Strangest thing ever said to you by another professional.

[eriksoln, BSN, RN]

OK. Whats the oddest thing you've ever heard by an instructor or another medical person (nurse, doc., EMT, whatever).

Mine is easy. An instructor explained the broncial tubes/nasal passages like this:

"We have two nostrils just like we have two bronchial tubes. Each nostril serves the bronchial tube on the same side. Someone who occludes one nostril or the other for too long depletes air supply on that side. This is much like sleep apnea."

Dont ask me where the sleep apnea thing was going. Its a wonder anyone from that class passed NCLEX. We all stopped paying attention to her and studied on our own whatever chapter was being covered in class.

[woknblues]

Two weeks ago, A classmate and I overheard a surgeon tell a week old post op pt 60 y.o. f with a subtrochanteric fx with a new Dx of osteomyelitis that her pain was psychological... We just stood there with our mouths open in shock.

[djc1981]

I told a PA I'm in nursing school, and he laughed and said that he will one day probably be my boss.

[miko014]

I can't even tell you off the top of my head what some of them are. Two I specifically remember were once when I called to get PO dilaudid switched to IV for a dying pt who couldn't take his pills anymore. Of course it was the end of June, so we had all new docs on. I told him that the pt had been taking 8 mg PO dilaudid Q4h and needed it switched to IV since he couldn't swallow. So he said, "okay that's fine." And I said, 'what's fine?" He said, "switch it." I said, "switch it to what?" He said "dilaudid 8 mg IV Q4H, and you can switch the breakthrough also." I said, "Umm, I really don't want to kill him - those aren't equivalent doses. 8 mg IV is way too much." He got all flustered, said, "oh, just do whatever you want", and hung up on me. Luckily I had an equianalgesic chart, converted it myself, called him back and read him the order, to which he said, "sure, that's fine", and hung up again. I know he was embarrased, but that's why you have to know what you want when you call!

Recently a pt who wasn't mine called me in to the room because his scrotum was swollen. Of course I elevated it on a towel and then called the doc. His exact words were "just toss his bag on a towel." Charming, no? I should have written the order like that. :chuckle

I'm sure I've got a million more, but that's all I can think of now.

[southernbeegirl, BSN, RN]

Recently my DON fussed at me for ordering a CXR to verify NGT placement. She told me "NGT's do not show up on xrays because they are silicone".

and she's the boss!

[nursej22, MSN, RN]

Phone report on pt. admitted with chest pain:

Reporting RN: He has a hx of stents.

Me: Cardiac stents?

Reporting RN: They must be, his heart rate is irregular.

Huh?

Turned out he had a biliary stent.

This was last week BTW.

[Creamsoda, ASN, RN]

Hear this from a friend who heard this.

The patient came in for a "uterusectomy"

[BlueStarr]

A nurse giving me report stated "he had open heart surgery, followed by a CABG"... I think she was nervous...

[nightmare, RN]

A type 2 diabetic told not to test too much because she would lose the feeling in her fingertips and then,when she eventually went blind because of her diabetes,she would not be able to read Braille!!How's that for encouragement!!

[UM Review RN, ASN, RN]

I called the doc and asked, "Do you want the patient to have X medication?" after noticing that my new ER admit's home meds did not include this one. Doctor Jerk goes off on me and demands that I write on the order sheet that an incident report is being made by him about the failure of the ER nurse to write the order.

I refused.

What a jerk. :angryfire

[RochesterRN-BSN, BSN, RN]

I had a resident come up to me and another nurse and say to me...the lady in 6....."Could you check and make sure she can void before you take the foleys out? We are gonna be discharging her later."

She walks away and we look at each other and both start to laugh! and both of us are like..... check BEFORE??? how the hell do ya do that??? .......and FOLEYS?......how many does she think are in there?!?!?

They have a lot to learn yes but come on now!!!! LOL

[NeosynephRN]

Getting report on a patient, that I had taken care of a couple of weeks earlier...bouncing back from the intermediate care unit... "He is really yellow...he has been on TPN way to long, you should ask to switch that!" Oh that could not be because of the Hep C and liver failure! There is so much more to that story...but another time..