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 I/DD.

Recently I heard..."I have to cough". Sorry, I can't really help you much with that one..

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.... to report a train wreck. (No trains, or train tracks for miles.)

....to report someone making noises inside the fireplace. (No fireplace in the room.)

....to complain about not being allowed to go to the bar in the next room. (Apparently, the staff were all conspiring to keep the pt. sober. This, was the angriest patient I ever had. - No bar, in the place.)

...to complain, "No satin sheets! I can't sleep on these things!" What kind of a place is this! I'm going home! ...and the taxi was on the way.

They made life more interesting. I'll take call lights over people out of bed on the floors, any day or night.

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Specializes in LDRP.

im in assisted living and we dont have call bells, but some of our residents have emergency pull cords, and necklaces. some reasons they have pulled them:

1. @0300

Me: panting from running down the stairs, "whats wrong?"

LOM: i pooped.

Me: okaaaay... umm did you hurt yourself doing it?

LOM: no i just thought you needed to know. can i go to bed now?

2. man pulls his emergency cord in the bathroom while on the toilet. i run down, open the door.. he yells "MISSS!"

Me: yes?

Man: are you married?

Me: no why?

Man: well why not, you are a beautiful girl. you should be getting married soon.

Me: is there an emergency here, or did you just pull the EMERGENCY cord to talk?

Man: close the door

Me: no.

Man: Have you ever known the loving of a man?

Me: excuse me?

Man: i could show you.

Me: that was innapropriate, im going to the desk now. good night.

3. woman presses her emergency necklace button. i go in to see her just sitting up in bed staring angrily at her sleeping room mate.

Me: everything alright?

Woman: absolutely not. that man over there (points to her female room mate), keeps coming in here and having relations in my room with god knows how many partners, i cant get to sleep with all that racket.

Me: That is your room mate, she is a woman, and she is sleeping.

Woman: Well how do you explain those men?!

Me: what men?

Woman: The ones with the floating heads that keep coming in here!

Me: i dont see anything

Woman: of course they hide whenever i call for help.

Me: well you let me know as soon as they come back, ill check them out for you.

Woman: (shakes head and bursts into tears) theyre here right now, youre not doing anything, i hate you. what are you? some kind of demon from hell.

--- sometimes i really feel like im working in a psych ward.

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Specializes in icu/er.

heard once a male pt pushed the call bell in the am to c/o not having an erection upon wakening.

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Specializes in Pediatric/Adolescent, Med-Surg.

I had an A&O x3 pt press his call button in the middle of the night because "I lost my call button and can't find it."

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Specializes in Med nurse in med-surg., float, HH, and PDN.

'Nanny' was yelling in her room; she said, "the damn choir is in my closet rehearsing again" No choir, no tv, no radio......

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Patient rang and told the LPN that answered that she needed help "picking her nose". The LPN helped her clear her nose with ocean spray and a lot of blowing. She wrote on my tablet that she "disimpacted the pt's nose". I had to read that twice while giving report and had to stop report until I could compose myself.

I was a patient in the hospital 2 years ago and couldn't understand why the nurse never answered my call bell. I'd ring, doze off and when I woke up, I'd ring again then doze off waiting. I found out later that I wasn't pushing the call bell but the PCP. The shot of morphine would put me to sleep and there was never a call for the nurses to answer. LOL

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Specializes in Med nurse in med-surg., float, HH, and PDN.
Patient rang and told the LPN that answered that she needed help "picking her nose". The LPN helped her clear her nose with ocean spray and a lot of blowing. She wrote on my tablet that she "disimpacted the pt's nose". I had to read that twice while giving report and had to stop report until I could compose myself.

I was a patient in the hospital 2 years ago and couldn't understand why the nurse never answered my call bell. I'd ring, doze off and when I woke up, I'd ring again then doze off waiting. I found out later that I wasn't pushing the call bell but the PCP. The shot of morphine would put me to sleep and there was never a call for the nurses to answer. LOL

Maybe that's what we need to do for some of the more annoying/always-on-the-call-light patients....hook 'em up to morphine PCP.

How FUNNY!!!!

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I had one 80-something patient use the call bell. When I came in, she started screaming "Where's the **** call bell you ****er?" (use your imagination in the *'s; she had quite the diverse vocabulary of insults)

I showed her where it was. She responded by saying "That's not my ****ing call bell you ****" and then proceeded to try to choke me out with the lapel of my scrubs while screaming "I'll ****ing kill you, you little ****". Wound up with a nice abrasion on my neck.

Best part about this story? While she may have had dementia, I learned later that this is apparently pretty much how this patient was her entire life. No one bothered to tell our facility this while admitting her for "strengthening"

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Specializes in geriatrics, dementia, ortho.

Pt with altered mental status d/t alcohol abuse called and asked for milk, which I happily brought her, helped her get the head of her bed up so she could drink it. Left and was helping another patient when she rang again, "Am I drinking milk?". Um . . . yes?

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Specializes in Med/Surg, DSU, Ortho, Onc, Psych.
We have our patients wear those non-skid socks when out of bed. Some like to wear them in bed.

Had a patient put on her call light and she said "i don't like it when the tips of my socks touch my toes. Do you mind pulling them off my toe about 1/4 of an inch?"

....so i did just that.

"No, now there is too much hanging off the ends of my toes. That was about 1/2 an inch you pulled it. Just pull them back a little more"

....so i did just that.

"I can feel the sock touching my big toe on my left foot"

...i fix the left toe thing she is complaining about

"Now its not equal the right foot"

ARE YOU SERIOUS WOMAN!?!?!?!...there was no reason she couldnt fix the stupid socks herself.

Ha, ha, ha! She was playing you and you fell for it. Be more assertive next time, simply say 'no you can do that for yourself!'

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Specializes in NICU, OB/GYN.

I answered the call bell for another nurse's patient once... The patient said, "can you please ask the doctor if we could change my dietary order to 'double portions' so that my husband could get some food, too, instead of walking down to the cafeteria for dinner?"

We don't offer such a service at my hospital... I don't know where she got the idea that we do, because I told her nurse (who has worked there for many years) and she hadn't heard of the place offering it, either.

Needless to say, we took care of that and did not bother our doctors with that phone call.

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