Any good patient prank stories?!

Guest219794 · Dec 19, 2015

I often goof on my patients.

I take picture of their x-ray.

Then I tell them my phone has an X-ray app, and ask if they would like a picture of the fracture.

I pretend to shoot the X-ray with my phone, then show them the pic of the actual x-ray.

It's fun. Try it.

imintrouble, BSN, RN · Dec 19, 2015

Call me a stick in the mud, but pranks are not in my job description. Unless the patient is under ten years old.

mindofmidwifery, ADN · Dec 19, 2015

I came in to get a patient's temperature. I asked him to open his mouth please so it could go under his tongue and he said, with the straightest face "I only get rectal temperatures" I looked at him like [emoji45] and started to say "I am not..." When he told me he was just kidding. Needless to say, I was not amused. I was, however, very relieved.

Jensmom7, BSN, RN · Dec 19, 2015

Well, I wasn't directly involved with this nurse to nurse prank, there was the incident at the Big Clinic where I worked in the Injection Location (colloquially, "shot room") The receptionist would send the orders for shots through a pneumatic tube system. Some anonymous mischief-maker sent KM, my unsuspecting co-worker an order for "Ivy Green" who proceeded to the waiting area . . .
"Ivy Green!" . . ."Ms. Ivy Green. . Ivy! . " Went on for a good long time, too. (KM was very conscientious)
Ivy remained silent because Ivy was a potted philodendron sitting in a chair . . .thinking back on it I hope it was April Fool's Day because --- otherwise who would do such a juvenile thing?!?

One time, when I worked Peds, it was a slow week (I think right before Christmas-no one wanted their kids in the hospital then. But we always had a full house starting December 30th. Eh, it was the 80s. But I digress).

Anyway, we were bored, and one night we had no patients. Zero. So, we made one up.

Someone had donated a hideous pink, 4 foot tall stuffed rabbit to the unit. We put him in one of the Isolation rooms way down at the end of the hall. His name was Matthew Rabbitt. We made a chart, with orders in it, and a Kardex for him.

I forget his primary diagnosis, but as a side note, he had a history of giant hairy nevus covering a large part of his body (this was a REALLY hideous stuffed rabbit). So, we cautioned the oncoming nurse (who had a habit of turning on every flippin' light in the room. At midnight) to be a little sensitive to poor Matthew, as he was 12 and really really embarrassed by his appearance.

As soon as we were done (and how we all managed to keep a straight face while giving report I have no idea), she zoomed down the hall. She had to check his IV, get his vitals, etc, etc.

For just a minute, there was absolute silence. Then we heard "I'm going to get you guys if it's the last thing I do!"

At which point, unprofessional and unseemly hilarity ensued.

Who says you can't have a sense of humor at work??

Guttercat, ASN, RN · Dec 20, 2015

I would be freaked out if a patient knew which car was mine; kind of stalkerish.

Small-ish clinic with repeat customers. We were family, man! :)

justavolunteer · Dec 23, 2015

As a volunteer, occasionally I've volunteered on a day when I'm not usually there. Someone inevitably asks why I'm there. I will say "but I'm always here on Wednesday (when it's actually Thursday). There's usually the deer-in-the-headlights look before they figure out what's going on. I've also used variations of 'you heard this is my last day, right?', usually on April 1st. After a few panicked expressions, I say something like "I figured I should tell you this because it's April 1st'. I get a pretty good reaction after the people realize I'm joking. One time I told the charge nurse I was there instead of work because it was a day off due to Elvis Presley's birthday. She was a few steps past me before it hit her. She hit the breaks, whirled around & said "wait a minute!'

annie.rn · Jan 3, 2016

One time, when I worked Peds, it was a slow week (I think right before Christmas-no one wanted their kids in the hospital then. But we always had a full house starting December 30th. Eh, it was the 80s. But I digress).
Anyway, we were bored, and one night we had no patients. Zero. So, we made one up.
Someone had donated a hideous pink, 4 foot tall stuffed rabbit to the unit. We put him in one of the Isolation rooms way down at the end of the hall. His name was Matthew Rabbitt. We made a chart, with orders in it, and a Kardex for him.
I forget his primary diagnosis, but as a side note, he had a history of giant hairy nevus covering a large part of his body (this was a REALLY hideous stuffed rabbit). So, we cautioned the oncoming nurse (who had a habit of turning on every flippin' light in the room. At midnight) to be a little sensitive to poor Matthew, as he was 12 and really really embarrassed by his appearance.
As soon as we were done (and how we all managed to keep a straight face while giving report I have no idea), she zoomed down the hall. She had to check his IV, get his vitals, etc, etc.
For just a minute, there was absolute silence. Then we heard "I'm going to get you guys if it's the last thing I do!"
At which point, unprofessional and unseemly hilarity ensued.
Who says you can't have a sense of humor at work??

This was hilarious! I would have had a blast creating that furry pt.

When in the military, I worked with a lot of young, mostly male med techs. If pranking were an Olympic sport, they'd be on the gold medal team.

Once, they got the gurney from the morgue. The gurney was a metal tray w/ a second metal tray suspended over the first by posts on each corner. The body would lay on the bottom tray and then the whole thing was covered w/ a fitted canvas.

At change of shift they put the gurney in an empty room w/ one of the med techs on it. The oncoming techs were told that there was a deceased pt. ready to be transported to the morgue. They went in to do the transport and half way down the hall the "deceased" yells and starts banging on the upper tray. Needless to say, the two unsuspecting transporters nearly passed out from fear. After the initial shock, they all got a kick out of it.

There was a Sgt. who was a great guy but regularly had really bad breath. We had big dry erase boards hanging above our med carts (this was back in the day before computers and COWS) where we'd write down all of the appts. that pts. had scheduled for the day. They wrote on the board "Sgt. 'Smith', Halitosis Clinic, 1000". They all got a good laugh. However, I hope Sgt. "Smith" wasn't crying inside.

There was a pt.'s necrotic toe that fell off during a linen change.

And the time one bet another $20 to eat a half eaten saltine off of the tray of a particularly unsanitary, mean pt. (This was not done w/in ear shot of the pt.) He tried but gagged as soon as he brought it near his mouth.

I hope no one gets offended by these stories. I know they sound kind of irreverent, immature and disrespectful. However, they gave excellent care and kept the joking outside of the pt.'s rooms.

It was the toughest nursing job I've ever had but also my favorite b/c of my co-workers. We needed humor to get by and to help us decompress so that we could give the great care that we did.

Cub Nurse · Feb 1, 2022

I bought a Fart prank spray from Amazon that turned out to smell more like strong dog poo / cow manure (like the dried old poo that burns your eyes) rather than the sulfuric eggy smell that I expected. This thing lasts for about half an hour after it’s sprayed, and much longer if it’s sprayed on an object, and can be transferred through contact ?.

I sprayed it inside an empty pneumatic tube and send it to lab / pharmacy as they always asked for tubes. I never got to see their reaction but the thought of it was funny.

The spray looks like a Chanel no. 5 bottle so I keep it in my scrub pocket ready to go. Once the other nurses or aides walk away from their computer / cow, I quickly spray it on their mouse & pen (something they’d have to touch). I also sprayed the surface of their COW during med pass. It was so funny hiding somewhere and watching their reactions ?.

One time I sprayed on the floor right next to an aide who was sitting & charting. She got fed up with the smell & pulled all the environmental service mops & tools to clean the whole station.

After giving change-of-shift report, I sprayed the keypads on the doors to the break room & med rooms before going home ?. The scent definitely lingered on their hands.