Strange things that you saw when you were a student

ShelleyERgirl, LPN · Apr 21, 2003

Originally posted by ktwlpn

:rotfl: :rotfl:

Girl, you are not right! I spit out the bite of cereal I was eating reading that!

jenac · Apr 21, 2003

My story is kinda bland now! When in my ER rotation in school, they brought this little old lady in. She had fallen in the shower and hit her arm on the shower door tracks getting a laceration. She was holding bandages to it untill the surgeon could sew it up, but she was so fidgity it kept falling off. I was sent in to fix it- and the skin was lterally peeled off this woman's arm and just sort of hanging there. You could see the fat, the muscle, the tendons in the elbow, the veins. It was a human anatomy lesson! Very cool.

During my endoscopy rotation-I got to see a rectal to abdominal fistula repair with fibrin on a very septic elderly lady. Very mild- but very interesting for a student to see.

MrsK1223 · Apr 21, 2003

My one memorable memory was not as interesting as some of the rest of these but when I did an OB rotation, I was told to go get some cabbage out of the refrigerator and place several large leaves of cabbage on the breasts of my new mother. I thought this was the most wacked out back woods things I had ever heard. But this really worked to ease the pain of engorged breasts. I did this with several patients and they said it really did make them feel better. Many were as puzzled as I was at this treatment. I don't remember the science behind this but it obviously works.

gwenith, BSN, RN · Apr 22, 2003

You're not at the end of my strange story list yet!

I had a patient who was post-op for a modified cammando operation. Ca of larynx and mouth. He had gone through the DT's and had pulled out the drains from his salivary bed so that the entire neck area broke down. For weeks we could see his carotic arteries pulse in the bed of the wound.

The kicker was that some eternal optimist had hung a pair of toothed artery forceps at the back of his bed "just in case his carotids ruptured."

:eek:

AngiRN · Apr 22, 2003

In nursing school, OB rotation, 1 of my patient was 1st timer and wrote out a 20 page wish list for how the labor/delivery/etc. would be handled, such as, absolutely no analgesics, not even tylenol..on and on....which that was fine, so...I head into her room and low and behold, there she is buck naked on all fours...boyfriend, his dad and 2 brothers sitting in the room! That was not even the worst part, boyfriends mother was standing behind her at her butt with both hands cupped together and the patient was relieving herself of a bowel movement!!!!

I booked out of the room, SHOCKED....I was a nontraditional student at the time and had already delivered 1 baby and never in my wildest dreams, could have been in the buff on all 4's, with the Ol' mother in law, catching my bodily functions! WITHOUT GLOVES, MAY I ADD!! :eek:

shelleybelle · Apr 22, 2003

Originally posted by AngiRN
OMGGG.. Angi... PLEASE tell me this didn't really happen!!

AngiRN · Apr 22, 2003

Originally posted by shelleybelle
Originally posted by AngiRN

OMGGG.. Angi... PLEASE tell me this didn't really happen!!

I wish, I could erase it from my mind! I immediately marked OB nurse off my list upon graduation!:chair:

Nursie30 · Apr 22, 2003

A man was recovering from surgery, he was very goodlooking and english accent, the whole Hugh Grant thing was working for him......The nurses that were working that day, came and asked one of us students if we wanted to remove his catheter......everyone said no, and was embarrassed by the fact he was goodlooking, I took on the challenge, but his big breasted, scantily clad girlfriend watched every move I made, after I finished, the nurses informed me that he was there recoverying from surgery for STAB WOUNDS inflicted by the girlfriend.............they were too scared to go in and mess w/ his catheter while she was there and unbeknownst to me, sent me in to be the Guinea Pig.........ha ha Jokes on me

kimmicoobug · Apr 22, 2003

I once changed four complex dressings on a heroin addicts. She had tunnels the size of my fist on either side of her upper arm with tunnels that led to second ulcers on her forearms. She got this from dirty needles. On both thighs, she had huge ulcers that went very deep into the muscle. It was just a disgusting procedure to do, but fascinating as well. The smell was terrible. It is amazing the stuff a person will do to themselves.

yannadey, LPN · Apr 22, 2003

AngiRn I actually fell off the sofa laughing. Thats keeping it all in the family.:roll :roll :roll :roll

AllieElizAbeth · Apr 22, 2003

wild nursing stories!!!!!!!!! LOL @ toenails were like the horns. the description of the of nasty thick toesnails gags me. When I worked as a cna, we had a patience that would throw BM at you.

nursebucky · Apr 22, 2003

I had a mentally ill patient who seemed to be in high spirits. When I walked into the ER room and noticed she had a pair of clean white Hanes underwear tied to her hair. I guess she needed a scarf. Across the front of her forehead, it said...Hanes Her Way.