Tell me about the calls that have pulled you away from helping other patients for a ridiculous or bizarre request/reason.
By far my most interesting was a patient who called demanding to see his nurse urgently, he was young, in his thirties and a walkie-talkie, so fearing the worse immediately dropped what I was doing to go see him. I get to his room only to find him kneeling on the couch staring out the window.
"You needed me?" I inquire perplexed.
"There's a bat outside my room".
I to this day do not know what he expected me to do about it. Out of curiosity I did go look and sure enough there was a mexican free tailed bat outside his window flying around. I identified it for him, to which he looked shocked, and left him gazing out the window. When I came back later it was all he wanted to talk about.
That totally sounds like me. One day when I am an RN I know that there will be a few instances where I do something like that. You seriously gave me the lulz. I will never forget that:)
Had a daughter of a confused resident come to the desk screaming that "I brought mom TWO candy bars last night and they are GONE! Someone took my mothers candy bars!" I asked her "Did you look for them? Because this broad is notorious for that-she'll freak out about missing crap without even opening the drawers and pretending to look. She continued to freak-" That's YOUR job" as she followed me to her mothers room.There sat her mother with chocolate on her fingers and two candy bar wrappers on the floor at her feet...
LOL I used to work in wildlife rehabilitation before becoming a nurse. I can identify pretty much any species of bat, bird or reptile around.
Ah, so when hospital administration comes around, you not only know they are snakes, but you can even identify what kind of snake. Very useful if you ever go into management I bet.
I've only been working for three shifts, but I've already had a patient call me into his room to ask if I'd listen to something. I went in there thinking he wanted me to listen to his heart, but turns out he wanted me to listen to his flatulence.
After I listened to what sounded like Chewbacca, I said, "yay?" and he said, "NO! They sound more constricted and they last longer than normal!"
I asked him if he was taking Acciphex.....but he didn't get it.
He was admitted for something completely unrelated to bowels or anything like that, so I think he was just showing off, honestly.
We were really busy and had a lot of sick patients. I did laugh about it later though.
OK, this may sound really bad on my part, and it isn't really a bizarre request, but one I've often wanted to say "What do you want me to do about it?"
Vomiting.
I mean, I know it sucks, I hate vomiting myself, but there really isn't a whole lot I can do for you. I've already given you your zofran and phenergan, I can clean your bucket and get you a cold washcloth, maybe some gingerale, and sympathize. But beyond that there isn't much I can do.
Does that make me a horrible nurse? I haven't actually said that, but I've thought it.
Oh another one, I had a young male patient call me into his room to ask if I could watch something on TV with him
And on a similar note, after seeing a pt watching twilight (okay so its a secret obsession of mine ) and telling him how much I liked it said he would wait to watch it until I wasn't busy and then I could watch it with him. LOL yeah right, like I'm ever not busy
OK, this may sound really bad on my part, and it isn't really a bizarre request, but one I've often wanted to say "What do you want me to do about it?"
Vomiting.
I mean, I know it sucks, I hate vomiting myself, but there really isn't a whole lot I can do for you. I've already given you your zofran and phenergan, I can clean your bucket and get you a cold washcloth, maybe some gingerale, and sympathize. But beyond that there isn't much I can do.
Does that make me a horrible nurse? I haven't actually said that, but I've thought it.
Absolutely not! I feel the same way about patients or families who call to tell me they are hiccupping. I am not calling the doctor at 2am to ask on the off chance they will give you Thorazine. Usually I ask if this is something new, they respond, yeah its the first time in months. Well what would you do if you were at home?
Specializes in Med-Surg; Telemetry; School Nurse pk-8.
Tell me about the calls that have pulled you away from helping other patients for a ridiculous or bizarre request/reason.
By far my most interesting was a patient who called demanding to see his nurse urgently, he was young, in his thirties and a walkie-talkie, so fearing the worse immediately dropped what I was doing to go see him. I get to his room only to find him kneeling on the couch staring out the window.
"You needed me?" I inquire perplexed.
"There's a bat outside my room".
I to this day do not know what he expected me to do about it. Out of curiosity I did go look and sure enough there was a mexican free tailed bat outside his window flying around. I identified it for him, to which he looked shocked, and left him gazing out the window. When I came back later it was all he wanted to talk about.
That's about the time I would have walked back to the nursing station and written up the d/c paperwork for the doc to sign. *sigh* If they are well enough that their main concern is a bat outside, they no longer require hospital level of care. Buh-bye...
Specializes in Med-Surg; Telemetry; School Nurse pk-8.
A resident's son came in to visit his mother. During the 4 pm med pass, he came up to the cart, demanding to know where his mother's hearing aids were. I looked in the case that her hearing aids are stored when not in use, and to my dismay they were not there. When I went into his mother's room to look for them, there they were, right where they were supposed to be...in her ears!! She had turned them off, and because she was not responding to the idle chit chat of her son, he assumed she did not have them in. He is always looking to blame the staff for one thing or another. I wanted to say to him, "There is a crow on the branch of the tree right outside your mother's window. How would you like that cooked..baked, broiled, or fried?" Since that incident, there has been a temporary "cease fire" re: complaints!
The son might have been a dolt, but your resident was BRILLIANT!!!
) and telling him how much I liked it said he would wait to watch it until I wasn't busy and then I could watch it with him. LOL yeah right, like I'm ever not busy 
Mandalore545
7 Posts
@eriksoln
That totally sounds like me. One day when I am an RN I know that there will be a few instances where I do something like that. You seriously gave me the lulz. I will never forget that:)