Talk about a time you had to handle an irate colleague or patient. How did you handle that situation, and what was the result?

"As a nurse in the pain clinic, we had a patient one day demanding more narcotics for her pain. She had walked into the clinic without an appointment to demand another prescription. As the only nurse in a small clinic that day, I sat the patient down to talk to them. I used a calm voice and listened to what they were asking for. After listening, I explained that I would need to check their records for their last prescription and speak with the attending physician in the clinic that day. After seeing that their last prescription was written many months ago and the patient had missed their last appointment, I talked to the physician to get another prescription written. Once prescribed, I explained to the patient how it was important for them to keep their regularly scheduled appointments, and she walked away happy."

Over the years, I have had numerous encounters with patients or family members who were upset about something. Often, their anger was directed at a family member, or the family member was angry with the patient. In our unit, we always made sure two nurses entered a room with an argument. They never left a nurse to deal with the situation on their own. Staying calm in these situations is the most important. Then, we tried to get to the root of the problem to calm down the upset person, making sure they felt heard and then working to find a resolution if possible. If the family member or patient were unwilling to calm down, we would call our security staff to assist with calming them and, if needed, ask them to leave the hospital if they were reluctant to cooperate.