Most Embarassing Moment

[FranEMTnurse]

Have you had a most embarassing moment at work or when you were in nursing school? I did. It was when I was in nursing school.

I was the oldest student. Went back to school after 35 years as a non-student, Well anyway, being the oldest student in the class, and most of my classmates ranging in age from 18-25, I wasn't included in a lot of the conversations the younger students were having, and truthfully, I didn't want to be in some of them.

Well anyway, I most always ate alone, etc, basically, there were cliques. So always being left out, I had my day at the end of our shift one afternoon.

We all got in the elevator to go change and attend post- conference. As the elevator door closed, one of the strong, silent types emitted from you know where. It wasn't long before that unappetizing odor permeated the entire inner surface of the elevator. I stood there quiet, which I did most of the time anyway, when my classmates began accusing one another of causing the event. All denied, and when I was asked, I replied, "Who, me?" The blame got laid on one of the younger classmates, and I said nothing, but surely was enjoying the moment.

[Care Assistant]

It was a little bit embaressing but funny. A few years ago I was doing some Community Care work and me and another Carer went to a mans house to bath him. Same as every week. I had my uniform on and was standing in the bathroom waiting for him to get ready to have the bath. He gets to the bathroom door and was just standing there looking at me. I said to him time to get in the bath. He replyed and said oh I thought you were going to get in there as well.

I was kinda emborificessed and started to laugh he meant it as well. I still remember that.

I think he took a liking to either me or the uniform.:chuckle

The man has died now but I will always remember that.

[ShortFuse_LPN, LPN]

While in nursing school, we were required to give a speech. UGH!! I absolutely hate public speaking. Get so nervous that I can hear my own pulse. However, this time I felt pretty comfortable.....until I have to say ORGANISM....kept coming out ORGASM!! (no pun intended) Don't know if my speech was informative but it sure made 'em laugh!

[ShortFuse_LPN, LPN]

Here's one I posted on an earlier thread. Still my MOST embarassing nursing moment!

ONE of my most embarrassing moments....hmmm.....has to be during my 1st job out of school. I was 23. We had a football player from the university on the unit with a head injury. This guy always had a room full of visitors. Very well behaved, but jocks none the less. I am doing neuro checks q hr. I thought I may get to actually use the BR soon so I stick a tampon in my pocket. Ran in to get the check done b4 I peed in my pants....pulled out the tampon...couldn't figure out why my pen light wasn't working...........that is until I hear the visitors snickering. I REALLY wanted the floor to open up and swallow me!!

*FYI for new nursing grads....tampons do NOT light up!!*

[Dublin37]

SO FUNNY!!

[acuteobrn]

These are funny!!:chuckle

Belinda,

Thanks for the tip about proper use of tampons!!! Live and learn right?:roll

Here is one:

Placed stethscope in her ears, lifted diaphram to pt's ear and told pt to relax I am going to take your temp now. Um, new addition to stethscope, noooo. Just a really tired and overworked nurse. Acutally is a friend of mine (Really) Very smart, very bright, very tired one night. About an hour after the incident she fessed up, I just love to ask if her patient needs a temp and hand her a stethscope. :chuckle

Me? I am much too perfect to do such mindless things;) Nawh, just can't think of anything right now. But I am enjoying the posts. Keep em comming.

:chuckle

[Ricky RN]

This is not my embarrassing moment but a moment I shared with a fellow student while in nursing school.

"C" and I were supposed to start a foley on a male patient. I had done them before but she had not. So under the watchful eye of the staff nurse "C" got all set up and began. After grasping his member, she told him that she was going to clean his member with betadine to help prevent him from getting an infection. With the soaked cotton ball inches from his member he suddenly shrieked "NOOOOOOO, I'M ALLERGIC TO BETADINE". Having nothing else immediately available, the staff nurse said she would get something else and promptly left the room. "C" was frozen with uncertainty and couldn't seem to make the decision to let go of his member. She looked back and forth between the patient and the door and I could hear her silent prayer for the staff nurse to return. After about three minutes of uncomfortable silence (she is still holding on) the inevitable physiological responce happens and "C" is staring with horror at the steadily enlarging member in her hand. She finally let go and almost threw the sheet over his pubic region. By this time the poor patient is fully erect and the sheet looks like a pup-tent. That is when the staff nurse returned. She looks at me and "C" and then at the pup-tent and gave us both a very curious look. Finally, "C" could stand it no longer and fled the room with a muffled squeak and the reddest face I have ever seen. I placed the foley but it was difficult because I don't know who was laughing harder, me, the patient, or the staff nurse.

