Totally Had One of Those Days :(

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Specializes in Geriatrics, Home Health.

My pleasently confused little old man pulled his peg-tube completely out this morning! The CNA, who I thought was familiar with the resident, was apparently not familiar with the resident's abdominal binder!!!

CNA: "Uh, Mr. So-and-so, just pulled out his tube..."

Me: "What?"

Nurse 2: "Probably just pulled the feeding out of the port."

Me: "Ima go see."

Me as I look at Mr. So-and-so: "Aww S**t"

When somthing like that happens within the first 30 min of your 12 hour shift, most people might think that it can't get any worse. Well it can :) and it usually will. What is the weirdest thing that has happened in the first few hours (or Mins) of starting your shift at your NH? I know the above is not a strange occurance but It set my tone for the rest of the day and it happened right after report so I hadnt even started to do anything!!

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Specializes in ICU, MedSurg, Medical Telemetry.

-- I walked on the floor and just clocked in when people started gathering around a patient's room with a crash cart and yelling about why a tele monitor had never been put on the pt. I didn't even have an assignment yet! :uhoh3:

-- Within minutes of getting a report, I got a call about an abnormal CT and I had to call my first Code Stroke.

-- I walked onto the floor to see three to four security guards gathered around a room. Apparently a pt was getting violent and demanding to leave AMA. I walked to the locker room to clock in and was like, yup, this will be an interesting night. :icon_roll

Thankfully all these things were NOT on the same day. lol

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I have a sneezer at work. She sneezed so hard her tube feed flew off. No joke there.

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Specializes in Geriatrics, Home Health.
I have a sneezer at work. She sneezed so hard her tube feed flew off. No joke there.

Yikes!

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Specializes in Neuroscience/Neuro-surgery/Med-Surgical/.

Had not even clocked in yet, but saw everyone running for a patient's room.

Got to the room and apparently the patient choked on a piece of food during dinner, and unable to get it removed with the heimlich maneuver. Became grayish blue and unresponsive quickly.

Tracheotomy performed right there at bedside. What a mess!

But I didn't need my caffeine that night with my adrenaline pumping!

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Specializes in LTC.

how about 4 falls in one shift!!

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- being 2 weeks new nurse

- a 1 hour meeting in the beginning of shift.

- a new admit (my 1st one that I actually did a part of... assessment and documentation)

- start medpass 2.5 hours into the shift

- wandering/missing pts, half of them... have to run around the whole facility to find them

- everyone suddenly all needy and in pain or just losing their marbles for no reason at all

- A&I just when I started catching up (never done these before)

- understaffed NACs... 2 for 27 pts... one of them is slow, lazy and annoying

- one of the NACs walking away 1.5 hours before the end of shift with only 1 left

- another res screaming for help 24/7 and falling down the bed every two hours (we have mats under her bed, so it doesn't count)

- a brand new (inexperienced) nurse as a partner on the other side of the hall

It wasn't fun.

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...a happy yellow sign taped to the employee entrance door..."Survey In Progress"...:uhoh3:

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Specializes in LTC,Hospice/palliative care,acute care.

I'm in LTC-have had my share of residents die during activities.I had a waiter come to tell me that Mr so -and -so "did not look good" His head was in his plate. I had a gal die during bingo-what a circus that was. She was in a w/ch without footrests or safety belt-3 floors and another building away. After report one am a cna came to tell me she thought a resident had died. She was 104 years old and completely immobile and dependent for adls'. She had been turned on her side during last rounds and slid over with her face pressed against her side rail-her nose was no longer in the middle of her face and she was quite dead.(no,she did not suffocate) I spent the rest of the day dealing with her hysterical 75 year old dtr who was "so surprised" because "Mother was doing so well" When I called her she flipped out. I remember thinking that after my mother turned sixty-ish anytime the phone rang at off hours thinking maybe something was wrong. But to be surprised over your 104 yr old mother's death? I could NOT deal with her.I did manage to put her mother's nose back where it belonged before she arrived for her day long bedside viewing (in a room with 3 other old ladies)

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I lost three residents this week.

One came back from the acute hospital for a hip fx. Advanced dementia, got PN there, hospital docs said, "Please don't treat." Daughter insists they do everything. Mother is 98 years old.

She came back to us Monday evening on comfort care. Daughter asks the nurse what we're going to do about rehab.

Gevalt.

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Specializes in Gerontology, nursing education.
how about 4 falls in one shift!!

Four falls, one shift, SAME RESIDENT.

Took her to the hospital after one of her falls because she was c/o pain and, not ten minutes later the hospital staff brought her back because she wasn't complaining. Didn't call the doc on call, didn't get an x-ray because she "wasn't in pain". Whatever.

Documented like the dickens that night.

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Specializes in Geriatrics, Home Health.

The worst shift I can remember was last summer. It was the weekend, and I was in charge. A very heavy downpour caused a power outage during supper. The elevators were out, so about 65 people were stranded in the dining room. Just before the lights came back on, a resident fell in his room.

I ran upstairs, carrying 3 lanterns. An aide was already there, talking to the resident, who was on the floor. The resident's wife, who is a huge witch (with a B) was screaming about how she had been waiting for 10 minutes and where were we and she was paying $X000 a month for nursing care. I asked her what happened. She replied "I'm not part of the health care team! That's not my job! I'm paying $X000 a month for nursing care!"

I replied "I'm trying to help your husband, and you're not giving me much to go on. I'm going to talk to my aide now." I turned to the aide, assessed the the resident, and ignored the wife, who shut up very quickly.

I had a staff meeting today. It started before my shift and went over an hour into my shift. I got to start my 4:00 meds at 4:15, and it snowballed from there. The charge nurse was working sick, and couldn't go into any rooms, so I had no help. It was the Med Pass from Hell.

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