And we were having such a nice day, too...

Nurses General Nursing

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The curse has not set in, but it is upon us.

In the nursing office (which is really a suite of offices that are not all nurses, but we get to keep the cool name ;)), our director of marketing just walked in, and remarked, "Wow, it's been such a nice, quiet day."

Instantly, from our offices, three nurses and a social worker, all said as one, "WHY DID YOU SAY THAT?" (We couldn't have coordinated like that if we tried.)

We're doomed now and we've made it clear this is his fault. It was a pleasure knowing you all.

...that silliness out of the way, what are your favorite work superstitions, whether you believe or not?

Specializes in 15 years in ICU, 22 years in PACU.
WOW!! But that means March has....two???

Yep, just like January. The second full moon is called the "Blue Moon". So, if something only happens once in a Blue Moon, it will happen again in March. A year with two Blue Moons is very rare.

WOW! That means I'm going to make it through the self checkout without needing any customer assistance!

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From the OR world...don't finish your cases too quick or you WILL get someone else's work! If you go get one suture, just grab two. If you grab one you WILL drop or contaminate. All redheads wake up from anesthesia like wild animals. Actually that one may be scientifically backed, not sure...

As a redhead, I can tell you that this has been true for me! We also generally require high doses and are less likely to respond to caine anesthetics.

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Specializes in LTC.

When I did a nightshift private duty case my patient's mom would say "He had a great day! No coughing or suctioning today (he was a trach/vent patient). He should sleep all night for you!" And then he wouldn't sleep all night.

Mom was great though. I always looked forward to getting report from her, rather than his day shift nurse who was a crabby Russian lady in her 50's who always treated me like I was incompetent despite the fact that my patient's mom liked me and never had anything bad to say about me.

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Specializes in LTC, assisted living, med-surg, psych.

Management: From experience, I've learned that on the first really warm day of the year, the cases of "bottle flu" rise exponentially. It does the same thing on holidays and summer weekends.

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You are doomed. You are all doomed.

Using the "q" work is my favourite superstition.

My second is you never, never, never, EVER say the name of a frequent flier. Cause they will just fly right in within the next 24 hours

We used to fear the frequent flier name too. Every so often, someone would bring up someone's name and we'd all cringe until they said "it's ok to say their name, they died".

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Specializes in nurseline,med surg, PD.

If a patient says "I'm going to die" , they probably will.

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The "Q" word is as real as sundowners, and full moons.

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Bring two IV catheters to ensure a one-stick start. Bring only one and count on blowing that big juicy vein.

So freaking true!

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Specializes in Psych (25 years), Medical (15 years).

Had one patient in ER get on the gurney and say, "I'm going!" and he did. Massive MI.

If a patient says "I'm going to die" , they probably will.

Well, not always true in geriatric psych, middleagednurse. We haven't haven't lost one who said, "I'm going to die tonight!"

In fact, before I left on vacation, we had one patient constantly say, "I'm dead, aren't I?" A Tech replied to them, "Not if I''m talking to you you're not!" Reality orientation.

On the other hand, I've heard nurses compliment a patient on how well they looked and they ended up dying shortly thereafter.

The Swan Song Affect, I believe it's called.

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Specializes in NICU.

"This baby is fine....never has any bradys/desats".....just at that moment will have a massive one requiring stim/o2/PPV right in front of the doctor

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Yes the words quiet, dead or slow are definitely no-no words when remarking on the census in the hospital. As soon as someone remarks how we have empty beds on our unit you can bet the ED will soon be calling with 3 new admits...shortly after that we will get notice that we are on decompression status with the ED diverting EMS cases.

My favorite is when a patient complains about waiting hours for the doctor to come and you can bet as soon as the doc shows up the patient is always in the bathroom(and god forbid the doctor wait because who knows they could be having a marathon BM session) words I actually heard a resident say after he came down to do a pain consult.

This reminds me of how the house supervisor walks the floor and goes "y'all have some empty rooms. ICU is full, but y'all are sure slow up here. Must be nice." Then walks down to the ER and comes back "y'all will be having 5 admissions soon. K, see ya!" And wander away.

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Well, it looks like most of mine have been said already.

I hate the "Q" word (and all it's synonyms), I hate Full Moons (which I seem to be scheduled on them more often than not lately), I fear anytime after dinner if I have a lot of dementia patients (sundowners)....and the one that creeps me out the most-psychic patients, "I'm going to die today".....straight face. No fear from the patient. I know they're a full code and now am hoping that doc orders a DNR soon because I am about to see dead people!

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