Share your true & funny nursing experiences!

pandora · Aug 8, 2000

Hello. I couldn't get through on your website address, but here goes:

About a year ago I was passing a patient's room when I heard his male nurse say, "Oh, did you you have a moustache?" On hearing the patient angrily mumble something back, I stopped and looked in. The nurse had accidentally shaved off the majority of the patient's moustache (how he missed the fact that the man previously had a hairy face I'll never know). The patient, angry and red-faced, was sporting a wafer thin strip of upper lip hair not unlike the ridiculous one worn by Ronald Coleman in those old 1940s movies.

I'm afraid that far from feeling sorry for the man, I had to exit the room quickly before I choked trying to suppress the laughter. I couldn't move any further than the nurses station as I got weaker and weaker. Gradually, all nurses slowly passed the man's room and tried, inconspicuously, to view the 'new look' man in side room 5. The response was the same from each nurse. It was several minutes before I could compose myself and resume my work. The story often came up afterwards and we still laughed as hard.

I would like to say that the patient was never aware of the hilarity his new moustache caused, so no harm was done, except for the fact that it took a while for it to grow back. He accepted the nurse's apology and that was that.

halfpint · Aug 19, 2000

Several years ago I was working one weekend that we had a terrible snowstorm. We got about 22-23 in. of snow. I had a liitle lady pass away and just as I finished making all the calls the phone lines went dead also.It took the funeral home almost four hours to get to the facility. They loaded up the patient and placed her in the heorifice. The drive out of the facility is on a uphill slant and as the heorifice took off the door on the back came open and out rolled the gurney,patient and all. All you could see was the red blanket speeding past the door.

FamilymanRNBSN L/D · Mar 8, 2001

Originally posted by roth0003:
Please come visit us - we're the nurses of Duke University Medical Center's Adult Bone Marrow/Stem Cell Transplant Program. Under the "staff support" section, we have an area for submitting true experiences from nursing practice. Surely SOMETHING funny has happened to you through the years!!!

Also, if you have any suggestions as to how we can improve our site, please let us know!

www2.mc.duke.edu/9200bmt/

Thanks!

(This story occurred just pryor to entering Nursing School I was a nurse aid at a cancer hospital in tulsa ok)

I once entered a pt room with the Rn at the bedside and proceeded to empty the Jackson pratt drain in her abdomen. The nurse instructed me to take the contents and measure then in the rest room. While in the rest room I began to gargle aloud. The nurse and the pt both lost it and asked whatI was up too. I said, "you said gargle right?" I have often found that terminal patients appreciate nursing care that is both serious and sensitive. However at times is is necessary to remind them that their not dead yet, and life is meant to be lived. Humor is the best medicine...

Todd from tulsa Rn BSN L/D

roth0003 · Mar 8, 2001

Thanks for sharing your story, Todd! We'll try to include it in our next update.

Sue

prmenrs, RN · Mar 10, 2001

Re: Pandora's post: as a Student Nurse, whenever I had to shave a man and they didn't have upper teeth, I would tell them they were going to grow a mustache because I couldn't do upper lips w/o teeth! I never had any one refuse to cooperate with this plan!

nana kathy · Dec 15, 2001

I work in a personal care facility. In one "neighborhood", we use the telephone (I carry a portable) for resident assistant.

The other "neighborhood", we have dinner bells which they ring.

While assisting in the Bell-Ringer neighborhood at 3 a.m. on a quiet night, I received a call from an 89 yr old resident needing assistance to BR. This resident was laughing and could hardly catch her breath.. As she has been known to pull some pranks, and usually ended on her knees trying to get back into bed (saying she was just conversing with the Lord and Slipped into bed) I said I'd be right there. I ran to her room, she was still laughing and in bed waiting for my assistance. I started to laugh with her.... After the assist, she finally caught her breath and told me what she found so amusing. Upon dialing the facilities telephone number, (which I have posted in huge black numbers on the phones), she dialed the wrong exchange no. and received a college town 15 mi. away.

Upon answering, my resident stated to a stranger, "This is Ellen, and I have to go to the bathroom". Careful when you answer a late night call in a college town, never know who is on..

night owl · Dec 21, 2001

The funniest story that I can tell is the time a patient had expired.

I was a NA at the time, fresh out of high school and still wet behind the ears. After prepping the body for the morgue, I wheeled him into the elevator. The door closed and it's just me and this dead man going down four floors. There came this loud gasp from his throat and the corpse sat up! I KID YOU NOT!!! I darn near defecated in my pants and ran out of the elevator at the next stop leaving the body all wrapped up, sitting up and all alone...