things friends/neighbors have asked you "because you are a nurse"

[aloevera]

I thought this may make an interesting/humorous post....I was asked this am by my neighbor to remove a fishing hook stuck in his thumb...naturally I sent him to the ER to have it removed and get a shot/ABT/Tetorifice....

What things have we been asked to do or advise on by others????

because "we are nurses"......

[Keepstanding, ASN, RN]

i used to have an elderly neighbor whose daughter took care of her, but didn't seem to understand much about her medical issues. one day she (daughter) knocked frantically on my door, wanting me to do something for her mom because she wasn't eating and "hasn't (pooped) in over a week!!". i went over and found the lady's belly so swollen and firm that she looked eight months pregnant. listened to bowel tones, everything sounded ok if a little hypoactive, so with the lady's encouragement i attempted a digital exam.........she was literally fos, all the way up to her tonsils! (no wonder she wasn't eating.)

so i wound up taking care of the problem, and in the process her stomach deflated almost magically. then i gave her daughter strict orders to take her to the doctor and tell him about the state the poor woman's bowels had been in. thankfully, she did so, and she came home with orders for some routine bowel care; but i still say you haven't lived until you've spent an evening disimpacting your neighbor!

that last line was just too much ! i think i peed myself!

[nelcoy4]

I tell my neighbors to go to Webmd,

[tencat]

I got asked to look at the neighbor dog's stitches to see if they were still in place.....

I'm a nurse AND a veternarian, apparently....

[pagandeva2000, LPN]

The best one so far? I stopped by a store on my way home from work, and (stupid, stupid) forgot to leave my badge in the car. The cashier says, "Oh, you're a nurse? Hey....I just got my privy parts pierced, and I think it might be infected. How can I tell?"

Usually, I don't mind. I love my job and my profession. Other times, I'm like, "yeah....today I DO want to eat dinner/shop/watch soccer without talking about bodily functions."

Now I have had a neighbour drop his pants for me, he is a right romeo absolutely loves himself and had a abcess drained from his butt.

He wanted me to look at the wound and before I could answer to say I though it inappropriate he dropped them - we were on my doorstep

didn't know quite where to look, it's just as well my hubbie has a sense of humour, he was in the living room at the time laughing his head off.

I also have a lovely elderly neighbour who insists on telling me his prostate problems and bowel habits

Too much information

I had a neighbor with cancer that used to send her grandchildren to ask me to come and administer her Procrit shots, been approached at McDonalds to interpet PPDs (I didn't do it, but it was blatently positive and the girl was coughing on the food behind the counter-I promptly walked out after I told her I had no proof what was actually injected in her arm and to go to her doctor this afternoon as scheduled). But, the privy parts thingy and someone pulling their pants down at my doorstep would have me laid out in laughter on a stretcher with much needed life support.

[SecondGenRN]

I've been asked to assess, diagnose, and suggest treament for a co-worker's foot ulcer!!! I'm not EVEN a nurse! I'm a STUDENT! People make me laugh

[SteveNNP, MSN, NP]

As a nursing student, was somewhat of a celebrity on my all-male dorm hall. Guys would show up, wondering what this rash was, with broken ankles, bruises, questionable discharge, etc... I finally had to put a sign on my door that said, "I don't assess anything that resides between your knees and belly button."

One guy across the hall had this rash from his ankles to his groin. Claimed it was only poison ivy. Six months later, I finally convinced him to go to an MD. It wasn't poison ivy :)

[maluangel118]

I guess I'm lucky. No one has actually hit me up for advice on anything gruesome yet. :)

[JBudd, MSN]

Most of my time has been spent explaining why "they did that!" in the hospital, preps and procedures usually. And yes, it was actually necessary.

One friend called and said her husband fell off the roof, and there was something funny with his eye, and could they come over for me to look at it. I said no, no equipment here that would be needed and go to the ER because you don't mess around with eyes! He'd torn his retina.

[Ruby Vee, BSN]

my unwillingness to give advice beyond "call your pcp" is well known among my neighbors, but for some reason they all think i'm fascinated to hear all about their surgery, their mother's surgery, their cousin's surgery and their best friend's proposed surgery. go figure!

[BinkieRN, BSN, RN]

Hasn't happened to me but to my Mom it's happened "alot". When she was pregnant with me she had a neighbor come over and say "I realize you are pregnant but you're a nurse, look, do you think my little boy has german measles". The door was slammed in her face!

[CaliNicuRN]

I do get alot of "should I see the doctor, what do you think this is...." I have told my kids to stop telling people I am a nurse. ESPECIALLY at their sporting events. If something happens and I'm comfortable going to someone's aid, I'd like to choose to do that on my own.

My standard line when someone asks me something medical is "I'm sorry I'm a nicu nurse, I only deal with patients under 12 lbs" .

[UM Review RN, ASN, RN]

Before I was a nurse, I had a not-too-bright neighbor call and ask if she should pop the blister on the back of her calf. Since she was a few quarts low, I was immediately suspicious and asked her how big it was. She said it wasn't too big, but it was full of water and was starting to bother her.

So I went over to see it. Oh. my. gawd. The thing was probably 5" in diameter, covering her whole posterior calf, and full of liquid.

I told her to get to the ER and have it looked at. They kept her for a week.

Another neighbor called me up one evening and wanted to know if she should get stitches for a cut. Apparently, she'd been slicing tomatoes and the knife took a wrong turn and sliced down her finger. I went over to her house and the knife had sliced a big wedge down the second knuckle, almost all the way to the bone, still oozing blood after applying pressure for an hour. And she was wondering if that needed stitches??! Hmmm....I dunno, what do you think?

Now I mostly get calls from famly members who don't even take the advice I give them. So I've started to have sudden cooking emergencies in which I'll have to call them back later....and in the meantime, either call your doc or go to the ER.