ER Pet Peeves

Specialties Emergency

Published

Omigod, i was just browsing through another forum that listed pet peeves. It was so good, but so big. I was trying to browse through for ER stuff. It's great!!! Let's start our own!!!

---TANGLED CORDS I start out every shift untangling monitor/BP/pulse ox/call light/pumps/IV tubings and assorted other things

---PATIENTS WHO ARRIVE BY AMBULANCE and immediately have to have a BM. What is it about EMS that scares the SH** out of them???? and then...

---I HAVEN'T EATEN ALL DAY. big surprise, neither have I. as a matter of fact, i probably havent' had a lunch break in 3 years of 12 hour shifts

---BEDSIDE COMMODES with various aging urine/BM's at the bedside.

---LUNCH (and dinner) TRAYS still in the rooms at 7pm

---GARBAGE all around the garbage can

---IV TRAYS not restocked. of course, nights does nothing but crochet. even tho statistics show the busiest time to be 8-12 am.

---GRANDMA'S AND GRANDPAS soaking wet. bet you it wasn't YOUR grandma

---VISITORS who come to the station to tell you what their family member needs (urinal, bedpan, water, attention). Please tell me, how did these people pee on their own at home????

----GREAT BIG DISPLAYS OF EMOTION about patients who are obviously in the ER from neglect..... prescriptions not filled, not bathed in weeks, clothes in tatters, dehydrated and starving. BUT NOW!!! my MOM IS SUFFERING, CAN'T YOU SEE THAT??????

----BABIES WITH HIGH FEVERS IN TRIAGE. doesn't anybody buy Tylenol any more????

I could go on and on (and I am, in my pea brain), but i want to hear from YOU GUYS TOO!!!!

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Okay, I'll give it a try.

-suction bottles that are full or that have been removed for emptying and not replaced

-the person who used the last (fill in the blank here) and did not bother to replace it

-activated charcoal -- in all honesty has anyone been able to get all of it out of the bottle?

-patients who tell you an entirely different story in triage than they tell the doc

-drug seekers who beg you to talk with the doctor after he/she has told the same patient no narcotics and discharged the patient

-patients who lie down on the waiting room floor (I'm talking attention seekers here, not the unconscious or barely conscious)

-blood where it doesn't belong (floor, bp cuff, wall, siderails)

-speaking of siderails, tape that has been stuck on the rail for days (weeks, months...)

I could go on and on, but here's my last one for now:

-Good Housekeeping magazine for telling ER patients to tell the triage nurse "no matter when your problem started, never say it was more than four hours ago; it will seem less pressing." (They do say to tell the physician exactly when the symptoms started.) November 2005, page 62.

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Specializes in Nephrology, Cardiology, ER, ICU.

Hey - our activated charcoal comes in tubes like toothpaste. Clip off the end and let the patient squirt it in their mouths too. tee hee hee

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1.patients that answer the question :Have you seen your doctor about your (fill in the blank) problem that you have had for 3 months, with the answer _ I don't have the money to go to my doctors office:confused: When did the ER become free? Same patient answers yes to the questions do your smoke, use drugs and alcohol?

2. patients that call an ambulance for a small complaint because "I can't afford a taxi".

3. Babies with a temp of 105 because " I wanted you to see he had a temperature, or I can't afford tylenol." Spoken around the bag of chips and coke they are eating in triage. Also pack of cigs in purse, pocket.

4. Staticus Dramaticus - Drama queen - budding thespian.

5. new nurses, or techs, or aids that take unconscious patients shoes off!

6. Female patient with "migraine" accompanied by husband or SO, or mother, sometimes all of the above.

7. fake seizures.

8. patients that bring the toliet paper "so you could see what it looks like."

9. any adult patient who is accompaied by their mother.

10. more than 10 drug allergies.

11.patient with a sick kid that has an apppintment with their pediatrician in 20 minutes, but couldn't wait that long to see their own doctor, so they came to the ER.

Just to name a few.

Things I appreciate: Good managers, great co-workers and doctors that listen. Happy ER nurses week to all.

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parents who dont have Tylenol at home!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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People who ask for an Rx for Tylenol, Motrin, etc for their children while they have on $125 shoes and a cell phone that rings constantly.

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1) patients who call up the ER to find out if we are busy before seeking their "urgent" medical care.

2) patients who are DNA in the ER then return shortly after by ambulance because they were waiting too long!

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Specializes in ER, ICU, L&D, OR.

People who always ask for school notes and work note excuses

dont people want to work anymore

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#2:

People who come in by EMS because of a fever or a hurting toe, leg, arm , or whatever with a parade of cars behind them. (And they all bring their supper)

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Specializes in Inpatient Acute Rehab.

The drug seekers and all their excuses!!!

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Women who come in with c/c breast soreness, period months late etc... don't know what's wrong....(with their multiple children at their side):....hmm...how 'bout...YOUR PREGNANT! :rolleyes:

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Specializes in Emergency, Trauma.

The endless phonecalls that come into the ER all day long, apparently we are the know everything guide. But they are good for humor for the sheer ignorance! Highlights from today?

"My husband was in the ER last night for dizziness and he's still dizzy"

Me: Did he receive any prescriptions?

"Yes, for M-E-C-L-I-Z-I-N-E"

Me: Did you fill the prescription?

"No, the nurse gave him a pill while we were there"

Me: Ten minutes explaining why it is that the one dose given in the ER isn't a cure.

A call from a pt stating she is 8 months pregnant and wants to know who her doctor will be when she delivers her baby next month. Um, you've gone through eight months of pregnancy with no prenatal care and now you want me to guess who will be on shift when baby decides to come? If you want to be picky, try selecting an OB/GYN in the early stages of pregnancy.

An adult calling asking for "Mary" a pt that the ambulance brought in "a couple of hours ago", who then decides to tell me I am a B**** with an attitude problem when I explain that without a last name there is no way of locating "Mary" as there are 70 patients in the ER and over 600 pts in the hospital.

A student calling for information on some disease "for a report that's due tomorrow." The internet is a wonderful thing, try it.

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