Stupid Intern Tricks

[Ruby Vee]

undefinedundefinedundefined

in honor of july 1, and the new group of fresh-from-medical-school doctors, i was wondering what is the dumbest thing you've ever seen an intern do? after 26 batches of new interns, i've seen quite a few really dumb moves, as i'm sure some of you have, too!

for instance, there were the two brand new interns who took the patient off for a ct in the middle of the night. the transporters were busy, and i was the only rn on the unit. the ct must have been absolutely fascinating -- when the three of them came back, patient on the guerney, the interns were in the midst of a spirited discussion of the results and potential implications of the ct. they were so busy discussing how to treat the ct that they failed to notice that the patient was no longer breathing! the resulting code did manage to impart upon them the necessity of monitoring the basics!

another time, a brand new intern was doing what must have been one of his first few full assessments on a female patient. he came flying out of the room, waving the bedpan over his head and shouting "she's gotta pee! she's gotta pee!" as i was quite busy, i just snapped "so give her the bedpan." "where is it?" was the incredible response. "it's in your left hand," i pointed out helpfully. "oh," he said. "where does it go?" :rotfl:

i can top those stories, but i'd rather hear yours!

[91WhiskeyM6]

I strapped on a telemetry box on myself one time and tapped it until a v-tach occured. The tech jumped out of his chair screaming to the nurse ha-ha.

[rsh3rn]

Just don't be too mean to em abused residents grow up to be resentful cranky attendings

my favorite intern screw up tylenol IV

[CCU NRS]

that is funny

[CCU NRS]

that is funny

[my2sons]

I was about to defibrillate my pulseless v-tach patient when the code blue team leader (an intern) came crashing into the room yelling "Wait, don't do that! I think there's a drug for that!" Hmm, there's a reason their lab coat pockets are bulging--makes up for what is lacking in the brain!

[Jamesdotter]

Can I add a couple of "Stupid 2nd yr resident" tricks? Both of these occurred in the 1970s, but I don't think things have changed that much.

I don't know why "Mary Smith" was admitted to L&D, but the intern and second year had pelvimetry done and, on the basis of fundal height and inadequate pelvis, decided to proceed with a C.section. The fourth year (senior) resident strolled onto the unit, looked at the pelvimetry film and said "Oh, I see we have twins here" The second (breech) baby's backbone showed very clearly on the film. They put Mary to bed, and later sent her home to grow those babies for another month. We had her all shaved (from stem to stern as it was in those days), so she got to grow the miserable stuff out twice, to add insult to injury. I still wish I'd seen the film before the 4th year did. I'd like to know if I would have missed that second baby.

The other incident involved a triplet pregnancy. The mother was hospitalized for premature labor and had been stable. At about 1AM, the male RN on the (not OB) floor called L&D to report that her water had broken. The L&D nurse called the 2nd year to go down to check on the patient. He instructed her to send the intern (in those days of rotating interns the interns spent a total of 20 days on OB in their first year) down to check on her. By the time she'd made the phone calls, she got another call from the nurse downstairs--the patient had delivered baby A in bed! I don't remember the gestational age, but the baby did ok, as did the rest who were delivered by c/section. And don't think the "stuff" didn't hit the fan later! The second year thereafter accepted his responsibilities, shall we say?