Premonitions- I'm sure it's been covered before....but...

[RhiaRN75, RN]

A lot of people in healthcare have premonitions, so I'm sure this topic has been covered before. Having had quite a few myself, the latest one is kinda odd and has been a trend of late. Keep in mind, I work in a rural ER, so it's not like I'm in a level 1 trauma center saying--- 'I think STEMI will come in at 0400', lol.

Rural it may be, but my little ER is hopping. One night recently we were dead. I mean everything stocked, cleaned, charts reviewed, I-can't-find-a-single-constructive-thing-to-do dead. A drive-you-mad I want to say bad words like STEMI five times dead. Erase all the names off the board, open a book, something.

Then the feeling hit. For me, there are several levels of 'the feeling'. There's I'm bored of the horses I want to find a zebra feeling, the maybe I should check the trauma room and pull some stuff out feeling, the this pt shouldn't really be sick, but let's have fun and stick tele on anyway ... and there are the tombstones feeling, and THE FEELING. Looking for zebras has a high error rate, lol. The others usually pan out in some non-specific way. THE FEELING is almost always correct, and pretty detailed. It also has the highest incidence of uselessness in terms of actually making a difference.

Anyhow, this particular night the feeling hit about 0130. I knew it would be a head bleed. Since I wanted to experiment and prevent myself from looking totally crazy- I said to my coworker, "About 0400, head bleed or MI, what do you think". She thought I needed to hush and not jinx us, lol.

0500. Call goes out. Pt, found to have vomited in sleep. It's the head bleed I say. Yeah, well, ok.

Pt comes in via EMS- near unresponsive, found sleeping in a chair by family- pt had been watching TV, and vomited. Probably aspirated. Pt initially would open eyes and make eye contact as if 'there', but w/in minutes would no longer do so and just had that neurologic look. So off we go to the CT to find.... Bleed. Massive shift. Early herniation. Terminal w/out divine intervention, with which the closest big city facility neuro agreed, and the pt died later that day. My only silver lining was that pt was elderly, basically died in their sleep, and had previously stated the desire to be able to go in a peaceful manner to the family members who upheld these wishes.

Everything has a reason. When I have these detailed premonitions though, it usually doesn't make a difference in the whole scheme of things. Yeah, I can open the tele leads, have IV stuff pulled and ready if need be, keep the room empty- but these are all things that take a minute or so, tops. In this case, nothing short of knowing the pt's name, address, and family could have possibly changed things. I don't think I'll repeat my experiment either- this is not pool and I'm not going to call my shot, lol. I really don't want the reputation or responsibility of being 'that nurse', because what happens if I'm wrong?

However, there has to be a reason. Any opinions??

[superramvette]

I'm a first year student so I have no experience with patient premonitions but I do on occasion have life premonitions that I cannot explain. I could spout off a dozen examples over the course of my life but I dont feel like writing a book. Just a couple examples, I predicted when and where I was going to have an accident and even though I did everything to prevent it from happening (was .5 miles from my house on a road I had to take home and yes I know that the odds of an accident are higher closer to home but I have had one accident in my life (im 28) and I knew the day before I had it that it was coming). I also knew the night my ex wife started cheating on me and when she did each night after. I call it the "gut" feeling but I have never found it to be false. My mother gets them too which is odd. Example, I was hit by a car when I was 17 one night at 3 a.m. in the morning. My mother never has any problems sleeping nor does she EVER call me late. Within 5 minutes of being hit I recieve a call from her saying she had a feeling something bad had happened to me. Maybe it was coincidence

If you dont ever get those gut feelings you are probably going to think what this post and the initial post are saying is crazy, and maybe it is. Either way I find it odd that my feelings have NEVER been wrong. Now I'll just have to wait and see if I have them when I'm working or not.

[RhiaRN75, RN]

You probably will.

My mother also has them (not that she will ever admit it) but she is scarey at times. I found it quite annoying as a teenager, as it ruined many a great plan :) I talked to her about my recent experience, and her reply was practical yet frustrating at the same time- no she doesn't know why, yes it happens, really Rhia- why does there always have to be a reason, and you'll never be able to truly control it so just go with the flow.

She's an awesome nurse, and in my younger and greener days I'd call her for "I think I/my child/my friend is sick.... these are the symptoms... I've tried this- now what. Her reply? Go to a doctor, lol.

I will still run things by her sometimes if I'm looking for a little extra 'insight'. I'll explain the situation, ask her opinion, and usually get the standard practical response. Then I just look at her and say "No Mom, I mean- what do you think." Whatever she says next is always right.

