Exhaustion bloopers

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So I finished night shift on Monday morning. Strangest night ever............had to give a delierous man a bucket of water to clean his windows! (window cleaner by trade) once he cleaned it he settled. And 2 patients decided at 4 AM that they wanted to self discharge. Admitted a 200kg (440 lbs) man on spinal precautions and waiting on a hemi arthroplasty (called him as ASA 4 correctly).

Went home having not eaten and craving eggs from my local cafe. Went there, people on either side of me complaining about nurses - me in scrubs with my hospital fleece on. Both tables noticed about the same time that I was a nurse and went silent............... I don't care I have my eggs! And the hospital that they were talking about is a hellhole.

went to bed got 3 hours sleep thanks to the neighbors new yappy little dog that is so stressed at being home alone.

Went back for an arvo shift today. eyeballs hanging out of my head with exhaustion. Had to ring the surgical registrar about a crazy patient that needed to be discharged and he refused to go without speaking to the surgeons - who had spoken to him an hour earlier. Rang him up spoke to him, he said he would be up. for some reason finished the conversation with the words, "OK, great, see you soon, LOVE YOU". WHAT??????????? In front of my NUM, 4 security guards and 2 consumer liaison officers, one who was dealing with the aforementioned pt and various staff members

I do love my registrars but not that I tell them that! he arrived to the ward and came up to me and said "K+MgSO4, I like you too, but I am happily married! please don't make me uncomfortable" Then he burst out laughing!

I then got a call from the bed manager stating what I thought that I would never hear "we can move you medical boarders off your ward to their home wards." confirmed that I did hear that. Yes. I then called 3 different wards and handed over the wrong pt to each of them until they all corrected me. I then sent 2 of them to the wrong wards again!

I then got an admission from ED. Pulled up the ED enotes, and read the statement "bathtub vs big toe". At this point I thought that I had lost the plot! But no, true. But try explaining that to the nurse that you just sent on 2 wild goose chases with patients. My poor nurse, he was my grad a few years back and thinks I am a bit nutty anyway! He took me into the tea room sat me on the couch and said "there, there you are sleep deprived. Have a little break and a nap."

sleep deprivation is BAD!

I use soft foam earplugs-- you squeeze them down to toothpick thickness, insert them in the ear canal, and they expand to fit perfectly with no pressure points. I can't even feel them in place, but I can hear a loud noise prn, like my alarm going off. Great for noisy air conditioners or street noise when I'm traveling for business.

Gee, I loved these stories. Remembering some of the off-the-wall things that came our of my mouth when I was sleep deprived.. Every time I would just cringe as soon as i heard myself, but hey. Everyone gets to be silly sometimes, Nu?

Specializes in ccu, med surg, ltc, home health.

I use a fan but you can get apps on your smart phone that puts out some white noise. you can hook it up to your charger or to speakers that charge the phone while it plays.

Specializes in Medical-Surgical, Supervisory, HEDIS, IT.

This post made my night. I am in nursing school right now and reading a lot of these posts just make me smile :)

Specializes in Med/Surg, Rehab, OR.

Hilarious! I needed that laugh! Thanks for sharing! :roflmao:

Lol!

I witnessed a nurse almost say the exact same thing to doc.

She just caught herself and was still mortified because you still knew what she was going to say.

Recently, I told a pt, "Hi! I'm Hygiene and I'm your wife today!"

I felt so stupid as I corrected myself and then had to muster the nerve to dare question his mental orientation.

Specializes in Clinical Research, Outpt Women's Health.
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