So have you been with a patient and for some reason your mind quits working and some stupid opinion or thought (not appropriate) comes slipping out of your mouth?
Well that's what I did today and I've been thinking (and beating myself) about it all day. What I'm about to share is not my best day of nursing, but it is funny as hell. I have no idea why I said what I said, but here comes the story....
I was in the ER working and I had a 18 year old female with abdominal pain. Her mother and grandmother were at the bedside and for the first hour and a half we all got along and were doing swimmingly. Then it happend. The grandmother and mother brought up, in a shaming manner, that the 18 year old had tried a few cigarettes lately. In an effort to help I said, out loud, that the only recreational drug I'd never seen kill anyone was marijuana. (My next thoughts were OMG! ***** Why did I say that?!)
Well I know why I said it... in the 8 years that I've worked in medicine I truely have NEVER seen any one die from side effects or complications of smoking pot. I've never seen anyone come in for a marijuana overdose. When I worked on my lung/cardiac floor I NEVER met one patient that had heart problems or lung cancer related to marijuana (heroine, cocaine, and tobacco, yes....pot? no). I'm not stating this to justifiy that what I said to my patient was ANYWHERE CLOSE to okay. Just to let you know what I was thinking about when I said it.
Well needless to say my good working relationship with the family tanked fast even after apologizing plus informing my manager on my own as to what I did. Attempts to try to explain myself were not heard and apologies were not accepted even after stating that I was in the wrong.
I cried about it for a while, but then I couldn't help but laugh at the absurdity of the whole transaction.
Anyone else's mouth and brain not coordinating well?
