Bizarre, Odd or just plain Gross Patient Habits.

[caroladybelle]

What bizarre , odd or really strange things have you seen patients or families do that you never thought of someone doing until you became a nurse?

My odd thing is that alot of male patients hock up phlegm into their partially filled urinals. They could have a yankuer suction, spare cups, emesis basin, but they insist on spitting in the urinal. It is really gross to dump that.

I have had a number of male patients that will sleep sitting up with their bedspread over their heads...even in very dark private room. I have never seen a woman do this,...just men. Does anyone know the reason?

[cre8tivRN]

EEEWWW!

It sickens me to think about this...

But one day in the ICU, a trach patient who had their trach for many years was admitted with pseudomonas pneumonia and was coughing up green phlegm. And from time to time, the patient, after coughing would take out the inner cannula and lick it clean, hold it in his mouth, and then re-insert it into the trach. Ugh!, I can still to this day see this image in my head, and it has been many years.

[cre8tivRN]

What bizarre , odd or really strange things have you seen patients or families do that you never thought of someone doing until you became a nurse?

My odd thing is that alot of male patients hock up phlegm into their partially filled urinals. They could have a yankuer suction, spare cups, emesis basin, but they insist on spitting in the urinal. It is really gross to dump that.

I have had a number of male patients that will sleep sitting up with their bedspread over their heads...even in very dark private room. I have never seen a woman do this,...just men. Does anyone know the reason?

Okay, I am guilty of covering my head with my blanket since I can remember. I like the darkness of it, if the room is lit in some way. Also, I like the comfort of warm air to breathe. Plus, it is kind of nice to be warmed up a bit by warm air as you just get into a bed that is freezing cold on a winters day.

[Indy, LPN, LVN]

This isn't gross, but odd. My patient during practicum had a white string tied around one ankle, loosely, like a bracelet. She said it cured her leg cramps, and it had to be a virgin string (unused).

SO, in my bag is the closest thing to a virgin string, from a packet of teaching materials, just in case I have leg cramps. I put it there jokingly, but this patient was so sweet that I left it there because sometimes we need to think of nice people.

-Indy

[Cute_CNA, CNA]

When I was a patient in the ICU, I had a male nurse. As I was not able to get out of bed, he was assigned to give me a bath. I wasn't too thrilled with it, but was too ill to fight it. During the bath, I noticed that the nurse was getting a bit excited if you know what I mean. I wanted to die because I knew he was embarrassed as well as myself.

That's one bath I'll never forget! Do hospitals have a policy regarding female patients and male nurses? Just wondered.

At our psych hospital, baths are "supposed" to be given by the same sex as the patient. However, sometimes we need to lift the patient, or there's not enough staff, so there is mixed staff for whoever needs to be bathed. I've never seen exclusively male-female bathing (like, 2 male staff bathing one female patient).

I think it's inappropriate that that hospital had a single male bathe you, when a female nurse was probably available. I don't know how long ago it happened, but perhaps you could contact administration and grieve the situation?

I remember one patient we had a while ago, where we had 2 different male staff bathe a female patient with other female staff. I don't know about the one male staff (who was a CNA), but the other male staff (an RN!) would make derogatory remarks about the patient's body and bathing habits IN THE PRESENCE OF THE PATIENT! I found this entirely unnecessary and disrespectful to the patient, and I told him so. Also, I noticed that he would pretend to be homosexual during the bathtime, or not long afterwards. He'd never acted that way before. I personally think that he was trying to keep himself from becoming aroused by acting inappropriately. I think he was trying to distract himself from feelings he was having that made him uncomfortable.

Was this male staff an RN? Just curious.

Regarding putting covers over the head, from my own experience, I've often done that to keep sunlight from hitting my eyes while I'm trying to sleep (I'm evening shift). I also think that it can be a sort of protection, like, if I can't see something, it won't frighten me. Like a ghost, lol. I don't do that anymore, though. Blankets don't offer much protection, except maybe psychological protection. Like a "safety blanket." It's a false feeling of security.

[dbsn00]

There could be a few reasons why a male does this.

#1- Men are likely to be embarassed within a hospital setting as a patient and cover their heads, trying to "hide".

#2- It could be for protection, afraid that during the night someone or something might come in and "get" them while they are asleep. The blanket/sheet over their head would give them forewarning that someone is about to get into their personal space. A territorial thing.

I hope this helps in your understanding of male behavior.

Ah, now most of my patients who do this are females... they say it's too bright or noisy, or they don't want to be bothered.

[dbsn00]

Had a patient who was obsessed with eating scabs - & not just her own but we won't go into THAT any further...

Also have another resident who continually tries to remove his toenails & of course gets crusty, infected sore toes. He will ask you to wrap them & then goes outside & decorates the flowers & shrubs in the front entrance with the disgusting bandages. When you ask him why he does either of these things he denies it, even if you catch him doing it. If you tell him you won't keep wrapping his toes because of his "hobby" he calls the ombudsman! Bizarre, odd & gross

[RosesrReder, BSN, MSN, RN]

I've had quite a few pts digitally disimpact themselves on a regular basis...even when they weren't consipated.

:uhoh21:

[pricklypear]

Had a patient who was obsessed with eating scabs - & not just her own but we won't go into THAT any further...

For some reason that reminded me of a lady (who had several mental illnesses) who had a habit of putting objects like wrappers and coins into her open sores. EVerytime she would get admitted to the hospital the nurses had to remove all of it.

[VivaLasViejas, ASN, RN]

Some years back when I was working in LTC, one of the CNAs brought me a paper towel containing what I thought at first were malted milk balls. Of course, the aroma immediately dispelled that notion, and I asked where they'd come from.

"The new resident on Skilled," she said, shaking her head. "He had them lined up on his bedside table."

Well, I'd assessed the man earlier and he was alert & oriented time three; so I just had to ask him what on earth he thought he was doing. He said, "Well, there wasn't any other place to put them.........."

[Sis123]

Wow, this has got to be the grossest thread I have _ever_ read here.

Hubby wraps his head with 2 pillows to sleep, btw, and former husb. always slept with a sheet over his head (but he always did this growing up to keep from getting bitten by malaria-carrying mosquitos). It's kind of funnythat so many men do this.

[Cute_CNA, CNA]

Wow, this has got to be the grossest thread I have _ever_ read here.

Then you've never seen THIS thread!

[CseMgr1, ASN, RN]

Patients dipping snuff! Once, when I was five years old, I stepped into my great-grandmother's "spit can", which was beside her bed. I've been grossed-out by the sight of this mess dribbling down their chins ever since!