As I've posted on these boards previously, I am a recent grad working nights in emergency at a hospital in the Detroit suburbs. I was recommended to the position by one of my old clinical instructors, who works as a night-shift case manager in this department when she isn't teaching. We had had a very good working relationship in clinical, and still do as colleagues in the EC.
There's just one slight problem. I'm a very calm, collected and generally squared-away individual. Instructor was a stand-up comedian in college. A few other nurses got in on the gag, and thus began the Great EC Prank War; or, Why Working With People You Know Can Backfire...
* Finding rubber vermin on one's charting computer. Always a classic.
* Explaining to patients that it's perfectly normal for their nurse to get prank calls from EC Care Management on the SpectraLink. "I'm reviewing a case you worked on... do you happen to know why exactly the MD ordered a Foley for this patient Mr. P. Freely?"
* Getting one's shirt-tail yanked out while working with hall patients. The nurse who did it ran down the hall yelling "Dweeb!", while the patient (a little old lady with abdominal pain) cracked up laughing.
* Invited to the Care Management office to "hang out with your old school peeps." Instructor had brought in a box of Peeps candies.
* Hiding a stuffed monkey in a fake tree outside the charge nurse office. Charge nurse looked through the window, saw the monkey and cracked up.
* Finding a "Go Buckeyes" sticker on my U of M Alumni coffee mug. Got the perp back by hiding a musical button programmed with "The Victors" under one of his patient charts.
Surely mine isn't the only unit with this kind of tradition. Go ahead and write 'em in!
Specializes in LTC, CPR instructor, First aid instructor..
A TRUE story--I once went out with a guy who did hospital and nursing home pickups for a mortuary. The nursing home didn't use body bags; they just covered them up to the neck with a sheet. (Supposedly, when they were wheeled down the hall, no one would notice that they were dead.) Anyway, he picked up this small frail woman and was pushing the stretcher into the heorifice when he heard a little voice warble "Where are you taking me?" This big guy went very weak in the knees as he wheeled her back to her room!
Specializes in LTC, CPR instructor, First aid instructor..
I can't believe what I read here...... Perhaps my time was taken up with boring duties that y'all do more quickly, but it seems to me with all the complaints about insufficient staffing, there are more pertinent things for you to do than entertain each other.
I love this. It's wha eases the stress of nursing.
I can't believe what I read here...... Perhaps my time was taken up with boring duties that y'all do more quickly, but it seems to me with all the complaints about insufficient staffing, there are more pertinent things for you to do than entertain each other.
We ALL need to find a way to stay away from prozac! or we will all need a little "Vitamin H" a little fun is what the MD orders!
Loosen up:smokin:, have fun:coollook:, life is short:redbeathe.
I love:redbeathe:redbeathe:redbeathe these, Im laughing so hard my stitches are hurting!:redpinkhe
WE..Ok I, Yes I, did this at the end of CNA clinicals, The DON was amazing. She always greeted us with laughs and a joke to start our day, so as a "Thankyou"....we filled her office with inflated condoms!....she laughed so hard...she was 8 months pregnant and then said, I guess I should have use one or two, I have to pee!, then ran down the hall laughing so hard to the bathroom, she did pee her pants!, we were sorry of course and apologized profusely, but she said no don't, I did it to my DON! this is pay backs, you guys are awesome!
Sneaking up behind somebody who is bending over with a Velcro blood pressure cuff and ripping apart the velcro is good for a quick standup and panicked feel of the scrub seams.
ROFL! I know EXACTLY who I'm going to use this on! Keep the ideas coming!!!
Specializes in LTC, CPR instructor, First aid instructor..
WE..Ok I, Yes I, did this at the end of CNA clinicals, The DON was amazing. She always greeted us with laughs and a joke to start our day, so as a "Thankyou"....we filled her office with inflated condoms!....she laughed so hard...she was 8 months pregnant and then said, I guess I should have use one or two, I have to pee!, then ran down the hall laughing so hard to the bathroom, she did pee her pants!, we were sorry of course and apologized profusely, but she said no don't, I did it to my DON! this is pay backs, you guys are awesome!
I once had a charge nurse who was famous for using the computer for, shall we say, non-departmental shopping. Once she was away from the desk for a meeting and I had some downtime while waiting for a doctor, so I took a screenshot of her computer's desktop and set that as her desktop wallpaper - then disabled the icons. Of course, the next time she tried to surf the net, nothing happened. By the time she got back to her desk, I'd already left for the day. IT got to come figure out what was wrong and fix it. It was the talk of the department for days, but nobody ever figured out who did it.
One slow and dull night, my Charge teamed up with the other members of my unit, the House Supervisor, and even 2 ED nurses to conspire against me...
