whats the worst or funniest item family has snuck in to your pt?

Heogog53 · Aug 4, 2009

Many moons ago, while working in CCU, we were having a quiet night. Just down the hallway, in the PCA(progressive cardiac area), suddenly a scream broke out, followed by several more. This went on for a few more minutes and suddenly- it was QUIET. The fire doors closed, while we were reassuring our post MI patients that there was nothing to worry about, everything was ok.

We were all lying our tails off, of course.

One of us tried to peer through the door, to get a sense of the commotion.....

Turns out that one of our male patient's wife and girlfriend showed up at the same time for visiting hours. Hence the screams. Apparently neither woman had any idea about the others's presence in their sweetie patooties life! :heartbeat Lots of wrath of God yelling and carrying on.....until our patient snatched a loaded pistol from his bedside table and started waving it between the two women. That was the QUIET part. :bluecry1:

Security had already been summoned, as well as the local cops, and they intervened gently, disarmed the man and escorted both ladies out of the PCA. It was pretty scary for all the cardiac patients and nurses!

Next best story are all the scheduled C-section moms who were coming in, just finishing up their egg, cheese, and sausage McMuffins with a cup of coffee with lots of sugar and creamer.......cos they were a bit hungry, don't you know.....and instantly bought themselves a 3-4 pm surgery time instead of their coveted 7:30am times. It's amazing how many pregnant ladies did that- and probably still do. What part of "NOTHING BY MOUTH" don't they understand! :banghead:

Lari45 · Aug 4, 2009

Had a family bring in a cat for an elderly woman in a black duffle bag. Would have been fine but the cat shed ALL OVER the place. I held it and had to change my scrubs. Seriously, the thing needed a bath.

JAGSgirl320 · Aug 4, 2009

on more than one occasion our postpartum nurses have walked into a patients room only to find the newly delivered mom performing oral sex on the FOB...come on, can't you people wait 'til you atleast get home? it's not like we keep you here a week... :nono:

JAGSgirl320 · Aug 4, 2009

In response to why scheduled c/section moms forget what NPO means...

repeat after me...PLACENTAL SHUNTING!!!!! :bugeyes:

LyndzBenz · Aug 4, 2009

I had a patient whom I swear got sneaked some kind of speeder. She was fine before her family member came over to visit. But, whoa buddy, when that person left, I had a problem on my hands. She was yelling down the hall, talking 90 to nothing, and making a fart noise with her lips and tongue. I was so shocked because only an hour before we were having civilized patient to nurse conversation. I couldn't prove it for sure, but I know without a doubt that she had gotten the "goods" from someone. It was almost comical seeing her like that if she wasn't such a pain in the booty. At least she was a happy stoner. Glad to Transfer!

Ruby Vee, BSN · Aug 4, 2009

i had a patient sneak in a hooker -- more than once. that one was always interesting, because she "made the rounds" of all our chronic male patients.

another guy snuck in his drug dealer. actually, he climbed in through a window, then after our patient bought whatever he was buying, the dealer decided to stock up by raiding our narcotics room. (yes, we had a whole room.) he rounded up all the nursing staff and held us at knife point until the charge nurse gave him what he wanted, then he locked us in the narc room for the rest of the shift. it wasn't until the nursing supervisor made rounds and couldn't find anyone that anyone went looking for us -- i think we spent 5 hours in there! it was a stepdown unit and in that hospital, there was a unit for people who could pay and another for people who couldn't. our population never used call lights -- guess which group we had!

just recently someone brought in a standard poodle, all draped in a "service dog" cape -- could tell by the behavior, however, that it was not a service dog! first thing it did was tip over the medical waste bin and go looking for food.

FranEMTnurse, CNA, LPN, EMT-I · Aug 5, 2009

i had a patient sneak in a hooker -- more than once. that one was always interesting, because she "made the rounds" of all our chronic male patients.
another guy snuck in his drug dealer. actually, he climbed in through a window, then after our patient bought whatever he was buying, the dealer decided to stock up by raiding our narcotics room. (yes, we had a whole room.) he rounded up all the nursing staff and held us at knife point until the charge nurse gave him what he wanted, then he locked us in the narc room for the rest of the shift. it wasn't until the nursing supervisor made rounds and couldn't find anyone that anyone went looking for us -- i think we spent 5 hours in there! it was a stepdown unit and in that hospital, there was a unit for people who could pay and another for people who couldn't. our population never used call lights -- guess which group we had!
just recently someone brought in a standard poodle, all draped in a "service dog" cape -- could tell by the behavior, however, that it was not a service dog! first thing it did was tip over the medical waste bin and go looking for food.

oh ruby, that drug dealer incident sounds frightening. weren't you all? and did the police catch the dealer with the hospital supply? good grief!!!!

Ruby Vee, BSN · Aug 6, 2009

oh ruby, that drug dealer incident sounds frightening. weren't you all? and did the police catch the dealer with the hospital supply? good grief!!!!

rumor was, he was caught and released.

diane227, LPN, RN · Aug 6, 2009

I had a guy bring in his own hooker to make sure his new penile prosthesis was working before he was discharged home.

Otherwise: pets, liquor, drugs, drugs, drugs, liquor, pets, drugs, more drugs, weapons (knives, guns), family bringing in their own home supply of prescription narcotics because we are not giving them enough, on and on......

FranEMTnurse, CNA, LPN, EMT-I · Aug 6, 2009

rumor was, he was caught and released.

this world has turned upside down. :rolleyes:

teeniebert, LPN · Aug 10, 2009

I grab an old battle axe nurse (please, nobody take offense - I LOVE old battle axes and would be lost without them) and she can't get it either.

I used to get blood drawn for drug levels every four weeks. I'd go to the lab and tell them, "last time Mrs. So-and-so (the old battle axe) used a butterfly needle, you might want to try that." Of course, the tech would reassure me that she could get the blood just fine, thank you, then spend 5 minutes digging in my arm with no results. Then another tech would try. Same thing. Eventually, they'd call Mrs. So-and-so, who would take one look at my arm, grab a butterfly needle, and get blood on her first try. You'd think the techs would remember this after about 6 months of it, but no...

FranEMTnurse, CNA, LPN, EMT-I · Aug 11, 2009

I used to get blood drawn for drug levels every four weeks. I'd go to the lab and tell them, "last time Mrs. So-and-so (the old battle axe) used a butterfly needle, you might want to try that." Of course, the tech would reassure me that she could get the blood just fine, thank you, then spend 5 minutes digging in my arm with no results. Then another tech would try. Same thing. Eventually, they'd call Mrs. So-and-so, who would take one look at my arm, grab a butterfly needle, and get blood on her first try. You'd think the techs would remember this after about 6 months of it, but no...

Thank you for this post. I so agree with you. My veins are like yours also. One day I was in the ER for a test. Nobody was able to get blood from me. They weren't even able to insert an IV port in me, so the physician on duty admitted me for the test. Early the following morning, there stood my very favorite nurse. She knows my veins the best and I just knew that my vein would be accessed without pain. (I have fibromyalgia) She is my angel when it comes to inserting IVs. She is the head of the IV team for a very good reason.

When I'm in a traumatic situation though, that's a different story. Even my arteries won't give blood then.