[cotjockey]

I think we all have those patients...you know, the ones who come in all the time, who really aren't the sharpest tacks, who just never seem to get it, who never bathe, who scare little children when they see them walking down the street, the ones who make you want to rol your eyes everytime you triage them, and the ones you draw straws to decide who gets them this week? I don't mean to be mean or anything here, but do you know the patients I am talking about? Sigh...we refer to them as The Far Side...again not to be cruel, but because if we can't laugh about some of the things we do we will cry instead.

Again, I don't mean to sound mean here, but I was just wondering...do you all have a Far Side crowd in your ER? Do you have a nickname for these patients?

[tiger]

i don'twork er but i love the "far side" idea. i'm sure it fits many times.

[TheLionessRN]

We always called them "Frequent Flyers"

[cotjockey]

Our Nursing VP says we can't call them frequent flyers anymore...she thinks it's rude. We have our share of patients who are "well known to this nurse," but our Far Side is a breed above and beyond the average frequent flyer.

[l.rae]

here comes another member of the MENSA society, however most of the time this little dig is reserved for some of our less enlightened resident MD's.....under the "complaint" section of our computerized grease board you will find the comment. "tstl"...too stupid to live"...wonder what your nursing VP would think of that?...and, hasn't she ever heard of fredom of speach?...geesh, it's not like you say it to their faces............LR

[KC CHICK]

Women over age 80, some with dementia and multiple needs: L.O.L. for 'Little old Ladies'.

They usually don't drive me nuts though...they're so darn cute.
Anne

[Stargazer]

One of the docs I used to work with had a bunch of code words he would write on the charts of anyone who was sufficiently "different." He'd write CAVE (Latin for "beware") on the chart of anyone who was a real PIA; CFC for "certifiable fruitcake"; and WW for "Wendy Whiner", after the old Saturday Night Live sketch.

[tattooednursie]

In LTC . . . .thanks to another allnurses member suggesting it to me . . . Sisters of the perperual light. ! I love it.

Also screamin Mimi, gurmpy, and the well known WHINER !

I am the far side society by the way.

[Y2KRN]

Had a Doc that would write TSTL too stupid to live, or on the discharge orders would write OTDDTR out the door and down the road. He would also put on drunks charts do not drink alcohol ever again, consuming alcohol can cause death.

Y2KRN

[Furball]

My favorite pts during my stint in homecare. They were BOTH quite the challenge.

Hamburger Heel and Fungus foot.

Poor hamburger heel was a noncompliant, blind, multi amputee diabetic. Won't go further than that for confidentiality but you get the picture.

Fungus foot was a 400 lb noncompliant diabetic (why are diabetics so damn bull headed?) who 's skin was covered in weird scabs (self inflicted) and what appeared to be fungal infections body-wide.