Most Embarassing Nursing Moments

[Jessiedog, RN]

I can remember a few of these, and thought we'd all get a laugh from sharing. My most, most, MOST horrible one was this:

Working in a 60-bed nursing home, I was caring for a gentleman with terminal cancer. He was having the two-hourly S/C morphine, two hourly pressure care, the whole bit. He had been Cheynne-Stoking off and on for the last 24 hours, and the family was with him as he began to depart this life.

This morning I just knew that today was the day he would die. You just get that when you look at these people sometimes. There were four children, his wife, and several siblings around the bed, and I did my best to care for Stephen and his family, while not intruding too much on this painful moment. Came the time when he was due for he next dose of morphine and pressure care, my colleague and I had an intense discussion. Stephen was so far gone that I was concerned that he would die if we moved him, and I knew his family wanted to be with him for the moment of death. I delayed the pressure care for another hour, waiting for the inevitable. When Stephen was still going slowly, I decided that the need to move his emaciated body could not be put off much longer.

I went to the bed, and explained to the family that Stephen really did need to be rolled onto his other side, and that we would be very quick. They all trooped out, and my colleague and I set to work. First we gave the morphine, then gently placed our arms under Stephen to roll him. He have a loud "Aaa....hhhhhhh.......a." and stopped breathing. Cursing under my breath at the timing, I waited for several minutes to be sure that this wasn't just another episode of Cheynne-Stoking. I even got my stethescope and checked for a heartbeat. Nothing.

Feeling guilty and sad for the family, we settle Stephen onto his back, tidied him, and I went to break the news to the relatives. There was an understandable outpouring of cries and wails as they realized Stephen would never be with them again. They were not angry, just sad that he had finally gone. I stayed with them, and then offered to escort them into the room to say their last goodbyes.

All 8 relatives, weeping, followed me into the room to see Stephen peacefully relaxed on his back. They crowded around, touching him, and I stepped back to give them room, tears in my own eyes as I shared their grief.

To my shock and absolute horror, Stephen took one huge shuddering breath,...then another,...............and another! I stood there in utter shock, as this man 'came back from the dead'. The effect on his relatives was not pretty to watch. They were excited, happy, grieved, shocked, and confused. Again, they were not angry at me (must have been saints!), as I stood there watching. The only thing I could think of to say was "But he WAS dead!" :imbar (I'd verified it myself.)

I waited until the family had settled somewhat, then backed out of the room. I felt about two inches tall, and utterly confused!

I never wanted to look these people in the eye again. First I'd killed their dad, then told them he was dead and upset them all, then he came back to life!!

I cried in the toilet for a while, as you do, then went back to the nurses desk. Several minutes later, all the family silently trooped out of the room and towards the front door. They were calm and collected, one detached from the group and came towards me.

"He's gone now. He died about ten minutes after we went into the room. He just wanted to wait until we were all there before he went. That's why he came back for us all.":redpinkhe

I have NEVER experienced embarrassment at that level in my life, before or sice!

[Nicky30, BSN, RN]

Oh you poor thing, I can't compete with that I have not experienced anything like that.

Though I know of another nurse who did - except she called the doctor to pronounce (no family present) and the doc had to tell her 'no - he's not dead yet'.

How mortifying.

[Ruby Vee, BSN]

i was charge in ccu, and the er called to say they had two admits for us -- we'll say the names were thomas and thompson. thomas was coming right up, and the family was in the ccu waiting room. thompson was going to the cath lab first. so we waited. and waited. and finally thomas' relatives came to our desk and asked where their father was. so i called the er. "oh, we should have called you," they said. "he coded and died right after we spoke." the family was right there, and the er nurse was speaking so loudly that they heard the gist of the comments. there was nothing for me to do but tell them how sorry i was but their father had passed in the er.

meanwhile, the cath lab. who had already called report, was bringing thompson back and his relatives were all clustered at the elevator doors, waiting for him.

imagine the ruckus when the cath lab brought back thomas (who was supposedly dead) and his relatives saw him being wheeled down the hall. thompson's relatives wondered where he was because they thought he was doing just great and was coming back from cath lab and thomas's relatives told thompson's relatives that their father must be the one who died! everyone was mad at me, and i wasn't the one who'd made the mistake!

and then there was the time one of the residents left the partially melted hershey bar on the seat at the charge nurse desk and i was wearing white . . . . .

[moonchild20002000]

I was a student,prolly been to clinicals about 2 weeks. We wore dress uniforms with a zipper down the back As I bent over to make my pts bed the zipper gave way!The pt was male and offered to rezip me!

I blushed stammered and backed out the door.I was so humiliated!I backed down the hall with my back to the wall and encountered a fellow student.We got the dress fixed. I still had to finish taking care of my pt

he was too much of a gentleman to say anything else.

