What's the scariest thing you've ever seen as a nurse?

AntMarchingRN, RN · Jan 31, 2011

The scariest thing I ever saw was when I was working psych in the ER. We had a pt. in the waiting room telling us he had worms in his head. (Side note-he was by no means the first "worm head") Although we took his concern seriously, he had to wait his turn and my seclusion rooms were full. Well about 15 mins into his wait he took out a rather large knife and cut into his forehead to "let the worms out". So bleeding all over the waiting room floor (we all know how the face bleeds dramatically), rest of the patients freaking out, he calmly explains to me that he doesn't think he'll be needing our services anymore. He never tried to hurt anyone with the knife and our great security team got it from him easily but it was crazy for a minute there. Now i have seen some crazy stuff in my day, but he made a very scary scene for all involved.

*happy ending - we clean up him, the floor, and no worms!! Lol

resumecpr · Jan 31, 2011

I was working in triage one night and a guy asked to see one of the "code trauma" patients that had arrived earlier. I explained that the doctors and nurses were trying to stabilize the patient and that visitors are not allowed at this critical time.

He then proceeded to lift up his shirt, and point to the large gun stuffed down his pants!! I pushed the panic button so fast and the deputy took him down!

I was petrified...refused to work in triage alone again.

bigsick_littlesick · Jan 31, 2011

last week a young kid was involved in a serious MVA. I heard the call go out over my scanner (I'm also a volunteer FF/EMT) and ifugred we would obviously get the patient and he'd be there by the time i got there. Make a long story short, came up from the OR with an SBP of 40...Epi, levo, fluids w/o. blood w/o, Iv's where ever you could stick one. Came in o nthe unit for 5 min with a full OR team, 2 Anesthesiologists, 2 Trauma Docs, 2 Trauma PAs, 3 RNs, an RRT..PT brady's down to 30s, pulseless, CPR, died within 10 minutes. Massive massive trauma, blood everywhere coming out of every single hole you could imagine. Father came in, couldn't look at me (who was doing compressions) or anyone, just said thank you over and over again, was bawling his eyes out. Just simply awful, and the the images of this kid are just burned into my retina's. I've done EMS for 10 years ad been an RN for 1.5 years and i'd rahter code 8740273647162 old people, than code someone so young. There is nothing easy about it..on a quick side note, would it be out of line if i went to he funeral mass ? I think no but if someone could PM me with an answer or advice id appreciate it..thanks

omg :crying2: breaks my heart to read that... Once I get some experience under my belt, I want to work in the ED. Not that this scares me but I know I have to be prepared to see some pretty grisly situations involving little ones. Nobody EVER wants to see a child get hurt, much less die in such a traumatic way. I feel for that father... so sad. As a human being, I would say go but b/c of your profession, I'm not quite sure...

Way to go nurses for being there for your patients even through all these crazy, scary situations! :yeah:

ramonrn1976 · Jan 31, 2011

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DizzyLizzyNurse · Jan 31, 2011

I'm Curious... What's the scariest thing/experience you've ever seen or had as a nurse?
Mine was when I had to tell a pt husband to leave as there was home/?abuse issues. The husband and patient got extremely angry and I had to call security to escort him out. When pt husband left I was very shaken over this situation as I was only a nsg student at the time. So I told the charge I was going to get a coffee and step outside for some air. When I went outside, the husband was pacing in the parking lot staring at me. It looked like he was going to go postal. I was stiff with fear and I didn't know wether to stay or run. Finally security ran out and escorted me in and the husband finally left. Man was I ever shaken up about that!!!

Why did you have to take care of this as a nursing student???

I was once holding a baby who stopped breathing and turned blue. He had been having periods of apnea, and I was just a float, so the peds RN was having me restrain him while she placed a second IV. It was the scariest thing I have ever seen. On top of it, we were not equipped at that hospital for such a sick baby, and there was a blizzard, so we had to wait 2 hours for an ambulance to arrive. That night was when I knew peds was not for me.

I had this happen to me in the newborn nursery when I was a nursing student. I was trying to hold her (didn't have any experience with newborns) when she spit up a little and then stopped breathing. Thank God an RN walked in at that exact moment because I yelled, "Oh my God she's choking!" The RN grabbed her from me, flipped her on her belly, and performed the Heimlich on the baby like a champ! :yeah:Then she handed her back to me and said, "It happens all the time. Just grab a nurse if it happens again" and walked out. There was another student standing next to me and our jaws were on the floor. I put the baby down and was a shaky mess for a few minutes there!

ramonrn1976 · Jan 31, 2011

last week a young kid was involved in a serious MVA. I heard the call go out over my scanner (I'm also a volunteer FF/EMT) and ifugred we would obviously get the patient and he'd be there by the time i got there. Make a long story short, came up from the OR with an SBP of 40...Epi, levo, fluids w/o. blood w/o, Iv's where ever you could stick one. Came in o nthe unit for 5 min with a full OR team, 2 Anesthesiologists, 2 Trauma Docs, 2 Trauma PAs, 3 RNs, an RRT..PT brady's down to 30s, pulseless, CPR, died within 10 minutes. Massive massive trauma, blood everywhere coming out of every single hole you could imagine. Father came in, couldn't look at me (who was doing compressions) or anyone, just said thank you over and over again, was bawling his eyes out. Just simply awful, and the the images of this kid are just burned into my retina's. I've done EMS for 10 years ad been an RN for 1.5 years and i'd rahter code 8740273647162 old people, than code someone so young. There is nothing easy about it..on a quick side note, would it be out of line if i went to he funeral mass ? I think no but if someone could PM me with an answer or advice id appreciate it..thanks

