15 years ago when I was a graduate nurse working in Texas, I came in to work one day and my preceptor told me "A GN over at Vista Hills gave Maalox through a central line last week so I am going to be watching you very closely today!" Since then I have heard that story again at nursing orientations I've attended here in Georgia and each time, the story is told as if it just happened. Just recently, somebody referenced it on a post here on this board. I think that story has reached urban legend status.
Another one, I've heard frequently is the NG tube fed into a patient's brain. The story goes that a patient who recently had sinus surgery needed a salem sump and the physician insisted that it be inserted over the protests of the nurse. When the nurse refuses, the physician grabs the salem sump out of his hand and inserts it himself and the patient immediatly begins to convulse. The physician then removes the tube spraying grey matter all over the nurse. I've been told this story twice by two male nurses at two different times and they both insisted that they were the nurse who got brain tissue all over their scrubs. I decided that this too had to be an urban legend or had the beginnings of one.
I'm sure that they have their origins in the truth but since they are always repeated with a new little detail and the person telling it insists that they have some intimate knowledge of the event. Have you ever heard of these or know of any yourself?
