Watch your manners please..

[DedHedRN]

I have been in the hospital for a few days with my grandfather who is in ICU.

He was put on blood thinners for a DVT, when he started hemorrhaging after a fall, I called the ambulance and had him taken to the ER. His BP was 40/15 when we got to ER.

A ER tech came in and looked at him while I was giving information for intake, and he announced to the RN, "Would you like me to go get a casket?" she asked him "what?" and he said " where do you keep the caskets, so I can bring you one" and of course when I looked for a name tag, he wasn't wearing one. Good thing the nurse distracted me with more intake questions, so that when I looked around for him again he was long gone.

I was to say the LEAST, mortified. I love my grandfather and I am still to the hour distrustful of the care he is receiving at this hospital when this type of attitude is portrayed, and am saddened that he is still there as he is to unstable to transfer out of their ICU.

He is getting better and is not in need of a "casket" as the ER tech so rudely put it.

[pca_85]

Ohhhhhhh I would report the hell out of that!

[dizzyray822]

What?!? I would have asked for his name and reported him immediately!!! Wow...that was just awful. Lots of force going your way for your grandfather.

[elkpark]

Is it possible you just misheard/misunderstood the tech?? ERs are often loud and busy, and hospitals don't stock "caskets" or coffins.

[SAHMStudent]

I'm sorry to hear that you had to encounter such a rude tech while in a very stressful situation with your grandfather. I'm hoping the nurse reported the tech, or contacted the tech's supervisor. People joke to cope, but this person was desensitized to the point where they need to get out of the ED, or bedside entirely.

[proudnurseRN]

We do joke around on our unit about things others would consider morbid, but would never do so in that manner, especially in front of the family.

[alabamaparamedic]

I'd like to believe it was a misunderstanding...while my fellow paramedics and I can have a morbid sense of humor, we reserve jokes for when we are in private.

I've been working EMS for 5 years, and I have never heard anyone say anything that inappropriate in front of the patient, never mind in front of family.

[Bbo.W]

WOW...I am really shocked by such rude and insensitive behavior. Is it possible for you to report the tech, perhaps to the charge nurse or the DON? That tech has NO business being anywhere near patients or working in a hospital... He could have seriously affected your Grandfather's health by causing him to lose confidence.

[Ellekat2]

You don't have a name, but you know the time and date. This is extremely unprofessional behavior and the person needs to be called on it. Write a letter stating what happened, and the time/date/location. If the employers want to stop this behavior, they will find him. Ask for a follow-up to see if he's been located and what extra education they are doing to keep this from having again.

[TacoBelle]

Could he have perhaps been asking about a cath kit? Oooooohhh......

[Batman25]

As someone mentioned above they wouldn't be asking for a casket. The hospital wouldn't even stock them. I think they were asking about a cath kit as indicated above as well. They sound similiar and in all the confusion and noise you prob just misunderstood.

[carolmaccas66, BSN, RN]

How absolutely effing rude. And no hospitals here do not stock caskets or coffins. But the only thing I can think of that even remotely sounds like that is a cast (plaster of paris cast), but why would he be asking for that? And the word coffin doesn't sound like anything you would be asking for.

Sorry I would have made my EXTREME displeasure known there and then in a very loud voice, and would have demanded to see the head of the ER or CEO, or whoever was in charge.

We all make bad jokes to keep ourselves sane re patients, but saying anything like this out loud is so very unprofessional.