What's your weird quirk?

Nurses General Nursing

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I don't know if other people do this - but EVERY single time I have to give a subq/IM shot - i try about 4-5 times (point get, get close, withdraw without touching the skin) before I inject. If I don't do that - I get very anxious and feel like the needle will bounce. I make sure the pt doesnt watch so they don't get freaked out but I can't stop. I can never inject with one fluid motion.

I don't like seeing anything in urinals - even if it's 10 cc - I will empty it.

If no one is in the hallway and I'm transporting a mechanical lift - I will ride on it like a shopping cart :D

I've had blood, pee, and vomit splatter on my unifomr and shoes and I've just shrugged and cleaned it off as best I could with disinfecting wipes then went on with my day without a second thought - but just the thought of hearing someone clearing their phlegm or suctioning mucus makes me want to curl up and lock myself somewhere.

What's yours?

Specializes in Urgent Care, MedSurg, SNF, ER..

Okay so I am a little bit of a square which translates to me having several nursing "quirks". So here is a quick list...I will name only a few since my full set of "quirks" would be several pages im sure.

Here goes:

I heavily dislike nurses who sneeze on their hands and do not sanitize. It erks me to the max.

I cannot stomach post mortem care. It saddens me to a whole new level.

My left hand(non dominant hand) on shift is my "sterile" hand. Therefore It is the only hand I will eat my food with or touch my face with.

I bring with me 4 pairs of scrubs(sick I know) on any given shift because I cannot stand blood on my scrubs. I will change scrubs even if I think there was a potential that blood splattered on me.

I hold my breath ONLY when giving ventrogluteal or gluteal injections. It is a bad habit. Strange as well I know.

Apparently my coworkers laugh because I wrinkle my nose within five minutes after starting an IV.

I bite the inside of my lower lip when suctioning a trach. I have bled from it before.

I think this list is enough shared. I am working on breaking these bad habits. :bugeyes:

Specializes in Orthopedic, LTC, STR, Med-Surg, Tele.

I love emptying and reinfusing SureTrans/Constavacs. I feel like it is so cool.

I'm also kind of anal-retentive about IV bags and tubing. If I walk into a patient's room and the tubing isn't labeled, I rip it down and start fresh.

If the IV site isn't dated and initialed, I get a little *twitch*, and start a new IV (at my discretion, if they are a fresh same-day admit from PACU or ED I'll pass).

I am not at all comfortable touching dead people. Even with my NA/PCT/RN experience combined, I've only been in the same room with a dead person about three times. Gives me the willies. I'm sure with more experience I'll get used to it, but right now I'm like OH. MY. GOD. This person is DEAD.

Speaking of people passing away, the first hospice patient I took care of as an RN passed away between 6:15 when the CNA emptied his foley bag and 6:30 when I came in to give him his Roxanol and Ativan. I scurried away to find my charge nurse, and whispered, "I think my patient died!" She looked over her reading glasses, and said, I'll be there in a few minutes, why don't you go check. I scurried back and spent about five minutes listening for lung sounds, imagining I saw chest rise and fall, and squeamishly feeling for a pulse (see above about touching dead people). The other nurse came in, looked around the curtain, and said "yep, he's gone." I'm such a noob! :(

Specializes in PACU.

I must lack insight, as none are immediately popping into my head. Oh. I know.

I like to remove the little papers from the bags that the O2 masks come in to make it easier to pull them out when the patient pulls up to the bay.

I'm sure my coworkers could tell you something more interesting about me.

Oh, I've been having extremely violent, abrupt hiccups for the last several months.

Specializes in Peds/outpatient FP,derm,allergy/private duty.

I'm neurotic about the placement of an IM to the gluteus muscle even though I've given thousands of them. I use my finger to draw a + in the air over their butt cheek. The most challenging one was a teenage boy who survived a suicide attempt by swallowing lye. He was so thin and had been given so many IM injections his muscle felt like florist's foam under my fingers.

Nobody has yet hobbled up to me on crutches and said yes! That's the one who did this to me! That proves the air plus sign wards off evil spirits.

Any paper under or lining something on the table or bedside that had water drops or mysterious stains I just didn't feel right until I got brand new replacements to start with.