[locolorenzo22, BSN, RN]

Well, I've had my share...I walked into a room to find patient fallen on bathroom floor, pulled call light out of the wall, everyone came in, and as we went to pick him up, my butt turned on the shower! (one of those round to the left for on handles). Everyone got soaked, but we got the patient back in bed!... I went to pull up the footrest for a obese lady on an ortho chair, but as I went down and reached, my scrubs ripped right at the crotch! Spent the rest of the night with safety pins holding it shut....then the next day one of the nurses said "why didn't you call down to OB and get a set of scrub pants?"...."THANKS FOR TELLING ME LAST NIGHT!!!"

[NicoleERRN, RN]

Newbie in the ER go to take a pt up to the unit. coming back down , back the cart into the elevator ER tech with me,., hear a voice .. "are you expericing trouble" ? i am confused> he says " no , she dialed the operator with her butt" ! :imbar OH now i get it!! elevator help desk turned on by my rear!! which is not THAT large mind you !!@ hahaha !

[peridotgirl]

I was a student,prolly been to clinicals about 2 weeks. We wore dress uniforms with a zipper down the back As I bent over to make my pts bed the zipper gave way!The pt was male and offered to rezip me!

I blushed stammered and backed out the door.I was so humiliated!I backed down the hall with my back to the wall and encountered a fellow student.We got the dress fixed. I still had to finish taking care of my pt

he was too much of a gentleman to say anything else.

was the pt in his teens? I only ask becuz;' of the statement he made. But then again, anybody of age could make that statement. LOL! srry u had to go through that.

[Jessiedog, RN]

Another one of my famous ones, which makes me cringe! By the way, thanks all for entering into the spirit of this thread :1luvu:

In an effort to speed up response times for codes etc, our new hospital was equipped with emergency buttons inside the door of each patient room. One was red for a code, the other blue for ássistance required, eg somebody on the floor.

On our orthopoedic ward, a lady in a four-bed room called for a pan. Being one of those manic days with two joint replacements on the am and the pm list, I was running flat out tryping to keep up with obs. I smiled, nodded, and pelted down the hall for the required pan. My return trip was almost as fast, as I whipped the curtains around the bed and began to assist my lady. As is often the case, there were one or two things to move out of the way and organise before she could comfortably sit on the pan. I was busy with my tasks, calculating which of my overdue obs I would do next, when the curtains were whipped apart, and two nurses charged in. I looked up in shock, thinking this was extremely rude of them, only to find that the two doctors on the ward followed, and I could hear the ICU crash cart on the way down the hall!

My lady was extremely vulnerable at that moment, as I had just removed the blankets and was lifting her bare posterior onto the pan. I replaced the blankets as fast as I could and turned to face the intrustion. It took a few moments to compute what was really happening.

In my hurry to close the curtains for privacy, I had inadvertenly activiated the code button on the wall, next to the curtains. Being a busy ward with surgery that day, everybody assumed the worst and came running. My poor lady sat in her bed, quite stunned. The only thing she could say as she looked at the collection of people and equipment surrounding her was "But, I only wanted a pan!!"

Two weeks later, all of the emergency buttons had swing-open plastic covers to protect them from accidental use.

[Jessiedog, RN]

Then there was the time when I was on a rapid mission down the hall to the staff loo. Too young to know that it's sometimes OK to say 'no' when asked to help a colleague.

Walking past a room, I was asked to help lift Mrs. Smith up the bed so she could eat breakfast. I sighed, tightened my pelvic floor muscles, and went in. The chant that day was one, two, three, FFAAAAARRRRRRTTTTT!! As I lifted and abdominal pressure increased beyond tolerance level, the inevitable happened. I exited the room VERY quickly.

[TigerGalLE, BSN, RN]

.Walking past a room, I was asked to help lift Mrs. Smith up the bed so she could eat breakfast. I sighed, tightened my pelvic floor muscles, and went in. The chant that day was one, two, three, FFAAAAARRRRRRTTTTT!! As I lifted and abdominal pressure increased beyond tolerance level, the inevitable happened. I exited the room VERY quickly.

HaHa!! That is too funny!!!!!!!

One time I went into the wrong pt's room and explained to them how they'd be going to dialysis this morning... They looked at me and said "WHAT!!!???! I thought I was going home today!." Ha Ha I then had to apologize and explain how I had entered room 6 instead of room 5.... whoops that was embarrassing!

Tiger

[flightnurse2b, LPN]

i was working a code once with this really dreamy respiratory therapist. i bent down to the bottom drawer in the cart to get a stylet, and let out a huge fart (i just couldnt bend and hold it in at the same time, i guess). he just looked at me in complete disgust and was like "you are going to send all of us into cardiac arrest with that one".. soooo embarrassing!

[Jessiedog, RN]

i was working a code once with this really dreamy respiratory therapist. i bent down to the bottom drawer in the cart to get a stylet, and let out a huge fart (i just couldnt bend and hold it in at the same time, i guess). he just looked at me in complete disgust and was like "you are going to send all of us into cardiac arrest with that one".. soooo embarrassing!

Oh, well, if the dreamy therapist hit the floor, I guess you could always give 'kiss of life'. Hmmmmmm.........