[Kim O'Therapy]

Once at a LTC I worked at. Blizzard has just gone through our town, pipes are frozen and I'm trying to evacuate a room before the ceiling caves in. So, the ceiling is dripping, there is no water, and the few of us that actually showed up for work are trying to move two very obese men out of this room. Residents are strolling around yelling at us because their toilets won't work and the maintanence guy is not returning my calls. A LOL down the hall keeps ringing her buzzer, so I run in thinking maybe something else must be wrong. She wants me to rearrange the plants in her room! She knows there's an emergency going on and she wants me to move a few little plants around. I tell Mrs. Patient that I'm sorry, but the only way I'll be moving any plants around for her is if the storm calms down and there are no more emergencies. So.......every 5 minutes.....buzz, buzz, buzz.....can you move my plants NOW? In order to get some work done, I picked up two of the plants on the window sill and swapped their locations. The rest of the night she kept buzzing me to tell me that she did NOT like where I had set her plants. I'll never forget that night. Out of the four nurses and 6 aids scheduled to work during that snow storm, only 2 nurses, and 2 aides (including myself) showed up. I remember collapsing when I got home and congratulating myself for keeping my cool. I put in my two weeks notice a few days later. Ever since, whenever I start getting flustered at work, I think of that night and realize that I can get through anything.

[Levin]

I had a pt buzz me to ask me how to use the buzzer.
She was in for post fall confusion.

Then every 5-10 minutes, "Nurse I forgot what you said."

Levin.

[hlfpnt]

I answered this one pts call light just to find out that her arm itched & she wanted it scratched...she had no disabilities!

[iceyspots]

Originally Posted by leesespieces

Once when I worked as a CNA I answered the call light of an elderly woman. When I asked her what I could do for her she replied "Yes, can you get me a new body????"

LOL... if it were just that easy

[NicoleRN07]

When I worked in LTC, I had a resident call out and ask me if I would call Cecil. Cecil is a mortician with one of the funeral homes in our area. When I asked her why, she simply replied that she was going to need him later. I told her that I would call him to please her. About 45 min later, I got a call from Cecil, and he asked me if I had a body that he needed to pick up. I told him that we didn't that I knew of, and asked for a name of the deceased. Of course, he gave me the name of the resident who had asked me to call him. I explained everything to him, we both laughed, because it turns out the resident herself had called him. It wasn't an hour later, and this particular resident passed, and I had to call Cecil.

[HippieChick_RN]

This didn't happen to me, but it happened to a co-worker I was working with. I work in an ER, and a young woman was bundling up her newborn who she basically brought in for a well-baby exam. It was very cold out and she hands her keys to the RN and goes "Can you pull my car up to the door? I'll be right out" The RN (who is very experienced) politely told her that unfortunately, valet is NOT part of our job description. The woman got irrate and replied "Well its cold outside!!! What do you mean you can't just pull it up?" Um, this is an ER. Not the Hilton.

[Gromit]

Nicole- thats spooky! I've had patients before who just KNEW when they were going to die (and they did) -but I've never had one call their own mortician first!

[daisydukes]

Originally Posted by Rosie-

I had a woman demand to see the RN on duty and said it was an emergency. So I walk into the room and ask her what I can do for her.
She says "Pick my nose" OMG I said maa'm I don't pick my nose I am surely NOT going to pick yours. She said well that's what I am paying you for! You are supposed to do whatever I say. When she did this it made me very angry but believe me we have gotten a lot of laughs out of it since.

Did u request for her to be admitted to the mental ward later on? OMG Crazy. Crazy.

[Tiwi]

Originally Posted by Rosie-
I had a woman demand to see the RN on duty and said it was an emergency. So I walk into the room and ask her what I can do for her.
She says "Pick my nose" OMG I said maa'm I don't pick my nose I am surely NOT going to pick yours. She said well that's what I am paying you for! You are supposed to do whatever I say. When she did this it made me very angry but believe me we have gotten a lot of laughs out of it since.

why didn't you take her up on it, but do it with the biggest set of metal forceps you could possibly find, or some artery forceps, or what about scissiors? Or how about a surgical blade? I mean that is what she "pays you for"... *evil grin*
I can't believe she said that!

[daisydukes]

Originally Posted by jem1013

I have a resident who does that every evening!

Great resident, he'll be a great doctor. Call bells are ER use, and if can't work then defeats the purpose. I think this resident is great and it's not a laughting matter. If a pt does it each morning it's okay too. but every hour it is silly