Is your workplace haunted?

Nurses General Nursing

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tokmom, BSN, RN

4,568 Posts

Specializes in Certified Med/Surg tele, and other stuff.
Although I can see how this would be fun to talk about in the spirit of Halloween, I do find this subject to be one that frustrates me to hear about. Although we are all entitled to our religious and afterlife beliefs, I find the beliefs in these stories or occurrences by a hospital professional to be assumptive and honestly quite silly.

More than anything, I would worry about quality of client care in a situation such as the one a previous commenter described in which seemingly stable clients would suddenly die. If any hospital professional actually believed such a thing was caused by a "ghost" or what have you, that may very well prevent them from discovering a real, science-based explanation for such a thing happening. It would likely even prevent them from looking in-depth into possibilities or encouraging others to do so. Worst of all, nothing could be corrected or modified to prevent future recurrences. That is negligence, pure and simple.

It is my opinion that no religious/afterlife beliefs have a place in the workplace for several reasons, client safety and quality improvement issues being most important. Here's another seemingly small example of one's belief in such things impacting care: Nurse A hears from Nurse B that room #13 is haunted, and she is caring for a client in there today. Even though Nurse A isn't sure she believes in ghosts or things like that, the story that Nurse B had told her floats around in the back of her mind all day.

Subconsciously, this bias results in Nurse A avoiding room #13 more often than she should. The patient might be a very weak, elderly man who is receiving a new antibiotic, but instead of coming in to assess his IV line in a timely manner and to assess the patient's overall status, the nurse decides she'll just go check another patient down the hall first because she is the only one in that specific hallway and she feels a bit creeped out.

Think of everything that could happen to said patient as a result of simple avoidances like that. Think of how it might influence the client's perception of the nurse and vice versa. Think of what happens if Nurse A tells Nurse C about what Nurse B says, and imagine if the lack of care continues. Case in short: everything has an explanation and coincidences happen. A professional nurse should recognize her biases (ie religious/afterlife) beliefs and not let them interfere with her provision of quality of care and clients' continuity of care.

Honey, we are NURSES. Nothing scares us.

Esme12, ASN, BSN, RN

1 Article; 20,908 Posts

Specializes in Critical Care, ED, Cath lab, CTPAC,Trauma.

Many years ago when I was a young new nurse.....our ICU would be visited by "The man in the long black robe" he would actually be scene by other patients. Other patients would make comments about the pateint in that room must be very sick....when we asked the pateints would say that the man....must be a priest....in the long black robe has been standing nthere all day. We would actualy ask the patients what room they were standing by......for sure and a new penny....that person (already critical) would be the next to pass.

We were told by the nuns it was an old preist that lived at the hospital for years......coming to guide their souls.

According to the new nurses that work there he still guides the souls on their journey.

Happy Halloween!

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tokmom, BSN, RN

4,568 Posts

Specializes in Certified Med/Surg tele, and other stuff.

In my previous hospital, night staff would get pt's calling them into one certain room, stating they had either seen a brief white light or doves.

My hospital that I work in now is only 2 yrs old. However, our assistant manager passed away months after we opened. It was unexpected and very tragic. None of us were ever 'spooked' to go in her office in the beginning. We were saddened because her office had personal items in it and seeing them was difficult. A half empy water bottle, pictures of her kids, etc..

Fast forward to a couple of months later. One CNA heard file cabinet drawers slamming. She thought the manager was in the office, however the door was locked and nobody was in there. The manager was actually sitting in his office.

My experience was sitting in the office doing audit paperwork. (I never had any problems going in the office even after hearing about the file cabinet story.) Suddenly I felt a very light, ice cold breeze. I turned around expecting to see the door open, but it was closed. The room has no vent and no window. Where did that ice cold air come from? Other staff would occasionally hear the file cabinets being slammed and others would feel the cold air.

The current assistant manager started out laughing about our 'ghost' until his paperwork would be moved and he would find something buried under a pile that made no sense. Papers crisscrossed the way our prevoius manager would do it, etc..

misty_dawn

69 Posts

We were just talking about this today. I work in an old elementary school and our security system guy was there fixing one of our cameras. He told us that last week one of our new high schools burgular alarm went off at 2 and 3am on a Saturday. He and the police showed up with the dogs, but the buildings were clear. On that Monday he viewed the security tapes from the hallways where the alarms went off. The one that went off at 2am was in a hallway. He said that there was a classroom door open and the light was on. Suddenly the light went off and the door closed. Then the alarm went off. The second alarm at 3am was in the kitchen. He viewed that tape and at the same time as the alarm there appeared to be an orb or grey mist floating by the camera...creepy.

Some of our older teachers and custodians say that things happen at our school in the evenings when the children are gone but they cannot explain what or why. I often wonder sometimes.

tokmom, BSN, RN

4,568 Posts

Specializes in Certified Med/Surg tele, and other stuff.

These are fun to read!

MotherRN

192 Posts

It's dark outside now, and the teens are heading off to an early Halloween party, so I'll be all alone. I think I'll go find something scary to watch on the tube :)

Leonardo Del Toro, RN

1 Article; 730 Posts

Specializes in "Wound care - geriatric care.

In this ER I know there was dying patient begin to exudation of ectoplasm from his nose. The staff quickly aspirated the spirit with a suction tube and the white and green substance made its way into the machine and then into the wires and into the wall. Since then it lives in the wall and any attempts to remove the creature have fail. They say that when it's mad it exude strange odors to anger and punish the staff. When happy it gives fragrant smells. They all learned to live with the spirit.

One night, in a LTC facility, the morgue doorbell kept ringing, on and off for about 3 hours. It was very annoying at first, then got freaky. As we were making rounds at 3 am, one of the patients, who was not sick, was found dead. He was kneeling on the floor at the head of his bed with his rosary beads in hand. It was very, very creepy ( I am getting goose bumps writing this), and once we found him dead, the ringing stopped within a half hour. What makes it more creepy, while not bed bound, this man could not get up without 2 assist, never mind out of bed, move to the head of his bed, and kneel.

Specializes in Psych, Hospice, Surgical unit, L&D/Postpartum.

Artsmom, I am creeped out by that... I can picture it. I would be so scared finding that patient like that...

Artsmom, I am creeped out by that... I can picture it. I would be so scared finding that patient like that...
I was scared, it was so creepy! I never believed in ghosts before coming a nurse, in LTC, on the night shift. There are some creepy on goings!

wooh, BSN, RN

1 Article; 4,383 Posts

Subconsciously, this bias results in Nurse A avoiding room #13 more often than she should. The patient might be a very weak, elderly man who is receiving a new antibiotic, but instead of coming in to assess his IV line in a timely manner and to assess the patient's overall status, the nurse decides she'll just go check another patient down the hall first because she is the only one in that specific hallway and she feels a bit creeped out.

I think it could be a valid concern, if people actually did get creeped out by the ghost stories, but everyone I've ever known thought they were fun. After all, the ghosts are usually friendly. :)

I think it's more likely people avoid certain rooms to avoid having to put on and take off isolation gear.

To me,the stories are like going to New Orleans or Savannah and taking one of the ghost tours or getting a room at a haunted hotel. Fun!

Elladora

364 Posts

Supposedly, but I've never seen any evidence.

And for any resident ghosts at my facility, this is NOT an invitation to suddenly show yourself. I'm quite happy being kept in the paranormal dark.

As far as Room 13 superstitions, the first psych facility I worked at had no Room 13 because so many clients would freak out if they were assigned to that room. My current facility, room 13 (113, 213, etc) on each floor is a storage closet.

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