Bizarre!!

SouthernLPN2RN, MSN, RN, APRN, NP · Dec 4, 2005

Pt in labor on an elevator that stopped working, 2 med-surg nurses and a cna on board (returning from a smoke break!) I was so happy to see that pt get off the elevator, lol! This was back before staff had to get off an elevator if a pt got on.

SCRN1 · Dec 4, 2005

We had a patient once who was diagnosed with Elephantiasis. His member was about the size of my shin. Instead of him wearing a diaper the normal way, the diapers had to be wrapped around it. I found that pretty bizarre!

VeryPlainJane · Dec 4, 2005

we had a patient once who was diagnosed with elephantiasis. his member was about the size of my shin. instead of him wearing a diaper the normal way, the diapers had to be wrapped around it. i found that pretty bizarre!

elephantiasis is a parasitic disease which is transmitted from human to human by mosquito bites. the parasite tends to lodge in and block the lymph nodes that drain into the lower extremities, producing massive enlargement and deformity of the legs and genitalia.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/elephantiasis

thats beyond bizarre to down right scary!

LeahJet, ASN, RN · Dec 4, 2005

I once had a prosthetic leg thrown at me.

Thankfully, I was faster than the flying leg and the offender was drunk as a skunk.

I've also seen a 300lb+ stark naked woman chasing a nurse while trying to beat her with the foley that the nurse tried to insert.

Both of those cases were a bit surreal.

ERERER · Dec 4, 2005

soooo many..... will have to think a bit. but these came to mind:

a confused elderly man in ICU standing in the hall holding his Nitro drip bottle up high "stand back or I'll blow you all to kingdom come!"

very sick old lady who turns out to be the leader of a band of gypsies. who, by the way, have set up camp in the field behind the hospital, easily viewed through her window. she did not die.

running a code in the front seat of a compact car (pt was very large and wedged in, couldn't pull him out). Resp therapy in back seat, me in driver's seat, dashboard for lining up drugs. needless to say we all jumped out when using defib pads! pt survived!

sjrn85 · Dec 4, 2005

a confused elderly man in ICU standing in the hall holding his Nitro drip bottle up high "stand back or I'll blow you all to kingdom come!"

HA HA HA!!! :rotfl:

Ruby Vee, BSN · Dec 4, 2005

the latest came to us in the form of a patient who was passing through our unit on the way to icu. of course, our elevators were not functioning (lot of construction lately).
so on to the other elevator bank, but alas! the bed wouldn't fit through the door to get to them. so we plugged the patient's bed in right there in the hall, and set up for a code while we planned an alternate route.
happily, the patient was none the worse for wear, but i really got chills thinking about what could've happened.

cardiac patient coming back to the ct icu from the or. elevator gets stuck between floors. there was an anesthesia resident, attending, surgery resident and a transporter to push the bed. no nurse, no rt. so there were all these folks giving orders and no one following them. the oxygen tank ran dry . . . so they called engineering. engineering pried open the elevator doors on the floor above them, and they pried open the doors on the elevator they were stuck on -- about a 6 foot gap. we ran oxygen tubing from the bed nearest the elevator down the hall and down the elevator shaft. pharmacy set up on the floor outside the elevator and was passing them drugs. finally they put a stepladder out and a nurse climbed down into the elevator. battery died on the portable monitor, so we ran extension cords down to plug in the monitor and the iv pumps. it was soooo much fun!

ruby

Ruby Vee, BSN · Dec 4, 2005

i once had a prosthetic leg thrown at me.
thankfully, i was faster than the flying leg and the offender was drunk as a skunk.
i've also seen a 300lb+ stark naked woman chasing a nurse while trying to beat her with the foley that the nurse tried to insert.
both of those cases were a bit surreal.

years ago, i was working in a brand new hospital. lots of critters had crawled into the space between floors during the construction phase, so we were occaisionally surprised by a raccoon, a squirrel, a mouse -- and once a skunk! the particular story that comes to mind, though, is the day a bat was discovered hanging behind the drapes in the brand new ccu. the housekeeper let out a shriek to wake the dead, and the bat, startled no doubt, blew out of those drapes so fast we couldn't even see it move! next thing i know, a little old lady who had just had an mi is screaming bloody murder. inside her room, the bat is flying around in circles, looking for the way out, which was blocked by the crowd of staff watching it and trying to agree on what to do.

