"It's only Ketchup"

[PaynRN]

I am an RN in an outpatient Pain Management Clinic. Today, I was working on our office's Infection Control plan that I had just taken over from a departing employee, when I heard our Nurses Aide say to a patient that she just brought back " You are bleeding". A family member pushed a gentleman by my office and I notice he has bare feet with a large 3- 4 inch old open wound on the bottom of his foot. Sure enough, just as my Aide said, he was dripping blood all the way down the hallway to the bathroom. GRREEAATTT. I am shaking my head in disbelief as I follow them down the hallway. The Aide puts on gloves and proceeds to clean him up while I go out into the waiting area to try to see what damage has been done to the carpet and secure the area. I go out and there it was, a 4 foot section of carpet that looked like it came out of a CSI episode. The other patients had moved to the other side of the waiting area thank goodness. I am staring in shock at the mess on the floor that included CLOTS, when a person waiting said " We tried to tell her that it was blood but she insisted that "It's only Ketchup".

Evidentally, she believed her family member had stepped on a Ketchup packet while in her car. (Yeah right). She also didn't have any idea where the "bandaid" that she had put on the wound had gone.

Seriously, this wound could have taken an entire Kerlix bandage.

The best part of the whole incident happened after we cleaned up the mess, she says " Oh yeah, he has some sort of infection in that foot called MRSA" .

Nothing like baptism by fire!

[TazziRN, RN]

Ooooh, that's when you want to grab the shotgun!!! I had a pt once who came in with a cough, and I kept asking the daughter about her history. She gave me her mom's med list and kept insisting there was nothing else. Over an hour later she said, "Oh, she started taking this medicine yesterday" and handed me a bottle of Isoniazid!! I didn't convert, but only by the grace of God. This was back before ALL pts with cough were encouraged to wear a mask.

[fetch33]

:barf01: :barf01:

[Tweety, BSN, RN]

Good grief. Just when you thought you've seen and heard it all.

[muffie, RN]

yucky

[ArmyMSN]

Look on the brightside, JCAHO surveyors weren't in the area.