I was told I would be getting a new patient. Ok, I thought, no big deal, I need something to do. Huh....that's weird... I can't find that patient's name in the computer...
This should have been my first clue that this was not a real report but...I'm an idiot at times... (in this instance I was a Grade A moron). When I was told that the computers were down and thus not updating the ED census correctly, I accepted it (it happens).
I called down to ED to get report.
Me: "Hey what's up, what are y'all sending me?"
ED: "This is a 54yr old F, name of so an so..."
Me: yup... uhuh...
ED: Pt of Dr Hospitalist [i hated this particular Doc and everyone knew it]....
Me: Ahhh !*^&@#!
ED: Consult with Dr. OBGYN
Me: What the %^!! ?
ED: I gotta warn you, she's a little obese...
Me: How big we talking here?
ED: About 500 plus...
Me: That's a big 'un... Um...what is she in for anyway and why the screw does she have a OBGYN consult?
ED: Well, she's in for lady partsl bleeding, s/p traumatic insertion of foreign body, it's pretty um...odoriferous...and draining...part of the object is still in there...[she says this next part off to the side], Hey guys, what did y'all call that thing in that lady? Oh yeah, it's part of a sex toy some kinda ring"
Me:... you have got to be ****ing kidding me....
ED: nope...
And so the horrendous report continued... I called our House Sup to see if our beds would support this "patient's" weight... She could barely contain herself on the phone (no doubt because she couldn't believe that my dumbbutt hadn't caught on yet...) ED then calls me and tells me they need help transfering this pt up because well...she's huge... Before I leave, I plead with my Charge just one more time to tell me if this is just a bad joke or not. I beg and plead, and promise that I will not harass her for a whole week. I made it down to ED faster than they thought, I turned a corner just in time to hear her say "Oh good he's on his way down, we can see his face"....
I was torn between homicidal rage and wanting to praise Jesus. Of course the whole dang hospital knew about it within hours.... I still haven't gotten the ED back for that yet...but soon....soon....
Specializes in Dialysis,M/S,Home Care,LTC, Admin,Rehab.
Ohh these are hilarious! In over 20 years, this was my topper: I was working the night shift, and called the on call doc for admission orders for an admission. After what seemed like a solid 5 minutes of me providing him with information, I paused, and realized that
he
was
snoring.
I put him on speaker phone. Ohhh..did we get alot of mileage outta that one!
Specializes in ICU, PICU, School Nursing, Case Mgt.
Worked ER all my life as a way to buy lottery tickets in hopes that someday I wont need to work ER anymore. The rules on those things are impossible! I noticed that at the bottom they all say "void where prohibited," so I did. You know, the cops have a completely differant term for it! Public lewdness or something. I don't even know what a lewd is. Wouldn't recognise one if I tripped over it. Didn't help me win the lottery though. In fact the judge made me give him some money so he could go buy tickets, I guess.
Bahdumpbump!
Spit my coffee out all over the keyboard....
THe thing is, this makes perfect sense to me!
This whole post is hilarious...a little reminescent of Rodney Dangerfield.
I would LOVE to work with you....and I am a big fan of rubber chickens....they are completely underrated as a comedic art form! You may want to consider the addition of rubber dog doo to your orificenal...also underrated but necessary.
I can't believe what I read here...... Perhaps my time was taken up with boring duties that y'all do more quickly, but it seems to me with all the complaints about insufficient staffing, there are more pertinent things for you to do than entertain each other.
Waoh. Relax, they are only pranks besides it lets off steam that way making them better able to do their jobs. I'd rather work in a laid back friendly, humorous environment like that, wouldn't you agree?
Specializes in ICU, PICU, School Nursing, Case Mgt.
Waoh. Relax, they are only pranks besides it lets off steam that way making them better able to do their jobs. I'd rather work in a laid back friendly, humorous environment like that, wouldn't you agree?[/quote]
I absolutely agree!!!!
When you witness the atrocities we do on a daily basis, you must let off some steam or lose your mind.
Had a group in PICU that was great...RT was like a stand up comic...and the worse practical joker was the intensivist!!! Too many stories to tell.
The point is, we ALWAYS gave impecable patient care and ALWAYS completed our work. I could not have done that job for as long as I did without my my little band of weirdos! Weird? yes, Fun? absolutely...Great Doctor, R/T, and Nurses? The BEST!
Long live humor, can't last in this profession very long without it.
Perhaps my time was taken up with boring duties that y'all do more quickly, but it seems to me with all the complaints about insufficient staffing, there are more pertinent things for you to do than entertain each other.
FranEMTnurse, CNA, LPN, EMT-I
3,619 Posts