Funniest real orders you have seen in a chart?

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To start things off, the best and funniest order I have seen on a chart, was in the discharge instructions for a trauma patient. It read simply

Darwin Consult

and was signed by the resident. Well the attending did laugh, but it was not the highpoint of that residents day.

so do you have more?

Specializes in ortho/neuro/general surgery.
I work in OB and recently we had a PT that was beeding internally the OB doc refused to come see her when her BP hit 80/30 and was tachy at 180 he told the charge nurse to call the ER doc and have him see her but he also refused and said he only sees PT's after admission if they are coding and to call the internist on call, the internist refused to come and only ordered a hand full of labs, the charge nurse then called the OB back with an update and the OB insisted the ER doc come see the PT, The charge nurse told the OB that he only comes for Code Blues and so he gave a telephone order to call a code. Ever feel like your swimming up stream?

That's where 'rapid response' is good to have

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Just last week I had a patient come to prescreen for surgery who had bil disarticulated lower extremeties...and orders for SCDs! When the surgeon showed up he was asked, are you sure you want SCDs for this patient. It took a moment to register but after a pause he replied, 'ummmm no' with a grin :)

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Specializes in Case Managemnt, Utilization Review.

Not an order but very funny

My 7 year old son was admitted to the hospital for cervical adenitis.(cervical spine, inflamation of the adenoids) , The Registrar promptly took him to the OB/GYN floor, where he was subjected to screaming, laboring women, he began t cry for 20 minutes until she found out that all 7 year olds go to the peds floor.

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Specializes in NICU, Infection Control.
Not an order but very funny

My 7 year old son was admitted to the hospital for cervical adenitis.(cervical spine, inflamation of the adenoids) , The Registrar promptly took him to the OB/GYN floor, where he was subjected to screaming, laboring women, he began t cry for 20 minutes until she found out that all 7 year olds go to the peds floor.

WHAT was she thinking???

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WHAT was she thinking???

Clearly, she was NOT thinking at all!! LOL DUH! Sometimes people make ya wonder, don't they?!?

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Specializes in PICU now, Peds and med-surg in the past.
To start things off, the best and funniest order I have seen on a chart, was in the discharge instructions for a trauma patient. It read simply

Darwin Consult

and was signed by the resident. Well the attending did laugh, but it was not the highpoint of that residents day.

so do you have more?

We had a patient, a very fussy lady to put it mildly who always wanted SOMETHING, and usually something very trivial. She put on such a production one night because she was given yogurt on her supper tray. Complained to her doctor about it and everything. I get the chart after the doctor was done and he had written, "Pt must be given one container of chocolate pudding STAT and PRN". And she was on that bell in minutes for her STAT pudding!

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From a physician notorious for ordering things that a quite obvious and part of routine nursing care like "vitals per floor routine", "call if prn meds not effective".

But my favorite: on a pretty routine average 70-something new onset seizures, but still very alert and oriented, walkie-talkie. . .

"Hold phenobarbital for RR less than or equal 8"

Hummm. . . I might do more than just hold the phenobarb for RR

On the "obvious orders" note...

We had a patient admitted after the hospitalist had already left for the day, so the outpatint doc wrote the admit orders, including:

"Blood cultures x 2 - draw before starting abx." (Thanks for clarifying that, I was planning to give the levaquin first.:rolleyes:)

"Call for temp >100."

First thing the attending did when arriving in the morning was write an order to "Change call parameters to routine standards." Guess he didn't appreciate a 3 am call for a temp of 100.2.:rolleyes:

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Specializes in Orhto, med/surg.

"Feed and ambulate patient". This was for a completely comatose patient.

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Specializes in LTC, AC, ER, Outpatient, Urgent Care.

I've been laughing for about an hour now, and skipped to the end to post mine, so forgive me if someone's already posted something similar.

An RN friend of mine called me one day and asked me "how would you describe drainage containing pus"?

I thought it was an odd question - until I thought about it.... someone on her floor had written something to the effect of:

"Patient has pu%%y drainage coming from the wound site"

That was about ten years ago... it still makes me giggle.

:smilecoffeecup:

Sara

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Specializes in critical care, med/surg.

Just last week, doc wrote "1200 cal ADA diet, NO McDonalds"

Same doc, "DC to funeral home"

Different doc, "Please get xray report to chart, it was done 2 days ago and there is still no report"

This was after he went down to radiology to look at it!

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Specializes in PICU, surgical post-op.

"Please rotate BID."

Okay ... and what, exactly, was it you wanted us to rotate? The bed? The child? Maybe that fresh G-tube?

Next time, be a little more specific. Thanks. =)

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Here's an order I loved- - - "cookies prn". The accompaning progress note explained - - - "Blood sugar runs a little high. Family bring in cookies, and at 96, who cares"

Oh my god, this is the best one. So funny!

Some doozies I have seen at my job....

"Hang unit of blood over 24 hours"

"IV Tylenol PRN"

"Please allow for sponge bath daily"

d/c instructions "Please refrain from cocaine use"

and "Turn pt TID" This was on a pt who was essentially unable to move themselves. The nurse explained to the Dr that we actually turned the pt q2hours to prevent skin breakdown.

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