Curious about that presence!

[Roller]

I've worked as an Technician in a Level 2 Trauma Center for 12 years. I've earned and work as an RN in that very same Department for four. I know how strange this is going to sound so if some you laugh or tease I won't be offended. As like anything else in life or hospitals, everything has it's start and end. For years after each case that went "south", if I prepared for that person for viewing or pick-up I would say a small prayer for myself as much as for that person just to calm either the "willies" and out of respect because I believe no one dies alone in a hospital. Maybe it's just sleep deprivation, but sometimes I'll "feel" something or my attention will shift to an area that I know is empty or glance over a shoulder. Weird huh? Anyhow, I came across this book and it's talks about angels that inhabit this world and was wondering if someone here has had a similar experience or would like to bring a thought to this.

[Whispera, MSN, RN]

Back when I was a nursing student, some of the nurses said they've felt a spirit whoosh upward at the time of death of a patient. Maybe it stays around awhile. I don't think you're nuts. You're just sensitive!

[Flare, ASN, BSN]

I find that happening to me often. My attention will constantly be drawn to an otherwise empty spot outside my office or I will walk into some rooms and feel a strange energy.

[OrthoFNP]

I totally believe in spirits! Have you ever watched Lisa Williams on Lifetime? WOW! I also grew up in a house I still to this day believe to be haunted. So, no I DO NOT think you are silly or crazy...I mean if you are that means I am too.

[Sean 91]

when a call button goes off in a room where someone has died recently and there is no one in the room.

grew up in a house built in 1738 in which we all experienced (a few times together) men's booted steps--even with the sound of creaking boards--going from an upstairs bathroom about 20 ft to a small bedroom, day or night. once my brother rushed up one stairway with a fireplace poker, i up the other staircase with a golf iron, but there was no one there. the footsteps would stop inside the bedroom entrance--always one way direction. however, the footsteps weren't heard once my mother started locking the bedroom door, as she didn't particularly like to hear them while home alone during the day. perhaps just a matter of heating-cooling wood and the general path of walking over 200 years. and like experiences in many old new england homes.

however, an alternative view may be suggested with regard to hallucinations caused by fatigue experienced by the overworked floor nurse, esp w/ nightshift there have been studies linking fatigue (esp on nightshift) with peripheral hallucinations, and this should be considered. no doubt everyone on nightshift (and perhaps those doing several dayshifts in a row) have had such experiences from time to time.

see:

when shift workers reach this trough they tend to have the following 3 behaviours: ...

2. "peripheral hallucinations" - the shift worker experiences seeing things out of the corner of their eye's that are not really there.(click here for an interesting night shift story

http://members.tripod.com/~shiftworker/crhythm.html

many shift workers also suffer from peripheral hallucinations where the mind detects movement out of the corner of the eye that isn't there.

http://www.standsix.com/content/s6/custompages/shiftlag.htm

hallucinations listed as a result of driver fatigue.

http://www.docep.wa.gov.au/worksafe/pdf/bulletins/driver_fatigue.pdf

in the middle of a night shift (especially on the first and second day of the work ..... extreme reactions include hallucinations and paranoid psychosis...

hfcc.dot.gov/ofm/docs/fmr07-03.doc

in aviation,

extreme fatigue can actually lead to hallucinations and problems thinking...

www.azguard.gov/azaasf1/quizstar/stress%20and%20fatigue%20in%20aviation.ppt

sleep disorder include hallucinations, temporary paralysis on waking, and cataplexy ( loss of .... normal night sleep with performance after a normal night shift. ...

www.erso.eu/knowledge/fixed/55_fatique/fatigue.pdf