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.
I was covering for a nurse on break. She had admitted a 50'ish y.o. man earlier in the shift. I answered his call light. The patient's wife told me that "Frank" needed to go to the bathroom. I looked at the 300+, minimally responsive patient sitting in the bed. It was obvious he wasn't going to be able to stand to void. So I got a urinal & tried to prop his member in it.
I couldn't find his member & I decided he must be laying on it or something. I was moving layers of fat & couldn't find the darn thing. The patient's wife was resting on a cot in the room & not paying any attention to the length of time it was taking. I tried lowering the head of the bed & turning "Frank" on his side, but he was too short of breath to tolerate the head down. I finally grabbed a bed pan & got it underneath him so he could pee. I told one of the other nurses that getting a foley in this guy would probably be a good idea, but that it might be difficult.
The admitting nurse came back from break & I explained the urinal problem. She laughed so hard she cried. "Frank" was born "Francine". I turned many shades of red. We still chuckle about it today.
I'M AN ASSISTANT NURSE IN A SKILLED NURSING UNIT AT A LARGE LOCAL HOSPITAL. LAST WEEK I ADMITTED A 93 Y/O FEMALE WHO HAD FALLEN AT HOME AND HAD SEVERAL SKIN TEARS. IN THE REPORT THAT I HAD RECIEVED BEFORE GETTING HER, I WAS TOLD THAT SHE WAS ALERT X3 AND WAS A MAX ASSIST OF ONE PERSON. WHEN SHE GOT TO HER ROOM, SHE WAS TOTALLY CONFUSED, AND HAD TO USE THE BEDSIDE COMMODE. SO, WANTING TO GET ON WITH THE ASSESSMENT, I DECIDED TO DO IT MYSELF, INSTEAD OF ASKING ONE OF THE CNA'S. SO, I GET HER THERE NO PROBLEM. THEN, WHEN SHE WAS FINISHED, I WENT TO GET HER UP. THIS TIME THE TRANSFER WASN'T AS EASY. SHE DECIDES TO DO THE SPLITS. SO, NOT WANTING TO LET HER FALL, I PUSH HER ON THE BED IN FRONT OF HER, ON WHICH SHE LANDS FACE DOWN. SO, WHILE I'M HOLDING ON TO HER NOT LETTING HER SLIP TO THE FLOOR, WITH HER BUTT STICKING IN THE AIR AND ME STANDING BEHIND HER HOLDING HER UP (WHICH LOOKED LIKE I WAS DOING SOMETHING TOTALLY DIFFERENT) HER SON WALKS IN AND ASKS WHAT IN THE HELL IS GOING ON. I HAD FUN EXPLAINING THAT ONE, LET ME TELL YA...
Specializes in Step down, ICU, ER, PACU, Amb. Surg.
It didn't happen to me but this was shared with me when i started my new job in December.......
the nursing educator at Bon Secours had that happen to her. As she tells it...she went in to try and passify an irate family and put in an IV on the pt....bent forward to put the IV in...out came the fart......all she could think of to say was "My, the weather certainly has been nice, hasn't it?" The family laughed....they laughed till they cried...so did the nurse educator!
I swear this is a true story! It is too wild not to be. 50-some-odd y.o.man comes in for urinary retention. I am a not quite 2 yr old nurse. Orders: foley cath to gravity drainage. I in, the man's wife and grown son are in the room during catheter insertion; "they've seen it all anyway." No real difficulty except during insertion; some resistance. The urinary drainage is less than 100 cc, and appears purulent. Reported results to PA caring for the patient. 30 min later, he hollers from one end of the nursing station to me on the other side; "you know what the UA showed??? SPERM-- too numerous to count!" I have never lived that down; and I work in a different facility now! And I SWEAR the man was never engorged, and he said "OW, OW, OW!"
Specializes in LTC, assisted living, med-surg, psych.
Here's a story about what was undoubtedly one of the worst cases of foot-in-mouth disease I've ever suffered from.
