What have other nurses done that have freaked you out?

Nurses General Nursing

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What have other peers done intentional/unintentional to freak you out? Good or bad. Happy or sad.

On my FIRST day as an LVN, (LTC) a res was screaming in her room as I was walking out to leave. I went in to see what was going on. She was having an anxiety attack and severe pain (post stroke). I pulled the call light, and no one came. Uggg.

So I peeked out the door and saw my CNA walking down the hall, and told him to come sit with res. I went down to get her a Xanax and a pain pill, well relief nurse was in the restroom, and relief CNA (with call light still going off) was sitting behind nurses station reading a newspaper. I told CNA to tell the nurse to get a Xanax and pain pill for res. She said OK. I go to relieve my CNA. Said goodbye to him, and stayed with res. after 10 minutes, CNA COMES INTO ROOM WITH XANAX AND MORPHINE PILL. She is soooooo shocked to see me still there, she hands me the pills and RUNS to the relief nurse. I could NOT BELIEVE WHAT I JUST SAW!!!!

(I did immediately call DON and tell what happened. Luckily, my CNA was still checking on another res, and saw the whole thing.--------they got a slap on the wrist! that was it!!!):madface: :madface: :madface: :madface:

Specializes in ED, MICU/TICU, NICU, PICU, LTAC.

I was floating to LTC and had a pt, 100 years old (1 assist, no hearing aids, occasionally needed a walker... yes, she was 100 years old) who was in isolation. She had a colostomy, MRSA in urine and VRE in stool (they were waiting on a sputum to come back as well). She toileted by herself but tended to dribble; her colostomy was also ready to be changed. I entered the room gowned, gloved, booties on shoes (dribbles) and with the mask - she'd just gotten off the toilet, had dribbled urine on the way back to her bed and her bag was leaking. On this unit, each res room had its own laundry bag and they had their own laundry at the end of one hall. Out of habit I grabbed plastic garbage bags to put the soiled clothing into before placing in a purple (contaminated) laundry bag. As I finished applying the new colostomy bag and bagging the soiled clothing, the pt's CNA walked into the room: no gown, mask, booties, NADA. She goes "Did you put her clothes in plastic bags?" I replied that I had. She then walked through the urine dribbles on the floor I hadn't yet cleaned up (NO BOOTIES!!) reached into the purple bag, no gloves, unties the plastic bags and uses her hands to pull out the contaminated clothing and drop it back into the purple bag. Misreading my look of disbelief, she said "Oh, the laundry lady on this floor hates it when you double bag stuff." Then she started to walk out of the room without washing her hands. I asked her to come back in and do so, and she said "Oh, just a sec" and pulled her own pretty little bottle of scented hand sanitizer out of her pocket, made a big show of rubbing it into her hands, dropped the bottle back into her scrub pocket and started to leave the room again. When I again stopped her, she actually rolled her eyes and said "Now what?!?" I informed her that first, the outside of her bottle, while pretty, was now contaminated, and next, after we'd taken care of her shoes, we needed to meet with her charge nurse and discuss sanitation and contamination practices.

The sad thing was, she would probably have gone right into another patient's room without a thought. I shuddered every time I'd see her at Walmart after that (yes, in her work scrubs, touching everything).

Specializes in Med/Surg.

Just showed this site to a colleague and she shared this story with me.......... a nurse she worked with some years ago gave 30 Meq liquid potassium - an oral dose through the pt's cental line. The pt coded but was brought back successfully. 6 hrs later she gave the second dose.... you guessed it, through the central line again. The pt coded but sadly did not make this time. Not sure if this RN still has a license.....

Years ago we had a patient with a central line who was to be transferred back to the nursing home. The charge nurse pulled the central line and put a BANDAID on the site. I came back from lunch to find an EMT standing in the door of the patient's room going "Come here quick!" The bed was literally soaked with blood!! When I got the bleeding stopped finally the lady had to be readmitted to get blood.

Specializes in geriatrics.

When I was a student, I went with a senior nurse to assist with her pt wound care and observe. Instead of using the empty bedside table, the nurse proceeded to assemble, and lose the supplies on the bed (in the folds of the covers). That was ok, I guess, but when the nurse dropped the gauze on the floor, picked it up, and then was about to still apply the dirty gauze to the pt's wound, I intercepted with a clean one. Eew! Still a valuable lesson as a student, because I realized what not to do.

I had a DON refuse to allow me to order 10 cc. saline syringes to flush a patients PICC. I was told to "just use the 3 cc. ones we have and push it real slow." Uh....no thanks. I refused and told her if she wanted to...be my guest!

Specializes in LTC, Med-Surg, Special Care, Postpartum.

I had the chance to witness a stna do all patient care without gloves! Even peri care and everything dealing with the patient she refused to wear gloves. Stating that it was impersonal....yea it blew my mind.

Specializes in Med Surg, Ortho.

Watching a very seasoned nurse try to ram a Yonkers down some one's throat! Yikes!!!

Specializes in Education, IV Therapy, Travel Medicine.

Many years ago saw a nurse manager give CPR to a patient that had fainted. Never did ABCs. Later, fired for no patient care skills.

When I was a student doing my clinicals at one of the SNFs in the area, we were asked if we would like to watch a foley being inserted. Originally, a 4th term student was to do it, but she got too nervous and asked the charge LVN to take over. That LVN took over alright - no gloves, no handwashing, just shoved the cath into the pt's member! YIKES! :smackingf

Specializes in ortho, hospice volunteer, psych,.
when i was a student doing my clinicals at one of the snfs in the area, we were asked if we would like to watch a foley being inserted. originally, a 4th term student was to do it, but she got too nervous and asked the charge lvn to take over. that lvn took over alright - no gloves, no handwashing, just shoved the cath into the pt's member! yikes! :smackingf

i just read this aloud to my husband, who was walking through the room on the way to the kitchen. his reaction? left the room with his hand over his crotch!:eek: i don't think he had any idea he was doing it either. :rolleyes:

Specializes in Family Medicine, Outpatient Pediatrics, IBCLC.

Hmmm....I remember a co-worker accidentally leaving a tourniquet on an unresponsive patient for almost an entire shift. Oh, and then there was the time I started my shift to find a central line without a dressing, completely open to air.

The scariest part? It was the SAME NURSE!!! Even scarier is the fact that she thought she was god's gift to the hospital. Real winner!

Specializes in Med/Surg, DSU, Ortho, Onc, Psych.

One of the most awful and scary things happened to me when working as Charge Nurse one night at a nursing home for dementia patients. A son of a 90+ year old terminal patient came and told me his Dad looked like he was in severe pain. (The son left later on). No pain meds ordered except paracetamol I think. Rang the locum doctor and he would not order any stat morphine for this poor patient. I argued and said 'Give the patient a break for the love of God'. Doctor eventually turned up, wrote a script (which we couldn't then fill as all the pharmacies were closed), said the patient could have the morphine tomorrow, and left.

I felt like saying: 'Doctor, the patient may not be ALIVE tomorrow to get morphine, and he would have died in pain because of you!'

Truly heartless - I hope this sort of thing doesn't happen to me in the future; very, very scary.

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