[nursebabygirl 08]

Originally Posted by RNTOBSNGUY

When I was working med/surg I had a coworker who had a patient with an NG tube. The cannister got full and she went to change it. If you don't push down and secure the top, it can be loose. Um, anyway, as she was carrying it down the hall to dispose of it, the lid came off and the ummm, contents, splashed up and into her face and a big plop fell on her shoes. Needless to say, she went home ill.

When I worked in a psych unit we had a pt who was mentally retarded who had a pica infliction (eating non-food objects). It was my turn to shower him and as he was in the shower, I noticed him chewing something. I asked him to spit it out.. umm, out came a very large turd. He spit it out just so, and it landed on the wall of the shower and slowly came down, resting on the drain. His teeth were brown. This I noticed because he had a large smile going on. Now I feel sick. Off to another thread....

Now that's rank!!!

[2shihtzus]

Oh gawd....that reminds me of when I used to work with disabled adults. Many of them had pica. One lady at a garbage bag. Another had a taste for used cigarette butts.

We had one resident who had prader willi syndrome. He would stop at nothing to get food, even tho the cabinets and the fridge were locked. He had 24 hour care. He would wait until someone "new" looked after him and make his move. He didnt have to wait long one time....a staff memeber left a loaf of bread and a jar of peanut butter out. Five minutes later, the bread bag is empty and the peanut butter jar is too. We KNEW that the resident had eaten it, but couldnt figure out how he managed to do it so fast! Turns out he smeared the peanut butter all over his belly, stuck the bread to the peanut butter, pulled his shirt over it, and snuck back out of the kitchen. We were impressed. This same resident scarfed down a loaf of bread one time, choked, and ended up intubated for 24 hours.....ate 2 pounds of sunflower seeds WITH THE SHELLS.....ate 4 pounds of cheese......I could go on!

[BSNGUY]

Sounds like we worked at a similar place. Another fond memory is seeing two young female pica residents "sharing" their "kotex" pads. By sharing I mean eating. Then there is the guy with a colostomy who when he got mad at someone, would rip his colostomy bag off and shower the entire room with the contents. Then there's the client who I was feeding (I was a CNA during these fun times) and he was sleepy and I tried to rouse him to eat. He fell asleep with his mouth open. I kept hearing buzz buzz buzz sound. I keep prodding him when suddenly about 4 horse flies came flying lazily out of his mouth.

I am so thankful I work in day surgery now. I've seen enough of this kind of stuff. I have said before that if I wrote a book about what I've seen working in psych, no one would believe me except nurses and those who work in psych.

[mom2bears]

Years ago this guy I dated worked in an MRDD facility. There was a young girl that liked to hide a lot. One day during med pass they couldn't find her. Looking for about twenty minutes they found her in the closet with the nail clippers. She had clipped her front teeth with the clippers. Still to this day I can barely thinkof it.

[teeniebert]

Originally Posted by mom2bears

Years ago this guy I dated worked in an MRDD facility. There was a young girl that liked to hide a lot. One day during med pass they couldn't find her. Looking for about twenty minutes they found her in the closet with the nail clippers. She had clipped her front teeth with the clippers. Still to this day I can barely thinkof it.

Owwww!!!!! My teeth hurt just reading that!

[Jessiedog]

Originally Posted by CrunchRN

OMG - these stories are amazingly horrible.

I have been following this thread since it's inception, and I cannot stop no matter how horrifiying.

My hat's off to all you "real" nurses. I just don't think I could have done these things with these people. Y'all are just amazing and wonderful and I admire you to no end.

:y eah:

The reason 'us nurses' cope with these and all other horrible things, is that they're attached to a human being who is in need of care. Yes, they're horrible, yes they make you gag and heave (yes, even seasoned nurses!) Yes, you go home and cry often, but in the end, somebody who was suffering, uncomfortable, in pain, afraid or sick, is feeling that little bit better because you were in the world. It's amazing the things you find you can do when it matters.

Sometimes these yucky horrible things don't seem all that yucky while they're happening; you just get in and do what needs to be done, trying not to make an unwell person feel even worse because they've just vomited faecal matter all over your shoes (or worse!) It's afterwards that the true horror can set in, and then you've got a great story to tell and make your family go 'a whiter shade of pale' .

