What ridiculous things have you seen happen in the workplace?

Sparrowhawk · Jul 1, 2011

Smacker's jar?

Ruby Vee, BSN · Jul 1, 2011

this may be too broad of a question, but what crazy things have you seen happen in your workplace or seen another employee do? from the nurses who don't wear gloves...to the patients who bring you urine in a smacker's jar...to a dr. telling a pt's family that their father is "stable" even though he has crashed 5 times and is currently in the middle of another round of cpr...and so on. please share!

do you want tragic stories? or funny stories? i've got both.

pink_shoes99 · Jul 2, 2011

Smacker's jar?

Lol...I had a pt bring me a urine specimen in an empty Smacker's jar once.

pink_shoes99 · Jul 2, 2011

do you want tragic stories? or funny stories? i've got both.

both are fine :)

DaniannaRN, ASN, BSN · Jul 2, 2011

All the following was in the same facility:

-Aides not using gloves when washing the private areas of patients

-Nurse having an affair with a patient (she was caught)

-One aide smoking weed with a young patient on her lunch break

There were many more crazy things there, but I worked there about 4 years ago so this is all i can remember now.

Not_A_Hat_Person, RN · Jul 2, 2011

Lol...I had a pt bring me a urine specimen in an empty Smacker's jar once.

When I worked in Assisted Living, a resident showed me multiple sputum samples she'd saved in empty jelly jars.

Before I was a nurse, my supervisor came in one day and told everyone about her new tattoo. She said all of her tattoos were in "intimate areas", and the latest was way up on her thigh. Then she pulled down her pants and showed us.

Isitpossible, LPN, LVN · Jul 2, 2011

"weed with the patient"..that takes the cake, I've officially heard it ALL... lol

Biffbradford · Jul 2, 2011

(never mind)

P_RN, ADN, RN · Jul 2, 2011

2 nursing student externs taking turns body surfing down the hallway on gurneys.

Or the young "gentleman" the assistant head nurse was desperate for him to have a BM, telling her from behind the closed BR door he was having a doobie and would be out when he was done-she was tickled pink her laxative was working-we didn't have the heart to tell her it wasn't a BM he was having.

pockunit, ADN, RN · Jul 2, 2011

Smacker's jar?

I think they're for sperm samples.

kimsey · Jul 2, 2011

Well, perhaps considering I worked in a psychiatric hospital my stories may not quite be what you mean by ridiculous, but here are a few things that I have seen:

-A Staff/Mental Health Tech get beat up so bad they had to go to the ER by a patient.

-Patients beating up/jumping on other patients and having to send a patient out.

-A shoe imprint from where a patient kicked another patient hard enough to leave an imprint on their back.

-A full blown riot that required police intervention.

-A patient body slam another patient to protect me and keep that patient from getting to me.

-A patient rip a very securely bolted desk off a wall and attack another patient.

-Same patient rip a piece of lined sheet rock off the wall and attempt the same as above.

-A bible thrown at my head (Missed me!)

-Ceilings completely torn out with lights hanging down.

-A brick randomly falling out of the ceiling (tiles) after having a book thrown at it.

That's just a small list, I've been spit on, knocked down, shoved, etc, luckily I haven't been punched, because frankly I probably would've lost my job. I'm sure I could keep listing, but sadly, over time these things became "the norm" instead of ridiculous!