It's a stormy night and you are quietly looking over orders in the ED, minding your own business, and suddenly from bay 4 you hear a little girl sing-song:
It's raining,
It's pouring,
The old man is snoring--
He bumped his head,
Went to bed,
And couldn't get up in the morning.
Which your sleep deprived/call-riddled brain helpfully hears as:
Cat 1, 83yo. M, GCS 7, traumatic head injury, depressed respiratory status, found unresponsive at home in AM, IW ETA 45 ground, Trauma Doc to see.
And just like that, you just medically analyzed a piece of your childhood to death.
I am always worried about when the last time someone had a bowel movement and why they have or haven't. My dog had the runs and I asked my husband what he ate and suggested a banana. My husband is so used to it he tells me about his bowel movements and gets worried about the color, LOL
I often have thought someone was responding to internal stimuli when they are using blue tooth.
Yes they look like a schizophrenic talking to themselves walking up and down the aisles at the grocery store. Then you realize they are using a blue tooth and aren't so worried about them anymore.
My cousin is at my house right now. He has a broken elbow and his arm is in a sling and I constantly want to fix it. I also make sure he keeps it elevated as well.
My friend works L&D at the same hospital where I work, and they call "code 100" overhead for a baby in distress during or after birth. Anyway she was in Stop&Shop the other day and heard "code 100" and became frantic not sure where to run! Turns out they call it at the deli counter for some reason, still not sure why!
Years ago, when I worked in the NICU, the hospital where I worked had a Mcdonalds in the lobby. When I worked nights, we often would go down there for dinner in the middle of the night (yeah I know, SO bad for me). The alarm on the automatic fryers for the French Fries (it would go off when the fries were ready) sounded just like our alarms for our monitors. Cannot tell you how many times my coworkers and I would be standing, waiting for our food, hear those fry alarms and jump thinking one of our babies was in trouble!
I would've paid good $ to McDonalds to get them to change that sound. Bad enough you hear them in your sleep!
I find myself doing all of the above. I hadn't seen my brother, a distance runner, in a long time. I saw him shortly after one his races, veins bulging. I reached out to his arm and hand and said, "you have great vascular access if you were to ever need an IV". Needless to say, it creeped him out. I also now notice men with hairless legs and think PAD! PAD! and find myself pitying them wondering if it's progressed to the point of impotence. And, I know this will make some people mad, but everytime I see an extremely obese person I think of what a burden it would be to turn then in bed if they got ill. Nursing...it changes the way you view humanity...
Mandychelle79, ASN, RN
771 Posts
I often have thought someone was responding to internal stimuli when they are using blue tooth.