Published
You guys always crack me up, so I came up with this question to hear more funny weird stories.
What were some funny, stupid, or weird reasons patients push the call light for?
Are you supposed to go to the room right away or how does it work? I will be an RN next year and interested in knowing more about the actual daily life w/ pt.
Here are some of the best...
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When I was a new nurse I worked on an internal med floor. I went to answer a call light and there was this little lady swinging her foley tube around in the air. She had pulled it out, balloon intact (ouch). She was yelling, "I can't get my television tuned in!". I guess she thought the foley tube was her antenna.
:wink2:
LOL.... these are the two funniest and strangest reasons IVE ecountered,,,
1. a COPD'er, on several occasions, rang the light and said "i just wanted to see what yall were doing up there"
2. once, on a very busy shift, a new patient rang the call light and said "i just want to tell you that my daughter in here is interested in you" the whole nurses station erupted in laughter... i must say it was rather cute:roll
This past weekend was it!
Two patients in the same room, they both work hard to wake each other up, i.e. banging on furniture, yelling and shouting to each other, ambulating (which they are NOT supposed to do) to the other side and waking if they don't get a response. Finally I told the one that if he couldn't be quiet he would have to get up and sit in the dining room for the rest of the night. He agreed to be quiet.
For two solid hours, every ten to fifteen minutes , he rang the call light for the silliest things. He didn't need anything, just to ask questions and make comments.
"Do you see all the cars going by out there?" pointing at the street
"There is a light blinking up there." pointing at the smoke alarm
No kidding, this type of thing went on for 2 hours! He finally went to sleep and woke at 0400. "Where's breakfast and don't think you can get by with just giving me toast again...I want bacon and eggs!"
I was never so glad to see my days off start. The CNA was complaining about how he and his rommate were driving her crazy. I said, "You've only been here one night, I've been dealing with them for three, I don't want to hear it!"
We had a lady at one time that would put her light on for no reason. When you went in to turn it off she would try to keep you in there for as long as possible for nothing. One shift we counted and she used her light 367 times!
I had a very sweet elderly lady with an angelic smile and the conversation went like this: Honey, do I need surgery. Me: no you don't need surgery. You are perfect just like you are. Her: Well, if I did need surgery, what kind would I need?
Years ago we had a quadraplegic (sp) man that would turn his light on and then call the front desk on his phone (he had a stick that he held in his mouth to push the buttons) once he got an answer at the front desk he would breathe hard and tell them he was in distress could they get someone down here immediately. Of course the first 10-15 times that happened they would come running down the hall from the office in an uproar getting help down to his room, when we would get there he would ask one of us to either change his tape, or hit the record button on the vcr or to turn his stereo up or down. When asked about him being in distress he would say oh yeah that too. Grrr....
Just recently we had a man that turns his light on every three minutes after numerous times of asking how may we help you, he swears up and down he did not touch his light. Or he will turn his light on and wait till one of us comes in and acts like he is asleep when we ask what can we do for him he feins being woke up and wants to know why we keep waking him up at all hours of the night. I would buy that he was asleep and hit the light by accident if I hadn't seen him peeking up over his covers as I walk in the room many, many times.
The last night I worked I had him and he would turn his light on and I would go in there and ask what can I do for you and he would say "nothing I didn't turn on my light." I would walk out and he would turn it on again before I got ten feet away I would turn around and go back in there ask what he needed and he would say "I forgot to tell you I can't go to sleep" Next 3-5 min he would do the same thing but then ask for a drink of water or his urinal or ask what time it was and so on. This went on from around 11:30 until about 2:00 finally I told him that I did not mind coming in and doing anything for him but that if I could do everything for him at once would be better and he could get to sleep. He got mad and said that he hadn't asked me to do one "dern" thing for him tonight and if I was going to be hateful to him then he just would not call for anymore help. :uhoh21: I just very politely said "ok if you need anything else you just let me know" he rolled over covered up and waited a whole ten minutes before he called again.
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.
I'm wondering b/c I just get irked at people who treat a healthcare facility like a hotel when the people who are working for a living are paying these people's bills. I probably don't have the whole picture here and replied in haste, but I have run into a few (inpt acute psych), who trump up sx to get admitted, then expect to be waited on hand-&-foot while they are hiding from the law and/or creditors(legitmate and outlaw). Sorry, didn't mean to sound uncaring, but there are just TOO MANY people out there who abuse the system and, in the long run, have made it difficult for others who actually NEED the help to get it. I am sure the resident you mentioned had a legitimate reason to be in your facility and to be on the call bell a lot.:)
Ok, it is Friday the 13th (with a full moon no doubt!) 86yo male w/dementia. Kept complaining about constipation. Literally screaming for the better part of our shift. We tried everything, boost, enema. Nothing worked for him. Kept screaming. Finally decided to try natures remedy. Heated up some prune juice and made him drink all of it. Put him on a bedpan. Still kept screaming. Told him that the juice will help him, if he would allow it to and all he had to do was relax. Still kept screaming. Finally the screaming stopped, and if you have children, then you know that silence usally means that they are up to something. Went back into the room and wouldnt you know it, he had removed the bedpan and poo was all over the place! Cleaned him up, and fixed his bed, and he went to sleep, for all of 10 minutes, when he screamed for more help. Poo all over again. This repeated about 3 more times. The last time he started screaming, we all went into the room to find out what was wrong, and he said he couldn't take the pain anymore and wanted something for the diarrhea!:angryfire
dian57
50 Posts
As far as visitors and excessive use of callbells and visits to the nurses station with questions:
I've often considered posting a sign that says:
If you have run out of conversation with your loved one, GO HOME.
Do not entertain yourself by requesting the staff toilet, shave, reposition or medicate your loved one because you have become bored.
Again, GO HOME.
Really.