Published
This goes waaay back to my nursing student days while working at a family restaurant. I was bringing the check to the table and realized that I miscalculated and said "Oops, I almost charged you an arm and a leg!"
Yep you know it, one customer was an amputee..
It was so bad I still cringe about it, 30 yrs later.
Working as an EMT at the time, we were transporting a terminal cancer patient to the hospital for shortness of breath/pulmonary edema.
It was very hot in the back of the ambulance, and a paramedic trainee who was with us said "I'm dying in here."
The patient looked at him dead-pan and said, "Yeah, so am I."
I once came in to a patients room (I was helping the RN that was on break) and the patient was visibly agitated post surgery. I medicated for pain. Still agitated. So I turn off the TV, turn down the lights, and say to mom - "Sometimes we just need to decrease stimuli and it helps relieve some of this anxiety."
Kid was deaf and blind.
Christy1019, ASN, RN
879 Posts
We have all had a time in our lives where the most unfortunate things have come out of our mouths, and a coworker of mine had one recently, that while it caused an immediate cringe, could be looked back upon later with a chuckle, because we've ALL done it.
We had a successful post code, drowning victim that was lethargic but oriented. While doing an Xray, my coworker stated "OK, hold your breath like you're going under water!"
Thankfully the pt didn't seem to grasp the ridiculousness of that statement, but I assure you we all had that immediate pucker - factor moment! What ridiculously hilarious things have you all said that you wished you could take back, but are still somehow humorous?