What have other nurses done that have freaked you out?

Nurses General Nursing

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What have other peers done intentional/unintentional to freak you out? Good or bad. Happy or sad.

On my FIRST day as an LVN, (LTC) a res was screaming in her room as I was walking out to leave. I went in to see what was going on. She was having an anxiety attack and severe pain (post stroke). I pulled the call light, and no one came. Uggg.

So I peeked out the door and saw my CNA walking down the hall, and told him to come sit with res. I went down to get her a Xanax and a pain pill, well relief nurse was in the restroom, and relief CNA (with call light still going off) was sitting behind nurses station reading a newspaper. I told CNA to tell the nurse to get a Xanax and pain pill for res. She said OK. I go to relieve my CNA. Said goodbye to him, and stayed with res. after 10 minutes, CNA COMES INTO ROOM WITH XANAX AND MORPHINE PILL. She is soooooo shocked to see me still there, she hands me the pills and RUNS to the relief nurse. I could NOT BELIEVE WHAT I JUST SAW!!!!

(I did immediately call DON and tell what happened. Luckily, my CNA was still checking on another res, and saw the whole thing.--------they got a slap on the wrist! that was it!!!):madface: :madface: :madface: :madface:

Specializes in ICU, PICC Nurse, Nursing Supervisor.

This is a CNA story but it was so funny at the time

Ill never forget the time my CNA was showering a female patient. She took her to the shower and the next thing I know she steps out the door white as a sheet she said ..."UH hello nursie down there...UH denise come here please, we have to have a talk".. I thought the lady was dead or something.. I go down there and she says..."The next time i am about to shower a female with a member will you please tell me before hand"....I said "WHAT" . The lady had a prolapsed uterus and her cervix was hanging out...:rotfl::rotfl::rotfl::rotfl::rotfl::rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:

Specializes in ER, NICU, NSY and some other stuff.

I was oriented by a home care nurse one time on a peds patients. Kiddo was on concentrated feeds, dig, lasix, aldactone, diuril.........can you say fluid restriction? Well as she is orienting me she mentions how the doc had recently changed the formula to this higher calorie, lower volume feedings and that now she believed he had forgot to add extra fluid so everytime she flushed the mickey button she put an extra cup or so of water down to "make up for the decrease in fluids with the new feeding solution."

Then there was the co-worker that turned off the monitor on my baby while I was gone to a delivery because "it kept going off too much and bothering me...."

Yeah I could go on and on...

1 Votes
Specializes in ED.
A nurse crushed Percocets, mixed with water, and gave it through a central line IV.:eek: :eek: :eek: :eek:

Oh my Lord you're kidding me!!!

Specializes in ER, NICU, NSY and some other stuff.

Recebtly heard a secondhand rumor about someone who drew up gastrograffin in a syringe, injected it into some NS and hung it.......

This isn't my story, but last spring during clinicals one of my friends at another clinical site was watching a wound being debrided and cleaned. The patient had MRSA and the nurse was clipping the dead skin around the wound site and the dead skin was flying everywhere and it was landing on the chart and other folders! The nurse then simply took off her gloves and didn't wash her hands or anything and picked up the now contaminated charts and went down to the nurses station to chart!

Specializes in Emergency Room.

I'm not sure if if scares me more that these people GOT their license, or that they've KEPT their license.

I have two....

One is from the department dummy. She had a CP pt, and the order was given for NitroPaste. She goes up to the ER doc, and says "his HR keeps dropping into the 50s. Do you still want me to give the paste?" The doc just very calmly said "Nitro doesn't affect HR." She is very nice, just not the best nurse. She has also in the past given meds by the wrong route (I'm not going to get into that one but it was recent and BAD)

I've seen many nurses hit "suspend alarms" on the cardiac monitor, then leave the room. That drives me insane! Unless you have a monitor tech who is just watching the rhythm, those alarms need to be on!

Specializes in Telemetry.

Ok, I have to say, maybe I am NOT the worst nurse ever..

Mine is second hand as well...I was told that a nurse on our floor came down to the nurses station at shift change and told two other (more experienced thank goodness) nurses..."my patient looks funny"...the nurses turned to her and said "what do you mean looks funny?"...The first nurse just replies..."I dont know, just funny"....needless to say the funny looking patient was dead...the nurse had just walked out....my assessment skills need some honing, but I am pretty sure I can differentiate between ALIVE and DEAD =)

2 Votes
Specializes in Education, Acute, Med/Surg, Tele, etc.

LOL, Actually the other day I freaked a PT out! LOL!!!!!!

We were assisting a new total hip patient post op day 3 to the BSC. He was very painful despite lots of pain meds, and he made a quick move and pulled his IV out. I was on that side, without gloves mind you because I ran in to help this poor PT who tried to do this alone!

The cannula came out and I am NOT kidding...the vein squirted blood up about 2 feet in the air in a constant strong stream! So my gut reaction...I took my bare finger and applied pressure! The PT grossed out big time..."ewwwwwwww you don't have gloves!". I said very polietly and calmly..."yep, and if you would be so kind as to hit the RN call light I will get someone to get me gloves or a towel".

It is amazing however...only two drops of blood on my shoe is all that hit us people....a gross mess on the floor though! LOL!

I think the PT was freaked because one, I had no gloves on and was touching blood (my finger was intact, no hangnails or scratches of any kind), Two was so calm and calmly asked for assistance, and Three...didn't freak out about the bleeding coming out that fast and hard! LOL!

I got help right away and applied a gauze dressing with compression type tape...that helped to get him into bed without further squirts..LOL. Then I re-dressed it after direct pressure with a gloved hand (after washing and using the foam cleanser on my hand). Then I cleaned the floor so no one would slip and called for housekeeping to handle the santitizing of the area (our protocol). It was no biggie at all...but wow...that PT really flipped! LOL!

Specializes in Med-Surg, Trauma, Ortho, Neuro, Cardiac.
Oh my Lord you're kidding me!!!

True story. It was an agency nurse. She was banned from the hospital and reported to the BON. Don't know what happened to her. Very very scarey.

Specializes in Neuro/Med-Surg/Oncology.

One guy pushed 1 gram of Dilantin into a central line and sent the pt immediately into asystole. :eek:

We had a registry nurse who walked to our nursing station from down the hall to tell us her pt wasn't breathing:smackingf I run into the room with her behind me and sure enough, no breathing and no pulse. I told her to hit the code button on the wall, and yes she knew where it was cause she turned right to it, and stood in front of it staring at it and wringing her hands. Pt didn't make it.

A nurse crushed Percocets, mixed with water, and gave it through a central line IV.:eek: :eek: :eek: :eek:

I guess the patient died?

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