Tie a knot on pt's bed keeps them alive for your shift??

glasshalffull · Oct 30, 2008

yeah, i've heard that. i thought it had to be a certain corner tho, not sure. i've seen it done b4, but in the acute care setting with a patient that was unstable n had a bad prognosis. i've never done it. have cracked a window after the 4th death in a particular ICU room tho. heard that lets the trapped spirits out n no will die in that room again anytime soon.

flightnurse2b, LPN · Oct 30, 2008

i've heard that. tried it too, but it didn't work. also heard of leaving the lights on so that they aren't in the dark and see the light to "go to". that one doesn't work either, lol.

also heard about cracking the window. i used to work with a CNA who would open the window all the way and fan the spirit out the room with a blanket or towel.

RN1982 · Oct 30, 2008

Why not just whisper in their ear "you can go now"...I know a nurse who would say that to hospice patients who were totally out of it.

kohana · Oct 30, 2008

I remember during my 2nd year of nursing school I was caring for one patient in a ward room. Diagonally was a sick elderly woman with two family members at her bedside. They were whispering and telling her she could die now and to go towards the light. Meanwhile she is completely non-responsive. I cant tell you how creeped out I was then and I don't know how I feel about it today.

bagladyrn, RN · Oct 30, 2008

I remember during my 2nd year of nursing school I was caring for one patient in a ward room. Diagonally was a sick elderly woman with two family members at her bedside. They were whispering and telling her she could die now and to go towards the light. Meanwhile she is completely non-responsive. I cant tell you how creeped out I was then and I don't know how I feel about it today.

Instead of feeling "creeped out", try looking at this from the perspective of the love expressed by the family: as much as they will miss their loved one, they don't want to hold her back from going to a better place, from the release from suffering. When my father died, he "hung on" most of a day after the doctors told my mother he would be gone in an hour or so. I was flying across the country. When I arrived I was able to take his hand and tell him I was there with mom, even though he was completely nonresponsive. Less than half an hour later he was gone. I know on some level, no matter where "he" really was, he was waiting for mom to have the support she needed so he could go.

southernbeegirl, BSN, RN · Oct 30, 2008

it's true and it works! i've done it many times...mostly so the family can get there, but it's true.

lovingtheunloved, ASN, RN · Oct 30, 2008

Psh! I don't buy it. Whatever floats your boat I guess. I've had aides tie knots in the sheets and open windows and they're still gonna die when it's time for them to die.

Neveranurseagain, RN · Oct 30, 2008

I remember during my 2nd year of nursing school I was caring for one patient in a ward room. Diagonally was a sick elderly woman with two family members at her bedside. They were whispering and telling her she could die now and to go towards the light. Meanwhile she is completely non-responsive. I cant tell you how creeped out I was then and I don't know how I feel about it today.

I told my husband it was ok for him to die, that I would take care of the kids and we would be ok, and that I would see him again and how much we loved him, that he didn't need to worry about us and keep hanging on. I think it helped him die more peacefully. :redbeathe

cherrybreeze, ADN, RN · Oct 30, 2008

I remember during my 2nd year of nursing school I was caring for one patient in a ward room. Diagonally was a sick elderly woman with two family members at her bedside. They were whispering and telling her she could die now and to go towards the light. Meanwhile she is completely non-responsive. I cant tell you how creeped out I was then and I don't know how I feel about it today.

I hope you don't feel creeped out if you ever come across that again. People seem unresponsive but they are aware of what is going on around them. I've had people hang on and on until family leaves (because for whatever reason they'd not rather have someone there when they die, or at least not have their family SEE them die), I've see people hang on and hang on until family arrives....and I mean hang on far past what you'd expect to be able to. They know what they are doing, and the power of the mind over death is incredible.

My best friend has been taking care of HER best friend for almost a year now, she's helped hospice (actually, my BF was doing the majority of taking care of her, in every say). THe woman was 45, had had breast ca, then later brain, liver, and lung mets. She was fighting and fighting so hard close to the end, and this is what my friend said happened (hope she doesn't mind my copying and pasting:

"I was able to control her pain and finally got rid of the 'death rattle' but she still didn't want to give up. I finally told her "Your not giving up my sweet, your giving it a rest!! I love you and I will miss you but it's time!" She moaned really loudly and then her breathing pattern changed.

It was weird because John's phone rang (yes, he had it on and his dumb ass son called knowing why John was home) so he JUST walked out of the room. I was able to call him back in for her last breath but it was like she WANTED him out. "

People know exactly what they are doing, even if you can't tell by looking at them! That sealed it for me!

*and RIP Lori, you have no more pain, no more cancer, you are finally free of it. we love you*.....she was only 45.

mama_d, BSN, RN · Oct 30, 2008

I wonder if it's a regional thing...I first heard about this from a woman who was from Georgia, a real salt-of-the-Earth kinda gal. I've mentioned it several times to people I work with now whenever someone is circling the drain, and it seems like I'm the only one who had ever heard of it.

A side note on the multiple deaths in one room...we have a room on our unit where the several patients in a row had bad outcomes, and the room just felt kinda opressive and heavy. I thought it was just me and a few coworkers being creeped out by the coincidence, but I overheard one of the day shift nurses asking one of the chaplains (a Catholic priest) to bless the room b/c it "felt bad" in there. After he blessed the room, even though the subsequent patients were sicker, the outcomes were better. Weird, huh?

racing-mom4, BSN, RN · Oct 30, 2008

I have heard roll them to thier Left side and they will pass quicker. I have tired it, but dont know if they passed any quicker or not...I am a firm beliver in hearing is the last thing to go and to give them permission to go will help thier transistion.