I hate sloppy taping jobs! When I tape something I will sometimes fold over a tiny corner to later use to make removal easier. I made tape nametags for my favorite pens.

When I took care of babies I made a B-line to the linen cart to grab the cutest blankets. One solid color and one print for each baby. If my favorites weren't there I became disgruntled.

I cannot eat anything off of a pt's tray. Sometimes we'll have an extra tray because a pt is out on pass - the tray never enters the pt room - some nurses will take it and have it for supper. I cannot. Grosses me out completely.

:barf01: I could never do that. One of my adult private duty patients would sometimes say "you finish it" midway through the feeding. I always said thank you while fighting off the nausea.

OMG pepper...My sister got fired for swiping an extra sandwich from a tray noone was eating. A resident saw her and thought my sister was eating the residents food instead of feeding them and she got reported. They always have to take the residents word over the employee.

"I hate sloppy taping jobs! When I tape something I will sometimes fold over a tiny corner to later use to make removal easier. I made tape nametags for my favorite pens. "

Me Too!!! My black sharpie is labeled with my name.

And for that matter....I am a real stickler for hygiene, nutrition and turn and prop...even in the hospital where their are ....'higher' priorities. NOTHING made me madder then seeing a pt in the same gown, position I left them in the previous day. That could be me or my family in that bed someday.

If I see any food or body fluid stains on my patient's linens, I have to change the whole bed.

I cannot STAND the sound of IV pumps beeping. It's literally enough to send me over the edge of sanity.

I have just worked 12 hours, I do not want to wait one minute past shift change to give you report.

Wow, just typing all of this makes me feel like I have some major issues :)

Same!!! I like that the OP refers to these as quirks versus neuroses. :D .

IV beeping...pretty much all beeping, excessive noise in general..just makes me feel so much more stressed.

And YES...if you just got done working 12hrs, why would you want to do anything but go home!!!...And why do you have to explain this to people!?!?

Specializes in geriatrics, dementia, ortho.

I hate listening to machines beep. If a dynamap, IV, or a circulation device is beeping in a room as I walk by, I'll usually march in there and fix it whether it's my patient or not. If I don't know how to fix it, I'll figure out who that person's nurse is and call him or her to do it. I don't know how patients can stand to listen to that stuff, but I totally sympathize with the ones who call me and say "Alligator, something in here is beeping again! Can you make it stop??"

Specializes in New PACU RN.

Good ones!

Some more...

- Whenever I reposition pts, I flip over the pillow. Every single time.

- If I pull them up in bed and their gown is touching their neck - I have to pull it down or else I'll have this weird sense that something is choking MY neck . Whether or not they ask. They never ask :D

- I caviwipe commodes even if they are clean.

- I spray odor control spray on bedpans and urinals before and after use (really cuts down on odor).

- If I'm spraying a room - I'll make noises to try to cover up the sound so that they don't get embarassed.

I HATE dentures. I absolutely will not handle them without gloves.... In a pinch I've put people on bedpans, emptied urinals, drawn blood and even inserted IVs without gloves (NOT a good Idea BTW) but I absolutely will NOT handle dentures without gloves. I don't like teeth.

Specializes in Oncology.

i have wasted more time and caused myself more trouble by hating to change main iv bags (1000 ml's) until they are down to the last drop. if there is 20 to 50 of just the plain main iv solution in the bag i hate to "waste" it, i think almost every drop has to, should, needs to, empty out before i put up the new bag.

i guess "waste not want not" was deeply imprinted in my brain?

ha! that's me! if i hang the bag, i know exactly what to program it for so it runs to the last drop. 1050ml! it drives me nuts when other nurses program it for like 900 "so it doesn't run dry." it won't.

Specializes in Psych/Corrections.

I am a needle phobic RN-yep it's true!! I hate even the smell of the alcohol wipe and can get woozy:eek: I hate getting them for sure and giving them to others. I too am neurotic about getting in the right spot and when someone complained that it hurt I got anxious that I would probably cause them pain for the rest of their life because I did it wrong!! :bluecry1:

Specializes in Psych/Corrections.

Cleaning dentures :barf01:I do it without hardly looking-ewwwwwwwwwwwwwww

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