Questionable actions that make you go hmm?

Nurses General Nursing

Published

Let's have a little fun. What questionable actions have you witnessed by someone that makes you go hmmm...roll your eyes or just flat out laugh?

The pulmonologist who listened to my patients lungs without having stethoscope in his ears.

My last job I went toward the nursing station after being with a patient. The janitor lady was sweeping the counters with the broom. ?

my 3 year old son got his finger sticked for some blood at the ped clinic. The medical assistnat dropped the 2/2 gauze on the floor, picked it up and used the same gauze to stop the bleeding ?‍♀️

4 Votes
Specializes in CMSRN, hospice.

I have met at least two nurses who didn't know the difference between types one and two diabetes. One of those nurses and I were chatting one day while I was eating my dinner, spaghetti, and for some reason my partner's diabetes came up. Her eyes got HUGE and she said, "But you guys are so young! He must have gotten it eating all that pasta you make!" I explained that he was type 1 (and I really don't make that much pasta, lol). I got a perplexed stare, followed by, "But you still get that by eating too much sugar, so..." Oof. I blew her mind when I told her the difference.

8 Votes
Specializes in Neuro ICU and Med Surg.

The resident who told me that my grandmother couldn't get dehydrated from diarrhea. Yeah, totally reminded him that it was infact possible that you can get dehydrated from diarrhea.

6 Votes

I was teaching a new nurse how to do trach care. Removed the inner cannula and she grabbed my wrist and shrieked, "Don't do that!!! How's he gonna breathe???

3 Votes

How About this

asking nurse practitioner

pt bp low and due for multiple bp medication

which one she want me to hold

and

all I get from her is this

”

did you read the doctor notes” and this one

” use your nursing judgement “

the hell

next time I will chart exactly what she said

0 Votes
On 9/4/2019 at 12:33 PM, rn1965 said:

When my 98.5 year old, very alert, witty, but unstable on feet/high fall risk d/t cataracts, Grandmother was admitted to LTC/SNF, a "couldn't be more than 12 years old" PA came in, read over the notes, labs from her previous physician, and stated, "Looks like her cholesterol is a little elevated. I will be ordering her a low fat/low sodium diet with no caffeine."

I kindly followed him into the hallway and explained that she has eaten 2 fried eggs, two bacon and two toast with REAL butter, for breakfast MOST of her life. Her cholesterol of 203 was not really a concern to her, or me at this point! I asked him what exactly he was hoping to accomplish with this?

That is hilarious ?

2 Votes
Specializes in Oncology, Surgery.

My favorite, when I was a unit secretary, was an admitting diagnosis of hypnosis. I laughed so hard and still do so many years later.

6 Votes
Specializes in PACU, pre/postoperative, ortho.
On 9/3/2019 at 4:52 PM, LovingLife123 said:

Doctors that copy and paste their notes. Or write a note and have never been to the patients room that day.

Or reading the surgeon's operative record stating pt arrived to pacu stable, etc, etc when in fact pt remains in OR while assistant is closing, crna still extubating...

2 Votes
Specializes in OB.

The new nurse who insisted that a clear liquid diet meant that the patient could have only liquids that were literally clear---so water, Sprite, and seltzer, basically. Jello, broth, and ginger ale all have a "color" so they are not acceptable. ?

3 Votes
Specializes in Geriatrics, Dialysis.

Over a course of three days post admit charting every single nurse except one charted lung sounds clear bilaterally, pupils equal and reactive and bilateral pedal pulses present on a new admit with no left lung, a glass eye and a BKA.

Also had a nurse in a moment of panic yelling for oxygen and applying a nasal cannula to a resident with a trach. She had a mucous plug and was fine after somebody with a bit more sense intervened and cleared it.

Almost forgot this one...a unit manager on our short term side consistently charted our post CABG admits as having a "CABBAGE." Yes, spelled like the vegetable. I could see this happening with spell check once or twice, but every single time?

5 Votes

These are great!

Here's mine: back in the day I took report on a surgical patient that was XX days post-op, should be getting discharged in a day, two at the most, but still seemed to have quite a lot going on. We had been doing nurse-to-nurse reporting off, only updating the charge with the "big picture" relevant items, and leaving the details in the patient's chart and Kardex for doc/residents/whoever to review.

When I got the patient he had gone through four or five such shift-change reports...and by the time I was assigned to him and actually LOOKED at him, I could see that he no longer had the dressing that was "clean/dry/intact" (resident had removed it a day before), no longer had IVF running (he'd been heplocked for two days), there was no I&O chart even in the room so how the heck anyone could report numbers was beyond me (patient was ambulatory and voiding normally). If his doc had been paying more attention to the patient instead of the report he could have discharged the guy that day.

Definitely made me go "hmmm" and made sure that 12 hours later this poor fellow was in line for discharge planning!

3 Votes

I followed my sick pregnant patient to L&D, witnessed her lady partsl birth, and brought her back to ICU. Came back a couple of days later to read every doctor’s note referring to her C-section.

5 Votes
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