"If a patient starts to tell me something, I listen briefly and ask if she would like for me to get my nursing leader. I don't want to shut the patient down if she really had a bad experience, but I don't want to feed into it either and damage their view of my coworker. The best thing I can think of is to hear them out briefly but not agree. I'd say that I'm sorry they had the experience and ask if they would like me to get nursing leadership. Now if it's something horrible, of course I would report it directly, if it was a medical concern. It depends on the situation, but I know not to simply be silent because silence implies consent sometimes, so I would feel the need to say that I hear them, but I'm not the person who has the power to take action on that concern."

"When a patient has a legitimate complaint, I will attempt to rectify their problem myself or bring up their complaint to the charge nurse, the nurse manager, or another person in leadership. However, if a patient seems to be manipulative or complaining to try to start conflict, I usually use reflective listening. So, I reflect their statement back to them neutrally, such as saying, 'I hear you saying you were frustrated that the night shift nurse's aid didn't get you up to the chair at the time you wanted. What are the top 2 priorities I can address during my shift today to make you comfortable?' I don't feed into any negativity about another shift, and I focus on what I can do during my shift If the patient persists in complaining about something that happened earlier, I would offer to bring in my nursing manager."