"Stupid Nurse Tricks"

FranEMTnurse, CNA, LPN, EMT-I · Oct 11, 2003

:chuckle :roll

Liddle Noodnik · Oct 11, 2003

re: PULLS the spike out of the bag to spike the other bag, and i hose my face off with the remainder in the old bag.

heee hee hee hee. (evil little laff)

caffine addict · Oct 11, 2003

Originally posted by Frances LeMay
I saw a whopper stupid nurse trick a few years ago. The person was a new Nurse's Aide, whose elevator didn't quite go to the top floor.

After one of her residents was finished with the bedpan, she walked into the LARGE men's bathroom, walked right past the toilets, went to the window, opened it, and then proceeded to dump the bedpan out on the ground.

The DON saw the whole thing while she was walking toward the entrance.

That is toooooo funny!!! I think I may have hired that one before. It's a good thing it didn't land on the DONs head:D

Hellllllo Nurse, BSN, RN · Oct 11, 2003

Back when I was an LPN, my charge nurse (RN) tried to force an MS Contin down a peg tube and got it stuck in the tip. I got it out for her and explained that the med could be given rectally or via stoma.

The nurse then said to me: "Thanks! You're a really good supervisor."

I replied: "Uh....you're the supervisor."

FROGGYLEGS, LPN · Oct 11, 2003

I was orientated to my current position by a nurse that is borderline demonic. In between making her snide comments she told me "You do have to crush the medicine before you put in the PEG, you cant just put whole pills down a PEG tube".

I thought she was just being a jerk. Now I wonder if she hasn't run across someone trying to stuff pills down a tube herself. I really didn't realize that there was anyone out there that would try that.

That is scary BUT funny lol.

caprice1 · Oct 11, 2003

It was my first job as an R.N. at a LTC facility as a charge nurse on the night shift......I was walking out of a resident's room, and a C.N.A. was waiting for me. He was standing there with an adult brief, and in it was this massive amount of light brown gelatinous...what I thought was abnormal b.m.. I thought, Oh my God!...and the next thing I see is my C.N.A taking a big lick of this Glob and I about died! It was chocolate pudding!

Coldfoot · Oct 11, 2003

Had I pulled this one, I wouldn't have been telling others but......

Worked with a nurse that explained one of his, um, brighter moments as such.

As a new nurse in ER he recieved an order for Nitro Paste 1.5 inch. Being a new nurse, he carefully squeezed out a pretty 1.5 inch line onto the appropriate paper. He then proceded to use his ungloved finger to spread the Nitro, making sure to cover the paper exactly, :chuckle which took several minutes. The seasoned RN that watched stopped him before he applied it to the patient but procedded to explain the correct way to apply Nitro Paste before he could wash his hands:devil: She finaly let him when the headedache started.

This was a good learning experiance, he didn't do that one again.

FranEMTnurse, CNA, LPN, EMT-I · Oct 11, 2003

You've got that right, coffee addict. As it was, the elevator girl got fired on the spot. :mad: I'd hate to think what the DON would have done to her if the contents hit her head.:chuckle

She probably would have made a very memorable experience for all of us, and would have come short of lynching Elevator Girl.

Ruby Vee, BSN · Oct 11, 2003

Originally posted by LPN2Be2004
Ok here's a classic and i'm not even a nurse yet.

Changing an IV bag of normal saline. Two bags are hanging up. The one is running now. It has about 100 cc's left but it needed changed. So ol' swifty me just PULLS the spike out of the bag to spike the other bag, and i hose my face off with the remainder in the old bag.

Years ago, when I was a brand new nurse my preceptor did that -- only it was blood!

FranEMTnurse, CNA, LPN, EMT-I · Oct 11, 2003

Did she turn an unusual shade or red?

Ruby Vee, BSN · Oct 11, 2003

Years ago, I was working on the other coast on a busy medical floor. We had several sickle cell patients at the same time, and were busy giving them their every 1 or 2 hour injections of MS, Dilaudid, Demeral, or whatever. The LPN I was working with came to me with an incident report . . . it seems she had been about to give a patient his injection in the thigh as he dangled at the side of the bed. His skin and muscles were hard from all of the many injections he'd had over the years, so you really need to put a lot of effort into it to get the injection through the skin. She wound up to make the jab, the syringe slipped out of her hand, and fell needle down, where it hit the guy's big toe and stopped, the needle sticking out of his toe. Lorraine was too busy to even think about going to get another dose -- she just injected it there! The patient thought it was pretty funny (fortunately) although it wasn't absorbed very well, and he didn't get much pain relief!

Ruby Vee, BSN · Oct 11, 2003

My first IM injection into a real patient was vitamin B to an alcoholic who was actively DTing. I'm not sure why my instructor thought this would be an appropriate first experience, but she evidently did. In those days, Vit B came in a glass tubex which was given with a metal tubex holder -- the whole apparatus was pretty big and scarey looking.

The patient was pretty calm (well, relatively, anyway) while I mapped out my injection site and explained to the instructor what I'd be doing. But when I jabbed the needle in (quickly to minimize the discomfort) he let out a shriek that would wake the dead, levitated off the bed and took off running down the hall, the needle still in his butt and the tubex with it's metal holder bobbing up and down as he ran. I'll never forget the look on the charge nurse's face as the tubex hit the floor and smashed, while the patient kept right on going!

Is it any wonder I still hate IM injections over 25 years later?