Fainting... so dramatic

Nurses General Nursing

Published

Many of us have probably had patient pass out on us at one time or another. Most of the time, patient is in bed and sits or stands, feels lightheaded, we quickly steady them and get them to the floor, chair or bed before they collapse rather gently.

On TV, it seems like every time someone passes out, it's always a big dramatic production involving the person falling over at an odd angle, and toppling over several expensive and breakable objects in the process.

But, have any of you had an experience (patient, friend, family member) where someone passed out in such dramatic fashion? This is meant to be a light-hearted thread where we can share our "As Seen On TV" stories. :)

Specializes in Hospice / Ambulatory Clinic.

Not dramatic per say but both times I've fainted I've yelled something out. First time was 10 during a lecture on the heart I yelled at someone to get off my foot then passed out. The second time during a first aid class in High School was less dramatic I was matter of fact. "I think I'm going to pass out now" and my classmates were like yeah right since it was a first aid class and we were watching a video. I was in the right place to pass out that day.

Now that I think about it with that history I'm surprised I made it as a nurse without passing out.

Specializes in Trauma, ER, ICU, CCU, PACU, GI, Cardiology, OR.

i recall a couple of years ago i was making my rounds and once at ob i noticed a father to be passing out almost what it seem to be "slow motion" and hitting his head on the floor :bugeyes: needless to say he became a pt. after he was triage. having said that, the other incident was during the time i was precepting a nursing student as i was demonstrating the technique on how to start an iv, when all of the sudden the relative of the pt. just turn slowly and hit the floor, as she went down she took the curtains with her... it was pretty "hollywood style" :cool:

Specializes in Emergency Nursing.

Yes, it was in middle school and we were all watching a student give a report at the front of the classroom. One of my friends was sitting on his desk. The student at the front was presenting on first aid and her report seemed to go on forever. Her report ended, we all clapped, and then my friend made a big sigh like "Ughhhh" that went from falsetto to bass and fell sideways onto the floor. It was so dramatic and ridiculous that I assumed he was being a jerky teenager boy making fun of the girl presenting ("it was so boring I passed out!" type of thought) and I laughed. I felt like the biggest jerk in the world when the teacher quickly realized something was wrong and made us all leave the room!

Specializes in tele, oncology.

On my first day of first grade, I fell during recess and split my chin open. Even at that young age I knew my Mom could not handle the sight of blood. We were at the urgent care, and she insisted on going back with me...I had a sterile drape over my face and they were about three stitches in when I heard a thud. The doc chuckled a little when I said "Did she pass out? I told her she would."

I was getting a nerve conduction test done on my arm and started feeling woozy. I made the neuro doc doing it stop...I told him I wasn't going to pass out but I was going to puke on him if he didn't. My SBP was in the 50's and my HR was in the 40's. He was all set to wheel me to the ED himself but I refused b/c I had to work that night. I ended up having two of his patients that night, and when he showed up to round on them he asked (and he doesn't speak quietly EVER) if I had told my co-workers what a wuss I was. I told him next time I'd go ahead and vomit on him and see how he liked it.

Specializes in Emergency, Haematology/Oncology.

I have actually shared this one before, I'm a fainter and it is always dramatic. My favourite was when I walked a ninety year old couple out to the very busy taxi rank in front of our ED. While helping Mrs. into the backseat my hand was in the doorframe of the front. Of course, Mr. slammed my hand in the car door, the F word escapes my mouth at a thousand decibels and I collapse on the concrete. I awaken on a trolley, being wheeled into the department with my ever so compassionate colleagues saying "for god's sake wake up".

Specializes in tele, oncology.

As far as the *dramatic* fainting goes..

We had a patient who was apparently the matriarch of her family who was expected to pass any time. While her approximately 40 family members (no exaggeration) were in the waiting room, THREE of them "fell out" and had to be admitted for syncope. One of them had the gall to complain to her nurse that no one was paying any attention to her by coming to visit her...no, they were taking turns visiting the dying patient and waiting for the end.

Specializes in Critical Care, ED, Cath lab, CTPAC,Trauma.
Did anyone get to slap her to bring her around? I suppose the dramatics weren't bad enough to ban her from visiting for the day, but I'd surely try. Can't have people passing out onto wires and tubes ya know.