"call security" seemed to be the consensus, so we called security and told them we needed a bat removed.

the security guard who answered seemed to be unconvinced that the wasn't a joke, but nevertheless agreed to send someone up.

a few minutes later, the elevator opens and a 6 foot tall, 300 pound female security guard whose uniform barely buttoned over her enormous breasts advanced someone timidly down the hall, clutching a fire extinguisher. when pointed toward the right room, she first cleared the doorway. that seemed sensible -- maybe the bat would leave on it's own if the way were unblocked. that turned out to be the case. the bat darted out of the room and started down the hall, the security guard in hot pursuit. at the end of the hall, the bat turned a 180 and started back, the security guard, breasts bouncing and shirt buttons straining still in pursuit. another 180, and the security guard still running after it. finally she hauled out the fire extinguisher and began spraying the bat with white stuff as she ran. the bat was darting back and forth rather than flying in a straight line, so there's white stuff everywhere, including on the bat. by now the shirt buttons are starting to pop, but the bat is starting to slow down, coated with the white stuff. the lol continues to shriek every time the odd procession nears her room, and there is general pandemonium.

as the security guard continued spraying the bat, he started flying lower and lower and slower and slower . . . until he crashed into the wall at the end of the hall. the guard pounced on him, smacking him with the fire extinguisher and proclaiming "i got you now, you son of a bit**!" her uniform buttons -- the ones that hadn't fallen off completely -- were undone, but she was too engrossed in her efforts to notice. just then, the elevator door slides open and the hospital administrator steps off, coming to see what's really going on in the ccu.

as charge nurse, it was up to me to explain. not a fun explanation, i tell you. fortunately, the man had a sense of humor, and by the time i left his office, we were both laughing so hard i was concerned about potential incontinence!

ruby

gauge14iv, MSN, APRN, NP · Dec 4, 2005

Patient on tele monitor up brushing teeth in the bathroom (Looks like v-tach) who really was in v-tach.

City bus radios in to the ER and says "We have a guy on the bus having a seizure - we're about 5 blocks away" We get traffic stopped coming down a downtown city street (didn't know that traffic directing was in my job description), get the bus pulled into the ambulance bay - only to find there was no way to offload a 300 lb patient from a bus....

About the time we actually managed to get him OFF the bus, the chopper lands overhead with a "multiple stab wounds to the abdomen" victim. Said victim proceeds to rip out all his lines and take off running through the ER as soon he rolls through the door - blood spurting actively like a fountain from all of his newly created orifices.

Seizure dude just wanted lunch and a ride there to get it...

That was the same day that a volunteer ems from the country (I'm talkin COUNTRY) brought a patient who had fungating cancer lesions ALL OVER, gluc of 1800, hgb 4, BP 40, heart rate of 22, no urine out for days, with a family who was screaming at him) after he was unconcious for over 9 hours) "HANG ON THERE PAPPY!!!! THEYRE GIVIN YA MEDICINE TO MAKE YA BETTER!!!" Yup...levophed, cpr. dopamine, yup yup...transfer to ICU after 6 hours of this....

I wore a flak jacket to work the next day...

HappyNurse2005, RN · Dec 4, 2005

This was back before staff had to get off an elevator if a pt got on.

Your staff have to get off an elevator if a patient gets on???

lpnstudentin2010, LPN · Dec 4, 2005

cardiac patient coming back to the ct icu from the or. elevator gets stuck between floors. there was an anesthesia resident, attending, surgery resident and a transporter to push the bed. no nurse, no rt. so there were all these folks giving orders and no one following them. the oxygen tank ran dry . . . so they called engineering. engineering pried open the elevator doors on the floor above them, and they pried open the doors on the elevator they were stuck on -- about a 6 foot gap. we ran oxygen tubing from the bed nearest the elevator down the hall and down the elevator shaft. pharmacy set up on the floor outside the elevator and was passing them drugs. finally they put a stepladder out and a nurse climbed down into the elevator. battery died on the portable monitor, so we ran extension cords down to plug in the monitor and the iv pumps. it was soooo much fun!
ruby

were you the nurse