What Is Your Most Gross, Yucky, Disgusting Nursing Horror Story?

[yazisizit]

I was working a night shift on a tele floor as a new Nurse.

We had this one poor old lady who was confused and was restrained as usual for her safety. She was our designated resident nightmare geri from hell, so she was placed near the Nurse's station.

So we are chilling out at the Nurse's station, chatting and trying to get through another night...

Suddenly, out of the corner of my eye, I see our lady in question standing in the dimly lit doorway of her room!

I instantly leap out and run to her. As I approach her, she appears to be falling towards me, so I meet her in a bear hug...my arms around her waste, and her arms around my shoulders.

As I catch the lady, I notice a very strong smell of feces, and I feel something warm on my hands, arms and shoulders...

My fellow heroes come in behind me, and as the lights are turned on, my worst fears are instantly realized.

Yes, I caught the poor old lady with a good old bear hung football catch, but I was also covered in the lady's feces.

As I look at her, she has feces smeared all over her arms and hands... (and even her face!)

And of course, now so did I!

[Ashera, LPN]

Just read this on Medscape Weekend Edition:

Spitting Out Worms

Question

My patient is a young, married, unemployed woman. She came for evaluation because she "spat out worms" while brushing her teeth. The lab confirmed the "worm" to be an insect larva. Her CBC is normal except that her hemoglobin is 13.2 g/dL. Her stools were normal. Could this be pica? She recently called to say she spat out some more worms and is coming back for another office visit. How does one approach this case?

K.V., MD

Response from David R. Haburchak, MD, FACP

Professor of Medicine and Program Director of the Internal Medicine Residency Program, Medical College of Georgia, Augusta.

This patient's complaint should at least initially be taken at face value, since she at least produced a real "worm," as opposed to patients with delusional parasitosis, who usually bring in pieces of string, mucus, skin fragments, and other debris for inspection.[1] The laboratory has identified the "worm" as an insect larva, most likely of the 2-winged fly variety (Diptera). This variety is easily identified by their tubular, segmented shape, tapered end, and bristles at their segments.

The 2 most prevalent types of flies associated with domestic animals and pests, and therefore, humans, are the bot fly and blowfly, including horseflies. It would be interesting to get more epidemiologic history from the patient, such as exotic travel and exposure to animals, especially horses.

Human oral, nasal, and tracheopulmonary myiasis is uncommon, due to the need for flies to deposit eggs in the mouth or respiratory tract.[2] Most human cases have actually been nosocomial, secondary to flies depositing eggs in fetid nasal and oral secretions of comatose or demented patients unable to protect themselves. A dramatic recent outbreak occurred in an American intensive care unit when a mouse investigation was inappropriately handled. Mice were killed when poisoned bait was placed in the walls of the hospital building, thus producing ample food for green blowflies. The blowflies subsequently proliferated and laid eggs in 2 comatose patients.[3]

Horses can apparently ingest eggs of the bot fly Gasterophilus pecorum, which can invade the mouth without much host reaction.[4] These larvae can subsequently molt and move to the intestine, or conceivably, if the horse brushed its teeth, be spit out. I suppose pica could be a possible cause if the patient's habits included visits to pastures with horses.

I suspect that a more likely scenario would be the infestation of the patient's toothbrush or toothbrush holder with eggs deposited by houseflies or horseflies. A close inspection of the toothbrush or holder might be helpful. Of course, the patient should be thoroughly examined for any oral or nasal pathology.

This case reminds me of a patient I saw a few years ago with a complaint of "worms" in her toilet. Apart from mild anxiety, she was asymptomatic and had a normal physical exam. Inspection of the "worm" also revealed insect larvae. In her case, flies were depositing eggs while feeding in the toilet bowl. More vigorous cleaning of the toilet and better screens on the house solved the problem.

I would therefore examine the patient, obtain more history of the possibility of flies in the house, and replace her toothbrush as first steps in management of the patient. Should this problem persist, you might want to talk with her husband.

[needlework nurse]

When I was a new grad, I was working night shift in a nursing home. We had a man who needed to be prepped for a procedure the next morning. When it was time for my shift to be over, I was told to go give the man an enema. I went down there to give insert the fluid into his rectum and (lo and behold) he had no rectum. I went back down to the day nurse and she said to instill the fluid into his colostomy. I went back down there and did as she said, only I PUT HIS COLOSTOMY BAG BACK ONTO THE STOMA!!! About 5 minutes later, the bag flew off and I was no longer dressed in white from head to toe, but brown polka dots!!!

