Confess! Whats the craziest force of habit you've done in the "Real World"

[vhern246]

I have heard some of the craziest things nurses have done out of force of habit in the "Real World". Aka out of the hospital.

I've heard that some sign their checks with first initial, last name RN.

Someone ran to aisle four in the grocery store because of a "code blue! clean up! Code blue!"

Knocking on the door before entering, any door, your front door.

Answering your cell phone "Nurses station"

Admiring someones veins.

Holding your invisible steth when leaning over.

Wheres the weirdest place you've fallen asleep?

Confess!

[JGarner37]

1) I always admire veins, especially at the gym. Body builders always have freaking fantastic veins. I also touch my boyfriends veins when we're holding hands or at the movies. I also put my fingers in his 5th intercostal space to feel his heart beating.

2) When I sign receipts, I have to make a conscious effort not to sign my name, RN.

3) the other day I knocked on the door to the empty med room, lol

4) I also use a lot of the computer commands from our program at work on my home computer... which obviously doesn't work.

[Kellyma]

The knocking on the door thing totally. I just got hired at an assit. living and as I was shadowing the Girl training me, it was driving me crazy that we weren't knocking on doors! they don't do that there but once I'm on the floor I definitely will. of course I'm working NOCs and I'm probably not supposed to make all that noise....i dono

I sign my name totally faster and messier then I did before nursing....comes from doing it 50 million times a day.

[Kellyma]

i will find myself dreaming of call lights going off and will get up to search the house in order to shut them off. Only after i have gone up and down my hall do i wake up enough to realize it was all a dream.

Yes, i admire veins all the time.

Being a flight nurse, we used to wear a radio that toned us out with the same tone that was once featured on a nextel commercial. So naturally, every time that commercial would come on and those distinctive "beep beeps" would come on and my ears would perk up thinking, "ooo we are getting called out!"

whenever my kids would get hurt (a skinned knee, a busted lip) i would assess the damage and give them the appropriate treatment and some love but if they would keep whining, i would respond, "oh i have seen a lot worse than that so you need to buck up!"

the same thing happens when my hypochondriac family members would call with a snot or a sniffle and ask if they needed to go to the er. I would always respond, "you aren't dying, i have seen a lot worse than that, and you don't go to the er unless you are dying. "

i have used superglue to fix a simple laceration on my son's forehead, all the while he is sitting at the kitchen counter. Why pay for an urgent care visit when $1 tube of super glue gel will do the trick?

oh i've heard call lights everywhere!

[kiszi, RN]

On the sleeping thing: I worked nights for a while, and for some reason the time when I was the most tired was always right before work. So I got in the habit of taking a five minute nap in my car before going inside to work. Guilty of "napping" at red lights, too. No more nights for me!

My two year old fell down the stairs once - I witnessed him go head over heels and land in a pile at the bottom. I assessed ROM, checked his pupils, felt for broken bones, decided he was fine and sent him on his way. I also have a tendency to listen to his lungs and check vitals when he has a bad cold or fever. Me: his HR and resp are elevated! Well duh, he's sick.

I've picked up the phone before and froze, not knowing what to say at all, then remembering "hello" is the standard non-work greeting.

yes, I have also knocked when leaving a room.

I only wear a watch when working, but that doesn't mean I don't check my bare wrist several times a day at home.

[nurseinthemaking2010]

I am just starting my nursing career. I just started my CNA class this past week. And I am already picking up weird habbits. I now knock on something when I enter a room. I wash my hands up to my elbows. I wash my hands after everything. Yesterday I caught myself washing my hands after making coffee. And my 6 yo duaghter tells me that I am talking out everything I do. The teachers train us to say everything we are going. Now my daughter asks... "Mommy why are you telling the eggs you are going to turn them?" That was when I thought oh no my kids are in for a long ride. Lol And we just did hand and foot care so now everytime I see someone's hands and or feet I have the urge to clean, cut and massage the hands and clean and massage the hands. And the worst of all was yesterday I was doing ROMs on my 4 yo son while we were watching tv when he had his legs on me. Lol

[GHGoonette, BSN, RN]

Ha ha, and back in the days before duvets, making corners with your sheets and blankets on your own beds at home.

[nurseinthemaking2010]

I wish I could blame hospital corners on my training but I got that from my Grandmother. She worked in a hospital for 30 years and would help out on floors whenever she could. This was also before the 80s and you needed to be certified. And to this day when I make I bed I have to have corners lol. Now I have my daughter doing it. But I did just learn the pillow case trick this week and I love it. Makes my life a bit easier.

And I got a real sad one. When I was picking up my kids from daycare I found my son took his wrist and looked for an ID band. That told me two things. 1. I need a nap... 2. I am in trouble lol.

I have not had the scrub pocket thing yet but I say by the end of clinicals I will be having that problem too. I live in my pockets. I hate bags and rather use pockets.

[pca_85]

I'm an aide, halfway through LPN school and vet tech school-so mine may vary a bit. I puppysat last weekend, my friend arrived home to fine a spreadsheet of her dogs intake, output, stool color, consistancy, and amount, hours napped, grooming, and treat intake on her fridge. Go ahead and laugh lol.................she did.........................

[Cherich82]

I sometimes pick up my home phone and push '9' before dialing the complete number. It, then, takes me a second time of dialing to realize the mistake - I don't to 'dial 9 for an outside line'. :)

[SunnyC]

I had bronchitis last year and had some trouble breathing at night. One night, half asleep, I tried to raise the HOB, which woke me up because, duh, not in a hospital bed and not the patient. I also do the vein thing, my husband will see me looking at his arms and will say "yea, I know, you could stick me".

[NocturneRN]

Oh yeah, I sign my name with RN at the end! I used to knock on the doors at my house before entering a room. I look at someone with an unsteady gait and run through a list of diagnoses. I wash my hands all the way up to the elbows. I look at scars on people and can tell immediately what kind of surgery they had. I inspect my dog's poop (the neighbors think this is weird, but my husband is a paramedic, and he asks me for a detailed description). I bring alcohol pads with me to the movies to wipe down the 3D glasses. I have to stop short of autoclaving my shoes after a particularly bloody case. I use military time. When I am eating string cheese, I open it like a sterile package. When it snows, I wonder how many gamma nails I will be doing on old ladies that were bound and determined to walk down the steeply graded driveway to get the mail. When I hear a helicopter, I wonder if I will be doing transplants or traumas when I get to work.

I can relate to that reaction to helicopters!----as well as to ambulances, on work nights.

It's fun to watch my (ER night shift) coworkers' reactions, when they hear an ambulance being called out over the radio toward the end of the shift. EVERYONE within earshot involuntarily (and in unison) glances at the clock. :chair::sofahider

[MichelleB34]

When my kids were younger I used to calculate the amount of motrin, tylenol, etc. they should get according to their weight. I never went by what the bottle said.