What underlying stressors could have precipitated Karen’s behavior?

Nursing through differences and difficulties
Amy – Nursing Student on Clinical
Ellie- RN Nurse educating Amy
While Amy and Nurse Ellie are administering medication to Mr. Clifford, Nurse Ellie receives a call from the unit
secretary stating that another patient needs her to come to her room immediately. Based on the secretary’s tone of voice, Nurse Ellie figures the call is urgent and rushes out of Mr. Clifford’s room to go see Karen in room 312. She encourages Amy to finish up in Mr. Clifford’s room and then come to room 312.
Upon Nurse Ellie’s arrival, Karen disgruntledly greets Nurse Ellie at the door.
Initially, Karen states that she is furious that she ordered her lunch an hour and a half go and is upset that her
tray has not arrived. She says “I’ve had a headache for hours now and all I want is a meal to help make it go away. This place is just terrible! It’s dirty, the workers here are useless and I just don’t understand what it takes to get
good help around here! I’ve being looking for my lunch for over an hour and I need you to do something about it
NOW! I don’t understand why I can’t just go home and make my own food. You all aren’t doing anything for me
anyway since I’m not getting better.”
As this is happening, Amy arrives to Karen’s room after finishing up with Mr. Clifford. She witnesses Karen
yelling at Nurse Ellie and struggles to find words to assist in the moment. As Amy was about to speak, Karen
says to Nurse Ellie “I don’t want her (pointing to Amy) in my room anymore! She’s worse than you. She’s just a
student and neither of you are helpful. Where’s that nice male nurse from last night?” Nurse Ellie replies
“Ms. Karen, you can go somewhere else if you are unhappy here. Your rudeness is not going to make things
better. I will go call about your missing lunch tray and will come back when you can be more kind.”
When Nurse Ellie and Amy exit the room, Amy asks if she had done something to make Karen upset. She felt
that every time she had been in the room, she tended to Karen’s needs and asked if she could do anything
before leaving. She began to feel defeated and upset that her efforts were not appreciated.
1.It’s important to understand that underlying stressors may impact a person’s behavior. What underlying
stressors could have precipitated Karen’s behavior? Name two that you noticed from Karen’s conversation.
2.With therapeutic communication in mind, what is your perception of Nurse Ellie’s response to Karen’s
concerns? Was it appropriate or inappropriate? How would you respond instead? (Address all parts of this
question).
3.Citing a credible source discuss professional behavior in the workplace setting when dealing with difficulties:
difficult patients, coworkers or policies (can be any of the these).
4.How do you personally overcome difficulties/differences?
Compile a response to this discussion in a narrative form, versus bullet points or numbering. You may upload an attached document or copy/paste into the discussion. Response must have a minimum of 100 words and i
nclude a minimum of one credible reference (nursing journal, textbook, etc.). It should also be correctly cited in APA format (with a reference page and in text citations).

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