What Baffles You?

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So I have come across this a few times. I am holding a straw to a persons lips and they drink and drink and drink and pretty soon they are waving their hands for me to stop. Stop what?! You don't have to keep sucking on the straw just because it is in your mouth. I think the universal sign of I'm done please remove the straw should be to stop sucking on it and open your mouth! I have had a few people have to catch their breath and make comments about me giving them too much! What? I don't get it.

Specializes in Med Surg.
" you know the little round blue one"[/quote']I had the nicest little old man do that to me one night. He'd been in the hospital for 24 hours when he asked me for "the purple pill for my feet." I had no idea what he was talking about. We settled on ibuprofen and everyone was happy.
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Specializes in Public Health, L&D, NICU.
I'm baffled when people go in for surgery FROM HOME who have not bathed or showered or even washed their hands in a sink... apparently in a week. Seriously?

I will never, ever forget the scheduled C-section I circulated with a patient that had big ol' balls of mud between her toes and mud up to her knees. Upon questioning, she stated that she just really wanted a walk that morning. And, what? You don't own shoes? Or a garden hose, at least?

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Specializes in ED; Med Surg.

Yeah, it's not like she was stuck in the mud for days and went into labor just as she was rescued. People never fail to amaze me, they really don't.

This is the greatest thread...

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Specializes in ER.
Hiccups can be a sign of an imminent bowel obstruction.

So the hiccups kind of jar the turd into position, and then it doesn't move at all?

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This happens All The Time. Somebody who I have never seen before comes to the front desk and asks, "How's my Dad?" I have to ask "Who is your Dad?" Really? I have to ask "Who is your Dad?". So now I just look at them blankly. They don't get it. They repeat, "How is my Dad?" I say "Don't make me ask". They still don't get it. So I ask, "Who is your Dad?"

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I dont understand when fully oriented non confused patients pull out their IV and then when I ask why they respond, "I dont know". grrr

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Specializes in ER, Trauma, Med-Surg/Tele, LTC.
I dont understand when fully oriented non confused patients pull out their IV and then when I ask why they respond "I dont know". grrr[/quote']

I had a patient that kept pulling it out every night because she "only get the antibiotic during day shift." o_O Four days in a row I had to start a new line.

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I had a patient that kept pulling it out every night because she "only get the antibiotic during day shift." o_O Four days in a row I had to start a new line.

This. OMG this.

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Patients who try and refuse to drink water to take their medications...

"NOOO!! I only drink Coke!"

Well, that explains a lot.

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Specializes in Medsurg/ICU, Mental Health, Home Health.
So the hiccups kind of jar the turd into position, and then it doesn't move at all?

I've been coming here for six years...and still I think it's safe to drink coffee while reading posts...

*chokes*

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Specializes in Medsurg/ICU, Mental Health, Home Health.
This happens All The Time. Somebody who I have never seen before comes to the front desk and asks, "How's my Dad?" I have to ask "Who is your Dad?" Really? I have to ask "Who is your Dad?". So now I just look at them blankly. They don't get it. They repeat, "How is my Dad?" I say "Don't make me ask". They still don't get it. So I ask, "Who is your Dad?"

An actual conversation I had with a visitor. I was walking out of one of my patients' rooms and a woman I'd never met is walking past, stops me and says....

"I'm a friend of hers, and the family is going through a lot - I want to leave my number for them"

Me: "Okay, what is the name of the patient?"

Lady: "My name is Cindy...I'm a family friend. I came to see her"

Me: "That was nice of you! I'd love to take your information but I don't know what patient you were visiting."

(remember, I don't have a piece of paper or pen...I had just taken off my gloves and washed my hands)

Lady: "She really is going through a lot. My number is..."

At that point the unit clerk, bless her soul, intervened because she saw I was getting nowhere and had noticed which patient was being discussed.

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Specializes in Neuro ICU and Med Surg.

Yes the calls that magically expect us to know how mom/dad/sister/brother/son/daughter/aunt/uncle/grandma/grandpa is doing. I have had to stop people from giving me the privacy code so I could transfer them to the right nurse. The person on the other end could be a clerk, and they just want info.

I also wonder why people ask how you are when passing by. They don't even give the chance to say "good, and you".

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