This is the stupidest thing I have ever done.

Ruby Vee, BSN · Apr 14, 2005

wayyyyy back in the days before mercury was bad, we had mercury sphygmomanometers on wheels. i used to love to scoot down the halls on those things -- especially since our halls were uneven and had a definite downhill slope. one time i was engaged in this somewhat unprofessional and probably dangerous practice when the nursing supervisor stepped right off the elevator and into my path . . . crash!!!! :lol2:

[color=#4b0082]luckily, the nursing supervisor liked me. i was sure i was going to be fired, but she couldn't even stop laughing long enough to properly ream me out! i filled out an incident report about tipping over the sphygmo (without mentioning the scooting) and breaking it, and she signed it on the spot. and i gathered up as many of those wayward little balls of mercury as i could for "proper disposal." (which generally included all of us playing with it for the rest of the night!)

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[color=#4b0082]ruby (who misses those days!)

nursemike, ASN, RN · Apr 15, 2005

Let me describe the conditions on the unit that led up to my "incident". I had been on the unit for over 13 hours, I had been listening to one of my residents curse me out for about 8 hours because I wouldn't let her drink from another residents water pitcher, I have the woman who talked to me like a dog because she thinks that we don't like her and put her on thickened liquids to be mean to her, the one woman who had to pee 20 times, each time she had to go pee she pulled her clip alarm and I had to run down the hall each time because her roommate has begun having syncope and has had multiple falls in the last few days. I was so frazzled that I threatened to jump under a train on my lunch break if things didn't get better. Whoever decided to build a nursing home between a river and freight train tracks was a genius by the way. Not to mention the violent man that beats on us and tries to break our arms and twist our fingers off if we try to keep him from eloping who was talking about leaving. It was about 85 degrees and we aren't able to leave the windows open because they are about the right height to walk right out of. So I was more than a little stressed.
I am sorry that I destroyed facility property and yes I could have been killed. I promise to be better.

I have to say, I find this behavior foolish and irresponsible. I understand that stressful shifts happen, but it is clear to me that you were in no condition to fly. Remember, carts don't kill--irresponsible cart riders do. You should never attempt to operate such equipment when excessively fatigued. Needless to say, you shouldn't even consider flying a linen cart when under the influence of drugs or alcohol.

Personally, I prefer IV poles, but I would NEVER ride one while my judgement or reflexes were in any way impaired. Safety first.

nursemike, ASN, RN · Apr 15, 2005

You all are awful, lol. It is quite apparent that the linen cart will not hold up a human being, I think we have all learned a couple of valuable lessons from all of this. First off PVC linen carts aren't as strong as one might think. Second, sometimes even the best people make stupid irresponsible decisions. At least I wasn't driving 135 mph or anything.
Tweety, I usually go into the clean linen closet and scream there.
This thread is turning into a bad case of the "poor me's" and I hate that. I have a friend in EMS who complains constantly about how lousy her life is and how much she wants a baby. This morning our dog was hit by a car and dad allowed it to lay there for an hour after I told him that it was still alive and critically injured and I got madder after each second of that. I need a drink but I am probably not gonna get it.

Just saw the part about your pooch. I'm so sorry. You're entitled to a "poor you" over that one. I hope you skipped the drink and had a good cry, instead. I hope you're feeling better, soon.

Retired Nurse · Apr 20, 2005

Just remember to never do anything that you wouldn't want to make out an incident report on.

merry nurse · Apr 20, 2005

I like to have fun on our dementia unit, we need a sense of humer and the residents laugh with us. I once rode an empty clean utility cart, covered up with a sheet and jumped up at other nurses, all in good fun and only on a very slow night. I don"t know what it was made of but it held me fine. We are only human and need a release now and then.

Candidnt · Apr 21, 2005

I've probably done tons of stupid things in my career. If I sat and thought long and hard (and tonight, I'm off, but on call...so I just might, I pray, get that chance), I'd have a gold mine of stupid nursing tricks to go dig from.

I remember way way way back in Christmas season of 1991, we were in the process of decorating the unit. We had one of those circular chart racks that obviously you spin to the chart you want and pull it out. Somebody (it wasn't me) wanted to mount a Christmas decked-up teddy bear on top of the chart rack. Didn't sound like a bad thing, so the nurse who conceptualized the idea, put the teddy bear up on top, centered it, and well, anchored it down by putting tape on its butt. Somebody else expressed the concern that the teddy bear might fall over or off, if and when somebody should spin the rack to get a chart.

