continues to act in the same way. If he does, then next time might be the time you let them complain.
I take my care very seriously as well but it is very difficult to determine if there was actually an issue with my care or if it had become a pissing match.
I did attempt to continue the discussion and remain on point but when no headway was being made it became a downward spiral and essentially just left the conversation feeling worse than when it had started. I did not see a resolution in sight so I abondoned the conversation. Is that bad or good? I don't know.
As for telling him I was doing him a favor, he doesn't see it that way. If anything, he believes that I was in the wrong for even getting involved and not directing the person to him with his cell number and an offer to talk to him directly at the station.
I think he had some very valid points with that but it really is hard not getting defensive and taking the learning points with you when it becomes a "this is why YOU were wrong" conversation.
Maybe I was wrong. I don't know.
What I do know is I am more frustrated now than I was before the conversation took place.
Sounds to me like you did the right thing. I also am not surprised he got defensive, but you definitely did everything right. If I'd found that you'd given a patient my telephone number, I'd have been very angry, so I don't think that doing that was a realistic option.
I definitely agree with what you did. Well done :-)
My first thought was the same as on the Road's. he's turning it around on you as a defensive tactic.
As for him not considering you were doing a favor. I'd much rather hear there was an issue from a colleague than to have a complaint brought. While it might be advantagious in some circumstances for the agrieved to speak with the individual in question directly, given his reaction I'm not sure that would have been the case.
plus, and I guess you didn't indicate if this was a law enforcement or EMS officer, most LEOs, and I suppose people in general, I know prefer their personal phone numbers not be given out without consent. Had you done that, his gripe would've been with something else.
It's good that you take patient care seriously and I'm sure you'll think about what he said, even if it was nit-picky to turn things around on you, but it's still important that you talked with him if something made you uncomfortable.
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