Then, of course, there's always the time that you can't help it, and have to run out of the room before you lose your lunch. But there's usually something inside you that just makes you go back and deal with it. There is, after all, a living human being who needs help.

[nursebabygirl 08]

Originally Posted by BSNGUY

Sounds like we worked at a similar place. Another fond memory is seeing two young female pica residents "sharing" their "kotex" pads. By sharing I mean eating. Then there is the guy with a colostomy who when he got mad at someone, would rip his colostomy bag off and shower the entire room with the contents. Then there's the client who I was feeding (I was a CNA during these fun times) and he was sleepy and I tried to rouse him to eat. He fell asleep with his mouth open. I kept hearing buzz buzz buzz sound. I keep prodding him when suddenly about 4 horse flies came flying lazily out of his mouth.

I am so thankful I work in day surgery now. I've seen enough of this kind of stuff. I have said before that if I wrote a book about what I've seen working in psych, no one would believe me except nurses and those who work in psych.

Now that's nasty!!!

[NurseKatie08]

Originally Posted by Jay-Jay

I was doing my clinical on a medical ward, and heard my preceptor yell for help. We had a patient in an isolation room who was very confused, suffering from gastro, and also had some antibiotic resistant bug, probably MRSA. Well, he had managed to pull out his IV, crawl over the bed rails, in the process, divesting himself of his nightgown, exited his room, and was now on his hands and knees, crawling along the hallway of the ward. To top it off, he was absolultely COVERED from stem to stern with dried poop!! My preceptor yelled at me to get a gown. I assumed she wanted me to cover the totally naked patient, as there were quite a few visitors watching what was going on. I threw the gown over him, and she yelled, "No, get one for YOURSELF, to cover your clothes!!"

We all got gowns and gloves, but by this time, we had started to cackle hysterically at what was happening. We grabbed the old gent, and hauled him to his feet, but he broke away from us, and made another dash for it. He too was giggling at this point. We finally managed to get him back into the room, and into the shower. I got the job of doing the shower, and he was NOT co-operative. I kept having to push him back into the shower, and wound up getting poop right through the gown, and onto my uniform. I had to go to Emerg and borrow a scrub dress to finish my shift. To top it off one of the visitors was so shocked at us laughing that she reported us to admin!

Reminds me of a time when I used to work on the dementia unit as an aide. I was taking care of one of my residents when all of a sudden I hear the nurse yelling for me from the other side of the unit. I see one of my residents (who primarily used a wheelchair but could walk with a walker & assistance walking along down the hallway, "******* like a pony" as the nurse put it. First I tried to figure out how the heck he got standing up by himself (he was a serious fall risk, bed all the way at the floor with extra matresses on each side, type) Absolutely covered stem to stern as well, as he had pulled off his depends and left it in the room. I obviously assess the situation, and realize that I'm going to have to put him in the shower, but he HATED the shower and there was no time to get the wheelchair, as we were closer to the shower room anyhow. So I said to him "Mr. B, I need your help! Can you push my linen cart this way for me?" So I get him to "help" me push my linen cart, right into the shower room, and right into the whirlpool bath, where I proceeded to scrub all the poo off with the help of a nurse. As a new aide, it was quite the experience. That resident passed on not too long ago (I don't work there anymore) but he was always one of my favorites.

[nursebabygirl 08]

Originally Posted by NurseKatie08

Reminds me of a time when I used to work on the dementia unit as an aide. I was taking care of one of my residents when all of a sudden I hear the nurse yelling for me from the other side of the unit. I see one of my residents (who primarily used a wheelchair but could walk with a walker & assistance walking along down the hallway, "sh*ting like a pony" as the nurse put it. First I tried to figure out how the heck he got standing up by himself (he was a serious fall risk, bed all the way at the floor with extra matresses on each side, type) Absolutely covered stem to stern as well, as he had pulled off his depends and left it in the room. I obviously assess the situation, and realize that I'm going to have to put him in the shower, but he HATED the shower and there was no time to get the wheelchair, as we were closer to the shower room anyhow. So I said to him "Mr. B, I need your help! Can you push my linen cart this way for me?" So I get him to "help" me push my linen cart, right into the shower room, and right into the whirlpool bath, where I proceeded to scrub all the poo off with the help of a nurse. As a new aide, it was quite the experience. That resident passed on not too long ago (I don't work there anymore) but he was always one of my favorites.

That's cute.... good way to distract the pt.