The most common myth I have heard is this one. In an unnamed ITU it was noted, with great concern that on a particular weekday (let us say Thursday) that patients were dying with alarming regularity.
The management looked into this of course. It was discovered that Thursday was the cleaner's day for doing a deep-clean.
Of course! The cleaners were UNPLUGGING THE RESPIRATORS to plug in their vacuum cleaners:eek:
My old hospital did not have a 13th floor, and no room 13 either.
This a true story:
I was working in a facility that had just built a new building and we were moving our unit over to it, onto the 6th floor. When we moved one of our pts, the family so detested the room number, they literally took something and pried the number marker off the door, and where ever it was marked. The room was renumbered, to a less offensive number
So now, anyone that is not familiar with that and comes up to deliver things/therapy/visit/etc. to that room, gets lost. Then we have to explain why "room 692", falls between room 665 and room 667.
I've heard it called a Hollywood Code, due to everyone moving in slow motion. Never seen it myself, but I would certainly not argue against its existence.
Right out of nursing school, I worked on a medical floor. I was told several times, by various nurses, that when one of our older, chronically ill patients was slipping toward death, the bottoms of their ear lobes would fold inward. If this was noted, the patient was sure to die within 36 to 72 hours.
I would not have believed it if I hadn't seen it myself at least twice. I can't say what causes it, but I imagine there must be a legitimate physical origin. Maybe it has something to do with dehydration? As the tissue of the ear lobe dries out, its structure becomes compromised and collapses? Dunno.
Since I've left the floor and moved to ER, I haven't witnessed it. There really isn't the same sort of extended vigil here. But I still can't help but look at my patients' ears when I have concerns of their corporeal state.
Anyone else ever encounter this?
Yes, ears "curling" is a common indicator of impending death, as is mottling skin beginning at the extremities- usually feet- and in men the testicles can become dark. All responses to the circulatory system reserving blood supply for vital organs as circulation is failing.
Here is one that I have heard a few times. A particularly enthusiastic student nurse decides to clean all the patients dentures on her elderly care ward. She collects them up and goes to the sluice to give them a good scrub. Only when she is surveying the now-sparkling multiple sets of dentures with no little pride does it occur to her that ...Oh noes!....she cannot recall which dentures belong to which patient.
This one is true I can say from experience, with an exception... not a student nurse but a confused elderly lady who lost her teeth. She did a midnight raid with her pillow case and collected all the dentures she could find in her pillow case and tried them on until she found a set that fit. It took several days to get that one sorted out!
Having taken a few upper division university courses on research methods, I'm quite surprised that educated nurses believe outdated and empirically debunked myths regarding the lunar cycles and "lunacy". It is just as outdated as the notion that women who are "hysterical" would benefit from a hysterectomy or that mental/physical illness is a result of an imbalance of "humors" (thank you Galen for that oddball theory lol).
A review of the historical ideas related to mental illness is invaluable. We have come a long way in our understanding, but not as far as we need to go. Just as we have (largely) abandoned Freud's notion of neuroses, oedipal complexes, member envy, etc...I hope that we see the day where mental illness is respected as a legitimate illness (as legitimate as any physical disorder). One huge step on the road to this progress is to abandon notions that psychosis is brought about by lunar cycles. This implies that psychosis is predictable in nature, that absent a full moon, psychosis is less likely to occur, in addition to many other logical fallacies.
Please don't interpret my response as a harsh criticism against any individual. Mental illness has profoundly affected my life and it is an issue which I am rather passionate (and often times outspoken) about. :redbeathe
There have actually been studies on the "full moon" causing ER problems, increased problems, etc., most of which has disproven that phenomenon.
I only say that I believe in some connection based on my own experience. I've worked enough shifts that things were completely nuts, only to find out later that it was a full moon....so, not the other way around (dreading a shift that I knew was a full moon, resulting in self-fulfilling prophecy). I believe what I've experienced, if it isn't the same for someone else, I am totally OK with that.
DaFreak, I don't mean at all that I link mental illness with moon cycles....maybe it isn't PC to call a shift "crazy," but I just mean that the shift is super-busy, etc, I don't mean it in terms of any one individual person. I know mental illness is both true, and serious, and don't believe in THAT case that moon phases have anything to do with them.