Likewise, if she makes some small suggestion out of the blue for no reason... those casual 'oh-by-the-way' comments...I really listen.

[HonestRN]

I tend to be a very logical, rational person however I do have premonitions and dreams that have come true. I don't think it is crazy at all. I too could spout off a number of them but won't because those of us who experience them know of what we speak.

[mamamerlee, LPN]

I believe that many people are sensitive to things we cannot see or explain. I had visions when I was a teenager. For many years, I have been able to 'feel' negative energy, auras, that radiate from some people. At one point, I told my (now ex-) husband that someone he worked with THAT I HAD NEVER MET was going to give him grief. He didn't listen to me, but after the grief happened, he truly believed me. If I had only been more in tune when took my last job....!

[springfieldrn]

I just go about getting ready what I can quietly. I have been able to intervene with patients on the floor before they became symptomatic and thank the powers that be that I listened. Over time I have learned how to present my feelings to the doc in a way gets my point across without making me feel akward.

[NurseLoveJoy88, ASN, RN]

I get them also. So does my mom.

[CASTLEGATES]

I got one so bad I called this someone and said you're going to die within 6 months if you don't xyz. He died, I was devastated. I still am because it really could have been prevented. The only reason I made the call is because this one go louder and louder and after the call it still got louder and louder and only 4 months a perfectly healthy person died and it was like that voice was still echoing but not talking; very upsetting.

I have some specifics down to the minute but usually not associated with work. I learned these things don't help me, no one listens to them so why bother? I won't even go into 9-11 and what a pain I was to everyone around me as that it was coming up and we'd be at war and...harassing everyone like there's something people can do...But for me, it's just going to happen and I can never prevent it so I try to shut it up regardless of how important or accurate it is.

For me, it's just a drain, a distraction and not worth it and I don't need anyone questioning my sanity or judgement. I just need to turn it off and when it comes now, I stay quiet.

[VICEDRN, BSN, RN]

Somebody already said some people are just sensitive to some things. I knew my brother was going to die at 24 before I was old enough to wear a bra and he did. I knew my former father in law would die before two years passed and he did. I have a feeling my dad is getting neuropathy. I will let you know if he does. lol

Some places I go, I feel are very familiar. I dreamed once of a hospital and then found myself doing clinical there even though I had never been there before. Some places I go, I know I don't want to ever go back. Usually, I find out why later on.

I visited a particularly slow ER and felt it would be a busy night. It was.

I can pick up on certain body sensations like constipation or depression without getting within a few feet of someone but like castlegates, I don't care to and I try to shut it out. Its exhausting.

On the other hand, I wonder if it could be helpful as a nurse. My lab partner was jealous that I could pick up on pulses and find landmarks with my eyes practically shut with he searched and searched. lol

Both my mother and my son are like me. My mom usually just picks up on stuff recreationally. She has a gift for gambling. She rarely ever goes but always walks away with thousands of dollars. She just smiles and says she knew that table was the right one or that she knew that machine would pay out.

My son knows when someone hurts or when he surprises someone even if they don't appear surprised.

[Ruby Vee, BSN]

i have premonitions, too. years ago, when i lived on an air force base, there was a precision flying team that practiced every weekday about noon. i was in graduate school then, working every weekend and going to school during the week. as those planes flew over the base housing, i knew that the bomber was going to crash. i was so sure that i refused to be in my house when they were practicing -- if a plane was going to crash on me, i wanted to see it coming. the downside to that was that when it crashed, i did see it coming, and was very nearly a casualty.

and i have gut feelings about people. it seems i can sense evil in some people. there was a janitor where i used to work who had a reputation for being a really nice guy. he was santa every year for a couple of charities, did lots of work with children, got written up in the company newsletter about being an all 'round nice guy and a saint. every time he came near me, though, i could feel my skin crawling. when he was arrested for child molestation, no one else had seen it coming. i knew he was evil, though. turns out he had molested his younger sisters, their children, his children and was starting on his 4 year old granddaughter . . . .

i've had gut feelings about several people over the course of the years, and it turns out i'm always right.

[Dalzac, LPN, LVN, RN]

I used to get them all the time. I would move the crash cart next to my rooms that I got "Bad Vibes" from all the time> I was so accurate That all my work buddies would groan when they saw me move it. I don't know how I would know just a creepy feeling, I guess. I would know I was going to have a bad night before I would get to work. My daughter is the same way my sister and mother were too.