[FranEMTnurse, CNA, LPN, EMT-I]

Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha. I just looove post #41. I bet that student never forgot that experience. In fact, it puts me in mind about an incident several years ago when I was working as a Nurses Aide. I was working on day shift at the time, and was on the men's unit where I had been assigned a couple weeks earlier.

There was a resident who had a CNA, and was wheelchair bound. He smiled a smile that seemed to cover his entire face whenever I arrived. As I was caring for him one day, I pulled his covers down to provide his care. And there standing at attention, was U no what! It surprised me, so I covered him back up and told him I'd be back a little later.

Well, after that incident, every day I went into his room to take care of him, I was greeted the same way. I asked to be transferred to another unit.

[RNCENCCRNNREMTP]

A big foot in a big mouth. Ambulance calls in, they are transferring a patient from an outlying hospital to our CCU (500 pound man with lower extremity cellulitis, became very dyspneic at the other hospital, probable PE). Arrested enroute and medics want to divert to ER. ON arrival, I go out to ambulance bay to assist with unloading and it's like a freaking clown car. I don't know how many people came out of the back of that ambulance but it was at least 8!!!!! As I round the corner of the truck I see this HUGE man just overflowing the narrow ambulance cart. Plus, he is still on a roller board and he is shaking and shimmying with each chest compression.

And now my brain left my body as I said...

"Sweet Jabba the Hutt" (the very fat alien from Star Wars)

Everybody stops dead and stares at me as I feel a tap on my shoulder. One of the ambulance crew is standing there and said (yep)

"That's my dad"

Aaaaaaawwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww!!!!!!

[RNCENCCRNNREMTP]

Originally posted by karenG

she had a large wound on her thigh- it was her whole thigh and it was just maggot infested! she ended up having the whole lot debrided-once we'd got off the chairs! she also recovered and went home- well sort of because she was homeless and living in Greenwich park! I can still see those maggots!! and its 20yrs ago!!!!!

Karen

Maggots are great for getting rid of necrotic tissue. I believe there is recent research where maggots are being used therapeutically, just like leeches. Still gross though!

[karenG]

we use maggots therapeutically here all the time- it was the vast number and the fact that she was unconcious and smelt............yuk!! poor lady.

Karen

[FROGGYLEGS, LPN]

Maggots are being used to eat away the dead tissue. The thing is they will not touch the healthy tissue. They are bred and bred in labs until they are declared sterile.

The most embarrassing thing I can think of isn't my story, but the story of a very good friend from nursing school. We had JUST began our clinical rotations. My friend was assigned a slightly confused elderly lady. She was assisting with ADLs, thought she was brushing the ladies teeth with toothpaste. Lady complained of "stickiness". It was later determined that my friend brushed that ladies teeth with denture adhesive.

Panties and thongs: in nursing school one of the first thing our teacher informed us about concerning the dress code for clinicals is "no tweety bird etc. underwear". We were told to wear white panties if we're white and black panties if we're black. My underwear collection has been completely changed for that reason. DUBLIN, Those nude/beige panties sound like a great idea! Why haven't I thought about that yet?

MANDI: don't feel too bad I saw something a heck of a lot worse at K-Mart this week. A young girl with a short shirt and VERY low hip huggers bent over in fron of me to tie her shoe. When she did those hip huggers went a lot lower and there was nothing to see except for one hot pink thong. When she straightened up her pants came back up and hid the thong again, but I thought I would fall out laughing in the mean time. It was hilarious.

My worst embarassing moment was when my husband and I were moving. His aunt, mom, and grandmother were kind enough to drop in while I was at work to help us pack. They started the packing in our bedroom of all places. His grandmother was the unfortunate enough to find a small box with certain "intimate items" inside and asked his mom what they were. Fortunately, I didn't hear about this for a long, long time when his mom made a joke with me about it. :imbar :imbar

[FranEMTnurse, CNA, LPN, EMT-I]

Get a load of this one.

I live near a major university that performs mounds of studies. I saw the results of one in an interview done with a local entemologist on our local TV news network. He showed how forensics locates a buried body after the person was murdered.

Maggots are placed on an area where the suspected body is buried, and if they stay in that spot for a length of time, the body has been located.

Oh the wonders of forensic science.