One nice Saturday afternoon some years ago when my sister and I were in town prowling the antiques stores, I got to yammering about those stupid pink flamingoes people used to put on their lawns (and still do, evidently, or they wouldn't sell the damned things in the antiques stores). I was goofing around in the street, posing on one leg as though I were one of 'em and singing "I'm just a dumb pink one-legged bird".........in the meantime, my sister was frantically trying to get me to shut up and stop acting like that, and I couldn't figure out what her problem was (other than embarrassment at being with a 40-something-year-old woman acting like a complete idiot on a public street). Finally, she pointed to the reason she wanted me to get off the flamingo act........a one-legged man, standing on the corner not ten feet from me. :imbar :imbar :imbar
Then---LATER THAT SAME DAY---we were in the restroom at Target and I got to making fun of middle-aged women who use miniature backpacks as purses, doing this whole riff about how ridiculous it looked to see them try to look like college students, etc., etc. Yup, you guessed it........I came out of the stall and there I was, face-to-face with another forty-something who had on a mini-backpack and was, needless to say, fuming :angryfire She showed a lot more class than I did that day, just by turning on her heel and walking out without wasting more than a nasty look on me.
Yanno, I've analyzed that particular episode any number of times, and I still don't know what got into me that day........normally I'm not catty like that, but after this my sister was ready to bring me my milk in a saucer! MEOW!!
Specializes in LTC, CPR instructor, First aid instructor..
I had one just last night. It was HUGE! It was HORRIFYING! It was horrificly embarassing! I had sent my list of prescriptions to be filled to the pharmacy with my caregiver. She picked it up yesterday, with a message from the pharmacist stating, "It's too early to fill the rest of the prescriptions. I was confused. My caregiver suggested I call the pharmacy to see why I was unable to get them filled. I was eating my supper at the time. Not expecting such a rapid response, I filled my mouth with food. On came a grouchy male voice. I asked in a muffled voice, "Why couldn't my prescriptions be filled? The grouchy reply was, "What are you saying? I can't understand you." Apologetically, I said, "I'm sorry. I have a mouth of food, and it's hard to talk." Meanwhile, my caregiver was on the other phone burping like nobody's business.
I swallowed my food, and replied, "Why can't the rest of my prescriptions be filled?" :angryfire Because it's too early to fill them. Your insurance company won't pay for them!" "How come?" I asked. "Because it's too early!" came the grouchy reply. I said, "But they were filled the first of February. Isn't today the first of March?" "NO!" came the reply. "IT'S STILL FEBRUARY!":imbar "Oh!" I replied apologetically. "I'm sorry. I must have lost a week somewhere. "Then I asked, "Do you still have the list? If you keep it, you'll have it when the time comes for when you can fill them." "NO!" came the grouchy reply. "I gave them to the person who picked up the one legal script!" "Oh!" I said. As I was apologizing, with my caregiver burping in the other telephone, my phone suddenly went dead. Confused, I looked over at my caregiver, and she was :rotfl: laughing so hard tears were coming out of her eyes. I on the other hand was definitely embarassed.
It was HORRIFYING! It was horrificly embarassing! I had sent my list of prescriptions to be filled to the pharmacy with my caregiver. She picked it up yesterday, with a message from the pharmacist stating, "It's too early to fill the rest of the prescriptions. I was confused. My caregiver suggested I call the pharmacy to see why I was unable to get them filled. I was eating my supper at the time. Not expecting such a rapid response, I filled my mouth with food. On came a grouchy male voice. I asked in a muffled voice, "Why couldn't my prescriptions be filled? The grouchy reply was, "What are you saying? I can't understand you." Apologetically, I said, "I'm sorry. I have a mouth of food, and it's hard to talk." Meanwhile, my caregiver was on the other phone burping like nobody's business.
tattooednursie, LVN
660 Posts
lol at the pink thong! I got one of them too.