Cant believe the nurse did.....

Nurses General Nursing

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A few threads latley have had tittles that got me all excited to read the juicy "gossip", only to be very disappointed or think the OP was a little on the the nutty side. So I thought we could share our juicy "I can't believe the nurse did...."? I can think of one time responding to a code white in mental health, where the pts nurse was egging him on "oh, your going to kill me, well I'd like you to try. Come on, let's have it. You wanted a problem, well now you have one" and other very unhelpful things. I can see why the pt got so angry. Someone had to make leave. Can't believe she works in mental health.

Specializes in Med-Surg.

Annmariern.....I'm speechless

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A fellow nurse approached by a family member at the nurses station looking for his wife, she got the name and then said "oh I'm very sorry, she passed away". The guy went chalk white, then she grins and in her usual chirpy voice said "i was only messing with you, shes in bed two". I stood by speechless.
Yikes. Someone's got a twisted sense of humor.
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When i worked in the hospital, a nurse went in a recently deceased pt's room to perform post mortem care. Another nurse called this nurse's cell from the nurse's station and pretended to be the dead pt's grandson asking how grandpa was.

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A fellow nurse approached by a family member at the nurses station looking for his wife, she got the name and then said "oh I'm very sorry, she passed away". The guy went chalk white, then she grins and in her usual chirpy voice said "i was only messing with you, shes in bed two". I stood by speechless.

I have no words.

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Specializes in ICU, telemetry, LTAC.

I'm of the opinion that nurses do and say outrageous things all the time, but we just don't see or hear it and some folks don't say all that they've seen or heard. The worst thing I've ever said was something along the lines of "be quiet, you aren't dying and someone else is right now" to a mentally retarded adult patient... and I have to add, I had just had a totally unexpected exposure - poop flew in my mouth- and I was trying to wash my mouth out at the time, in between phone calls, telemetry alarms and the new orders for my dying patient. Really bad morning. But still, I just know that one comment is the reason I'm going to hell.

Some days I just pray that I will be nice. It's all good if we can just be diplomatic. Because the crap is gonna hit the fan anyway.

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1. The RN was precepting a newly hired student RN. They were assisting a resident with an arterial line placement. The resident couldn't get it in & went to get another doc to try. While he was out of the room, RN says to student "You didn't see this", and tries to insert the art line! Umm...First, totally NOT within your scope of practice, and, second, what if you get it in? How do you explain that when the resident gets back?

2. Same RN as above. Patient has a cuffed trach & is on a vent. He codes. She places ambu bag over his nose & mouth. DOH!

3. Same RN as above. She is now a manager. She is helping me turn a patient so I could wash his back, change sterile dressings, and change his sheets (this was a burn unit & the patient was on a vent). The guy had just about every line or tube you can think of. Foley, Zassi, CVP, art line, leads for the monitor, PulseOx...The PulseOx was on his toe because his hands & arms were burned. I had completed most of the dressing change--everything I could do without another person to assist. I had also changed the heparin bag for his art line. We rolled him toward her first, she pulls (accidentally) the live out of the haprin bag, so it is spraying al over the patient, bed, floor, and me, and his monitor almost immediately starts alarming. She starts yelling at me to turn his vent up to 100%, give her the ambu bag, and call a code. His sats were gradually dropping, eventually into the 70's. I said "Let's check him out first". Sure enough, the PulseOx had gotten crooked on his toe. I straightened it out & he went back to 100%.

4. Same RN, still a manager. I had JUST passed boards a few weeks prior. She kept assigning me the same two critical patients. They were 2 of 3 patients we had at the time who we referred to as "The Triplets". They were all the same age, height, weight, hair color, about 60-70% burns, all on vents, and in rooms right in a row, but they were from 3 different incidents. Anyway, I get both of their dressing changes done, except for turning the 2nd guy to clean his back & change his linens. Before I can leave his room to find someone to help me turn him, he starts showing signs of distress. I call the trauma team, and they rush up to fix him. They get him taken care of, and as they are about to step on the elevator to leave the unit, the FIRST guy crashes! I yell at them to come back. They fix HIM & leave. By now, it's about 3pm. I go to the manager to ask her to help me turn my other patient so I can finally clean his back & change his linens. She looked at me and loudly barks "You need to get your **** together! Your time management skills are in the toilet!" I was MORTIFIED. Needless to say, she was the driving force behind my quitting that job!

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I worked with a nurse who used to go in the patient bathrooms for a little blow. Well, it was more like a sniff, if you catch my meaning. She was a dang good nurse, though.

Glad you clarified that one. Especially in the same thread where the CNA is using mouthwash for her "other mouth.":snurse:

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Then there was the patient we sent to the floor from the ICU who bounced back pretty damn fast after the nurse there read the order to replace NG drainage with NS IV q4 hours, a pretty standard thing at that time-- you measure the NG output, then put an equivalent amount of NS in the volutrol. Alas for him, this bimbo took the drainage from the NG suction cannister, measured it, missed the part about the NS, and put the gastric drainage itself in the volutrol to infuse into his central line. Can you say, instant acidosis?

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Specializes in Med/surg, Quality & Risk.

3. Same RN as above. She is now a manager.

This made me laugh so hard I peed a little. I am always telling my husband he will never be an upper level manager because he is too good at his job. Maybe this holds true for this particular facility too, lol

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Specializes in Med/surg, Quality & Risk.
Then there was the patient we sent to the floor from the ICU who bounced back pretty damn fast after the nurse there read the order to replace NG drainage with NS IV q4 hours, a pretty standard thing at that time-- you measure the NG output, then put an equivalent amount of NS in the volutrol. Alas for him, this bimbo took the drainage from the NG suction cannister, measured it, missed the part about the NS, and put the gastric drainage itself in the volutrol to infuse into his central line. Can you say, instant acidosis?

OH MY GOD!!!!! :eek:

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Then there was the patient we sent to the floor from the ICU who bounced back pretty damn fast after the nurse there read the order to replace NG drainage with NS IV q4 hours a pretty standard thing at that time-- you measure the NG output, then put an equivalent amount of NS in the volutrol. Alas for him, this bimbo took the drainage from the NG suction cannister, measured it, missed the part about the NS, and put the gastric drainage itself in the volutrol to infuse into his central line. Can you say, instant acidosis? [/quote']

He lived?! That's insane

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Then there was the patient we sent to the floor from the ICU who bounced back pretty damn fast after the nurse there read the order to replace NG drainage with NS IV q4 hours, a pretty standard thing at that time-- you measure the NG output, then put an equivalent amount of NS in the volutrol. Alas for him, this bimbo took the drainage from the NG suction cannister, measured it, missed the part about the NS, and put the gastric drainage itself in the volutrol to infuse into his central line. Can you say, instant acidosis?

What the...

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