[ClaireMacl]

dkaykaymom, i giggled sooo much, sorry you ended up so humilliated Ain't nursing fun, eh!

[lady_jezebel]

Called the ICU docs in a total panic b/c I thought the pt's eyeball was herniating. I paged them several times & demanded that the resident assess the pt. I said that it was "going to blow" at any moment! It was popping out of the skull slightly, and very dilated & fixed, whereas 30 minutes prior it had been under the lid & slightly askew (what I thought was the pt's baseline). The resident rushed up with another doc, and quickly solved the problem.

Turns out it was a fake eyeball! The nurses had been charting "fixed and dilated" for days, but b/c she was blind, we had no idea that they weren't real. I felt so embarassed for all of us...

[Mimi_C]

My most embarassing moment Happened in nursing school... LOL I will never forget my first day of clinicals. I was terrified and I felt like I had no clue what I was doing. Well I got "lucky" and there weren't enough patients to go around so I got sent to endoscopy to observe procedures. Man!!! How about I ended up fainting after watching all the bile swimming around in the containers and on the TV screen. Talk about being embarassed!

[HONEYBEAR]

Originally Posted by rubytuesday

My entire career has been spotted with most embarrassing things that I have done at work. One that comes to mind is the time I was sitting in the office when a psychiatric client came in to speak to me because she was feeling very depressed. I spoke with her and gave her my total attention. I reached into my pocket book as she spoke and grabbed my chapstick as my lips were burning from the cold weather. I applied it to my lips and the area around my mouth and put it back in my purse. Her mood lifted and she was smiling and in a very good mood when she left the office. I got up to use the bathroom, feeling quite confident and smug about what a wonderful psychiatric nurse I was. I looked into the mirror to see I had red lipstick all over my lips and all around them. It would not even wash off. A pink stain remained like a scarlet letter to haunt me for the rest of the evening. ahhhhhh

Thank you for the chuckle.......

[TrickieTam]

This happened in my first semester of NS.....

At lunch time I had burritos for lunch at a local mexican resturant across the street from the hospital. Unfortunately I forgot how badly I get gas eating burritos. Anyways, after lunch I was quickly rushed back to the floor by my instructor because my patient's doctor was in and I needed to go on rounds with him. Everything went fine and the doctor was very impressed with me in terms of care of my patients, until we got to the last room. My elderly patient who was hard of hearing was sitting in her chair eating and suddenly dropped her spoon she was eating with. I bent over to pick up the spoon and while bending, I did one of the loudest farts known to mankind . So loud my patient heard it and she didn't have in her hearing aid. Man I wanted to hide under a chair I was so embarrassed. Before I could say anything, my patient says "I heard that and I know I didn't do it". Whew, I was so glad when that doctor left.

[LoriAlabamaRN]

I have a really bad back, and I have a TENs unit that helps some when the sciatica is unbearable. It has wires attached to electrodes that you stick where the pain is shooting, and the electricity can be turned up quite strong. 10 is the max, and that's what it took one night when I was working as a CNA (before graduation with my RN). That night, we had a new admission and his family was in the room. My TENs box was stuck in the back pocket of my scrubs and the electrodes were attached to my right lower back. When I took the patients temperature and went to shoot the probe cover into the trash, it bounced off the rim. I bent down to pick it up, and when I did one of the wires pulled out of an electrode. SHOCK!SHOCK!SHOCK! I was dancing around frantically grabbing at my lower back trying to get the bare wire off of me while the family of this man and the patient himself sort of quietly watched me as I danced around and finally through the door into the hall. SOOO embarrasing! I ended up with about a quarter-sized burn, and a very red face!

Another time, I was half-asleep at work and had to bring a record to the OR (something I did every day multiple times.) To get into the OR hall, you had to punch in a four-number code and push through the door. Again, I did this all the time so it was second nature to me. That night, I must have hit a wrong number or something because the door stayed firmly shut- as I walked face-first smack into it and fell on my butt. As if that isn't humiliating enough, there were about 5 family members walking down the hall at the time who witnessed the whole thing! I punched those numbers in and got into that hall so fast after that! Of course, the security camera had captured the entire thing and when I got to the OR desk they were still just laughing hysterically. I never lived that one down.

[grace90]

Originally Posted by PEDSNURSE74

Nightshift,picu
Vented Infant,mom Asleep
I Have Gas,oops, Mom Wakes Up And Sniffs
I Say That Baby Is Letting Stinkers, Phew!!!!!!
Glad It Was Dark In Room

Did that once when I worked in LTC as CNA- leaned forward to give patient spoonful of food and ripped loud toot, another CNA is sitting nearby and hears, I look at patient and smile, she looks at patient and grimaces "Uh-Oh", to this day she is none the wiser

not at work but along same topic- was at friend's house once after eating bean burritos, she kept smelling her 1 and 3 year olds to see who was stinky, I was trying to keep a straight face while I silently stunk up her couch cushion

[MamaTheNurse]

I was in ER as a nursing student and had to insert a foley in an elderly gentleman who was uncircumsized - I had him in my left hand and the catheter in my right (sterile) hand when I realized that I forgot to retract the foreskin - I had to use a - how shall I say this - jerking motion with my left hand to retract the skin so I could insert the catheter (I didn't want to have to start all over)................

the patient just stared up at the ceiling and the nurse I was working with turned to face the wall - I couldn't hear him laugh but I could see his shoulders shaking from laughter - he bought me lunch that day - said I "made his day".................

[mrnurse2]

As a new nurse I had developed an interesting technique to insert foley catheters into females. When I grabbed an insertion kit, I would also grab three cotton tipped applicators.
I would prepare the patient for FC insertion then I would open up the applicators and stick them in to all the holes. The hole on the top I knew was the one I had to insert FC in.
I had done this for a little over a year and no patient every said anything. No one every questioned my technique. One day I had a 30 year old or so female patient who needed FC inserted.
I went through my routine and inserted my applicators: meatus, vagina, and right at the last one the lady sat up and said, "Hey what are you sticking in my butt?"
Needless to say I don't use the cotton applicators anymore !

[EricEnfermero]

As an EMS volunteer, I was working with a very fast, highly experienced partner. We responded to a chest pain call at a small computer store. The patient wasn't critical, but we didn't need to waste time. The patient needed to be loaded on the stretcher quickly so we could get en route to the ER.

While my partner was connecting the monitor leads, I decided to impress him by lowering the stretcher using the one-man technique. There's a handle on the side of the stretcher for this purpose, but you have to place your foot along the bottom rail of the stretcher to keep it from sliding away. I did so, but the cot dropped down before I could move, pinning my foot as the stretcher collapsed. I swayed forward and backward, trying to work my way out of the stretcher without my partner noticing. My foot finally broke free, but I fell backward, completely destroying a computer display behind me. Fortunately the setup was all plastic.

My partner had his usual calm expression, but he said, 'Damn. Now I'm having chest pain.'