Anyone that's been in emergency medicine for any length of time knows that sometimes $#!T really does happen...
Not that I'm here to whine or vent. Stepping back from it all and observing, it just seems to be all crazy and there is no good explanation for any of it. I'm calling it strange phenomena...
There are so many times weird things happen and it's different things that are going wrong.
I'm not talking about the holiday's where families finally go to see gramma that 1 time each year. They get all concerned that she seems a bit "different" from last years visit so something HAS to be wrong, right? Then sends her to the ER and you get 8-10 nursing home patients at once.
No, I'm talking about times like today where it seems like everyone on coumadin is falling down. I call it "gravity-bursts". Gravity has been more active today reaching up and grabbing people on coumadin and slamming them to the ground. I have had 4 patients that have fallen down, they're on coumadin and all have cranial bleeds. Amazing. I can go a month or two with no hemorragic strokes and today... .
Anyone else care to share similar clusters of problems or strange phenomena?
We had a "river runs thru it" GI bleed period...I kid you not, we had 5 GI bleeds admitted in a single shift, and they were rough -- hgb in 3's, 4's....not from the same place, some from home, others from SNF and assisted living. It's not fun when you get a call from the blood bank telling you they only have 1 more unit they can give your person with a hgb of 4......
Specializes in Psychiatry, corrections, long-term care..
No, I'm talking about times like today where it seems like everyone on coumadin is falling down. I call it "gravity-bursts". Gravity has been more active today reaching up and grabbing people on coumadin and slamming them to the ground. I have had 4 patients that have fallen down, they're on coumadin and all have cranial bleeds. Amazing. I can go a month or two with no hemorragic strokes and today... .
Specializes in CCU, SICU, CVSICU, Precepting & Teaching.
it's whacky families here. nephew wants his 102 year old auntie to have a cabg even though she doesn't want it. he says she senile, he has poa and he wants it done. meanwhile there's the family that dropped granny off to see grandpa . . . sometime last week. i think she's been living in the building. the oncology nurses swear there's some old lady who has been sleeping in their waiting room and showering in their family room and they don't know who she is. at least she's (relatively) with it.
and there's the family who snuck in the pet boa constrictor to see dad . . . . did i mention he hasn't eaten for awhile? the boa, not dad. i was unaware of how small a boa constrictor could make itself, or how large it could seem when you see it lying on a hospital bed with your patient.
and that's just one weekend. last weekend, the families were relatively normal.
No kidney transplants (rejection/infection)for weeks then we get 4 in one week.
We get things in groups too. I have always noticed this and try to anticipate the "theme of the week".
I have had many times taken care of pt's who were whiny, needed frequent pain meds, can't sleep etc.
Same pt's next night sleep like babies. I can sometimes tell when it is going to happen cause I am cranky myself and many nurses come in cranky at the same time. The other morning the day shift nurses came in and all complained of being tired and they had a look of doom on their faces (not usual for most of them). I even mentioned it to them since it was so obvious. Their day was horrible.
Right now I feel good and giggly. Hope this is a precursor for tonight. Fingers crossed.
All my patients slept like babies. 3 of them were already asleep when doing rounds at 8pm. Only one had mild issues but it was a good thing. I did not want to be too bored.
I usually get a group of patients who will suddenly have sky high blood pressures and fevers.
Then I always have a few patients that will be fine all day and then spike temps around 7pm. They get Tylenol, the fever goes away only to come back the next day at 7pm. Although I may be slow and missing something with what is actually going on.
This is the very description of viral illness. Temps go up as cortisol levels drop in the evening.
My last shift was Monday night and my patients were all out of the blue types and colorful personalities. A headache but wait! It's from an aneurysm! A hypertensive crisis and then... Sudden onset of stroke! Etc. Was a weird one!
The night I sent out four head-bleeds in under five hours. Or the night when every single one of my patients was an active GI bleed - all with hemoglobins under 7! I think I single handedly depleted the blood bank that night!
I think one of my most memorable nights was when I was paired up with another nurse - she kept getting all the head bleeds and I kept getting all the MIs! It was just bizarre!
Yep, I agree. Stuff does seem to come in clusters.
Either that or I just have a black cloud over me head...
I believe in the full moon theory because we always seem to get pts that are just a little crazier on those nights and half way through all of us will look at each other and say "is it just me, or are all the patients crazy today?"
Specializes in Emergency Room, Cardiology, Medicine.
Somethings just have to go unexplained... we went three months without one motorcycle accident off I-95 and then separate incidents three show up in one shift.
For the full moon theory, I had a well-seasoned ER doc explain it to me in such a matter-of-fact way. Full moon changes the ocean tides, why wouldn't it change our body if so much of it is composed of water? I can't argue that...
nerdtonurse?, BSN, RN
1 Article; 2,043 Posts
We had a "river runs thru it" GI bleed period...I kid you not, we had 5 GI bleeds admitted in a single shift, and they were rough -- hgb in 3's, 4's....not from the same place, some from home, others from SNF and assisted living. It's not fun when you get a call from the blood bank telling you they only have 1 more unit they can give your person with a hgb of 4......