After 11 yr in the field, I have attended several services for pts of whom I grew close to them and their families during their care. I always sat in the back and didn't make a scene. If the family recognized me and felt like speaking, I spoke. Otherwise, I expressed my condolences and went on with my business. Nothing wrong with attending in my book.

canesdukegirl, BSN, RN · Jan 31, 2011

Not quite as dramatic as the above posts, but scary nonetheless...I had a very arrogant surgical resident get her panties in a wad because we would not let her pt go back to the OR from the holding area until she was marked. We paged and paged, but she never returned the page. She came up to the holding area in a total tizzy, grabbed a marker and went over to the patient and marked her so hard that the pt started to cry. Then she looked over at the pre-op nurses and said, "There, are you happy?!? Can we get on with it?" She marked the wrong site.

mama_d, BSN, RN · Jan 31, 2011

I used to work on a small 8 bed geropsych unit at a rural hospital. We'd mostly get little old ladies with depression, pts with undiagnosed UTIs or impactions, and ones with polypharmacy issues. We had no security, etc. ... When our in-house census hit near 30 we'd get free sodas for dealing with the "high census".

We had a guy, about 6'5" and massive, retired farmer with organic brain syndrome for years of ETOH use. He went totally insane, grabbed a walker (the kind with the seat on it) and started going after the othe patients. We managed to lock them in their rooms for safety, and lock ourselves in the med room. We couldn't get ahold of the unit manager, and finally managed to wait him out and transfer him to a larger facility.

BTW, I should mention that we were a restraint free floor...chemical as well as physical. And we weren't allowed to call the cops b/c "It would look bad". I nearly got fired over it, b/c of the EMTALA violations we caused. And the unit manager told me (I had only had my license for a year) that nursing clearly wasn't my field and I needed to go be a waitress b/c I'd never amount to anything as a nurse.

**NickiLaughs, ADN, BSN, RN** · Jan 31, 2011

Honestly, the scariest for me had nothing to do with another person, but me not double checking a drip I was mixing. Something possessed me to look at the vial again (momentary sanity), realized it was not the cardiac drip that I was attempting to mix. I almost passed out, my heart beat out of my chest. I almost started crying. I was so scared when I realized what I had almost done could have cost my patient their life.

My patient was very unstable, but I have learned the 30 seconds it takes me to double check something, regardless of their instability, is fine. Because it'd better to take your time and do it right, than be in a hurry and kill them.

carolmaccas66, BSN, RN · Jan 31, 2011

When I was a 3rd year nursing student, this doctor on the cardiac/renal ward with quite a thick accent, was explaining to this patient how he was going to cut into his heart, do a bypass (or whatever it was), the next day.

After the doctor left the patient (a bloke), he turned to me and said: "I didn't understand a word he just told me. Can you explain what he said?" A nurse told me later, apparently, this was quite a common occurence with this doctor.

There is NO WAY that doctor would be doing surgery on ME if I didn't fully understand what would be happening. I mean, this surgeon had a license to hold a scalpel for crying out loud!

The patient signed the consent form anyway, after the CN explained it all to him.

Scary....

carolmaccas66, BSN, RN · Jan 31, 2011

Honestly, the scariest for me had nothing to do with another person, but me not double checking a drip I was mixing. Something possessed me to look at the vial again (momentary sanity), realized it was not the cardiac drip that I was attempting to mix. I almost passed out, my heart beat out of my chest. I almost started crying. I was so scared when I realized what I had almost done could have cost my patient their life.
My patient was very unstable, but I have learned the 30 seconds it takes me to double check something, regardless of their instability, is fine. Because it'd better to take your time and do it right, than be in a hurry and kill them.

Just curious, isn't it policy at your hospital/facility that you ALWAYS check your meds before mixing them with another RN, to ensure you haven't got the wrong drug?

Horseshoe, BSN, RN · Jan 31, 2011

The most scary thing I have ever seen in my career was the alien creature eat through a man's abdominal cavity in the ER. The man entered the ER with the complaint of cramping, and general malaise, and exhibited a low grade fever. The man was triage, and had been in the ER for about 2 hours, when the he began to scream like a woman. Two nurses, and four paramedics found the man violently arching his back, and his abdomen looked as though it was being poked from something within. The man fell flat on his back and the green alien creature with dinosaur teeth, let out a hiss and growl, and scurried on its was out the hospital ER and never to be found. That was the scariest thing I ever seen in my life.

:yeah: :lol2:

Hey, I know what happened to it. It ended up in DisneyWorld. I know this because I saw it in an exhibition. They had it isolated in a glass case (it was grown up by this time). It really did look like...an Alien. :eek:During the middle of the show, it ESCAPED!!! The lights went out, sirens were screaming, the audience members were freaking out, etc. It ran behind me and hissed at me-I felt its breath on the back of my neck! It also whipped around in front of me and slung its slime on my face. God, was that ever the scariest thing. Even mice in the theater were scared-we could feel them running around our ankles and feet. It eventually escaped from the theater, and then the power came back on, and we all left and went back out into the park, looking over our shoulders the entire time. Whew. We were lucky to make it out of there with our lives!