[FranEMTnurse, CNA, LPN, EMT-I]

nesher said:

Having been a nurse for a number of years I have an assortment of gross stories, but one of my favorites didn't happen to me.

When I was about a year into my nursing career, I worked on a floor that covered gyn onc, rad onc, urology, and 4 medical services. Busy as you might imagine. One evening I was pausing at thef ront desk when I heard to most god awful scream. I ran down the hallway and was the first to come upon the scene. Standing in the doorway of the dirty utility room was one of the assistant nurse managers, covered from head to toe in dripping diarrhea! Her patient was on a 24 hour stool collection and we stored the crap in cans that look exactly like paint cans, the cans were kept in the dirty utilityroom - she had been returning the can to the room to store and the door bumped her arm. The can went straight down to the floor, the lid which perhpas wasn't as secure as you would like in such situations, flew off and she is in a strom that rained diarrhea. I remember screaming along with her! I grabbed blankets to cover her and she ran to the end of the hall where we had patient rooms that weren't finished - but had showers - she was in there a long time...

Followup to that story, the nurse left nursing and became a doc! Always wondered if there was some correlation...

I'll bet she wished she stayed in bed that day. ???

[randys2]

Franemtnurse said:

I'll bet she wished she stayed in bed that day. ??

Lord there has to be a good joke in there somewhere, esp. with her becoming a doc! I guess she had enough sh*t, or she became a doc when she really knew her sh*t? LOL...that is funny.

Or she got tired of wearing sh*t?

[randys2]

HAHAHA, TALK TO HER HUSBAND THE WORM???? lololol

Ashera said:

Just read this on Medscape Weekend Edition:

Spitting Out Worms

Question

My patient is a young, married, unemployed woman. She came for evaluation because she "spat out worms" while brushing her teeth. The lab confirmed the "worm" to be an insect larva. Her CBC is normal except that her hemoglobin is 13.2 g/dL. Her stools were normal. Could this be pica? She recently called to say she spat out some more worms and is coming back for another office visit. How does one approach this case?

K.V., MD

Response from David R. Haburchak, MD, FACP

Professor of Medicine and Program Director of the Internal Medicine Residency Program, Medical College of Georgia, Augusta.

This patient's complaint should at least initially be taken at face value, since she at least produced a real "worm," as opposed to patients with delusional parasitosis, who usually bring in pieces of string, mucus, skin fragments, and other debris for inspection.[1] The laboratory has identified the "worm" as an insect larva, most likely of the 2-winged fly variety (Diptera). This variety is easily identified by their tubular, segmented shape, tapered end, and bristles at their segments.

The 2 most prevalent types of flies associated with domestic animals and pests, and therefore, humans, are the bot fly and blowfly, including horseflies. It would be interesting to get more epidemiologic history from the patient, such as exotic travel and exposure to animals, especially horses.

Human oral, nasal, and tracheopulmonary myiasis is uncommon, due to the need for flies to deposit eggs in the mouth or respiratory tract.[2] Most human cases have actually been nosocomial, secondary to flies depositing eggs in fetid nasal and oral secretions of comatose or demented patients unable to protect themselves. A dramatic recent outbreak occurred in an American intensive care unit when a mouse investigation was inappropriately handled. Mice were killed when poisoned bait was placed in the walls of the hospital building, thus producing ample food for green blowflies. The blowflies subsequently proliferated and laid eggs in 2 comatose patients.[3]

Horses can apparently ingest eggs of the bot fly Gasterophilus pecorum, which can invade the mouth without much host reaction.[4] These larvae can subsequently molt and move to the intestine, or conceivably, if the horse brushed its teeth, be spit out. I suppose pica could be a possible cause if the patient's habits included visits to pastures with horses.

I suspect that a more likely scenario would be the infestation of the patient's toothbrush or toothbrush holder with eggs deposited by houseflies or horseflies. A close inspection of the toothbrush or holder might be helpful. Of course, the patient should be thoroughly examined for any oral or nasal pathology.

This case reminds me of a patient I saw a few years ago with a complaint of "worms" in her toilet. Apart from mild anxiety, she was asymptomatic and had a normal physical exam. Inspection of the "worm" also revealed insect larvae. In her case, flies were depositing eggs while feeding in the toilet bowl. More vigorous cleaning of the toilet and better screens on the house solved the problem.

I would therefore examine the patient, obtain more history of the possibility of flies in the house, and replace her toothbrush as first steps in management of the patient. Should this problem persist, you might want to talk with her husband.

[mattdixon]

Well, this isn't humor, more along the lines of horror...