Yea, it's probably a coincidence....but since it keeps happening, it's a pretty consistent one. :)
Specializes in Labor/Delivery, Pediatrics, Peds ER.
the [uk] guidance stresses that although the responsibility for decision-making rests with the most senior clinician, these decisions should not be made in isolation, but where appropriate, should involve the patient (or those close to the patient if s/he lacks capacity) and others involved in the clinical care of the patient. teamwork and good communication are of paramount importance.
cannot imagine a case in which one has an alert and oriented patient where it would be inappropriate to consult him/her on a decision re: dnr! nor how that stance could possibly be considered not paternalistic.
Specializes in Peds/outpatient FP,derm,allergy/private duty.
QUOTE=RetRN77;4396489]Cannot imagine a case in which one has an alert and oriented patient where it would be inappropriate to consult him/her on a decision re: DNR! Nor how that stance could possibly be considered not paternalistic.
I had quite a bit of trouble understanding that myself, but it's true. The patient/patient's family does not make the decision, they don't have to be consulted, and they don't have to be told what that decision is. I read the entire document linked on post #76 of this thread to double check what was told to me in the quotes below--
That is odd, I harldy think the family is best placed to make a rational fact based, medical decision reguarding their loved ones status. I find it really interesting because here an attept to resus a patient who was not suitable would be termed at the very least abuse and could totally be taken further.
The NHS prosecuted one of their own nurses for attempting to resuscitate a man who collapsed by the hospital door.
QUOTE=leelee283;4203304]In the UK the only person that can authorise DNR status is the most senior clinician involved with that patients care, in hospital it would the consultant who would see the patient every day, in the community it could be either be the GP or a the Senior Community Nurse
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The resus committee may welcome input from the family or the patient, but the decision is made by the "senior clinician". I think this system is attempting to avoid the astronomical costs of futile end-of-life care and spare the person the code process. It's a fundamentally different way of looking at things.
Specializes in Labor/Delivery, Pediatrics, Peds ER.
I had quite a bit of trouble understanding that myself, but it's true. The patient/patient's family does not make the decision, they don't have to be consulted, and they don't have to be told what that decision is. I read the entire document linked on post #76 of this thread to double check what was told to me in the quotes below--
The NHS prosecuted one of their own nurses for attempting to resuscitate a man who collapsed by the hospital door.
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The resus committee may welcome input from the family or the patient, but the decision is made by the "senior clinician". I think this system is attempting to avoid the astronomical costs of futile end-of-life care and spare the person the code process. It's a fundamentally different way of looking at things.
That it is. Thanks for your posts and leelee's - I followed the thread and have to confess I was aghast at all these things, most especially that the nurse was prosecuted for resus a pt and having broken ribs (to be expected) in the process, apparently because he had a DNR, but which seems a bit unclear to me.
That this could be thought of as "abuse" is beyond me, as is the entire concept that one's life is not one's own, but instead, belongs to officers of the state, who can then decide it is not worth the cost. Not only that, but without consulting nor notifying one, nor one's family, of their plans. Astounding. This is the biggest reason I'm opposed to government run healthcare, as I see this as an inevitable end result.
Where I used to work, if we were to utter the name of any frequent flyer, we were met with a "shush", for to speak the person's name would mean they would soon be coming through our doors.
I heard that one, too--after I uttered her name, and a few seconds later, her name popped up on the screen.
I also had terrible luck trying to defy the ban on saying "quiet." As soon as I said "Sure is QUIET around here, isn't it?" we got pounded with ER after ER right up 'til shift change.
The one about "don't turn a pt who's doing badly or they'll die"? I was asked to help clean up an unstable pt in ICU once...
These myths bear up just often enough to keep 'em alive.
As for Full Moon Syndrome, I work LTC, believe me when I say that they really do become "more active & vocal" during the 11 to 7 shift!
As for the ears dropping, that is one of the first signs I look for when I suspect a pt may be ready for Celestial Discharge.
I have seen a pt mottle all the way up to thier neck, then it began dropping back down. the next day I arrived to work to find the same pt eating lunch & laughing with family. Go Figure!
:lol2:
caroladybelle, BSN, RN
5,486 Posts
There have actually been studies on the "full moon" causing ER problems, increased problems, etc., most of which has disproven that phenomenon.