Embarrassing Stories

[HairyMurse]

Hi everyone, before I start, I should introduce myself. I am currently a Phlebotomist, working my way through nursing school.

I see and hear many interesting things on a daily basis, and I got to thinking about all of my embarrassing encounters. Keep in mind, at my hospital, we have access to patient charts, but are encouraged not to look at them because they are frequently audited. Most of these scenarios could have been prevented if I had some basic patient background knowledge. Here are a few of them....

1. I walked into a patients room and noticed that they had a limb alert on their right arm. So naturally, I asked them to present their left arm. To my surprise, their left arm was amputated and I spent the next 10 minutes apologizing.

2. I was trying to get a patient to state their name and birth date. The patient was looking at me and smiling, but no response. SO, I asked again and then two more times.. Eventually, the nurse --who was standing behind me (after she finished laughing)--informed me that the patient was def.

3. I was standing in the elevator with a pregnant patient (who was in a wheel chair), and she asked me to push the button for the OB floor. Trying to make conversation, I asked her how far along she was in her pregnancy. I got a very dirty look from her because guess what? She was not a patient. She was visiting a friend in OB...

What are some of your funny/ embarrassing stories?

[Rose_Queen, BSN, MSN, RN]

Welcome to AN! Here's a thread on this topic to start browsing.

[OscarTheOwl]

I made the same mistake except it was a coworker. She had the same name as another coworker and I had seen fliers for the baby shower. I was new to the unit and asked the question you should never ask...when she was due. Turns out it was not the same lady, whom I thought had a unique enough name to be the only one on my unit.

The most appropriate time to ask a woman when she is pregnant is Never. It is never appropriate to ask or assume, not even if it appears blatently obvious.

Just Do Not

[Farawyn]

I made the same mistake except it was a coworker. She had the same name as another coworker and I had seen fliers for the baby shower. I was new to the unit and asked the question you should never ask...when she was due. Turns out it was not the same lady, whom I thought had a unique enough name to be the only one on my unit.

The most appropriate time to ask a woman when she is pregnant is Never. It is never appropriate to ask or assume, not even if it appears blatently obvious.

Just Do Not

My rule of thumb is do not ask unless the head is crowning.

[HairyMurse]

I made the same mistake except it was a coworker. She had the same name as another coworker and I had seen fliers for the baby shower. I was new to the unit and asked the question you should never ask...when she was due. Turns out it was not the same lady, whom I thought had a unique enough name to be the only one on my unit.

The most appropriate time to ask a woman when she is pregnant is Never. It is never appropriate to ask or assume, not even if it appears blatently obvious.

Just Do Not

Oh trust me, I have learned my lesson!

[Penelope_Pitstop, BSN, RN]

My rule of thumb is do not ask unless the head is crowning.

As our fellow man Dave Barry once said...

[h=1]You should never say anything to a woman that even remotely suggests you think she's pregnant unless you can see an actual baby emerging from her at that moment.”[/h]

[Farawyn]

As our fellow man Dave Barry once said...

[h=1]You should never say anything to a woman that even remotely suggests you think she's pregnant unless you can see an actual baby emerging from her at that moment.”[/h]

That's our guy!

[Davey Do]

In the late I was 80's working inpatient chemical dependency treatment. The director, who was about the same age as me, named Russ, had a sister who was a Patient on the medical unit and was not expected to live. I stopped by to give empathy and support to Russ' family one evening as I got off of work. They were all gathered in the waiting room, sitting in a large half circle.

I started with Russ, who sat at the beginning of the half circle and worked my way around the room, meeting and chatting with each family member. The last family member was an elderly man who sat next to another sister of Russ. I said to the man, "Now you don't have to tell me who you are! You're Russ' father!" and immediately launched into a recollection of stories that Russ had told me about his father. During a pause in my humorous monolog, Russ said, "Dave. That's not my dad. He's my sister's boyfriend." I felt my face go red with embarrassment and all eyes on me as I immediately launched into another story which had the entire assembled group laughing.

As I left Russ' family, I felt good, that in this emotionally trying time, I could do something to ease their tensions, if only for a moment.

This story has a happy ending, in that Russ' sister made a miraculous recovery!

But to this day, I cannot recall the story I told after my embarrassment that got Russ' family laughing!

[Davey Do]

You should never say anything to a woman that even remotely suggests you think she's pregnant unless you can see an actual baby emerging from her at that moment.”

Check!

[xoemmylouox, ASN, RN]

Check!

LOL!! That indeed would be the appropriate time to ask.

[MikeyT-c-IV]

Several years ago I was working post-op in an ambulatory care unit. I was caring for this patient, who of course, had been NPO prior to surgery. Well her spouse thought it was a good idea to bring in a fully loaded burrito for her to eat right after surgery. I didn't think that was a very good idea at the time. Well, I D/C'd the patient and went back to clean her room, etc. And I found that burrito sitting on the floor in the paper bag. I waited about 30 minutes and decided that since I hadn't had the time to take a lunch break, why not? I was half-way done devouring that burrito when in walks the owner of said burrito. OOPS. Embarrassing.

[TracieAnn]

I love Dave Barry. A wise man, indeed.