Share The Weirdest Reasons Patients Push The Call Light

elnski · Oct 8, 2005

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Another memorable was the dearest little confused lady who was using her call bell to play jeopardy on TV and was annoyed that 'the other fella' was winning. Even after being re-oriented, the bell was still ringing every 5 seconds.

:chuckle

Harrr!!! Harrr!!! Harrr!!!!

Ouch! m having lock jaw now....

elnski · Oct 8, 2005

A pt called for nurse for another pt who happens to have STM loss and has been endlessly searching for her upper set of denture..We searched hi and low, in her bag, insyd her shoes, insyd and out of her cabinet, bed, sheets, blankets,pillows..toilet..in the vase..EVERYWHERE...

then I give up cuz its first thing on my shift and i have to give medications. When i was abt to put down my meds for the second pt's bedsyd, i noticed her little glass has sumthing soaked in it....

EEEeeeEEEeeWWwwww!!!!!! u guessed it ryt.. that's hers cuz that pt of mine whom i gave the tabs doesnt wear dentures..

it happened again, the next tym she got it mixd w/ somebody else's denture box who happens to be confused as well..Darn, have to figure out wc is wc..cuz one wld have a whole set and the other has a few missing..glad i figured them out in the first try i made them wear it... ULK!!! :eek:

andrea31313 · Oct 8, 2005

I had a patient that thought i had worked enough that day (16 plus) and she called 911 to get them to make me go home. I snuck down the hall all that night so that she would not see me. The police showed up, and told her I was going home to rest.

lpnstudentin2010, LPN · Oct 13, 2005

I had a patient that thought i had worked enough that day (16 plus) and she called 911 to get them to make me go home. I snuck down the hall all that night so that she would not see me. The police showed up, and told her I was going home to rest.

That is kinda cute and sweet

mysticalwaters1 · Oct 14, 2005

Well not a call light but I gave a pt a flu shot before he was discharged. He must've told his neighbor b/c I heard loud screaming "nurse..nurse...nurse." i thought someone was dying and I RACED over....the neighbor goes "oh can I have a flu shot too?!" And the other pt was laughing watching as I raced over! I was ticked..but I laughed and as I laughed I said that's not funny but I couldn't help laughing but oh how horrible!

mysticalwaters1 · Oct 14, 2005

I had a pt of mine request "Can you trim my hair".....I then told her that the facility had a beautician, and she could make an appt. in the morning when she opened...........but boy was I wrong, she wanted the hair "DOWN THERE" trimmed. Needless, to say it did not get trimmed.

OH that reminded me! One pt asked me to pluck her chin hairs!!!!! I told her I'd shave them off but she said no I need to pluck them each one individually!!! I walked out!

PsychRNMsz · Oct 14, 2005

My personal favorite was a very large gentleman calling us (on a night shift) to come and 'look at something'...only to discover when we got down there he wanted to show off the battleship he just sank in the toilet bowl. I'm not even kidding, he was SO proud! (as an aside, we actually had to call maintainance on-call to unplug the toilet afterward...)
Another memorable was the dearest little confused lady who was using her call bell to play jeopardy on TV and was annoyed that 'the other fella' was winning. Even after being re-oriented, the bell was still ringing every 5 seconds.
:chuckle

at least its not your spouse and children doing it a home.... :eek: :selfbonk:

Nursewelly · Oct 31, 2005

I actually have two:

I was working an unusually busy evening on postpartum- when one of our patients rang and asked for "a wine bucket filled with ice so they could chill their sparkling cider for dinner". :rolleyes: We really are waitresses. I ended up having to fill one of the large emesis basins with ice for them.

The second was a patient (also on postpartum) that rang- unit clerk answered- and pt. asked for tylenol and something for indigestion. I took a stroll back to her room to assess her before pulling the meds. When I asked her what was wrong- she replied "Oh they're not for me- my husband has really bad heartburn and a headache" :uhoh3: :angryfire . I informed her that there was a 24hr CVS across the street.

Gromit · Oct 31, 2005

I had a woman demand to see the RN on duty and said it was an emergency. So I walk into the room and ask her what I can do for her.
She says "Pick my nose" OMG :angryfire I said maa'm I don't pick my nose I am surely NOT going to pick yours. She said well that's what I am paying you for! You are supposed to do whatever I say. When she did this it made me very angry but believe me we have gotten a lot of laughs out of it since.

Hmm.. Back when I was a tech at another facility, I was floating to a different floor for several days (another tech on vacation, it was a small facility) at 3pm until the rest of my shift was over (I worked 9a-9p) One woman got snacks on a routine schedule, between meals. She was a bit on the demanding side, but thats not unheard of.

When it was time to pass the evening meals out, I put her tray on her bedside table, moved it into position, and went on to the next patient, etc etc. About 10 mins or so later, she pushed the call-light and I came into the room. She had not touched her plate. She said "you need to feed me" -she seemed perfectly able to eat her snacks with no evident trouble. I mentioned it to her as well. She said "I always have someone feed me my meals. I can eat my snacks by myself." I informed her that I would help in any way possible, but I was not going to feed someone who could feed themselves. She told me that this was MY JOB and I'd better do it. I told her that she was drastically mistaken if she thought she could threaten me in that manner. She then said "Well, then. I guess I won't eat, then." I said that was entirely her business, but at 5pm, the plates were going to be collected either way.

Now, this was a 45yo woman, walkietalkie, she was alert/oriented, just well, I'm not sure what her major issue was in this regard.

5pm, I picked up a tray that had not been touched (beyond the tea and desert being consumed).

I told my relief this story, and requested she pass it on to her relief (whom I'd be relieving tomorrow). It was done, and the woman was ticked as all hell when I came on shift, and made a point of telling me how the girl before me would no longer feed her. (Imagine that) -oh yeah, she ate her meal this time.

ZASHAGALKA, RN · Oct 31, 2005

Many years ago, about 10pm into a 4-12 shift, one of our 'empty' rooms rang the call bell. The pt, who was settled by the 8-4 shift (who forgot to tell us about him), rang to say:

"I"m ok, I was just checking on y'all, since I hadn't seen anybody since I arrived."

Needless to say, I always check empty rooms.

~faith,

Timothy.

eosaeni · Nov 1, 2005

i work in the postpartum unit so i had this woman ask me if it was time to change her pad

Mister Chris, MSN, NP · Nov 1, 2005

Working in a large nursing home for the first time and on nights I got taken in by a very large old (85yrs) lady who kept buzzing for attention once she found out that the nursing sister in charge that night was a male. (ME!) But that was not the end of it - she requested for many different things like a drink, to turn her (she was unable to do this without help), put on a clean pad, get her clothes ready for the morning (this had already been done-twice!), etc. etc. then finally she buzzed and wanted me to hold a mirror so she could put on her make-up! This was now 04.15am. She must have buzzed over twelve or more times through that night. She did request also from the AIN's not to tell me, but she wanted to know when I was going to be on duty again!

I have been back but managed to escape her calling for me!:chair:

Mister Chris:specs: