Weird, Odd Nurses Behavior.....

RENAISSANCE RN · Oct 6, 2005

i can't eat m&m's anymore since they changed the colors. i always used to save the greens for last because they reminded me of kermit the frog.
the kitchen sink is only used for food-related washing. if you come in from outside and need to wash up, do it in the bathroom, not the kitchen sink. (wish we had a sink in the laundry room!)
no food items touching each other on the plate, items eaten one at a time since it's not the other foods' turn yet! though i'm not so bad that i won't eat touching food, i just reseparate with my fork. somehow beet juice doesn't bother me! although maybe it should. . .
i'm obsessed with eating every last grain of rice on my plate, including partial/broken grains. my husband pointed this out to me. it feels like a game to get 'em all!
no rice grains or other debris allowed to remain in my soy sauce dipping container at the sushi bar.
dishes must be washed in order of cleanest to dirtiest (can't wait till we have a dishwasher!) this just seems practical - why goop up glassware with chunks from the pots and pans?
toilet lid must be closed after each use. please drop the lid before flushing to prevent germs from going airborne. :uhoh21:
at work i do the same multiple handwashing routine regarding bathroom use - wash out at the desk before going in, wash in the bathroom, and wash again out at the desk. same for getting food from the cafeteria - wash before going, wash again upon return to the breakroom with my food (before eating.) and wash after eating in the breakroom, and again out at the desk. this is on a day when i actually get a break, and when the cafeteria is actually open!
can't stand to share a drinking glass. though kissing and sharing chap stick is fine!
can't drink from a water glass that's been standing out too long. like the little girl from the alien movie "signs."
yes, i have also disinfected my face with alcohol wipes when contaminated by a patient! shudder!
i clean the mouse and keyboard on school computers with alcohol wipes before using . . .
check out this fascinating article on ocd and various other mental illnesses:
http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/eid/vol8no9/02-0204.htm
it proposes an organic infectious basis for many psych disorders. wow!

i think ocd needs to get in the way of your life in order for it to be a disorder. ( bothersome to the person and takes more than one hour) i think it is usually triggered by uncontrollable thoughts etc....or purely obsessional.

i think we all have traits to different types of illnesses, but don't have the illness.................. aren't we all a little nuts...........i hate to meet a perfect person.... i think i would have to kill him/her :biggringi

ps that was an interesting article.

DusktilDawn · Oct 6, 2005

I'm a big fan of feng-shui, nursing style... By that, I mean all the furnishings have to be parallel (in ICU - the bed must be parallel to the wall, the ventilator parallel to the bed, and so on) - and I mean precisely parallel, none of this 5 degrees either way crap. Not only that, when I'm setting up my workstation/dressing tables/etc, everything must be organised just so. Syringes parallel to saline and drugs, etc. etc. etc. Just like in the movies. That's where I learned to nurse...

I'd be happy to have enough room to walk into my patient's room, we have extremely small patient rooms.

ZASHAGALKA, RN · Oct 6, 2005

M&Ms don't taste right unless I eat them thusly: two at a time, orange, then yellow, then green, then blue, then dark brown, then red. I eat the last three red one at a time and suck on them until they dissolve.

Now that's just weird.

EVERYBODY KNOWS YOU EAT THE GREEN ONES FIRST!

~faith,

Timothy.

Graciegirlienurse · Oct 6, 2005

I make lists for everything, I put a checkbox next to each thing on the list and check it off when completed. -If I do something that was not on my list, I add it, and then check it off.

At the grocery store when I get to the checkout, I have to place everything in its catagory. all of the produce goes together. all of the frozen food, etc. this is very important and when I see someone just piling everything on the belt all together it really stresses me out!

Drysolong · Oct 6, 2005

as a nurse, and i guess a germaphobe at times,
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 haven't read all of the posts yet, but of the ones i've read so far, nothing strikes me as overly weird or ocdish. we had this discussion just yesterday in my med-surg class when discussing ocd.

concerning washing cans (all cans, not just soda) i've seen films on just what can (does) happen in warehouses and plants that process and store cans(i.e., insect and rodent droppings) and i've been washing the top of my cans every since.

also, i read something (i don't remember what, but it was where i picked up that dark breads were better for you, and i haven't eaten white bread since) a long time ago that said it is actually better for our digestive systems to eat one thing at a time until finished.

do any of you remember when you were small children or if you look at small children now, we all seem to start out eating one thing on our plate and then going to the next. i did, until my father showed me the "right" way to eat.

Fairemaid · Oct 7, 2005

Graciegirlienurse said

"At the grocery store when I get to the checkout, I have to place everything in its catagory. all of the produce goes together. all of the frozen food, etc. this is very important and when I see someone just piling everything on the belt all together it really stresses me out!"

I do this at the store, but I put all the heavy items up first because that way they end up on the bottom of the cart. And I keep the frozen foods and dairy products together:p

I am also one of the people who can't eat if the foods are touching each other and also tend to eat each food separately. My husband thinks I'm nuts. I also have another food habit that cracks my kids up, I eat sweet corn in 4 row bites from end to end, so when I'm done, the ear is square as seen from the ends. I bugs me to no end if the corn has any remainder rows of less than 4 rows.

I do lots of hand washing at work and use the alcohol gel frequently as I do work on an isolation floor. I wash hands well at home too, but do not own any antibacterial gel. I deal with resistant organisms on a daily basis and I know that someday they will be back to haunt us big time. :eek:

Rebecca RN

BeckyJN · Oct 8, 2005

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.

I often make sure that my plates are interspersed because I feel that it allows the water and soap a better distribution. If i put like plates together, they have a tendency to lean together and I don't feel that water gets in between them as well.

Deidre Shiobhan · Oct 8, 2005

I share #2 with you. I don't share cups and cutlery with my staff at work. I have my own. Since I work in NICU, handwashing is very very important and I've reminded my kids the importance of handwashing too. The first thing everybody in the house do upon reaching is - Wash hands and feet.

DusktilDawn · Oct 8, 2005

I often make sure that my plates are interspersed because I feel that it allows the water and soap a better distribution. If i put like plates together, they have a tendency to lean together and I don't feel that water gets in between them as well.

I load the sink a certain way when I do dishes and I hate it when someone throws something in. I also wash them in a certain order. I don't have a dishwasher.

chickdude1 · Oct 9, 2005

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:

Actually, not weird at all. After taking microbiology and one of my classmates was able to grow E. coli after swabbing the drinking fountain......

Concerning #1, think about why we're NEVER supposed to reach across a sterile field

My husband has teased me for YEARS about not letting my food touch each other and eating one thing on my plate before moving on to the next.

And, after catching a rather nasty rash on my legs, hind end, and elbows after using a toilet in the nursing home where I worked USING A SEAT COVER, I carry alcohol wipes with me everywhere to wipe down toilets before I use them.

So, no, not weird at all!

ChickDude1

weezledawg · Oct 9, 2005

Ialways carry alcohol with me everywhere...Isn't it embarrassing when you drop the bottel and it makes that loud clinking noise. You'd think that scrunched up brown paper bag would be good for something. :rotfl:

He he he

weezledawg · Oct 9, 2005

I am a nursing student within the first three months of my first year. Lately I have been giving a lot of thought to my obsessive-compulsive side, and contemplating how nursing will give me opportunities to put these traits to use. I thought perhaps it was just me, but now I can clearly see that I am in the best of company with my fellow nurses (and other soon-to-be nurses.) I can only assume that my tendencies will only get worse.