nursing superstitutions.....any truth in???

P_RN, ADN, RN · Apr 15, 2002

One of our doctors from China would ask his patients not be put in a room with a 4 in the number.

Always start a new baby breastfeeding on the right.

I always put on my right shoe first....to "get on the right step/right foot forward"

Knot the sheet at the top...to have something to hold onto.

Window open...or if no window crack the bathroom door....

micro, RN · Apr 15, 2002

never believed in the smelling of flowers either, until i smelled fresh daisies right before that time.......and it was strong.....along with smell of wet cut grass.........

and i am not making this up.........

yikes if window doesn't open.....crack the bathroom door.....like where is the spirit going to go.........i think i will just use the hallway door.........hehehehehe

there are some unusual phenoma during this time pre, peri and post.......sorry all don't mean to be morbid..........

micro, RN · Apr 19, 2002

changes in barometric pressure.........any scientific proof behind this one.......cause boy we were sure feelin it last noc....

fadingyouth · Apr 20, 2002

Interesting that sheet thing.

The "3's" are true

I don't smell flowers as much as I seem to hear the wind when pts look at a corner and talk(talking to angels?)

It does go crazier in the er and unit during a full moon

Those dieing and /or incoherent suddenly have a turn around and get coherent 24 hrs prior to death

I hate the q and s words.

Soft rain calls them home, thunder returns them(so I wastold)

ohlpn · Apr 20, 2002

The nursing home where I work was built in the 60's on the grounds of an orphanage that had been around since the turn of the century. Literally, ALL of our Alzheimers & dementia residents see, hear and talk to children and babies a greater amount of time than I've noticed at other nursing homes.

There is a legend that there was an illegal cemetery for the kids and what our residents experience is their spirits. Anyone else work in "haunted" hospitals or LTC?

Nance :stone

RN-PA, RN · Apr 21, 2002

I love this thread, too!

When I worked evening shift in a LTC facility right after nursing school, there was an elevator right across from the nurses' station. I was told by the CNA's and a few of the other nurses that whenever the elevator doors opened and nobody was there, it meant there would be an imminent death. Soon after they told me this superstition, I was charting at the desk near 11:00 p.m. and the elevator door opened and nobody was there. Uh-oh, I thought, and charted a little faster. Well, the elevator began arriving and opening... with nobody there... something like 6 times in a row, certainly a malfunction of some sort, but I high-tailed it out of there as soon as I gave report, and took the stairs! (I don't remember anyone dying in the next few days, but empty elevators still give me the creeps! :eek: )

Jen911 · Apr 21, 2002

Never d/c your IV until your patient is on their way out the door! Something is bound to happen, they stand up to get dressed and bam, syncopal! It never fails, if I d/c that IV in the ER before that patient is on the final runway out that door, I'll surely be keeping that patient and have to start another line. They keep it till they hit that door!

micro, RN · Apr 21, 2002

never and i mean never chart ahead of time about anything ever..........

"of course, I know none of us ever, ever do this as it is against our Nurse Practice Acts........."

but I restate........never and i mean never chart ahead of time about anyting ever.........

cause ya'all know things will change.............

judy ann · Apr 21, 2002

I had a friend who worked nights in a unit that was usually quiet. She was told to chart "Good night, slept well" early in her shift, as it often got busy later. But, what if something happens after I chart that? She was told "Just add, until-----"

I worked in a LTC and, when I entered the place at night, I sometimes heard what I can only discribe as Angel wings. It was a sound like the rustle of feathers. Every time I heard this, we had a death. One night, it was especially strong and loud. We had three folks pass on. I hadn't told anyone about hearing this. I thought it sounded too nutzy. I finally told my CNA that I thought that Mr. So and so would die tonight, and if he did, I would tell her how I knew. He wasn't really in too bad shape, but she found him gone when she made her 3 AM rounds. I told her about the wings. Made a believer of both of us. :rolleyes:

Chris81 · Apr 22, 2002

I totally agree with the 3's, seen it many times. Also, just cracked a window last night, (into a snowstorm, no less) to enable her spirt to leave, and she was gone within 1 hour! Thought she would at least last the rest of the shift! Also agree with the theory that the confused-terminally ill do have a window of lucidity at the end-I thought I was the only one who ever saw that. Great topic.

Paprikat · Apr 22, 2002

Cool Thread.

I agree in the "rule of threes." Always happens at our facility. Same with seeing children or dead relatives. Full moon, all go nuts.

One weird one is when I first started working there, I was out enjoying a smoke, all of a sudden, the dogs in the neighbourhood just started a-howling, one of the nurses says, "there will be a death tomorrow." Sure enough, she was right. Since then, it has happened a few times. Freaky........

micro, RN · Apr 22, 2002

chris81,

boy i have memory loss

boy did you state it.......when those with severe dementia or alzheimer's are as clear as day.....something is going on