What are some of the most ridiculous requests you have heard?

Published

All day breakfast - Are you kidding me?!

Aren't you amazed by patients (and families) who think nurses are there to wait on them hand and foot. Yes, we provide service around the clock, but it is not in the form of food but medical care. What are some of the most ridiculous requests you have gotten?

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Specializes in ICU, LTACH, Internal Medicine.
Good Lord Katie there are a ton of whackadoodles up there in Mid Michigan. I guess SE MI isn't as crazy as I thought.

If you wanna see REAL things, go to Detroit Receiving or Children's. Especially in ER. After that, there will be nothing in the whole world to surprise you... or scare you away, for that matter.

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I have 5+ years of ward clerk experience, the ridiculous requests are too numerous to list.

A surgeon was working at the desk next to mine when a patient's daughter approached him and said, "I'm here with my mom, can you give me a prescription for Xanax? I am soooo stressed out. Like, a lot of stress."

Surgeon: "What's Xanax? I don't know what that is."

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Lol, I've been in this same

situation MANY times. So frustrating.

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Specializes in Emergency/Trauma/LDRP/Ortho ASC.

Just from my shift last night:

Pt walks from the ems stretcher to the ED bed for triage, she was picked up by ems at a gas station so she had several shopping bags full of two liters. Before I could even take a breath to start assessing her she said "Hon could you get me a cup and some ice, I have my own Orange Crush here and I'm about to thirst to death."

Different pt:

ESI Level 5 pt ambulating back to her room from the bathroom and approaches a physician standing at the corner of the nurses' station. She asked him "Hey is there any way I could be moved to one of those rooms? My room is very small and there isn't room for all of my visitors." She was asking to be moved to a trauma bay. :/

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Specializes in SICU, trauma, neuro.

From an OB-GYN resident re: our 1-day postpartum pt (I'm a SICU nurse): "She plans to breastfeed. Has anyone gotten a breast pump?" Um...I am about as passionate about breastfeeding as they come--stopping shy of being lactation looney. This poor woman was on ECMO, an IABP, CRRT, and on 4 or 5 pressors, with 2:1 nursing plus a perfusionist. No, we really can't pump and dump for her at this point. Actually I think I said "No, we haven't. We've been pretty focused on keeping her alive." Him: "Touche."

From a daughter whose father with endstage liver failure had just been admitted--showing early signs of sepsis, no less: "We want him fed all-natural, fresh, organic food." Me: "We have hospital food, but once he's cleared to eat solid foods, you're welcome to bring food from home."

From a (somewhat estranged) mother whose daughter had been intentionally run over by her boyfriend, when the girl's friends showed up to visit: "Can I show them her bruises?" (the tires had gone over her thighs and flank area) Me: "No, we're not going to expose her body without her consent."

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Specializes in Geriatrics, Dialysis.
"I brought eggs, cheese, onions, tomatoes and bacon. Open up the kitchen for us so grandma can make us her famous omelettes." This was said to me by a resident's grandson who brought his wife and kids down so grandma could make them breakfast. Keep in mind grandma is a resident in a LTC facility and she's wheelchair bound and has dementia.

Maybe it's just me, but I think that's kind of sweet. Now if you could have convinced the grandson and his wife to cook the omelettes instead of obviously incapable Grandma I might have made the rehab kitchen available for them. Who knows, maybe Grandma would have loved directing them on making her famous omelette.

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Specializes in Neuro ICU and Med Surg.
If you wanna see REAL things, go to Detroit Receiving or Children's. Especially in ER. After that, there will be nothing in the whole world to surprise you... or scare you away, for that matter.

Ha ha I worked in Detroit before. Although not at Children's or Receiving and have had my fair share of outlandish requests. Even in the suburbs.

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Specializes in Neuro ICU and Med Surg.

I seem to always answer the phone and have people looking to see if "Bob" was admitted. I ask for a last name, and they either don't know how to spell it or what the last name is.

I had a lady who called telling me that "I gear you have a set of lungs for me"......????? We did have a donation after cardiac death going on, and the plan was to take her lungs, how tjis person thought to call and ask us from out of state I have no idea. Our OPO staff ended up taking that call.

Being asked if we could just transplant a new brain. Uh.... I don't think that is possible.

The family that took over a confrence room on our floor because the door lock was broken. They used it for a huge potluck. Crock pots and everything.

We had a family member get away with banning a nurse from the side of the unit her husband was on. She didn't like her because she thought she was laughing at her. The nurse wasn't laughing at her.

The family that was just mentioned above was angry that on day shift 8 staff were needed to turn the patient who weighed #500. They were all small women working that day. We tried to explain that, but they were still mad.

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Oh I am sure there have been better but...

I had a pt's daughter (the daughter was a frequent flyer) ask me for oxygen. Saying she needed it when she slept. I explained to her that we cannot give non-pt's O2. She then proceeds to c/o SOA, to which I get a wheelchair and tell her I would be happy to take her to the ER (clearly faking it). Then... and I wish I was lying.... she fake died. FAKE DIED. Slumped over on the couch, closed her eyes and stuck her tongue out. I just walked out and got the house supervisor, as I laughed the whole way.

A male patient once tried to hand me his wallet so I could go to the ATM on the bottom floor. How stupid do you think I am?? I pushed him in his wheelchair to the ATM.

FAKE DIED!! LMAO I KENT!! THIS JUST MADE MY DAY HEHEHE:facepalm::no::roflmao:

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Specializes in ICU, LTACH, Internal Medicine.
From an OB-GYN resident re: our 1-day postpartum pt (I'm a SICU nurse): "She plans to breastfeed. Has anyone gotten a breast pump?" Um...I am about as passionate about breastfeeding as they come--stopping shy of being lactation looney. This poor woman was on ECMO, an IABP, CRRT, and on 4 or 5 pressors, with 2:1 nursing plus a perfusionist. No, we really can't pump and dump for her at this point. Actually I think I said "No, we haven't. We've been pretty focused on keeping her alive." Him: "Touche

"

For one thing, I was pumped while being in pretty much the same condition. Nobody wanted to deal with mastitis in addition to everything else. I was quite surprised later on that even acute critical condition could not suppress lactation... but, anyway, it gave us both over a year of happy bonding, and, as I believe, better outcome overall. At least for my baby:)

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Specializes in ICU, LTACH, Internal Medicine.

We had a family member get away with banning a nurse from the side of the unit her husband was on. She didn't like her because she thought she was laughing at her. The nurse wasn't laughing at her.

Ugm. The same guy who fired me for "wanting American nurse" tried to call Immigration services office in Detroit to tell them that the hospital employs illegals. His mistake was that he yelled onto an agent and thus committed federal crime. Immigration officials are the same government guys as policemen, but they are mostly sitting in cozy offices and kinda not used to abuse of any sort. One better be very polite with them, or else. So the cookie was tried, convinced and got a hefty fine and community service, in addition to dealing with conviction to the end of his life, as a local newspaper put it all. Only one problem for me was that it was only one stupid dude who eventually got what he deserved.

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I had a patient come into the ER to have staples removed after knee surgery (already not an emergency, but OK) And she brought a little jar so she could keep the staples!!! She wanted to make something out of them. um... ew.

This is nothing. A GI doc I used to work with saved his wife's hardware from when she shattered her ankle. Once her pins and screws were removed he had them dipped in resin and had them made into a Xmas ornament and that was her Xmas gift that year. I'd need a divorce after this.

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