[subee]

Originally Posted by muffie

2nd hand from my colleagues about 15 years ago...

the married boyfriend visitor of a pt coded in the pt lounge
his face hit the wall and turned purple and his toupee flew off as he hit the floor

he had been in 3rd degree hb all day

supervisor had to phone his wife to pick up his car

how do you splain that one ?????

Oh, please stop, my mascara is running. I have a rotten cold and when I laugh so hard it makes me cough. Keep them coming.

[ccusherry]

This is not quite a code but the patient came very close. A 40ish man came to our ER c/o not feeling right. He looked very pale so the intake nurse sent hom right through to the ER. I normally do not work there but was helping out as they were extremely busy. We got him connected to the monitor and the tracing looked bad, got an EKG which showed an inferior MI. To make a long story short, the ER doc was a very vain man, never a hair out of place, very arrogant and condescending to the patients. He had a thing for shoes, his were always polished and perfect. Well, the patient was deteriorating and the doc was examining him. The patient kept saying that he did not feel well and the doc kept saying you'll be ok. Well, next thing you knew, the patient said I don't feel well and the doc started to say "You'll be OK" when the patient turned his head toward the doc and started to vomit profusely. The look on the doc's face......I felt sorry for him. It had ran over the front of the doc's clothes and even into his shoes. YUCK!!!!!

[Rabid Badger]

Oh where to start. We have so many codes, and there is something to laugh about after every one.

Not long ago a bunch of us were out for breakfast and one of my coworkers started telling a story about how she had been involved in a code and could NOT figure out how to get the pressure bags going. She felt stupid, it was right on the bag, and a simple stopcock lever, but she couldnt figure it out.

The very next day after our breakfast, she has a patient go into sudden shock for no apparent reason, calls me in and says "um i think I might need help, can you come in here?" We go in and that patient is in dire trouble, by the time we got the O2 flush we were no longer able to get sats and her pulse was fading fast. We called a code, and the poor med clerk arrived and just stood there, nooooo clue what to do while we started bagging and setting up. ICU team arrived and we worked on the patient for a good hour. I started pressure bagging units and units of PRBCs into the patient. My coworker comes up and starts trying to set up pentaspan and saline to pressure bag and she gives me that look. We both burst out laughing because, you guessed it, she couldn't remember how to pressure bag. So here we are in the middle of a code laughing our butts off looking like idiots and we couldnt stop. Turns out we ended up taking the fluids out of pressure bags and just squeezing the fluids in because her circulation was nil.

After 2 hours of that crap, we were able to sent her E1 to the OR, where they found a massive gi hemmorhage. They said they opened the patient up and blood just came shooting out.

On the other hand, I have had a DNR death once, and while we were discussing it at the desk, phlebotomy came in and tried to draw bood from the patient, couldnt figure out why they couldnt get a good stick. We had a god laugh about that one.

[Jvilleredhead]

This isn't really a code, but still funny second hand story. An LPN who trained me was telling me about the "old" days in nursing school clinicals. Her instructor called her over, told her to take the patients blood pressure in Room whatever and then come tell her what it is. Now she's really nervous new student, goes in and tries like 4 times to get this lady's pressure. She comes back out and the instructor looks at her with eyebrows raised and says, "Well, what is it" She decided to be honest and told her she couldn't tell her cause she really had trouble with it. Instructor of course looked at her sternly....paused for a minute...then said "Good job, cause that pt is dead"

What a mean instructor!!! But I guess she kinda had a sense of humor.

[Cameron67]

Originally Posted by banditrn

There were several of us that started at the same time on the same floor - one day a code was called, and one of our co-workers (who was known for being rather intense - and also a bit large) came RUNNING into the room, LEAPT onto the bed, which for some reason wasn't locked - and the whole bed went sliding across the room into the bed of the other patient!

I know I'm sick, cause these stories have me laughing!

Now I have heard it all....bed surfiing during a code!

[Cameron67]

Originally Posted by muffie

now ruby, that story takes the cake

that thar bath done kilt her

Maybe all that dirt is what was holding the poor women together????

[GregRN]

A couple weeks ago we got a code announcement over the intercom: "Code 1, COR zero, first floor atrium near the vending machines. Code 1, COR zero, first floor atrium near the vending machines." I run downstairs near the vending machines to find a large man supine on the floor, major head lac and blood all over the floor. We run through a series of assessmnets, I find his wallet and get his name and also find a small glucometer and insulin supplies in a fanny pack he was carrying. When I do his blood sugar it's obvious why he's on the floor: it was in the 40's. I couldn't help it, I just started laughing. There he was, on the floor bleeding like crazy, with a blood sugar in the 40's, right next to the vending machines. I had this vision of him feeling sluggish, walking to the vending machines...gotta...get...some...sugar. Dollar...bill...too...crinkled...fading now...fading...fading...

I couldn't help it. For whatever reason it just cracked me up. We got the guy settled, got him to the E.D. and he was fine. After all this was done I was walking back to the unit. I was still smirking to myself at the absurdity of laughing about a situation in which a person took a header due to low blood sugar. As I'm thinking about this, another announcement comes over the intercom that ties up the whole thing: "Environmental services to the first floor atrium near the vending machines. Environmental services to the first floor atrium near the vending machines."

Started laughing again. Man, I have some sort of illness of inapprporiateness...

[dawngloves]

Originally Posted by Cameron67

Maybe all that dirt is what was holding the poor women together????

I have had bad luck with bathing borderline pts. It's like they think, "Hey! I'm clean now! All set to see God!"

[dawngloves]

Originally Posted by GregRN

...gotta...get...some...sugar. Dollar...bill...too...crinkled...fading now...fading...fading...

Poor guy!!! M&Ms so close, yet so far away....

[Elvish]

I can't help but laugh. We are a sick bunch....