True ER stories

[Kel Cardaras]

Our ER gets lots of calls from residents in our rural area. One day a lady called and said her daughter had spilled some vinegar on herself earlier that day and now she has a red rash. The nurse who answered the phone said, "well I've never heard of a rash from vinegar, but I guess it's possible."

Another old ER nurse said, "Ask her if it was boiling at the time it spilled on her."

The rest of us burst into laughter. He said, "I've been doing this long enough, you gotta ask."

So the nurse on the phone asked, "Was it hot?"

The caller replied, "Yeah, it's been real hot here today."

You just gotta shake your head.

Overheard in the ER, says one family member to another, "they took mom down for a "cap" scan of her head."

Why is it that at 2 am on a Saturday night, that four month old back injury suddenly requires medical intervention? And why do you have to bring six family members in dire need of personal hygiene measures along? And if it hurts so bad, how can you talk and laugh loudly while eating corn chips and drinking Pepsi on your way out the door for a quick smoke (since the doc can't see you for 10 minutes anyway)?!

God, I love this job!

[armyicurn]

Are any of those patients currently reading all these stories? If so, could the real slim shady please stand up?

[advo-kate2]

armyicurn:

Do you really want to base your ethical actions on who might find out or who may be watching? That's a fairly cavalier game to play with patients humanity and dignity. People should be able to trust all caregivers with intimate situations.

Integrety is what you do when NO one is watching....not what you can get away with.

Despite this thread and posts, I believe most other caregivers on AN are worthy of a persons trust.

[Cul2]

This the la la land of the internet. People often write as if they're

in the break room or having coffee with a friend in an intimate

setting. This is the "world-wide web" folks. World-wide. It's amazing

what you get sometimes when you google a topic. People are doing

a lot of googling these days to get medical information, and those

googles will sometimes take them to sites like allnurses. If they

happen upon a thread like this, how they take it depends upon

many things. But don't kid yourselves -- a significant number of

"patient" readers don't have the context that the nurses have

who write this. I have no problem believing that most of the

nurses who write this stuff are good, caring professionals. But

I'm not everyone. I've said this before on other threads. Threads

like this can do a significant amount of damage to the profession.

It erodes trust. It makes some people wonder what's "really"

going on in nurses minds, what they're "really" saying

behind the patient's back. Of course sociologists and other

scholars love threads like this. It's not solid evidence, but it

can give indications of trends, or it can send these scholars off

in the wrong direction, too. Anyway, this stuff belongs in the

break rooms and in private conversations among nurses. But,

heh, do what you want. But beware this new technology,

blogs and social media. We know how powerful it can be,

how it can cause revolutions and regimes to topple. Don't

discount its negative influence on people outside the profession.

[OwenKL]

Good grief, Advo-Kate2 and Cul2, who wadded up your panties? We civilians have seen MASH and House and all those other medical shows. We know you angels probably face more stress every day than we do in a year. We know that working with Death looking over your shoulder requires a certain type of graveyard humor. There's even a name for it, "black humor." And any relief you can get by sharing these stories makes you better able to face your jobs, and keep the rest of us from panicking. As for confidentiality, I don't see patients identified by name, and I'll bet the weirdest story on this entire site has happened at least 3 times just during this past year somewhere in this country! Add to that that we're all posting more or less anonymously, and I don't see how these stories could really be considered breeches of confidentiality.

[emtb2rn, BSN, RN, EMT-B]

Thanks owenkl for your "civilian" input.

And now back to our thread.....

Guy comes in for staple removal. Problem is he pulled them out himself and gave himself new wounds which required stapling. Discharge instructions were very specific about avoiding diy procdures.

[talaxandra]

Dear lay-people reading this thread,

We get to help people when they're at their most vulnerable, in pain and distress. We do our best to make them better or, when that's not possible, to relive their symptoms. We provide physical, pharmacological and psychological care.

We also see people who are stupid, thoughtless. Your health care team is made up of people, who are human, get stressed, become overwhelmed, often work under ridiculous circumstances and high pressure, and cop vast amounts of flack from people who are often unpleasant and abusive.

In the vast, overwhelming majority of cases we maintain a professional demeanour in front of our patients. However, both to relieve stress and to allow our colleagues to know they're not alone, we also share stories about our experiences.

This site is a collection of some of the experiences, advice and enquiries of a sub-section of all the health care providers in the world. As anyone can join, there are also students, potential students, doctors, complementary health practitioners, theatre techs, patients and lay people. It's the internet, so there's no way to verify that anyone's really who they say they are, or that any of these things actually happened.

In the majority of cases, when sharing stories, we remove identifying information first, and our stories span the gamut of health care experiences - in some we're at fault, in some we're victims, in some we're heroes, in some we're educators... and in some we see the funny side.

This thread is a collection of annecdotes that fall in to the latter category.

If this distress you, try reading this peer-reviewed paper and see if you still feel that this thread's inapprorpirate, or if you think it indicates not only a way of coping with stress but is also a way to "enhance creativity, problem solving and memory" [p. 4]. Also ask yourself if nurses have to not only put their patients' (and their patients' families') needs ahead of their own not only at work but also in their off-duty, online lives.

[Cul2]

Look, all. Do what you want. It doesn't upset me personally. I'm just

expressing an opinion. There are consequences for everything we do.

Some good, some bad. The fact is, you're open to the world. I see

your points. I think I have a point, too. Best to all.

[ITSSOSIMPLE]

Funny how people can say they are stressed when the first hour they are at work

they have already made 3 visits to facebook writing confidential information about

their patients.

[Cat_RN, ASN, BSN, RN]

MOVING ON with the thread...!

[advo-kate2]

I know: the trend of patient's eroding trust in the healthcare system is too complicated to express in this little box. In all fairness to some who post stories here, they probably do not realize there are millions of people refusing to seek needed healthcare because of emotional trauma and trust issues. None of us like it, but it happens to be true.

That sort of damage is left to other people (like me and others, and some nurses here) to heal these issues and network people back into accepting care. But like it or not, posting embarassing and undignified stories here break intimate trusts and send people spiraling back to square one. Not every one has to care about this....but it is frustrating when the very people you assure patients that they can trust is shattered by...well...a few of those very people.

Many many (many!)caregivers at AN understand this, and I applaud them so often for their dignified contact with me. Most of us work well together.

Respect in or out of the room: off or on the computer is their primary goal.

That being said, I believe I've made my point. Do with it as you will......

[emtb2rn, BSN, RN, EMT-B]

Kate, once again, who exactly is being hurt here?

Whatever you do, do not go to the emergency nursing forum. Y'all gonna be real unhappy with our threads over there.

[TheCommuter, BSN, RN]

This thread has been closed for further review.