Ever heard a fellow nurse (or healthcare worker) say something terrible to a patient? Are you guilty of making a communication faux pas? Share the worst things to say to a patient here, and then read the article 8 Things You Should Never Say to a Patient.

I haven't heard many nurses say "It's probably nothing serious" but DOCTORS say it all the time!

Well, this wasn't said in front the pt, but never the less pissed me off. I had a lady in ICU with vertigo, and vomitting. She was ok at the begining of my shift, but began to experience symptoms later in the day. The cardiologist was the only doc who had seen her, so I called to get her some meds for relief. I got the office nurse at his office . She said she'd relay the message. She called me back to give me an order for a 500cc bolus of NS. Nothing else. I asked her if she would ask the doc for a med for relief of of nausea and dizziness, like antivert and zofran. She replied"He's gonna be mad!" I told her I didn't care. I told her my pt was going to be mad when all I had to give her was a 5oocc bag of NS. Luckily, the primary doc had come in while I was on the phone with this idiot. I was able to get him to give me an order.

She (the nurse) later called to apologize, but I told her that I already got orders form another doc. Lucky for the pt.

Working on a psych unit, there are many things you don't say to a patient. When I returned to work after a weekend off, I had a note regarding one of my staff nurses. During her interaction with a female patient who'd been hitting, spitting staff for at least two weeks, she said to the patient, who'd stomped her foot in response to a request from the nurse, "You're stomping your foot like a horse!" The patient became angered and of course had to be calmed down.