Stories from the Edge (of sanity)

[Mushu]

Situation- guy's in the ED bed being treated for vomiting (emergent vomiting apparently) and his wife is at bedside- He starts throwing up and his wife (who is standing next to the big pink vomit catching device) YELLS to us at the nurse's station- "Aren't you going to DO something?! He's throwing up!" (And yes, he had been treated/medicated). Apparently the act of vomiting is an emergency in and of itself and the average spouse just isn't capable of say, I don't know, handing her husband the emesis basin.

*whew* sorry about the rant, but she had a really effective evil eye and I just had to get it off my chest. Maybe I was just stressed today because of the 50 PEOPLE WAITING today when I came on shift, and not an emergency in the bunch...nah, I love this job

Feel free to share your humorous/strange stories here (in a general, HIPPA-friendly way of course)- It would make for entertaining reading, I'm sure :roll

[MrsWampthang, BSN, RN]

That the worst ones are the ones that come in the front door after putting up with the chest pain, stroke symptoms, etc for hours, and the ones that vomit once or fall down and go boom are the one that come in by cabulance?

It truly boggles the mind!

Pam

[RNin92]

Originally posted by Pamela_g_c

That the worst ones are the ones that come in the front door after putting up with the chest pain, stroke symptoms, etc for hours, and the ones that vomit once or fall down and go boom are the one that come in by cabulance?

It truly boggles the mind!

Pam

It's because the chest painers are still in denial. We are validating it for them by not racing them back. So they sit quietly and think "I'm ok...otherwise they would take me straight back"

The FDGB yahoos...why can't they just get up!!

And the people who can't seem to vomit on their own in the privacy of their own bathroom...they should have a whole category for themselves. They need their own little sign. (Was that Jeff Foxworthy's joke?) :chuckle

[MAGIK GIRL]

Originally posted by RNin92

You almost had me there!

I'll have to remember the fee..except make mine a margarita!!

And you are ABSOLUTELY right...he is a citizen and deserving of quality healthcare at a quality ER with kind and compassionate nurses...

So where do you work?!!?

I need the address for his cabulance!!

HEEHEEHEEHEE!

:chuckle :chuckle

i work in the coolest place in town!

well, we have a new instituted policy. included in every third visit's d/c instructions are a cab voucher, a coupon for a free meal (ok, it's redeemable only on sunday at the house of pancakes. -we are not millionare's), and an invite to come back. to qualify for this offer, the three visits must be for the same complaint and occur with in a seven day period! not redeemable for take home packs or boxed lunches! :devil:

[tymomrn]

We are in the middle of a snow storm right now and just got a cabulance(great word!) for an infant that the parents were worried about because it wasn't eating right. He's tired! It's 4am!

[NotReady4PrimeTime, RN]

originally posted by rnin92

and the people who can't seem to vomit on their own in the privacy of their own bathroom...they should have a whole category for themselves. they need their own little sign. (was that jeff foxworthy's joke?) :chuckle

nope, not foxworthy... it was bill engvall. easy to mix those two good ol' boys up, though.

i'm just gonna weigh in with my own puker story. we had a teenager who had a number of serious complications following heart surgery who ended up trached and vented. this kid was in our icu for months. parents are totally hoverers and directors of care. they wanted to start oral feeds for this kid who is being nj fed, but our esteemed ent never allows his t/v patients oral feeds, due to the remote risk of aspiration. kid has a bad day and complains of nausea, has a couple of little wet burps and parents go off the deep end worrying about aspiration. kid quickly develops the ability to whoops on demand whenever anything not on the "list of things i want to do today" (ie physio, suctioning the trach, sitting up, turns, dressing changes, all those other non-essential activities) arises. so the ng is put to low suction... kid's still spitting up ~5 ml bile on occasion and c/o nausea whenever it would be effective to get out of those nasty routine things so hated. parents buy in totally. so the ng is now on medium suction, there's absolutely nothing in the stomach, and the "i'm gonna be sick" complaints are still coming fast and furious. parents continually insist the ng be aspirated immediately with each complaint... gee, look, nothing... at least a hundred times a shift so that there's no emesis. one weekend the kid was obtunded from the gravol, zofran and stemetil regularly atc that the parents decided were needed. (they then complained that their child was too dopey to visit with them!) gastroscopy showed no reason for the "vomiting". of course, no one listens to the nurse who's there day after day after day, observing the patient to be perfectly fine until the suggestion of a dressing change or other unpleasantness comes up, when said nurse mentions in rounds that it seems to be attention-seeking... well, we finally got the kid transfered to the pulmonary ward, but now we hear that there's another surgery planned for tomorrow, and they just might be back. can i have my vacation now?