Got to thinking about this one today, and was reminded of it when I read another thread on here...what's teh dumbest thing you've ever heard in nursing, as an explanation for a malady?
For example, the one that sticks out for me is one that I heard as a new nurse, many moons ago. I was doing an assessment on a patient, and a family member of said patient had her sone with her, who was profoundly mentally and physically handicapped. Of course, I would have never presumed to ask the nature of his complaint, but she was only too happy to volunteer it.
"When he was born, the nurse in the room had long fingernails and she scratched his head. That's why he's like this. It's all her fault. We tried to sue her, but the judge threw out the case."
I was stunned, to say the least, and didn't challenge it as hogwash outright, but I did ask,
"Did she puncture his scalp with her nails?"
"No, she just scratched him on the head. It didn't show, but she did it."
You can bet money I was VERY thorough with that assessment. Heaven forbid the lady get staph or some other dread condition because my hair or eyelashes were too long.
Anyone else ever heard a completely absurd reasoning for someone's ailments?
Just yesterday I had a 91 yo man, still living at home, tell me he had two bugs in his skin. One was on his left hand. He said that one bites, scratches and pinches underneath the skin. The other one was behind his right ear. He said that one "screeches" at him. Niether area had any sign of ANYthing going on.
This man is perfectly sane, has no dementia. He is nearly deaf and has perhaps a middle school education. What would you say he means?!
My in-laws all refuse to go to the dentist. Because they know lots of people that had nothing wrong with their teeth until the went to the dentist.
Well, I kind of have to agree. For real. I think that being hit with the dentist's instruments, however accidentally, when he is working on some other tooth is very bad for the teeth. Maybe it's even intended to drum up business, now that I think about it.
And scraping the plaque out is downright painful and the hygienist doesn't have patience or seem to understand why it hurts and does not know what to do about it.
then she accidentally loosens your crown while flossing you, then the dentist charges money and has to inject you to try to get it back on, fails, you live with it for a while, realize it is not healthy, he tries again, this time succeeds but is angry at you because the crown might break and he'll have to replace it for free and is very heavy-handed despite his skill. And charges you for another visit.
Not my idea of fun.
Of course, the childhood dentist I remember used to grab his female helper's body parts and drink alcohol on the job. He sort of made up for up by having a really transfixing and distracting fish tank with great fish in it that we could watch while getting what passed for a cleaning back then - or the occasional filling. I guess we were lucky to get any dental care at all, really.
Just yesterday I had a 91 yo man, still living at home, tell me he had two bugs in his skin. One was on his left hand. He said that one bites, scratches and pinches underneath the skin. The other one was behind his right ear. He said that one "screeches" at him. Niether area had any sign of ANYthing going on.
This man is perfectly sane, has no dementia. He is nearly deaf and has perhaps a middle school education. What would you say he means?!
Just yesterday I had a 91 yo man, still living at home, tell me he had two bugs in his skin. One was on his left hand. He said that one bites, scratches and pinches underneath the skin. The other one was behind his right ear. He said that one "screeches" at him. Niether area had any sign of ANYthing going on.
This man is perfectly sane, has no dementia. He is nearly deaf and has perhaps a middle school education. What would you say he means?!
I've seen "Mystery Diagnosis' and "True Stories of the ER" (or some such name) where there were actually small insects under a person's skin :) Another guy had a bug in his ear making noise..... one never knows !!!
Knew a woman once that couldn't understand why a female coworker was complaining about a kidney stone. I said, "Well they really hurt!" Her response, "Well they hurt for men, but in women they come out a bigger hole. If a baby can come out, surely a stone can come out!"
Kind of like the aide I met the other day who believed that MS affects everyone the same way. She didn't understand why 1 person could stand to pee in a urinal and 1 couldn't (was too weak to stand).
I guess our knowledge is normal to us but we have to remember that the public in general and at least some ancillary staff don't have it.
Educate, educate, educate. Even then, it's not always going to sink in fully or right away.
Kind of like the aide I met the other day who believed that MS affects everyone the same way. She didn't understand why 1 person could stand to pee in a urinal and 1 couldn't (was too weak to stand).
I guess our knowledge is normal to us but we have to remember that the public in general and at least some ancillary staff don't have it.
Educate, educate, educate. Even then, it's not always going to sink in fully or right away.
I used to have CNAs who would get SO mad when a resident (LTC) would be incontinent a few minutes after they'd taken them to the bathroom...had no idea that the resident wasn't sitting around trying to figure out ways to make the CNAs life miserable- drove me nuts!! So, lots of mini-lectures about how strokes and dementia change the way the brain interprets information....and that it wasn't about THEM !! :)
Specializes in Medsurg/ICU, Mental Health, Home Health.
My friend LOVES to tell this story...
a high school sports teammate of hers was brushing her hair in the locker room - "oh, no! I'm losing a lot of hair in my brush; I'm afraid I have cancer because people with cancer lose their hair."
My friend: "the reason cancer patients lose their hair is because of the chemo."
Teammate: "Oh NO! What if I have chemo!"
*
My mother's side of the family is wonderful, but are pretty much simple mountain folk. (My mom was the first one NOT born at home, and even she went to a one room school house).
My mother believed until recently that cancer was contagious.
My grandmother explained to me that "Aunt Joyce died because they turned her on her side in the hospital." Right-o
My grandmother's mother said that styes in one's eye were caused by "peeing in the middle of the road." Now that one, I *think* is perhaps a poor translation from PA Dutch. At least I hope so.
*
I had a patient who wanted epi listed as an allergy. Why? "I had that medicine when my heart stopped." She was correct, but didn't realize she had it BECAUSE her heart stopped, not the other way around...
:rotfl::hpygrp:
xtxrn, ASN, RN
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