Crazy stuff can happen

Nurses General Nursing

Published

Tell me your story, or something you did or experienced that was either a no-no, an uh-oh, or just downright unusual! on the nrsg unit!:uhoh3: ;)

You gotta be kidding me!!!

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Specializes in ER, ICU, cardiac.

the worst thing that has ever happened to me:

I was working on a step down and i just walked out of report. One of my four patients was a woman who had a thoracotomy the night before. uneventful evening. i walked out of report and immediatly my phone rang. the nurses aide called to say the patient was coughing up some blood. i thought, well fresh post op thoracotomy, no big deal. the aid calls right back and said "she's choking on the blood!" i run in the room and the woman is clutching the side of the bed looking at me. deer in headlights look, blood gushing out of her mouth and all over the room. i hit the code button and started to try to suction her, blood gushing everywhere. we intubated and blood was coming out of the ett. she had a pressure and a rhythem the whole time. Then, she started tombstoning on the ecg. she went asystole. infarcted from the hemmorhage. i was covered head to toe in blood, by this point (it was a one hour long code) it was almost nine and i hadn't even seen my other patients. thank god my friend took over for me.

2nd story.

my first job out of nursing school, i had a patient who was getting a bath and he was a total care patient. The girl doing the bath was cleaning his male area, he got a hard on and went into pulseless vtach. we coded him and got him back. the mom stepped out of the room so they could bathe him. it was my first code so i was sobbing, the mom heard the announcement overhead with his room number in it. i was so shocked i didn't know what to say!

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Specializes in MedSurg, Ortho, Neuro, StepDown, Rehab.

One I will never forget......working on an Ortho/Neuro floor (Charge) and I had another RN (new grad - no offense) come up to me and told me that she had hung the antibiotic on so and so, this pt. had an IV with fluids running and she told me she had started another IV site in the other arm for the antibiotic.......all I could do was just sit there and look at her (kinda like the deer with the headlight look, lol):o

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Specializes in Licensed Practical Nurse.
after 18 years in nursing, it's hard to come up with just one or two crazy things that have happened. i had a patient once whose member fell off during his bed bath. i let out a gasp when i saw it had fallen off. the patient asked, "what's wrong?" i didn't know what to say. i just moved the covers a bit so he could see what had happened. the guy actually laughed and said, "oh! figured that would happen sooner or later, it's not like i've used it in years anyway -- adds a new meaning to 'use it or lose it' don't ya think?"

second one is still embarassing and happened nearly 10 years ago. i was working night shift in a nursing home. there were only 3 staff in the building, 2 cna's and myself. the cna's were down the halls getting patients up and dressed for the day. the med room had a second supply room off the back of it where we kept the overflow meds. the med room door and this supply room door were about 10 feet apart. both doors locked automatically when closed. i was wearing a pair of baggy cargo pants. i had gone into the back supply room in the process of restocking the med cart. i had my keys in side pocket of my cargo pants. when i left the room, i turned and walked out, the door closed behind me and as i tried to step away i realized my keys were caught on the other side of the door but still in my pocket! i couldn't reach the door to the main med room to open it and call for help! i ended up having to slip out of my pants and leave them hanging in the door! i had to go to the nurses station without my pants to call for the locksmith to come unlock the back supply room. when the locksmith arrived, he took one look at my pants hanging in the door and just laughed his head off! anytime i see past co-workers from that place, they still tease me about it. no more baggy cargo pants for me!

see now, lisky 90's post was utterly grossening and i thought it would take the crown, but valanda, this is the creme de la creme! so hilarious and utterly breathtaking. i mean, the pt wasn't even shocked at his own horror of loosing a body part, i'm tellin ya, we nurses see things no one knows about- true horror stories indeed! the cargo pants thing is quite funny, don't feel bad i would have done the same thing, besides there were only 3 staff in the building, what? at night!:idea:

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Oh my...I hope I didn't totally gross everyone out with my Foley story. That all happened to have happened the day that I had posted it. I think my grossest medical story however, was when I was an EMT and we responded to a fight to find a man sitting on the side of the road holding his ear. When asked what happened he said, pointing..."that guy bit off my ear!" My stomach still turns thinking about that one...12 years later. Why would anyone ever bite the ear off of someone's head...cartilage, earwax...eeeewww!!!

I think if I ever shared half of my stories with family and friends they would question my sanity in wondering why I would have ever CHOOSEN such a career...lol!!!

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EMS brought in a drunk guy once whose nose was bitten off by a Rottie. On the radio I asked if they were able to find the nose.

Pause.

"No..........I guess the poochie missed lunch."

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Specializes in ED, Rehab, LTC.

Second one is still embarassing and happened nearly 10 years ago. I was working night shift in a nursing home. There were only 3 staff in the building, 2 CNA's and myself. The CNA's were down the halls getting patients up and dressed for the day. The med room had a second supply room off the back of it where we kept the overflow meds. The med room door and this supply room door were about 10 feet apart. Both doors locked automatically when closed. I was wearing a pair of baggy cargo pants. I had gone into the back supply room in the process of restocking the med cart. I had my keys in side pocket of my cargo pants. When i left the room, I turned and walked out, the door closed behind me and as I tried to step away I realized my keys were caught on the other side of the door but still in my pocket! I couldn't reach the door to the main med room to open it and call for help! I ended up having to slip out of my pants and leave them hanging in the door! I had to go to the nurses station without my pants to call for the locksmith to come unlock the back supply room. When the locksmith arrived, he took one look at my pants hanging in the door and just laughed his head off! Anytime I see past co-workers from that place, they still tease me about it. No more baggy cargo pants for me!

That is HILARIOUS!!!!!

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Old fella said to me the other night "I don't see very well. I have vernacular disorganization" what's really funny though is that I knew what he meant.icon10.gif

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Me, too. Eating egg mcMuffin here. Mark of a truly experienced nurse.

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Specializes in OB, adolescent mental health.

When I was working in OB, we had an older grand multip drop her uterus while sitting on the toilet.

She rang the bell and said, "I feel like something's coming out".

Um yeah....

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As a new grad, I worked on a unit and was doing 6:30 AM rounds and pulled the covers down and a man's gangrenous member fell off in the covers. Talk about wondering why I became a nurse!!!!!!

What did you do with it?

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What did you do with it?

:rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl:

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