Weird, Odd Nurses Behavior.....

That's too funny! I am almost compulsive about washing my hands (which is probably good, since I work in OR). I always have a few alcohol swabs in my purse and if we stay in a hotel, I wipe the phone receiver down with them before I'll use it My husband just grins.

Christine

As a nurse, and I guess a germaphobe at times, and just generally weird.....I have picked up on a few of my own rediculous behaviors that I guess I have managed to obtain through the years.

1. If drinking from a large open glass on the nurses unit. I cover the glass with a paper towel, put a straw through the top, and bend the straw not up, but down towards the ground..................why..........well, everybody knows germs fall from the sky and into things...like straws.... :chuckle

2. When opening a new can of pop, I wash it under the sink of running water, and then take a paper towel, all smushed up to a point, and go around the rim of the top of the can to get the dirt off, then open it and drink it.

3. I don't let food touch each other on my plate, and I only eat one thing at a time on my plate. I always finish one thing, and then move onto the next.

Anybody else share in this weirdness????????????????? :rotfl:

I actually share #3 with you. I do not let different foods touch each other and I finish one before moving onto the next.

I always clean my stethoscope between patients with a antimicrobial wipe, and before, after, whenever.

Always use a lid on my cups at work.

Always share my ice-cream with my cat, not by choice, she doesn't give me one. Ever see a cat get brain-freeze? :chuckle :chuckle

But I know I'm weird.

I carry alcohol get with me at all times. I use it to clean my hands thoroughly after touching ATM machines, public door handles, and I always wash my hands after touching a rented video tape or DVD.

Its funny, we were talking about this at work the other day, about how most of the nurses in my unit have OCD tendencies.

Right after getting report, you can look around the ER and see most of the nurses disinfecting everything with those antimicrobial wipes; phones, desks, countertops, med selects, EKG machines, etc.

We have a large board with all the pt last names on it, up to 40-45 names at a time. My compulsion is that these names all have to be written neatly. If somebody has sloppy handwriting, I have to immediately erase it and rewrite it. Okay, actually there are only 2 or 3 other people who I will let keep their handwriting up on the board. Night shift never keeps the board up neat, so in the mornings, I erase ALL the names and rewrite them. It's a running joke in the ER, and my coworkers like to scrawl a name on the board in chicken scratch and see how long it takes me to notice it.

My charts are my other issue. We have plastic chartbacks with a big clamp on top to hold everything in. All the papers have to be lined up exactly, without any poking out at an odd angle or heaven forbid the wrong order.

I have issues, but they really help me stay organized.

Okay, I thought of another...

I often keep running tabs of I/O's of myself and the kids quietly to myself in my head.

OOOOOOHHHHHHH, I need to take a vacation! :chuckle

If I'm in a restaurant and somebody around me coughs or sneezes, I cringe, can't even finish my meal!!! Needless to say I don't eat out alot!!

I am glad I am not alone...

I don't think these things are weird. You're just trying to protect yourself and other people.

Not a nursing one but my family just does not understand why it drives me CRAZY when they do keep the big plates with the big plates and the little plates with the little plates when they load the dishwasher! They say "what is the big deal?". The big deal is that it drives me insane to open up the dishwasher and have them all scatterd.

when ever I come home from grocery shopping I always wash my hands. Just thinking about all the people who touched the cart handle, the boxes, the meat packages makes me cringe because you just don't know where their hands have been and if they even washed them.

When I stock rooms in the ER, all of the alcohol and betadine pads need to be in the bin right side up and with the label facing the same way, sheets have to have the folds going in the same direction, and there always HAS to be 15 blankets in the warmer. I also erase the white board so the handwriting is neat...LOL. I disinfect the phones, counter tops, and door handles at the bagining and end of my shift...and if we see a patient who is potentially infectious...I refuse to use the restroom in the ER and when I run and interp telemtry strips the papers have to be lined up EXACTLY and if anyone messes with them, I know and will seek revenge. :)

If someone coughs or sneezes anywhere near me in public, I hold my breath and practically run until I am least 3 feet away...sheesh! and Im still a student too lol