That's when I get the simple mask on flush and snap the ammonia salts right i=under their nose so that it's actually touching the nares as the O2 propels the ammonia right up to their eyes........:smokin:

hello all,

i will be in n2 come september and during one of our labs in n1 i totally passed out. we were practicing bp at the time and i'm not really sure if it was the temp. of the room, the fact that i didn't eat for 6 hours prior or the fact that we were having difficulty locating my pulse (the cuff was inflated twice on my same arm) i started to get tunnel vision. the whole room was packed with people and i'm the kind of person who doesn't like to make a spectacle of myself so i remember standing up, then literally staggering outside the lab and sat on a chair outside the room. then i hear this little voice asking me if i'm okay - it's my clinical partner (of whom i just met two days ago, kinda embarrassing yes) and then i come to with one of the profs taking my blood pressure and asking if i'm a diabetic! i literally passed out in the chair and was slumped over. it basically felt as if i took an instant power nap. of course i was fine after that and after having a little snack but after that day i was terrified for anyone to take my bp. i would run for the hills when i saw another student coming for my arm. that feeling has passed since then but i have to say i took away a great friend from the incident - my clinical partner in crime!

I have fainted a couple of times in my life....the first being when I would have any bloodwork done....it was like I couldn't stay conscious if you took more than 2 vials of blood. I was sitting in the phlebotomists chair and he walked away to send the blood to the lab. I began to sweat and felt nauseous. He came back in the room and took one look at me and knew I was in trouble. I told him that I was going to pass out. He helped me to my feet and started to take me to a bed where I could lie down. I suddenly woke up on a bed and went, "Wow!" Two guys come running into the room. Honestly, when I woke up I had to figure out where I was and what happened! When I realized it I did my exclamation. What I could have done without was the phlebotomist telling me that I "weighed a ton" as dead weight!!! (I was 16 yo and 145 lbs).

The last syncope issue came when they were doing an IV dye procedure to look at the veins in the back of my eyes. (I had deviations in my visual field.) So, there I am on a rolling stool. One guy was looking through the scope and taking pictures. A male nurse was administering the IV dye through my straightened out right arm. The first series of pics of my right eye went fine. As he was doing the same on my left, I realized that I was in trouble. The guy told me to open my eye wider. I couldn't. I said, "I'm gonna lose it". The nurse asked, "Lose what?" I managed to say "consciousness" as I passed out right there on the chair! I woke up as they were carrying me to a bed. The guy doing the procedure said, "Thanks for the warning!" I looked at my right arm to see the dye had been squirted all over my arm as the nurse had pulled out the dye syringe as I passed out!

Like many others who have posted... I am naturally hypotensive. My normal BP ran 90/58 before I was put on toprol and lisinopril for cardiomyopathy.....so you can imagine what can happen with those meds on board! LOL!

Many of us have probably had patient pass out on us at one time or another. Most of the time, patient is in bed and sits or stands, feels lightheaded, we quickly steady them and get them to the floor, chair or bed before they collapse rather gently. On TV, it seems like every tiTme someone passes out, it's always a big dramatic production involving the person falling over at an odd angle, and toppling over several expensive and breakable objects in the process. But, have any of you had an experience (patient, friend, family member) where someone passed out in such dramatic fashion? This is meant to be a light-hearted thread where we can share our "As Seen On TV" stories. :)
I was working in L&D and a mom was delivering and Grandma on one side and dad on the other and all of a sudden they BOTH went down taking IV mag with them ! Things were crashing and glass everywhere and grandma had taken her shoes off and when she woke up she was mortified and jumped up and stepped right on the broken glass and saw her foot was bleeding and DOWN she went again !!! We had them both sitting in chairs and in the mean time the babies born and poor mom was so upset that they totally missed the whole delivery !!! Lol
Specializes in NICU, Infection Control.

My dad was in the Navy, and anytime we changed duty stations (esp going to and from Hawaii), we got a whole slew of immunizations--everything: smallpox, polio, typhoid, DPT, and anything else they could think of that particular day. My mom sent me and my 2 younger sisters (I was 13, they were 4 and 5) on the base shuttle bus over to the dispensary for our shots. After perusing my yellow shot card, I got my 5 shots. I'm sitting there waiting for sisters to be done. I heard the CPO say, "she's going down!" My little sisters did fine, I got to "rest" a bit. When they realized we were going home on that bus again, they called my dad. I was mortified.

I was working in an outpost in Northern British Columbia. This huge fisherman came in the door. He'd accidentally put a big rusty halibut hook through his hand while he was a day off shore. He'd grabbed a pair of pliers and pulled the hook through his hand past the barb. Then he cut the barb off, and pulled the hook out of his hand the other way. There was no antiseptic on the boat (totally against WCB regulations), so he poured a cup or so of rye whisky over the cut and wrapped it in a torn up teeshirt. Then he went back to work. All he needed from me was a tetorifice shot.

I insisted in redressing the wound - and he patiently agreed. He'd done a pretty good job, so it wasn't hard. Finally I gave him the Tetorifice shot using a 25G 1 inch needle.

I barely managed to catch his head as he hit the floor.

+ Add a Comment