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

[Nurse0621]

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!!!

[Rose_Queen, BSN, MSN, RN]

One of my first GSW traumas- came out of the OR to get more supplies (we'd gone through all of the sponges in the room), and ran straight into this random guy- in our authorized personnel only OR hallway! Claimed to be family but for all any of us knew could have been the shooter looking to "finish the job", took off before he could be escorted out by security, and within a month the OR became a 24/7/365 locked unit.

[meanmaryjean, DNP, RN]

My first week in an urban ER many, many years ago as a very young and naive RN. GSW to the chest. I'm basically watching everyone work on this guy, they crack his chest and the MD grabs my index finger and shoves it in the bullet hole in the guy's heart- and tells me to hold really still!

[Dranger]

Pa's taking care of ICU and sick kids in our ER. Should never happen.

Same with NPs....nice generalization

I work with some PA studs in critical care...

[KRVRN, BSN, RN]

Came back from break and from afar I see Mom is holding her term baby and baby's UAC waveform is flat on the monitor. Get closer and see the transducer is disconnected and hanging by the IV pole. I hurry over, expecting to see a crime scene of exsanguination. Luckily the clave on the end of the catheter was still connected. Frazzled me pretty good.

[emtb2rn, BSN, RN, EMT-B]

Same with NPs....nice generalization

I work with some PA studs in critical care...

Yep, some pas & nps are awesome and some, not so much. Just like the docs........

[Cohiba]

The scariest thing I ever saw was a first-year resident without his attending anywhere around...

[-knoxnurse-]

During my preceptor-ship we had a middle aged man who got in a gun fight with his son over a card game. This is Georgia people. Anyway, he was shot in the groin and a month afterwards we got him for the aftermath of hydrocele testis resulting from the intial gunshot wound. His ball sack was completely split open and I could see his actual gray gonad hanging out. I mean it was just dangling there, the wound doctor said there was little hope for saving it. That was the creepiest thing I have seen yet, I mean he was in a lot of pain. The kicker, for whatever reason his son was not behind bars and his family said the son would be allowed to visit. Apparently the two had made up. I am glad that was nearly my last day of preceptor-ship. I have no idea how that turned out.

[suanna]

A long time ago; I was working in ICU and they gave me a patient who was a member of our Board of Directors. From what I remember, he was vented for ARDS/resp failure post CABG in another hospital. He had no fever, and scant S.S.drainage from the distal end of his sternal incision. I remember him coughing on the vent, and a noise like a wet fart.... I looked down to see his sternal incision completely dehisced, and his heart pitter-pattering away, looking like a pig playing in a bloody mud puddle, and a deep cavern, below where the zyphoid should have been, out of which various-unidentified bits and bobs would peek from time to time.- I called the senior resident and the answer was- "cover the incision with sterile saline gauze and don't turn too aggressively". It was very disquieting for me and my patient to watch his heart beat, even under the gauze.

[katierobin23]

I work in NICU, one night I had the parents of a baby come in and the mom was really nasty at the bedside...to the dad and everyone else. Dad was really quiet but we knew there was a history of abuse there (from both parties, they just were toxic together and awful to one another).

About 15 minutes after they left, we heard from mother/baby that they went back to her room, where he shot her and then himself. Terrifying to know that he had just been in our unit with a gun. You just never know these days.

I can only imagine the horror of walking in on that scene. The nurse had to take a leave of absence.

We didn't use that room for a long time!

[realnursealso/LPN, LPN]

The scariest thing I ever had to do as a nurse, was to walk into the Medical ICU, and see my beloved sister on a vent , unresponsive, and know that she was not really in there. Nothing could be done to help her and it was the hardest thing to accept since I became a nurse. She passed away 2 weeks later, but that scene is forever in my memory.

[Debilpn23]

I am so sorry for your loss hugs

[Christy1019, ASN, RN]

Double hugs!!