My mother was telling me about one patient she had who was very schizo. and delusional, but didn't have a history of violence.

One night they heard her roommate screaming and the schiz. pt had tore one of her roommate's eyes out and damaged the other one enough to cause her to be blind in it.

She told everyone that God told her to do it.

The story made me cringe.

[babynurseapril]

? I am a PICU nurse. I had this gravely ill child (who died the next day by the way) intubated, sedated, and had no idea what was really going on. His mother and father disappeared and had been gone for a while. I had to go in and do my assessment, and this includes changing the pt's diaper. When I went to weigh the diaper,(our scales are in the pt's bathroom) I opened the door, and there the parents stood naked, and hot and heavy!!!!!! Can you believe it. They were 17 years old to boot!!!

[FranEMTnurse, CNA, LPN, EMT-I]

:kiss I am a PICU nurse. I had this gravely ill child (who died the next day by the way) intubated, sedated, and had no idea what was really going on. His mother and father disappeared and had been gone for a while. I had to go in and do my assessment, and this includes changing the pt's diaper. When I went to weigh the diaper,(our scales are in the pt's bathroom) I opened the door, and there the parents stood naked, and hot and heavy!!!!!! Can you believe it. They were 17 years old to boot!!!:kiss

Heh, weren't wasting any replacement time, were they.

[TDub, MSN, EdD]

Wow. I know we're supposed to be non judgemental, everyone-grieves-in-their-own-way, etc, but man! I would've have had a strong urge to rip them a new one. Ugh.

[Trvln Nurse, RN]

Here is my most gross, yucky, disgusting nursing story!

I was working a night shift on a tele floor as a new Nurse.

We had this one poor old lady who was confused and was restrained as usual for her safety. She was our designated resident nightmare geri from hell, so she was placed near the Nurse's station.

So we are chilling out at the Nurse's station, chatting and trying to get through another night...

Suddenly, out of the corner of my eye, I see our lady in question standing in the dimly lit doorway of her room!

I instantly leap out and run to her. As I approach her, she appears to be falling towards me, so I meet her in a bear hug...my arms around her waste, and her arms around my shoulders.

As I catch the lady, I notice a very strong smell of feces, and I feel something warm on my hands, arms and shoulders...

My fellow heroes come in behind me, and as the lights are turned on, my worst fears are instantly realized.

Yes, I caught the poor old lady with a good old bear hung football catch, but I was also covered in the lady's feces.

As I look at her, she has feces smeared all over her arms and hands... (and even her face!)

And of course, now so did I!

Ok...I've had confused patients who were "finger painting" at night...but your story has mine beat...

One of my grossest stories that comes to mind is the story about MAGGOTS...

I was working as a traveler. My unit was slow...so the travelers were first to float (which I was always happy to do because I didn't care for that particular patient unit as it seemed to be the hospital overflow floor rather than it's speciality). But on that particular night on my float unit. I got a new patient who was just transfered in. A homeless, young woman, mentally challenged, with an infected wound to her leg. When I pulled back the covers to inspect the wound....I found maggots. Very gross! They were crawling on the bed sheets.

I did feel very sorry for this woman and even though it was initially gross, I was glad she was there for care and followed up with the doctor to make sure she was sent to a nursing home afterwards to heal properly rather than back on the streets.

Nursing work is filled with surprises, isn't it?!

[FranEMTnurse, CNA, LPN, EMT-I]

Ok...I've had confused patients who were "finger painting" at night...but your story has mine beat...

One of my grossest stories that comes to mind is the story about MAGGOTS...

I was working as a traveler. My unit was slow...so the travelers were first to float (which I was always happy to do because I didn't care for that particular patient unit as it seemed to be the hospital overflow floor rather than it's speciality). But on that particular night on my float unit. I got a new patient who was just transfered in. A homeless, young woman, mentally challenged, with an infected wound to her leg. When I pulled back the covers to inspect the wound....I found maggots. Very gross! They were crawling on the bed sheets.

I did feel very sorry for this woman and even though it was initially gross, I was glad she was there for care and followed up with the doctor to make sure she was sent to a nursing home afterwards to heal properly rather than back on the streets.

Nursing work is filled with surprises, isn't it?!

Did you read the one about the bugs that were found in the patient's lungs, ant the mucus plug that flew down the nurse's throat as she was getting ready to suction the trach? Those two are the standouts in my mind.

[KRVRN, BSN, RN]

Yeah, one of my coworker has a story of a parent finding maggots growing in her intubated baby's mouth! (thankfully this wasn't my hospital) Baby needed a little mouth care, wouldn't y'all think?