Most shocking experience on clinical -while in nursing school...:can any one relate?

[kendel]

Hi Nurses

I will never ever forget an experience i had while in nursing school clinicals.

I was assigned to bed A and when I got there to do my assessment I was over come with fear of what i saw:........ a pt who looks possessed just the same type of look from the exorcist.

i kid you not, the pt had razor sharp teeth looked like fangs and his eyes followed me as soon as i walked in the room. the moment i walked in i knew some thing was not right.. my gut feeling told me.

i freaked out and left the room and checked the charts etc i found out shortly that my patient was switched THANK GOD because i could not deal with what i saw.

I have never seen any thing like that in my life except from a movie. you should have seen the eyes i cant even describe it.

when I alerted my other class mates as to what i had seen they were scared to go and look in the room.

any one had any experience that was shocking ?

[Spidey's mom, ADN, BSN, RN]

In Vietnam, in the rural areas, villagers routinely have blackened, pointed teeth from years of NO dental care and their diet of a certain root that turns their teeth black. Having someone give me a big grin like that, at first, was odd. But after two tours in Vietnam, I welcome those loving grins.

This patient may have not had dental care - it happens, even in America.

As someone new, of course this was a strange experience. And there are people that I've come across that gave me the willies.

We had a patient who was so afraid to die because of bad things he had done in his life that he ended up on many IV drips just to keep his emaciated body alive. He looked like those photos of dead concentration camp victims. It was hard to care for him but he lived 3 months.

steph

[labrador4122, RN]

We all have to deal with Pts that are not of the norm. There is no choosing only to take the "normal" ones. If you are that persons first nurse, you will have to explore the uncharted territory for yourself. If the Pt has been there for a few shifts, you will be given report often including psycho-social charicteristics. At least you will have a heads up if somthings off. Maybe some suggestions that have worked with a previous shifts. A responsible nurse will not let the next nurse enter an unsafe situation unknowingly. Somtimes it is just our turn to take the confused combative Pt.

In your situation, I would have introduced myself and started a dialogue with the pt as I put my name on their whiteboard. I will do things like wash my hands, boot up the in room computor, get the dynamap ready, find their BP cuff ect. I will ask them how their day went and compare that to what I had heard in report. This usually allows enough time to feel the Pt out. Really nothing different than what I would do with ANY Pt.

Just leaving the room abruptly before giving the Pt the chance was not the appropriate then to do, as you probably figured from the above responses. In any case, a better report from the previous nurse would have clued you in if you needed to be extra vigalent. I would say just use your gut, but I can see that you are still developing yours. It will take time. Until then, suck it up, and give that person the best care that you can. You will be amazed how much you will grow and be able to handle yourself professionaly with all sorts of different people.

If someone is looking at you with eyes that remind you of polstergeist, I would run out of the room too..... there is no way that I would introduce myself. You never know what is going on in those pts. minds, they could just come up and hurt you.

remember a couple of years back a pt killed a nurse and a doctor in france?

follow your gut, if you are uncomfortable with the pt, go in with a co-worker.

[kendel]

there are some diseases that cause bizarre apparences including sharp teeth

wow i didnt know that

[kendel]

If someone is looking at you with eyes that remind you of polstergeist, I would run out of the room too..... there is no way that I would introduce myself. You never know what is going on in those pts. minds, they could just come up and hurt you.

remember a couple of years back a pt killed a nurse and a doctor in france?

follow your gut, if you are uncomfortable with the pt, go in with a co-worker.

Dear "i will be an RN",

Thank you so much because that was just how i felt and thats why i shared this story because i have never in my life come across any experience like that even to this day.

every now and then I remember it.

and it was purely gut instinct with fear i cant explain and that i have never felt before that made me want to run away from there.

[kendel]

I agree with the above post.

She's just a student at this point and was just asking for other's experiences.

