Crazy Thing Pts Say or Do

Cattitude · Feb 11, 2007

we had a rather large, nutty woman on our post op floor for over a week driving us all crazy with her antics . she was very needy and moody and whiny. one night she just flipped out, would yell at all of us for no reason so we tried to keep out of her way as much as possible.

[color=#483d8b]so, the phone at the nurse's station rings. it's the hospital operator calling, telling us our pt. keeps trying to call 911 from her room! it goes to her (the operator) pt. telling her that the nurses are trying to kill her. operator asks us please to stop killing the pt's. we complied.

SitcomNurse, BSN, MSN, EdD, RN · Feb 11, 2007

A friend and I weere talking in a confused womans room, and she was saying how she really loved 'him' but he was always somewhere else in his head, and had a hard time committing. This lady, sweet and timid as she was...looked her straight in the eye, and told her. "Get a grip honey."

We have a male patient who is deaf in one ear. When he is lying on his right side, he is deaf in his left ear, and when lying on his left side, he is deaf in his right ear.

One of my patients, even after months and months, could not accept me as a nurse, no matter how much white I wore. He would always tell me...dont tell the nurses but..... and it was always sumthin the nurses needed to know..

ertravelrn · Feb 11, 2007

My nephew was involved in a car wreck, took a pretty good knock on the head. He also had a broken leg and arm, when he was finally allowed to get out of bed, he went to the bathroom, locked the door and wouldn't let anyone in. When the staff finally got the door unlocked, he was sitting there with his gown off and he had removed both his casts.

wooh, BSN, RN · Feb 11, 2007

LOL, his family had the history channel blocked since I guess that was what he was watching most of these episodes and I guess assumed the role of what was going on. I said oh great...now what channels are left for him to act out??? LOL!!!!!!!!!!

When still working nights with adults, we couldn't figure out why all the sudden we had a run of people "locked in the zoo" or complaining about puppies running in the hall or all these weird animal related things. Then we found out the tech was putting the televisions on Animal Planet to entertain the dementia folks.:roll

TrudyRN · Feb 11, 2007

Oh sure except they have no allergic symptoms whatsover! Nope, I get to know my pt's very well. They like the brands they know and love, Coumadin,Dilantin, etc. When insurance doesn't want to pay for it anymore, they start screeching about allergies :chuckle

First, the power of suggestion and the power of fear are often factors. I know this for a fact because I personally find that, when I am fearful, I get SOB. My chest tightens and a puff or 2 of albuterol fixes me.

Sometimes when people say they can't breathe, they might just need albuterol. So if someone tells you he is allergic, hey might be saying his chest is tight.

Maybe check this out with a lung assessment next time it happens. You might hear some wheezing. Even if you don't, the person might be feeling that it is hard to breath. Perhaps treating for hyperventilation might help. The old paper bag over the mouth and nose procedure for a couple of minutes often helps.

AuntieRN · Feb 11, 2007

pt rings the call light...can you please send in the pain person..i have some pain i would like to get rid of.

pt c/o h/a. has tylenol ordered. i take tylenol to her..."ohhh I can not take tylenol, it ruins my liver," "ok what do you take for h/a @ home?" "acetaminophen" I about died trying not to laugh..she was so serious too. (I know there are a lot of names for a lot of drugs and people usually know their drugs by one name...but..i figured this was one everyone knew)

RoxanRN · Feb 11, 2007

The old paper bag over the mouth and nose procedure for a couple of minutes often helps.

Because hyperventilation can be a symptom of something serious, this is NOT a recommended (nor care standard) treatment (this 'treatment' went out of vogue many, many years ago). As you suggested, an assessment is probably in order.

If/when you truely believe the hyperventilation does not have a medical origin (aka anxiety, stress, etc), the best treament I've found is to remove the patient from the situation (if at all possible) and get them to concentrate on you as you talk them down ('breathe in through your nose.....')

stillpressingon · Feb 11, 2007

arrgghh! i have pt's all the time that are "allergic" to generics and can only take name brand meds.:rotfl:

:roll had a pt one time who knew he could take meds q2h, say, tylenol, then motrin. well, he had the right idea, but didn't quite have all the info. his first dose was "motrin," then 2 hrs later he took "advil," and 2 hrs after that took "ibuprofen" !!!

lashes · Feb 11, 2007

Lil ol confused lady got upset at my staff and I cause we wouldn't let her get oob; she totally wigged and we had to restrain her x4. In a few minutes, she looked like she was straight out of the exorsist .. sat straight up flapping her tongue in the air and shaking her head from side to side and speaking in broken english and armanian ( spoke perfect english at start of shift and avss, blood sugar normal etc ) and proceeded to call me the blonde witch who was the leader of all the trolls in the dungeon. Was rather scary at the time...

Cattitude · Feb 11, 2007

first, the power of suggestion and the power of fear are often factors. i know this for a fact because i personally find that, when i am fearful, i get sob. my chest tightens and a puff or 2 of albuterol fixes me.
sometimes when people say they can't breathe, they might just need albuterol. so if someone tells you he is allergic, hey might be saying his chest is tight.
maybe check this out with a lung assessment next time it happens. you might hear some wheezing. even if you don't, the person might be feeling that it is hard to breath. perhaps treating for hyperventilation might help. the old paper bag over the mouth and nose procedure for a couple of minutes often helps.

ok these are the 2 examples i'm talking about in reference to my pt's "allergies" to generics.

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[color=#483d8b]1) pt. states phenytoin "messed his leg up" and only wants dilantin from now on which doesn't "mess his leg up. when questioned further he says that 3 weeks after taking phenytoin, his bad leg felt stiff. hellooooo! it's your bad leg and yes, in cold weather it does feel stiff at times. he would not at all believe that this was not related to the generic med.

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[color=#483d8b]2) pt. states that approx. 10-14 days after taking warfarin, she had some nausea. rn explained that nausea is not an allergy but could either be a s/e or a sx of something else. pt. insisted it was due to generic and insisted on coumadin. :confused:

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Ann RN · Feb 11, 2007

Female patient that owned a restaurant at the Jersey shore thought we were trying to kill her with the hospital food. While I was standing at the nurses station an object comes flying out of her room and hits me on the head. She threw a baked potato at me! Pretty good hit, too.

Female patient (Mary) with femoral arterial sheath/TPA infusion. Trying to climb OOB. I re-oriented her and asked her if she realized what could happen if she tried that again. With a totally straight face she said "Yes - bye-bye Mary"!

My husband had major abd. surgery, on morphine PCA. His hospital bathroom had one of the older bedpan cleaners that you could pull away from the toilet (almost like a hose). He thought it was the shower and proceeded to fully douse himself!

mir4777 · Feb 25, 2007

I had a pt come in to the ER the other day c/o back pain. She couldn't fill her pain medication for another 2 weeks. She informed me that she was allergic to shots. I didn't laugh, I asked what kinds of shots she was allergic to. "Something in all the shots gives me a rash. That's why Dr. B gives me pills." Loved that one.