We all have lots of stories to tell. I thought it would be fun if we shared a few of our funniest patient stories with each other.
Here's mine...
I keep remembering a particular incident a few years back. It wasn't even my patient.
I was heading down the hallway on the CCU unit in which I worked. I was minding my own business, heading down the hallway and I just happened to glance into a patient room...
I couldn't believe what I saw...
An older gentleman, who clearly was having some post-op dementia after open heart surgery....
he was sitting up in the middle of his bed and with knees bent and feet braced at the bed rail for extra support....
With both hands...
HE WAS PULLING on all of his CHEST TUBES with ALL OF HIS MIGHT!!!
Needless to say, I sprang into action along with all the surrounding nursing staff. It took security along with all of us to restrain this man so he wouldn't hurt himself. Though it wasn't funny at the time....I can't get this picture out of my mind and find it amusing to remember.
Specializes in OB, critical care, hospice, farm/industr.
I think dachshunds are very sensitive to that sort of thing. When my dad died (he died very suddenly) his doxie stood guard on his chest and wouldn't let the EMTs get near his body. Duke snarled and gnashed his teeth and they had to throw a towel over him to whisk him away from my dad.
These 3 big burly guys were afraid of a 5 lb dog.
My stepmother had Duke's portrait engraved on Dad's tombstone.
while prescepting a new OB nurse to our unit, we had the pleasure of taking care of a young asian woman who spoke little, if any english. Her husband remained at bedside as we got her to complete. Now to explain pushing! My orientee worked hard as are little asian squatted using a birthing bar. Our lil patient just stared at us obviously wore out. "poo poo", "doo doo", "hocky"! ..Over and over my lil orientee urged, complete with squatting and grunting gestures. Suddenly our patient leaned into her husband and whispered....To our amusement, the husband loudly exclaimed..."SHE SAY SHE HAVVA CHIT!!" ..."Yes", my orientee started jumping, and shouting..."CHIT..!CHIT!
there are tears coming out of my eyes I am laughing so hard!!
Specializes in FNP, Peds, Epilepsy, Mgt., Occ. Ed.
tiggerforhim said:
If we don't laugh at them, we'll end up crying. I too have a strong faith, but that doesn't mean I don't have a laugh at what I hear or see. If one has a problem with the thread, then one has a choice whether to read or not, no one's making you!
I agree completely. When I see threads I think are going to get my blood pressure up, I just don't read those.
And I've found that patients, like kids, sometimes say the darndest things!!
Specializes in FNP, Peds, Epilepsy, Mgt., Occ. Ed.
A middle-aged male came in to the clinic with headache. His BP was something like 230/120. Gave meds in the clinic, got it down some, gave a script (along with a fairly blunt lecture on the order of "if you don't get your BP down you're gonna die!")
He came back in one week, as instructed. BP was better but not "there yet." Added a second med to the first. He came back in another week, BP was still better but still not quite at target. So, I added another med, a Beta Blocker.
He came back in another week and his BP was just right! I walked in and commented "Your pressure is great, how do you feel?"
"My d**k's broke!" This was documented as "the patient reports erectile dysfunction on the metoprolol."
Well, stop that one, add another one.
One week later, everything is working properly, and his BP is 120/70!!
I remember when I was new grad and working nightshift, I had to empty my patients foley bag. Since I didn't want to wake her, I tried to sneak into the room quietly and empty it. However while I was bent down emptying the bag, the patient hand slip off the bed and hit me on top of my head and scared me. I drop the container of urine, which landed on and in my shoe. This which woke the patient and made her scream. This caused my fellow nurses to rush in to find me with a wet leg and shoes, standing in a puddle of urine and a shocked patient.
Working in OB, I see it all. Some of the best stories stem from body ornamentation. Tattoo's and piercings are as creative as their owners.
The time had come for one of my pt.'s to have a vag. exam. After first talking through the procedure with her; I pulled back the covers. As the patient spread her legs, the little rodent footprints tatooed on both inner thighs...leading up to her perineum...were unavoidable. The patient willing said with a grin on her face..."Yup, that's my rat trap!"
Specializes in Paediatrics, Orthopeodics, ENT, General.
My nursing specialty is paediatrics, and I have worked in it for 10 years. When the 'powers that be' built a new hospital, they combined my specialty with the orthopoedic ward. This meant that the 2-year-old with diarrhoea was often next door to the #NOF with dementia! QUITE a nursing challenge!! Especially at night, when the confusion always escalated!!! I remember one memorable shift when I was the only paediatric staff member on, with four children already on the ward. ER rang and let me know there were another four to be admitted ASAP. Hmmmm.... Well, I 'girded my loins' and got on with it. To get to the paeds unit, you had to go thru two corridors of the adult unit. One of the demented NOF's was a second-timer. His family had helpfully removed his restraint when he did his first NOF, because it was cruel to prevent him from walking. Anyway, he did walk and broke the other NOF. Two major surgeries in two months had the usualy effect - severe confusion!!! At a loss of how to care for this gentleman without either him or us sustaining more injuries, we removed his bed and nursed him on a mattress on the floor. (Yes, this still does happen.) This prevented him walking, but not stripping all his clothes off. Another endearing habit was to 'bum-shuffle' across the carpet of his room and into the hallway, stark naked!! In an effort to maintain modesty, we regularly draped a blanket over him, replacing this every 10 - 15 minutes as needed. My first child admission was 14-month old baby with fever and irritability. The only way to safely transport the child was to place the parent on the gurney, and have the child sitting on the parent's lap. Imagine the look on this mother's face: Coming down the hallway, the mother was nursing and comforting her distraught child. Looking up, she sees a ghostly white figure shuffling out of a dark doorway. Yup! It was our NOF, his blanket draped over his head, covering everything except the essentials!!! She clutched her child closer and gave one wide-eyed look of panic as I did my best to reassure her. " It's okay, it's only Pasqual. He doesn't speak English. He won't hurt you." Things weren't helped by the fact that I needed to stop and move Pasqual before he bum-shuffled under the gurney before I could even settle the new arrival into her room. No, nursing school did not tell me about these situations!!!
Wow, interesting story., I hope the mother and her baby were okay after that incident. I know I would be scared if I saw the the same thing. I was wondering though as I read your story, what's NOF? I looked it up on the internet, but I still couldn't figure it out.
obgingerrn
2 Posts
You know, I have a little Doxie and they love to sleep on their owners legs. How cute. The little dog probably knew.