That was when I had my "BRIGHT" idea. I suggested we do a practical experiment, spin the rack, and see if the bear fell, etc. Well, as if I had been on the Wheel of Fortune, I spin the rack. Fast. Every chart on the rack (and just about all the charts for the unit were on the rack) FLEW off of the rack, strewn about the nurses station; several even made it past the nurses station. Many of them flew open and spewed their contents. Several nurses had to pick up the charts. Everybody was laughing about it, but I was paralyzed with laughter. I literally could not move, let alone function. Looking back, I probably should have anticipated that, and we probably should have secured the charts somehow. But, the bear didn't move at all. Since then I have made efforts to avoid circular chart racks; at that particular hospital, the subsequent units I worked on didn't have any, so I managed to not repeat that mistake. The next hospital I worked at did have them on their med surg and tele units, so then I couldn't avoid them; I let other people do the testing.

widow2RN · Apr 21, 2005

Wowsers, Chad, your workplace makes our dementia unit sound like Disneyland! If I was in your shoes, I'd be chilling out with a rum and coke after work. :beer:

Cheers!!! Make it two!! :beer:

Larisa Musayeva · Apr 21, 2005

I am a stick in the mud, I never do anything impulsive. I had been asked to come in and work a double because one of our CNA's brothers died in Ohio and she had to go to the funeral. It was awful, two halls with about 20 total residents. I had worked 10-6 the night before and only got about 6 hours of sleep before going back in for 16 hours of work. I have been a CNA for 2 & 1/2 years and the only other time I ever broke anything was a bathroom sink, I went to get the wash cloth out of it and leaned on it and it fell out of the wall and into my knee. Head of maintenance said that I had to have been putting all of my weight on it to have it fall. The 30 year old piece of junk was secured with screws that rusted so much that they had broken in half.

I am with you.I am the same.I am never doing the thinks that will hurt me or somebody,its so simple to do it you just need to think why you should do this.Just try to use you gray mass.

Jennifernsammy · Apr 21, 2005

Well- you should be ASHAMED of your unprofesional behavior- all I have to say is................................................BANZI!!!!!!! YOU GO GIRL~!!!!!!!!!!

Nurses are know for their "unusual" sense of humor...I got a laugh out of it. And don't feel guilty- if you could break it, chances are a patient/resident could/would do the same. Look at it like you saved the facility from a HUGE lawsuit by testing the equipment and finding it to be unsuitable for thr rigors of a hospital/nursing home floor. They should be THANKING you.

klj836 · May 6, 2005

I am a stick in the mud, I never do anything impulsive. I had been asked to come in and work a double because one of our CNA's brothers died in Ohio and she had to go to the funeral. It was awful, two halls with about 20 total residents. I had worked 10-6 the night before and only got about 6 hours of sleep before going back in for 16 hours of work. I have been a CNA for 2 & 1/2 years and the only other time I ever broke anything was a bathroom sink, I went to get the wash cloth out of it and leaned on it and it fell out of the wall and into my knee. Head of maintenance said that I had to have been putting all of my weight on it to have it fall. The 30 year old piece of junk was secured with screws that rusted so much that they had broken in half.

It is the responsibility of the facility to provide a safe work enviornment. I hope you reported the incident and filled out whatever form you use. Ask the head of maintenance if they do preventetative safety rounds......OSHA has a lot of rules and people tend to ignore them. :)

stevierae · May 6, 2005

Well- you should be ASHAMED of your unprofesional behavior- all I have to say is................................................BANZI!!!!!!! YOU GO GIRL~!!!!!!!!!!
Nurses are know for their "unusual" sense of humor...I got a laugh out of it. And don't feel guilty- if you could break it, chances are a patient/resident could/would do the same. Look at it like you saved the facility from a HUGE lawsuit by testing the equipment and finding it to be unsuitable for thr rigors of a hospital/nursing home floor. They should be THANKING you.

Wait---I assumed Chad was a guy----

Are you a guy or girl, Chad?

Either way, you rock, in my book.

Hey, wouldn't it be fun to bring a skateboard to work and skateboard up and down the looooong, freshly waxed halls after all your residents are asleep?

GLORIAmunchkin72 · May 6, 2005

Chad,

had you told them the truth you probably would have felt much better about the situation. I doubt if they would fire you. Someday they will probably find out what really happened and would laugh about it, but not in your presence.:)

I did something so stupid that it astounds me. I was working a third shift last night and decided to ride a soiled linen cart like superman, oh I hope no one from work hears about this. Well after about two feet on the linen cart one of the wheels snaps off, I roll of it and land in the floor with a linen cart on top of me. I went and got the housekeeping/laundry woman who takes it to the laundry room and puts a sign on the cart, basically "cart broke". The nurse and I quickly scrambled to make up the "truth". I am sore all over tonight. I attribute it to lack of sleep and temporary insanity brought on by listening to a resident screaming for her medicine for 10 hours, having one woman use her clip alarm as a call light despite the fact that her roomate has one too and has recently developed a bad habit of getting up and falling very hard (basically me running up and down the hall trying to keep roommate from falling only to find out she's too cold and wants the blanket pulled up. Plus I took one woman to the BSC about 20 times last night, she fights against you trying to position herself the way she wants and it just makes me crazy!!!!! Anyway, I am basically waiting for them to call me and tell me I am fired or that the "truth" didn't fly. It was made of PVC pipe, I guess they can fix it by going to the hardware store. I would even be willing to pay for the pipe it takes to fix it. It was PVC for goodness sakes, I should have known better than to think it would support me.