Anyone ever pass out at work....I just did :'(

amnesia · Jan 13, 2006

:bugeyes: YUP! Nursing School!

We were getting the grand tour of how the rooms were set up and I remember my nursing instructer saying " And this is the suction here on the wall and this is how to use it..." Thats it, LIGHTS OUT! :sleep: Next thing I knew I was the center of attention. Turned out I had a good case of Mono. What an embarassing moment that was!:thankya:

bhaysRNinKS · Jan 15, 2006

Passing out is too embarassing. I was holding a patient on the side of the bed for an epidural steroid block...she was large and leaning into me heavily to arch her back...I was talking one minute...seeing stars the next and telling the CRNA I didn't feel good...I woke up on the floor with the patient on top of me! The patient thought I was dead! Luckily the patient was not hurt. I had a new pain in my neck from smacking the wall and a very large dent in my pride. I had be working a lot of OT and was quite run-down and dehydrated. We now position patiets prone for epidural steroid blocks!!!

NurseLatteDNP, MSN, DNP, RN · Jan 15, 2006

I passed out right after I had my baby. They had wheeled me out to the post partum care and told me several times, if I need to go to the bathroom to call a nurse because I lost a lot of blood. I felt that I did not want to bother anybody, and I got up and walked couple of steps.....and down I went! My husband freaked out and started screaming. All the nurses ran into my room and gave me a bag to breathe into, because I started hyperventilating. Now that I think about it, it was just funny. I still have trouble asking people for help. I am just so convinced, I can do everything by myself.:chuckle

My sister in law passed out at work, and they have told her that it is from stress. I guess that's possible.

steelcityrn, RN · Jan 15, 2006

I tend to have a lower k level, at times down to 3.1. Not a big eater so eating all that k everyday is hard to do but do take a good M.V. Passed out twice so far. Once in a mall, just like thread starter here. Stomach hurt, felt diaphoretic, lights kind of closed in, then down. E.R. found a low k level and abnormal t waves. That was at the mall, right at the lancome counter. Second time watching a live birth. That was totally awesome but just too much for me. Needless to say, I don't do L+D or ped's.I sure hope it does not happen again.

BamaRN · Jan 15, 2006

I have never passed out, but my blood sugar bottoms out all the time. yesterday i started getting shaky in a pts room and excused myself quickly to check my blood sugar. I barely made it down the hall. my bs was 40 (i start getting symptomatic around 60). I had to down some oj and peanut butter quick. One time i was getting some meds out of the dumbweighter and hit my head hard when I was backing out of it. I didnt pass out but everything went black for a few seconds. I then went and sat down at the desk and starting telling an assistant what happened. the next thing i know everyone is like youre going to the er now. I later found out i was talking crazy and slurring my speech. they even said i started spitting in my hand!! I have no memory of this. i hit my head so hard i gave myself a concussion and neck spasms! how stupid is that? i now make sure my head is completly out of the dumbweighter before i stand up :chuckle

IloveSnoopy · Jan 15, 2006

Thanks so much everyone for sharing your stories...it makes me not feel so bad now!! I am making an appt. with my regular doc this week....I'm still not feeling up to par?? But anywho...thanks everyone :)

hugs,

snoop'

icygirl88 · Jan 15, 2006

I did, and I freaked out our receptionist. I had not been feeling well, and she asked me if I was going to pass out, I said, no, I think I'm going to throw up. About that time I passed out and threw up, hit my right side all the way down a door and the poor woman thought I was having a seizure. I really still don't know exactly what happend, it was the first time I ever passed out and now everytime I get the flu and throw up, I pass out. Any ideas why that might be? My doctor did all kinds of labs etc...no exclamation.

Icy:p

MissJoRN, RN · Jan 15, 2006

Once... in the OR. Then I had to fill out my own incident report. There were a lot of checkboxes for the outcome of my "injury" (I did consider checking "death" just to find out if anyone reads them!) but no checkbox that reads "extreme emabarassment"

One moment I felt suddenly sick, the next I was on the floor with everyone yelling at me and holding my feet in the air! I'm told that I calmly put down the instruments I was holding and said something polite to the surgeon, and he looked up, and I was gone! At least I was nice about it :chuckle

Keely-FutureRN · Jan 29, 2006

Yes I have. :imbar I was getting report from the nurse for a 1:1 and I started to feel dizzy all of a sudden so I leaned on the counter a bit more and took some deep breaths (trying not to let on...) Then I just remember waking up *smack in the middle of the nurses station* and the nurse saying "Keeeeeeeeeleeeeeeeeeeey......" They said I hit my head really hard (hospital floors aren't cushy..) and had some sort of seizure. They hooked me up to telemetry and my BS was normal (80's) My head hurt so they got a backboard and I was taken to the er in a neck brace.:imbar They did an EKG and some bloodwork. My potassium was low...I went back to work right after and was fine. How embarassing! :uhoh3:

Keely

pepper_rn · Jan 29, 2006

New here, but sorry to hear about your ear. That must have been really scary. I only nearly fainted once in nursing school and that was watching one of our open heart docs put in a triple lumen. I had seen several and had even assisted with a few as an LPN but for some reason that day, it just really hit me wrong. I was holding the patients hand, black dots were swimming and I thought, "i've got to get out of here now!" I got a nice long lecture from the doctor about eating breakfast before I came in. But thankfully it has never happened again.:imbar

Take care,

Pepper

Kim O'Therapy, BSN, RN · Jan 29, 2006

Ovarian cysts can be very nasty!! The same thing happened to me with my first ruptured ovarian cyst. I was working in an office, and I had to be loaded into a gurney and wheeled past all the other nurses cubicles (talk about embarrassing). to make matters worse, I was talking to my director and she was holding my hand while we were waiting for the ambulance, and I asked her if I was going to die! when you are going through it, though, you think that it is not a strange question and you feel like you are going to die. But it was embarrassing later when I thought about it.
My second ruptured ovarian cyst was not as dramatic,but I bled for a solid month and a half, heavy every day, no letting up. :imbar

I know what you mean. I never passed out, but became immobile and cried (and I have a high tolerance for pain). I have since had a hysterectomy and oopherectomy and feel great.

PedsER-RN, BSN, RN · Jan 29, 2006

when i passed out i was still a student in my peds rotation. i was in the picu watching a bone marrow aspiration on a 13 year old girl (i had never seen the procedure before). the room was a little crowded, with the nurses, 2 docs, the parents, and another student. i was at the head of the bed, and when the grinding sound started i began to feel really hot. then the room started spinning and i thought i was going to throw up. i excused myself and went to the bathroom across the hall. the next thing i remember is waking up on the bathroom floor!! i'd never passed out before so i wasn't sure what had happened at first! i told the other student but couldn't bring myself to tell the instructor. i think it also had to do with the fact that i hadn't eaten breakfast that morning......i'm just glad i didn't drop in the patient's room!!!

hope everything turns out ok! :rolleyes: