Share The Weirdest Reasons Patients Push The Call Light

Nurses Humor

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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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Specializes in Paediatrics, Orthopeodics, ENT, General.

One of the funniest reasons a confused patient used her call bed was that she'd lost something. Not so unusual, but what she'd lost was a pig!! Honest-to-God, she thought she'd seen pig run under the next bed! So, down I go on my knees, thinking there might be some slippers or something that might have 'looked' like a pig. A colleague came into the room, and found me under the bed. Upon asking what I was doing, and my answer that I was looking for a pig, she fell over laughing. Pretty soon we were both crawling around on our hands and knees as we humoured our confused lady, calling out "Here, piggy piggy! Here piggy!!" It really turned into a 3-ring circus as the confused lady kept shouting directions to us, we crawled and called, and then the other patient in the room got into the act, yelling out "It went out the door! Quick, catch it!

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My all time favorite is when they call you to unplug their IV machine so they can get up and to the restroom.

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Specializes in OR, ICU, Tele, Psych, LTC, Palliative.

Names and favourite potable will be changed to protect the not so innocent. Mrs. Smith was a resident at LTC, a walkie/talkie and fully competent to understand the concept of 32 residents needing care. Part of her orders, as with everyone, was 1 oz ETOH per day PRN. One night after several emergency send outs to hospital, people falling etc. it was the end of the shift, 2300, and I had gotten absolutely no paper work done as the incoming night staff was arriving. As I looked at the pile of charts in front of me, one of our aids came in the chart room and said, "Mrs. Smith would like her Kahlua now. With ice." My response was that if she wanted her Kahlua now, at the change of shift, she could come to the nurses station to get it. She never did. Sheesh, at least waiters get tips! :banghead:

Sue :spbox:

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Specializes in Hospice, Psychiatry.

In my first clinical at a nursing home, I was making sure the resident was all set before I left the room.

I handed her the call button and... she pressed it. I was standing right in front of her and she pressed the call button :smackingf

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Specializes in LTC.

:yeah:Patient used call light to let staff know they were 94 yrs old and needs help. Didn't want anything except to inform. This patient has been in the facility 15 + yrs.:no:

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Specializes in med/surg.

i had a resident when i was an aide in ltc call me to his room. when i got there he told me his whohaw itched & he would like me to apply cream, because he couldn't reach it. i asked him to to show me exactly where it itched & he promptly reached down & touched the tip of said whohaw... i grabbed the cream & said put out your hand, you can reach it you can put on your own cream... when i mentioned this to my coworkers they informed me of a fulltimer who would lube him nightly when she worked:no:... no thank you!

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Specializes in Psychiatrics.
Glad I'm not these two guys momma!! Bet they donn't have wives!! lol The day either of my grown kids thinks I'm going to feed/bathe/wipe their tushes is the day I turn green with purple stripes!!

I've worked LTC for 14 years....am amazed that its always the patients that are farthest from the nursing desk that have the worst cases of callbellringingitis!!!

I've gotten alot of "I need the bedpan" and when I tell the pt. you just had it 2 minutes ago and they say "Oh i forgot" then roll over and go back to sleep. Or, someone will put their light on, go to answer it, they didnt want anything. Get back to the desk, their light is back on, back down the hall..."Well, since you woke me up I need a pain pill/bedpan/drink."

We also have a few rooms with 'ghost lights' The call lights will come on when no one is inthe room. Had this happen a few weeks ago. One resident from the room was in the hospital the other was sitting in his chair at the desk....NO ONE in the room to turn it on. Went down turned it off...half way down the hall, it came back on!!! (Of course this is a room farthest from the desk!! lol) This happened about 4 times! Freaked us out a bit. Then the light across the hall started doing the same thing. We couldn't get that one to shut off at all. Usually when things like this happen, we have a death (or 3)

I've had this happen quite a few times in the almost 5 years working in health care (2 1/2 yrs as a CNA, 1/2 yr as an LPN, and almost 2 years as an RN) the most recent was at a VA hospital, the call light was in a "family room" and the call light would not go off, it stayed on for the entire night shift, (luckily there was no insistant beeping going along with it)

I also worked at a local area hospital and we had call lights go off for no reason, no one was in the room, and no one even close to the call light, I walked by a room and the call light went off, went into the room, and there wasn't anyone around, no one even down that hallway (all the patients were in group) VERY WEIRD

(That's what you get for working in PSYCH wards!!!)

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Specializes in ER, TRAUMA, MED-SURG.
I once had a patient who called me to the room to wipe his butt because he did not wipe his own butt at home....his wife did. :uhoh3: (I'm not kidding about this):rotfl:

That same patient would call me to his room to pull the bedside table closer to him, and pour him a cup of cold water. He didn't have to do this for himself at home. His wife did it, or their "help" did it.

Was he too sick to wipe his own butt and get his own water? No. He was a walky-talky dressed in a silk robe and jammies who could do everything for himself if he wanted to. He didn't want to. :rolleyes:

Hey - just wanted to put in my 2 cents. Back in the mid 1990s, I was taking care of a little old lady who apparently just was plain old lonely. I was working 12 hours and had quite a busy load that day. By noon or so, she had called oh, about 50 or 60 times. It got old REALLY FAST, but I always went to check on her condition. By 2 pm, I told her that we had "an electric counter at the desk monitoring each call." I told her we only responded to the first 100 requestes on the call bell. YOU SHOULD HAVE SEEN THE LOOK ON HER FACE!!!! She had this really sheepish look on her face and said, "Well, what number am I up to?! "98, so you have 2 calls left until the next shift. We didn't hear another peep out of her for the rest of the shift!

Anne, RNC:saint:

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Specializes in gen icu/ neuro icu/ trauma icu/hdu.

Attended pt who was crashing, me my doc ward staff etc with this pt when the pt opposite (in 4 bed bay) buzzes to tell us his obs wer 2 min late!!!

Nice to be needed.:chuckle

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I had a pt ring the call light over and over again just to make sure it was working.

I had a patient that asked me to remove the unicorn that was the corner of the room. She was very mad when it refused to leave the room with me.

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Specializes in Emergency.

Had a pt who was 101yo female call to ask me to scratch her lady parts. She was upset when I refused to do it.

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Had a pt who was 101yo female call to ask me to scratch her lady parts. She was upset when I refused to do it.

hehehehe! I wonder why! LOL! :D:chuckle:):nurse:

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