Crazy Thing Pts Say or Do

Nurses General Nursing

Published

I thought it would be fun to share those crazy things pt say/do that just make you roll your eyes and say "HUH?"

Here's mine.

We have a patient who is allergic to the "round" tylenol, but can take the "oval" tylenol! Um- hate to tell you lady, but tylenol is tylenol!

Specializes in Nursing Ed, Ob/GYN, AD, LTC, Rehab.

I have a great story! I worked in LTC in a locked down alzheimers ward. We had this family that would come in to visit their mother, very "holy then thou" type of personalitly always critizing and complaining ect, how wonderful their kids are, winning noble peace prizes uhhh not to mention their mother was a hand full and shouldnt have been living there...anyhow this family is visiting their mother (daughter and son) and the son is well lets say very very very large and not to nice looking, im walking down the hall with my fav resident very quiet and sweet but was very HOH, we walk by this son and the resident yells very loudly "thats the largest women I have ever seen!!" I cant help but laugh so hard, when i finally come to i point out to her that it was a man!!! best feeling ever!

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Specializes in LTC, home health, critical care, pulmonary nursing.

I just aspirated a cookie laughing at this thread! Every time I tell "Tales From the Unit" to people who are not nurses, they are either very confused or horrified that I think it's funny.

I had a resident who was very combative during care, but I usually cared for her alone rather than getting help, because more people agitated her more, and never really helped anyway. She was being particularly good while I was changing her one day, and as I was putting one of her shoes back on, she picked up the other one and whacked me upside the head with it. HARD. I had tread marks on my cheek for half an hour.

This same resident was a holy terror in the shower. The RN on my unit had helped me shower her one day, and when I turned the shower off, she hightailed it out of the room butt naked and wet. We managed to get her somewhat dry and her dress over her head, but the shoes weren't happening. We wound up with the RN sitting in a chair with the resident on her lap while I put the shoes on. The hair didn't get combed for a long time.

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My brother tells of a bed bound old man yelling for help one night not long after checking him on the night round. When they came into the room there is a dementia old lady standing butt naked next to his bed asking "won't someone give me a baby?" Laughed for quite a while after that one. :lol2:

Going to roll a lady with a hip replacement one day she wouldn't let us place the abduction pillow in place. when asked why she said 'My mother always taught me to keep my legs together.'

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Specializes in ER, ICU,L&D, IV team, M/S, HS, IMCU, SNF.

After years of working in the ER I think this is the best I have ever heard. After giving pt IV anti-emetics and or pain medication, the pt would call me to the room requesting more medication because "I threw up the other medicine. " Took a while to convince the pt that the medication that was injected IV did in no way end up in their stomach. It happened with more than one pt in more than one hospital.:uhoh3:

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Specializes in ED, Hospice, ICU, Trach and vent.

Working with alzheimers pts you hear all kinds of crazy things, but the best I think I have ever heard was from a proper little lady who came to me one time and whspered, "See that woman there?" I looked up to see aother pt. walking down the hallway and said yes. The lady whispered again and said, "she's a prostitute." When I ask why she said that she promptly said "see that sign, it says she charges $200. The "sign" she was refering to was the hall markr for the 200 hall.:roll I couldn;t help but laugh.

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Had a little old lady who came in on a regular basis for transfusion due to chronic anemia. The reason for her chronic anemia is that waaaay back in the '50's, she was told she had an ulcer and to go on a diet of whole milk. Problem is, that doc never told her to stop.

So that is what she did. For all those years. Nothing but milk. Ever. And to top it off, she took all her meds rectally. ALL of them, whether they were in rectal/suppository form or not.

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After years of working in the ER I think this is the best I have ever heard. After giving pt IV anti-emetics and or pain medication, the pt would call me to the room requesting more medication because "I threw up the other medicine. " Took a while to convince the pt that the medication that was injected IV did in no way end up in their stomach. It happened with more than one pt in more than one hospital.:uhoh3:
Reminds me of recently when I argued for over a half-hour with a patient who insisted that his foley wasn't draining properly (it was, btw) because he'd thrown up. He was convinced the urine had backed up and caused him to spew. He kept insisting I call the doc at 3 am to tell him this; I was so frustrated... drawing diagrams on the board, waving my hands in the air. I finally just said 'I PROMISE YOU! YOU ARE NOT THROWING UP URINE!'

He never did believe me... but my co-workers got a kick out of the exchange.

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