No need to "eat" the girl and spit her out.

thank you for understanding,... catlynLPN

[leslie :-D]

i've had pts who have scared the begeebeez out of me.

i strategically made it a point to talk with them.

it made them more 'human' to me.

ca/disease, does some incredible things to the human appearance.

and it's scary, no matter who you are.

kendel, next time, take a deep breath, and talk to the pt.

make deliberate eye contact.

ask what you can do for him/her.

i'm sure, sometime in your career, this will happen again.

next time, you'll handle it.

best of everything.

leslie

[kendel]

Did they give you an explanation as to why your patient was switched for the day?

Hi Jenny Mac,

at the time my pt was discharged but my professor did not know that

so when i checked the id band it was the wrong pt and i was happy only because i was gripped with so much fear i had never experienced.

[Jo Dirt]

I agree that we don't always get easy work in Nursing. However, this was a young student and she was having this experience for the first time so let's try to be a little more compassionate.

Part of the reason I recoiled so was that the bio says the student is 35 y/o. When I first read the post I figured it was a very young person, like 18 or 19.

Still, have to put our thoughts on straight and truckle onward.

[Jo Dirt]

I thought it was a bit harsh telling her to "save the drama".........that's like telling her to keep it to herself and that she's not in high school anymore...that's childish.

I didn't see it as a big deal that she asked others for their similar experiences.

Gee, students have many different experiences ahead of them. What's the big deal about talking about it here?

When the post described "alerting other students to what I saw," it is easy to get the impression that the deal had turned into a freak show, which is what I think a lot of people had issue with.

The tone of the thread did seem rather dramatic and even elementary, though I will apologize for dismissing the OP's experience.

[bagladyrn, RN]

I have to disagree here with those who are taking their fellow nurses to taks for their replies to the OP. I do see a certain element of "drama" in OP's posts: references to how she "freaked out", to images from the "exorcist" "I could have had a heart attack" and "I couldn't deal with what I saw"

In the "real world" of nursing you cannot refuse to care for a patient because his appearance disturbs you. He still deserves nursing care. A student who has a problem dealing with a patient is not acting properly in running to other students to tell them all about it (and garner sympathy for their dramatics and sensitive feelings). The appropriate course is to ask your instructor (paging them if off the floor) or the responsible staff nurse to assist you in dealing with it.

The "old school" nursing instructors I remember would have made sure the student was assigned to care for that patient until they had worked through their issues (and probably written a paper on the condition), not to be cruel, but to improve them and help them grow as a nurse.

This is not one of the "nice" answers and sympathy you may have been seeking from your post, but meant to give you something to think through.

[Penny8611]

But he also used to be someone's sweet baby boy.

Thank you for this.

[kendel]

I have to disagree here with those who are taking their fellow nurses to taks for their replies to the OP. I do see a certain element of "drama" in OP's posts: references to how she "freaked out", to images from the "exorcist" "I could have had a heart attack" and "I couldn't deal with what I saw"

In the "real world" of nursing you cannot refuse to care for a patient because his appearance disturbs you. He still deserves nursing care. A student who has a problem dealing with a patient is not acting properly in running to other students to tell them all about it (and garner sympathy for their dramatics and sensitive feelings). The appropriate course is to ask your instructor (paging them if off the floor) or the responsible staff nurse to assist you in dealing with it.

The "old school" nursing instructors I remember would have made sure the student was assigned to care for that patient until they had worked through their issues (and probably written a paper on the condition), not to be cruel, but to improve them and help them grow as a nurse.

This is not one of the "nice" answers and sympathy you may have been seeking from your post, but meant to give you something to think through.

bagladyrn ,

you just dont get it do u

it was an experience in my first year of nursing

i am finished with this topic now

enough is enough

i dont need to be scolded on an experience i had

if u read the post u can see it

thank god some people were smart enough to get it and i explained my self already

check the topic

enough is enough

if i follow you... i cant be my self or express my experince

truly some nurses eat their young

maybe one day you may have a experience where it may not be what i saw

it may be some one is coming after you and you can stand there and smile while they attack you and u can ignore your gut response and when u post on here you will be attacked for defending your self

i am deleting myself from this thread as of now this is my last post

ENOUGH IS ENOUGH

Thanks to every one for their honest opinion but its time to let it goooooooo