Whats your best nursing ghost story?

I heard this story for a colleague who was working on our floor's four-bedded step-down unit one night. I had been told in the past that people who are about to die can talk to or hear others who have already passed away. This could be hallucinations... but nonethless, this story was just creepy.

It was sometime in the middle of the night, so the lights were either off or dimmed to allow the patients to rest. My colleague had a patient who was actively dying and kept grabbing something in the air that wasn't there.

When she went over to ask if everything was alright, he turned to her and said, "Well... aren't you going to talk to him?".
And my colleague kinda grinned and replied, "Well.. who would that be?".
And the patient responded, "The man standing next to you...".

My colleague was too afraid to even turn around. Of course, she knew nobody was there. WHEW. That gives me goosebumps.

It's taken me a really long time to post this, I wouldn't believe it myself if it hadn't happened to me, and if my best friend wasn't there to witness it. We've been best friends since middle school, went to nursing school together and now work at the same hospital in Virginia. I'm an ER nurse and she's a floater, on December 11, 2007 she was working in the ER with me to help cover due to holiday vacations.

On the week of Halloween my boyfriend and I decided to take the plunge and move in together, he's a Fire Fighter / EMT. We met in the ER when he was bringing in a patient.

It as a very quiet night in the ER, I was running vitals on a new patient who came in complaining of chest pains when my friend walked in to tell me I had a phone call. She gave me a quick wink when she told me "I'll take over", I already knew who was on the phone. When I picked up the reciever at the nurses station it was the love of my life, Garrett. He started out with his normal, boisterous "Hey Baby!" It's funny how two words can make you smile, then he told me "I'm getting ready to leave" I just thought he was heading to the fire house as I knew he was working that night. Then he said, "I wanted to hear you voice one more time before I left...... I love you...." I laughed and told him I loved him and I would see him soon, then in a really quiet voice he said "yeah, you will." I told him I loved him one more time and we hung up, I went back to my patient and relayed the conversation to my best friend.

Within a few minutes it seemed as if our hospital was surrounded by lights and sirens. Three police cars and two fire trucks flanking one ambulance. Everyone available suited up and gloved up. I went back to my chest pains patient who I think was looking more for a warm bed then meds to help with the pain. I saw the gurney rush in, EMT's were performing CPR, there was total chaos.

After a few minutes when I had my patient settled in and a bed ready for him upstairs I walked out of his room and saw a few of the EMT's Garrett worked with standing with their backs to me looking into the trauma room with the new patient. I called Briggs name walking towards them and when he turned around he had a grave expression on his face. The first thing he said to me was, "I didn't know you were working tonight" I told him yes, Garrett and I were both working tonight. Then I asked, what's wrong? All of them were staring at me, no one moved, so I asked again - louder "What's Wrong?!" I looked over Briggs shoulder into the trauma room and felt my world collapse around me. Garrett was lying on the gurney, intebated, defibrillators against his chest, there was blood everywhere. I screamed and tried to bolt into the room, to touch him, to hold him, to do anything I could to help. Briggs caught me around the waist and held on so tight I realized within the next few days I had bruises on my sides. I just remember crumpling to the floor watching - helpless, sobbing and screaming his name. The doctors pronounced him at 8:42pm. His Nissan Titan had been t-boned (drivers side) by a tractor trailer going roughly 50 mph. There was no hope....

The day before the funeral several of us were sitting at our house....my house....no one was really talking we were just....sitting there. My best friend broke the silence and said, "Well, you were able to talk to him one last time, able to say I love you before he died." I smiled, a fresh batch of tears started, I just shook my head and whispered, "the accident must have happened a few minutes after he called." I looked across the living room and Briggs had an odd expression on his face, I asked what was wrong - he asked me "What time did you talk to Garrett", I thought about it for a few minutes and then my expression matched his, then I answered him "About 20 minutes before you brought him in...." Briggs stared at me. My best friend asked, "Why do you ask?" Still staring at me Briggs answered "Because that's not possible, we recieved the call at the station at 7:36, we were on the scene by 7:41 and Garrett wasn't concious, by the time we pulled him out of the truck a little after 8:00 he didn't have a pulse, we started CPR immediately. Stacy, there's no way you could have talked to Garrett before we brought him in.... he was already dead."

No one in the room spoke, we all knew it had happened, my best friend answered the phone herself, Garrett said hello to her first and asked to speak to me. Other nurses and doctors around the nursing station overhead our conversation. He called to say he loved me one more time before he left.........

Months of therapy, weeks of vacation before stepping foot back into the ER. Some wounds never fully heal, and I don't really consider this a ghost story because I don't consider the man I loved most in this world a ghost - everyday I cherish the fact that I was allowed to talk to him one more time..... And I know he's still with me.... my firefighter....

I have a story that is not really a ghost story... it's a dementia story, really, but it still scared the pee outa me at the time.
I was putting "Edna" to bed one night. She did have dementia and was also veeeerrrry paranoid.
Anyway, I had her wheelchair by her bed and was getting ready to put her in when she yells, "Honeeee! There's a man under the bed!"
So I, all ready to reassure her, kneel down, swipe my hand around under the bed and say, "See, Edna, there's no one there!"
Edna screamed and goes, "Look out! Look out! He's evil... and he's looking right back at you!"
Of course, I'm down there on the floor with my hand under the bed and she's telling me this.
It gave me the heebie jeebies and, like a kid afraid of monsters under the bed, I was waiting for someone to grab my ankles the whole rest of the time I was putting her to bed!

I have a friend who doesn't believe in spirits/ghosts. She says that once you die, if you are intended for Heaven you go straight there. She believes all spirits/shadows/ghosts are the devil. That he wants you on his side so bad that he will disguise himself as a grandson on a tricycle, a young girl, an infant, a beloved family member, etc.

Hi, I agree with your friend, I am a devoted christian and have seen too much! Here is a verse in the bible that clearly shows those who have passed do not return to speak to us or guide us.
Luke 16:19-31. 'And besides all this, between us and you a great chasm has been fixed, so that those who want to go from here to you cannot, nor can anyone cross over from there to us.' (Luke 16:26)
Feel free to read this in the bible! In fact i staff church retreats that are specifically to set people free from any oppresive lifestyle and heal their soul,spirit, and physical body! You wouldnt believe the things ive seen at these retreats, God is good and he shows his mercy and Glory at every single retreat but oh does the devil show up too! along with his demons. One time we prayed over this women whos husband had commited suicide just 2 months earlier and she was having an extremely hard time healing from this hard time ( he called her and rushed her home because he said he needed to show her something, right when she walked in the door he killed himself in front of her face!) she felt like he was at fault in someway, anyway as we prayed for her she suddenly became unconcious, she was in a locked state of mind (seen this before in oher deliverences) when we demanded the demon let her mind go in Jesus Christ's name she returned to herself and when we told her to order any demons of depression, anxiety, sadness, and guilt to leave from her she couldnt do it, she would close her mouth and nod no, and scream and say she couldnt because she saw her husband telling her not to, when i heard that i told her theabove verse; Luke 16:26, she instantly was able to see it indeed was not her husband and how it was really a demon, she rebuked him in the Lord's name and now lives a happy life. This is just one of the many stories i have to tell regarding demons posing as a loved one.

Officially creeped out now!