Never Say the Q Word

[Brian, ASN, RN]

It's always busy on your shift. But occasionally you get a lull in the action. You might even have time to catch up on charting and take a bathroom break. But NEVER say the Q word! As soon as someone utters that word, the spell has been cast and the craziness begins. Has that happened to you?

[loriangel14, RN]

Oh Yes! Never say the Q word! Newbies learn this fast when we all jump on them for saying it.lol

[TriciaJ, RN]

Oh, I learned that lesson as a new grad. We were congratulating ourselves on what was shaping up to be a "quiet" shift. Silly us! A patient choked on a slice of bread and resisted all our attempts to resuscitate him. It was also my first death. Thirty-some years later, I still want to slap anyone who breezes in and says "Oh, it's quiet today!"

On a similar superstitious note: if you work in a place where you have frequent flyers (like psych) never say the name of a frequent flyer out loud. That person will be your next admit. (I've punished people for doing that by making them be the patient's primary nurse.) Even using something that rhymes with the name might not be enough to stave off the jinx.

[Esme12, ASN, BSN, RN]

Never mention the unmentionables....they show up.

[Nurse acewa]

I don't believe in superstition but my grandmother used to throw a pinch of salt behind her back to ward of stuff. I don't believe in being punitive but instead try to treat people the way I would want to be treated.

[TriciaJ, RN]

I don't believe in superstition but my grandmother used to throw a pinch of salt behind her back to ward of stuff. I don't believe in being punitive but instead try to treat people the way I would want to be treated.

This was supposed to be a humorous thread, but thanks for setting us all straight.

[VampyrSlayer, CNA]

o_O love this

[mdzieger]

I agree with Tricia. Especially since I work on a crisis unit and I have experienced the phenomenon of the frequent flyer admission after his or her name was uttered. You can almost feel it in the air. Or I will come in in the morning and the NOC shift nurse will say "it was a quiet night" Really? Really? What did I do to you?

[akulahawkRN, ADN, RN, EMT-P]

There are very few words that I'll ever utter while at work. The "Q" word is one of them. I may utter it at the end of a shift to describe how the shift actually went, but NEVER before actually handing the responsibility over to someone else. I know well the power that the "Q" word possesses...

[T-Bird78]

Or "bored" or "it's slow". I was working in a small office and the MA said she was bored and I fussed at her for saying that out loud. She said it again 5 minutes later and the doc opened the exam room door yelling for a nurse. The pt's parent had passed out at the sight of the child getting the nasal endoscope. The pt was trying to calm down the screaming little sibling who was freaking out over seeing mom/dad pass out. There wasn't another adult with them so paramedics were called. Same MA, a couple of years later, commented how slow the schedule was for the afternoon. Next pt I brought back for a follow-up, got vitals, and 3 minutes later the MA asked me how pt was when I saw them--pt was unresponsive. Again with paramedics, this time with a bag of D50--pt was newly dx diabetic who hadn't checked BS all day, and our Accucheck read 23.

Regarding the frequent fliers, that is very true. I'm in a specialist office that sees pts very regularly, some even weekly. We were discussing one particular pt whom we hadn't seen in almost a year, when lo and behold, guess who walked in the door within an hour--yep, the same person. We don't say the names of our frequent fliers that hadn't been seen in a while because they all come back. I think they spy on us. LOL.