Weird, Odd Nurses Behavior.....

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.

When I first start drinking my am coffee, I whisper sweet nothings to it and tell it how much I love it. Hey, if I don't, it might stop tasting so good.

Plus all the above, and too many others to list. Gimme an O, gimme a C, gimme a D!!!

Me neither... I let the dog sleep with me, lick my face & eat off my plate. My cats run all over the work surface in the kitchen and I only object if they get to my food before I do! Have never even had a transient thought about bacteria on fruit/veg/handles. Couldn't give a toss about which foods touch on my plate. Dishes get thrown into the dishwasher (not rinsed) in any old random order... if they come out dirty, I might clean it by hand.... then again I might not! Haven't had a serious illness in my life & rarely get coughs/colds or D&V. Have never had flu (and dont get vaccinated either)

I'm careful about my patients because they are ill, so there is a very good reason.

Dont know how you all cope from day-to-day without dissolving ito some gibbering idiot...

I barely have time to do what I have to do in a typical day without having time to incorporate any obsessive behavior.

Only exception might be that I do rinse dishes before putting them in the dishwasher, and frequently wipe down my stethoscope at work. Of course, frequent handwashing is a given - but we all should be doing that!

And my animals are treated as the family members that they are. After all, they are cleaner (and much sweeter) than the majority of my patients!

When I first start drinking my am coffee, I whisper sweet nothings to it and tell it how much I love it. Hey, if I don't, it might stop tasting so good.

I think this is cute. :)

In Toronto I've seen Purel placed in strategic places for everyone to use. There was even a sign at the entrance telling everyone to use some before continuing further into the hospital.

Good ideas to me!

That became standard post-SARS. It's pretty much in every hospital in Ontario (at least that I"ve been to). I think it's a wonderful idea too!

I think this is cute. :)

I didn't even realize it until the 1st time my bf spent the night - I made coffee and he looked at me like I was insaaaaaaane...

That became standard post-SARS. It's pretty much in every hospital in Ontario (at least that I"ve been to). I think it's a wonderful idea too!

I also see this at my dentists office also, It is definately a wonderful idea for any area of practice that deals with people. In fact both hospital facilities in the city I live at in Ontario not only have the alcohol hand wash at their entrances but also continue to limit visitation since the SARS outbreak in '03.

Just did a rotation at a pediatrician's office this week and was absolutely horrified when the little girl with pinkeye picked up a toy camera and was putting it up to her eye. As soon as they left, I sprayed the h#ll out of it with lysol.

I'm not completely off the deep end, though. My family's germs are A-OK with me. It's just the rest of the world, LOL.

I have never, ever, let my kids play w/ the tempting toys that are out in the pediatrician's office. Never. They learned to not even ask. GROSS.

I have to rewrite the patient board at work so it's pretty.

I wash my hands before and after I go to the toilet, if I'm at work (even if I haven't touched anything 'patienty' since I last washed my hands); when I'm done I wash my hands again (of course) and open the door with the paper that I wiped my hands with - because I don't trust that everyone else washes their hands.

At work I run the clean utensils and crockery I eat from under boiling water before using it.

Work shoes are the first thing off and the last thing on as I come through the door.

No shoes upstairs.

My work clothes live in a separate chest of drawers than my regular clothes - it a different room (though that's not on purpose).

My regular clothes are sorted by clothing type (eg shirts) then by colour - black, grey, brown, ROYGBIV, pink, white. Everything has to face the same way.

I have different kitchen sponges for different things - washing up, wiping counters, and wiping up the floor. They all get washed in the washing machine, along with the cleaning rags, in bleach and washing powder.

My pantry's divided into different categories - top shelf is junk food (chocolate, lollies, sweet biscuits, savoury biscuits, savoury snacks); the next is cans (vegetables, fish and seafood, milk, fruit, in alphabetical order); condiments (tea and coffee to the left, herbs and spices, jams and spreads, and I cannot for the life of me remember what's on the far right - as soon as I go home I'm going to have to check!); then staples (baking products, lentils etc, dessicated coconuts etc, pasta, cereal). The bottom shelf is drinks (mixers, bottles of soft drink, cordial, pre-mixed alcohol and cider); the bottom of the pantry has bottled water and appliances, the wok etc.

Thank you for helping me realise my inner weirdness!

I wash my hands before and after I go to the toilet, if I'm at work (even if I haven't touched anything 'patienty' since I last washed my hands); when I'm done I wash my hands again (of course) and open the door with the paper that I wiped my hands with - because I don't trust that everyone else washes their hands.

Ha, I do that same thing, and I flush the toilet with my shoe!!

Also, when I was expecting my baby...I organized the clothes in the closet by age, then further ALPHABETICALLY!! Like onesies, pants, shirts, shorts, sweaters, tshirt.

I realized another goofball thing I do. If I eat cereal like cheerios, trix (anything that has uniform sized items, many of them) I will only eat 5 at a time on my spoon!!

Theres more to come as soon as I realize what other wierd stuff I do!

Reading that I've just realised another thing - I drink in swallow multiples of five. Oh dear, I think I need serious therapy. Well, at least I'm not alone!

And I thought I was crazy for having to have my patient cards at work organized perfectly, with their name written (in black sharpie, of course) in the upper left corner and room number on the upper right. They all have to be perfectly spaced and if they are out of alignment I have to fix them even if I am so busy I can't eat lunch!

I have a few things like this relating to work, and if I let myself think about germs too much I can get pretty OCD with the handwashing, but overall I don't consider myself a germophobe.

Since I became a nurse though, I have realized that I no longer eat from anyone else's plate, even my husband and kids; the thought just grosses me out! And if food sits out for even a little while I won't eat it. The thought of what has been growing on that pizza that has been sitting in its box in the break room for 5 hours makes me nauseous, especially when I see co-workers eating it!

OMG... I AM a nutcase!!! :rotfl: