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.
Specializes in CCU, SICU, CVSICU, Precepting & Teaching.
surgeon was in an isolation room without gown or gloves, ripped off the patient's dressing with his bare hands and poked and prodded at the wound. he was seen leaving the room with a tiny little filipino nurse trotting after him saying "excuse me doctor; please wash your hands."
the surgeon rounded on her and said "my hands are cleaner than anyone's up here. i'm a surgeon! i was in the or all morning and i did the full scrub then! my hands are clean!" there was more commentary -- mostly involving the size, looks and general intelligence of the nurse who would question the cleanliness of a surgeon's hands.
and the nurse piped up "how do i know you weren't picking your nose in the elevator on the way up here?"
During our second semester cardiac lecture, my professor explained to the class that SVT stood for "systemic venous tachycardia".
Currently at work, there's an administrative coordinator that throws a fit and makes you clear code blues via overhead paging after the code is over. We all try to figure out exactly what point clearing it overhead 20+ minutes later does when anyone who would have responded is already in the room. All it does is startle people.
Another coworker has bought into the naturalistic fallacy hook line and sinker, and frequently is on suppliments in order to "cleanse toxins from the body". She believes the myth that there is a significant quantity of undigested food rotting away in one's bowel. She refuses to use normal shampoo and conditioner, citing the fact it's full of chemicals like sodium lauryl sulfate. She doesn't believe anything "natural" is also a chemical.
I was cleaning up a patient who'd just had a HUGE "code brown". Doctor walks in and says," Let me help you with that." And he did. Took me the whole dang rest of the shift to pick my jaw up off the floor. I'm sure other drs have helped out with similar stuff but this MD shocked me. He did not just hold over the patient, he helped with linen change, cleaning, did the dressing, etc. He was so nice about it.
My patient's BP is falling rapidly (OB pt post epidural--it happens). I put the head of the bed down and call for the anesthesiologist. My co-worker (RN) rushes in and instantly puts the pt in high semi-fowler and scolds me for having her head down as it "makes her feel worse". I guess she will feel better when she passes out?
Sitting around the nurse's station at 2am I learned that 3 of my co-workers from Nigeria and my experienced nurse African-American co-worker (essentially, everyone present) believed that AIDS is God's punishment of homosexuals.
And, because there are no gay people in Nigeria therefore they have no HIV (oh really....?!?!).
This was in 2006. I was shocked that educated people still believe that. Needless to say, when we had a gay HIV+ man come in later that night I volunteered to take the patient.
Sitting around the nurse's station at 2am I learned that 3 of my co-workers from Nigeria and my experienced nurse African-American co-worker (essentially, everyone present) believed that AIDS is God's punishment of homosexuals.
And, because there are no gay people in Nigeria therefore they have no HIV (oh really....?!?!).
This was in 2006. I was shocked that educated people still believe that. Needless to say, when we had a gay HIV+ man come in later that night I volunteered to take the patient.
Good for you Viva.
I recently ran into this attitude, from an american born white female nurse at that. Went on about how God wanted to "wash the earth clean of gays, IVD users and dirty people". I was like........................I thought to myself "Didnt know people still believed this". She was a young nurse too, not someone who was already in the field when the disease came on. You'd think she would have been taught differently in school or something. Who knows? I just thought that whole line of thought was extinct. Guess I should open my eyes a bit more.
I was once told by a nurse (not a NEW nurse, either) that a pt could not have PRN pain meds "because they just had a routinely ordered pain med 4 hrs ago". Yeah, she wasn't the brightest crayon in the box.
During my rotation in locked in psych department, a patient in his 20s on 5150 hold came up to me and offered to give me his address so I can visit him the following day for a cup of coffee.
A physician walked up to me and said, Hi I am a physician and your name is? :stone So much for self-confidence.
While I was in nursing school, a male nurse asked me where to insert the catheter because he forgot the anatomical location. :smackingf
Nurse on the med-surg floor asked me what "Fesat" stands for? Look into the doctor's order and told her that it was iron saturation. What school did she go to? :dzed:
Specializes in CCU, SICU, CVSICU, Precepting & Teaching.
good for you viva.
i recently ran into this attitude, from an american born white female nurse at that. went on about how god wanted to "wash the earth clean of gays, ivd users and dirty people". i was like........................i thought to myself "didnt know people still believed this". she was a young nurse too, not someone who was already in the field when the disease came on. you'd think she would have been taught differently in school or something. who knows? i just thought that whole line of thought was extinct. guess i should open my eyes a bit more.
that attitude was pretty prevalent in the mid 80s, when hiv was just starting to hit the mainstream. i worked with a number of fundamentalist christian nurses who refused to take care of aids patients, claiming it was "against their religion." i rather lost my respect for those nurses (and fundamentalist christians in general) during that time.
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.
:chuckle 
...........I thought to myself "Didnt know people still believed this". She was a young nurse too, not someone who was already in the field when the disease came on. You'd think she would have been taught differently in school or something. Who knows? I just thought that whole line of thought was extinct. Guess I should open my eyes a bit more.
Ruby Vee, BSN
17 Articles; 14,051 Posts
surgeon was in an isolation room without gown or gloves, ripped off the patient's dressing with his bare hands and poked and prodded at the wound. he was seen leaving the room with a tiny little filipino nurse trotting after him saying "excuse me doctor; please wash your hands."
the surgeon rounded on her and said "my hands are cleaner than anyone's up here. i'm a surgeon! i was in the or all morning and i did the full scrub then! my hands are clean!" there was more commentary -- mostly involving the size, looks and general intelligence of the nurse who would question the cleanliness of a surgeon's hands.
and the nurse piped up "how do i know you weren't picking your nose in the elevator on the way up here?"
priceless!