Odd interactions

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Some interactions are just plain odd. What's one that will stay with you forever?

Mines is I had a 34 y/o female pt. She would always put her light on to tell us that she had just used her diaper. She had been there about a week using diapers. She has also been DEMANDING us to put in a foley. So early on in my first day with her as I'm changing her I ask her how she uses the bathroom at home. "I just walk" She was in for a lap chole. So I ask her if she can use the restroom right now and she just jumps right out of bed and goes to use the restroom. Turns out she just really really really didnt want to get out of bed. After that she was still very insistent on getting a foley.

Super Murse to the rescue!!

I don't know what walkie talkie means. Please enlighten me. Thanks.

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I don't know what walkie talkie means. Please enlighten me. Thanks.

A patient who is ambulatory and oriented.

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I'm with the PP who said that odd interactions are becoming the ones they're accustomed to.

Top on my now-normal list: patients with their entire family (including their father, grandfathers, step-fathers, brothers, uncles, nephews, etc) in their delivery room. And you bet your sweet bippy that it's all those male relatives hovering at the foot of the bed when the sheets comes off and legs go up. :eek: :confused: :dead:

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Specializes in Case mgmt., rehab, (CRRN), LTC & psych.

I find thankful, appreciative patients rather odd because it is rare when I encounter them. On the other hand, rudeness and neediness has become the new normal.

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I'm with the PP who said that odd interactions are becoming the ones they're accustomed to.

Top on my now-normal list: patients with their entire family (including their father, grandfathers, step-fathers, brothers, uncles, nephews, etc) in their delivery room. And you bet your sweet bippy that it's all those male relatives hovering at the foot of the bed when the sheets comes off and legs go up. :eek: :confused: :dead:

And then when these women are hospitalized for other reasons, they wildly protest having a male caregiver assist them with bathing and other personal ADLs. Oh yes, can't have possibly have a male doing that. They can have male doctors but not male nurses and aides. That would never do.

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That is hilarious. It always amazes me what people do when there is only a curtain separating them from another patient (in this case, a half a curtain). I used to work on a trauma ward. We had a motorcycle accident patient in traction. One day I found them having sex. There was another patient, an elderly gentleman, on the other side of the curtain.

On another occasion, I found the same patient smoking weed in the patient bathroom. When I told him we could call the police, he said "and they look after the patient." I said, "no they arrest the patient." Those were the days.

Now we are going to get legalized marijuana where I live. Well, the hospital administrators will have to spend a lot of time drafting policies on that one. I guess it will have to be included in drug interaction lists as well.

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Wow, you said exactly what I was thinking. I recall a patient I had in LTC who incessantly called out for help. She was not demented, just impatient and had a sense of entitlement. When staff politely told her she would have to wait, she would bang her table and yell even more, saying "I'm paying for this. I'm going to get you fired," and similar diatribes. When she died, the family did not thank the staff for the years of care they gave her. She got way more attention than other clients due to her disruptive behaviours, yet the family didn't have the decency to say thank you.

I had another non-demented but demanding elderly client who threatened to have me fired. "I'm reporting you. I'm going to have your job." I quietly replied "okay." and tried to focus on her behaviour and needs. She was so taken aback. She said "you don't care if I have you fired" in an incredulous tone of voice. No actually I didn't care because I held more than one job and I didn't need to work that much. She never did report me or have me fired. She talked to all of the staff like this. And we all just ignored the behaviour as best as we could. But it was hilarious when she threatened me and I just said "okay."

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She was HANGRY

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I dread the aging baby boomers. Many of this generation have a sense of entitlement and can be quite assertive and aggressive.

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Had a hospice patient once whose daughter was sleeping in the room with her. Patient passed while daughter was sleeping. I removed her oxygen, and then woke up daughter to tell her. "I'll give you a couple minutes alone" Returned to find daughter back in bed, sound asleep AND the oxygen back on. Remove oxygen again, wake daughter again and ask for funeral home info. She rolls her eyes, gets up, opens her address book and lays it on deceased mother's chest while she flips through it. I get info, go to call funeral home.

Return to room to find (you can see where this is going)daughter back in bed asleep and the damned oxygen back on.

Now, this was literally the last room we had in the hospital. I once again wake daughter and tell her funeral home is en route and she will need to vacate. She is pissed "I was planning to stay through breakfast". (It's currently around midnight) Inform her no can do.

Funeral director arrives, and daughter brings two outfits on hangers out into hallway and asks us which she should wear to the viewing and which she should wear to the graveside.

Funeral directs beats a hasty retreat. Daughter then holds out her car keys and tells me I can put her luggage in her car now! I decline.

The CNA who was working with me that night lives in the same town as I do. Every now and then, we run into each other- and immediately burst into hysterics remembering this 'odd interaction'.

Good story to share approaching Hallowe'en. Just plain creepy.

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Specializes in med-surg, IMC, school nursing, NICU.

annie.rn Thank you! What a nice thing to say! My mom used to tell me if I got discovered and put on SNL, I could quit college.

I'm a nurse now, of course, so you can see how that turned out. But at least I can make you guys laugh on here.

People say laughter is the best medicine.

Those people are wrong.

Wine is.

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annie.rn Thank you! What a nice thing to say! My mom used to tell me if I got discovered and put on SNL, I could quit college.

I'm a nurse now, of course, so you can see how that turned out. But at least I can make you guys laugh on here.

People say laughter is the best medicine.

Those people are wrong.

Wine is.

Nurses really need to be able to laugh when they see all this craziness going on.
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Specializes in Med-Surg, OB, ICU, Public Health Nursing.

It was Halloween and I wore and orange top on a med-surg floor. I asked the patient if he knew that it was Halloween. He responded, " am a schizophrenic and don't you know I hate Halloween?"

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