Share The Weirdest Reasons Patients Push The Call Light

lpnstudentin2010, LPN · Dec 21, 2005

JBudd reminded me of a silly thing *I* did on the job recently.
The DOH was in for the annual survey. I was 6 weeks into my new position as DON and feeling more than a little stressed with their barage of questions, requests for records, "quizzes," etc. At one point I was rummaging through my desk drawer for some file they wanted and my phone rang.
I grabbed it and said in my professional phone-voice, "This is XXXXX, can you help me?"
Talk about Freudian slips.

lol:rotfl:

prmenrs, RN · Dec 21, 2005

How many times have you picked up the phone @ home and said, "(xxxxx) unit, this is (xxxx)?"

Embarrassing, each and every time.

kadokin, ASN, RN · Dec 22, 2005

There was a resident at our "sister" facility that called 911 because she heard the nurse say " will someone just shoot me" and thought she was suicidal!

:rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl:

kadokin, ASN, RN · Dec 22, 2005

LOL's call light goes off. I walk into the room and she waves the balloon end of the Foley cath at me and says, "So what'm I supposed to do with THIS?"

:rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl:

kadokin, ASN, RN · Dec 22, 2005

In the ER, I once answered the call light of a woman in her sixties for whom I had been attending. I asked her what I could do for her. She answered, "I'm just planning my trip to Mexico, and I was wondering if you would be interested in coming with me and being my 'boy'."
Now, if this had been a fine young lass in her mid-twenties, I would have been flattered. But 40-year-old salts like me do not make good 'boys.' I also had to consider that fact that I was married, and I answered the woman to that effect.
The real kick was that her twenty-something-ish daughter, who was no slouch in the appearance department, just sat there and grinned at me. I shook my head and left the room, feeling as if I had just been subjected to some twisted cosmic test.

Not a bad offer. You should have considered it.:rotfl: Just kidding.

kadokin, ASN, RN · Dec 22, 2005

i DON'T KNOW IT THIS IS THE WEIRDEST, BUT IT CERTAINLY IS THE GROSSEST REASON FOR PUSHING THE CALL BELL. I HAD A MAN IN HIS 50'S RING ABOUT 4-5 TIMES PER SHIFT. HE STATED,"CAN I HAVE A TOWEL, SOME VASELINE AND 15 MINUTES OF PRIVACY?" I KNOW WHAT HE WAS DOING!!! WE KEPT TELLING HIM THAT THE HOSPITAL DOES NOT HAVE VALELINE. WELL, SOMEONE MUST HAVE TOLD HIM WE HAVE KY JELLY. FROM THEN ON HE GOT WHAT HE WANTED. THE WORST PART ABOUT IT WAS THAT HE HAS A ROOMMATE. THE ROOMMATE EITHER DID NOT MIND OR JUST DID NOT REALIZE WHAT HE WAS DOING. YUCK!!! :nono:

:rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl:

Nikki69 · Dec 22, 2005

I have a particular resident that calls me in the room every day after she gets done sorting her newspapers and ads which she throws on the floor for me to pick up and throw away. She is a very large woman and can't get up or even move an inch in the bed so when she drops her ink pen by her side she calls me in there to search for it. She's got three bed side tables just heaped full of her "necessities" and when she can't find anything in the mess, or can't reach, she hits that call bell. I just finish up what I'm doing before I answer her light because unless she is screaming at the top of her lungs (like she does every other hour-no exageration there), I know I will just be picking up after her or organizing her important stacks of week old newspapers or re-arranging her closet. Every day at breakfast and lunch there is ALWAYS something wrong with her meal. She calls me in there after I make sure everything is ok, and has me run to the kitchen over and over again to argue with dietary about her meal. Her portion isn't big enough, or she wants to know if everyone else got what she got, or,... it's just endless. They should have one aide assigned solely to that room. You would really have to work with this lady to know how frustrating she is. And she is not nice.

kadokin, ASN, RN · Dec 22, 2005

I have a particular resident that calls me in the room every day after she gets done sorting her newspapers and ads which she throws on the floor for me to pick up and throw away. She is a very large woman and can't get up or even move an inch in the bed so when she drops her ink pen by her side she calls me in there to search for it. She's got three bed side tables just heaped full of her "necessities" and when she can't find anything in the mess, or can't reach, she hits that call bell. I just finish up what I'm doing before I answer her light because unless she is screaming at the top of her lungs (like she does every other hour-no exageration there), I know I will just be picking up after her or organizing her important stacks of week old newspapers or re-arranging her closet. Every day at breakfast and lunch there is ALWAYS something wrong with her meal. She calls me in there after I make sure everything is ok, and has me run to the kitchen over and over again to argue with dietary about her meal. Her portion isn't big enough, or she wants to know if everyone else got what she got, or,... it's just endless. They should have one aide assigned solely to that room. You would really have to work with this lady to know how frustrating she is. And she is not nice.

Just curious here. Who is paying for her stay? Private ins? medicare/medicaid? self-pay? I know I shouldn't even be asking this, but as I wrote, Just curious. :rolleyes:

JentheRN05, RN · Dec 22, 2005

I have a REALLY good one.

Had an AIDS Dementia patient. He was on his call light literally every 5 minutes (I swear that as I sit here). Asking for pudding, chocolate milk just misc little stuff. I think he had regressed to a 5 or 6 year old with his dementia (not meant as a cut on the patient, I truly think he regressed)

Anyway - after the aides answered his call light for several weeks (yes weeks he went on like this) one time the aides were all busy, it was med pass time so the nurses were busy and no one answered his light before he had two reasons (10 minutes) so he proceeded to call 911 because no one was answering his light (of course all he wanted was a tetenus shot as well as some respiratory therapy - seriously confused man didn't need either)

When the police showed up we were all shocked, we had already answered his light, his phone was off the hook next to the bed and he never said a thing.

Anyway - when the police arrived it turns out the man had a warrent out for his arrest! He ended up giving them his exact location, so instead of home when he was discharged to jail he went, all because he wasn't patient with his request for a tetenus shot.:chuckle

SaderNurse05, BSN, RN · Dec 29, 2005

I had a pt call me and ask for the largest syringe I had. I asked why she needed it and she told me she wanted to "put it in my butt, it makes me feel better". :eek: Seriously, I stood there about 15 seconds and told her she I would need a doctor's order. She said don't bother. I did pass this in report because of previous experiences- Heaven only knows what she could have found to put up there:roll

SaderNurse05, BSN, RN · Dec 29, 2005

1)Pts that call because they need to pee (they have a foley). Explaining for the umpteenth time yes, it feels like you need to be, that is okay, just relax and pee. :nurse:

2) male pts who dribble 20 cc into urinal every 15 minutes and wife is calling me to empty it each time. :nurse:

3) change of shift, I barely get my room assignment and I hear screaming coming from on of my rooms- go in to hear pt screaming "she's gonna blow, she's gonna blow" while hanging her naked butt out of the bed facing the door so when I run into the room I run into a storm of awful, awful poo. Shoes were never the same. :nurse:

LPN1974, LPN · Dec 29, 2005

Just curious here. Who is paying for her stay? Private ins? medicare/medicaid? self-pay? I know I shouldn't even be asking this, but as I wrote, Just curious.

And I'm also just curious....what difference would it make whether she's on gov. ins. or private ins or private pay?

Just curious.