When will people learn NOT to say the "Q" word...

chevyv, BSN, RN · Jul 16, 2012

You can scientifically debunk it but I can tell you working psych, we are very very busy violent, out of control almost a full week before a full moon and during.

The word quiet is always met with horror. It is not often spoken so yes, I can recall every single time it's been said when I'm in charge.

Little Panda RN, ASN, RN · Jul 17, 2012

Oh, yeah-I even feel a little nervous THINKING that word...my husband is so accustomed to this that his parting comment when I leave for work is "Hope it's the "Q" word"!

When my husband ask me how my day is going I always say "not going to answer that question", lol. He knows that I will never ever talk about how my shift is going while I am working.

FurBabyMom, MSN, RN · Jul 17, 2012

Haha yeah. The "q" word and "bored" are tempting fate.

I learned that as a PCA in a teaching hospital in Ohio. I also hesitate to say "good" or "easy" night - from my 2nd night of PCA orientation when the charge on that unit (I was in the float pool) put me with the PCA that had 4 patients and the desk so I could learn both and have a "easy" night. Haha yeah right. Two medical ERTs (rapid responses) and a code...kinda proved that incorrect.

Also as a PCA, the night the nursing supervisor assigned me to CDU (next to our ED - level 1 trauma center) and said "ED census is low and therefore CDU census is low. It'll be a breeze." Haha two psych holds later we had two level 1 traumas roll in within 3 minutes of eachother (never happens unless they are transported together cause there are two level 1 trauma centers in this city) and I get sent to the trauma bays to gopher supplies. We lost one of those patients after doing everything

Again as a PCA - I get sent to surg/trauma ICU. One of the Stat RNs/code/ERT RNs says "their census is low. Enjoy it." The pod I get assigned to has a patient who keeps having runs of SVT and then we get an admit from an outside hospital - an inmate with a bleed in his brain and ten minutes after arrival - neurosurg decides to place a ventricular drain - at the bedside...which turned into two stat CTs and a bunch of other issues...

My final example as a PCA came from thanksgiving that year. I was scheduled 7-11p. House sup asks me to stay 11p to 7a and says "well assign you to sicu all night it's quiet there but they are down an assistant.". Famous last words. I spend 6 hours running to and from pharmacy to pick up drugs for a patient that the family agreed to withdraw care on but was a candidate for transplant...and we had to keep that patient alive until LoO could do their labs and we could get a transplant surgical team to our ORs for recovery.

As an RN one evening I said to my preceptor "Its 6:40 and I am caught up! All that's left is report!". She gave me a look...6:55 one of my patients called out hysterical about her husband...we go in and he's unresponsive with no pulse. Good times - coding a visitor in the hallway :/

The other one as an RN - one of my former preceptors remarked while half the unit was at lunch (I was on days at the time) she says "you almost can't tell half our staff is at lunch...". Five minutes later we're coding a patient...

Tragically Hip · Jul 17, 2012

oh, and i am a firm believer that a full moon = a very busy night. it usually is, too. and before we switched to colored uniforms, i had a set of scrubs i used to wear a lot, until i had two codes happen while wearing them. i decided that was my bad juju set of scrubs and never wore them again!

here's an idea: if you think your hypothesis has merit, then record data. see what happens when there is a full moon. however, also see what happens when there is not a full moon. write it down.

i'll tell you that it's been done, and when it has, no meaningful correlation is observed between the phase of the moon and the prevailing ju-ju level.

we're not the only profession to have superstitions and practices to go with them. i shared a house with an actor for a few years and learned that one never, never mentions the name of a certain shakespeare play, although one may call it "the scottish play" in a pinch.

acting is not exactly an evidence-based, scientific profession, plus or minus elia kazan's method acting methods.

is it that nursing is predominantly a female occupation, and women are more superstitious than men?

in a similar vein, i've never seeing so much lord-praising on any non-religious site or forum as i've seen on this one — especially after someone passed the nclex.

allnurses Guide · Jul 17, 2012

At first I thought it was funny, but now I'm a bit concerned. We do practice evidence-based medicine, don't we?

You're concerned? About what, specifically?

midlifemom · Jul 17, 2012

A week before the full moon plus the week of the full moon is half the month! The odds are pretty good.

http://mblogs.discovermagazine.com/badastronomy/2007/07/31/full-moon-effect-debunked-again/

Tragically Hip · Jul 17, 2012

You're concerned? About what, specifically?

About the fact that nursing, as practiced in most places, is an evidence-based profession, but that there is a seemingly strong proclivity for superstitious thinking among its practitioners, at least among the small, self-selected sample represented in this thread.

tothepointeLVN, LVN · Jul 17, 2012

About the fact that nursing, as practiced in most places, is an evidence-based profession, but that there is a seemingly strong proclivity for superstitious thinking among its practitioners, at least among the small, self-selected sample represented in this thread.

I think most people on this thread know they are joking.

allnurses Guide · Jul 17, 2012

About the fact that nursing, as practiced in most places, is an evidence-based profession, but that there is a seemingly strong proclivity for superstitious thinking among its practitioners, at least among the small, self-selected sample represented in this thread.

So if you average the combined years of experience of the nurses here who believe there is a "Q word curse" there's a possibility that for all that time they were doing a ritual dance in the room instead of starting an IV but nobody has noticed outcomes hitting the skids?

Tragically Hip · Jul 17, 2012

So if you average the combined years of experience of the nurses here who believe there is a "Q word curse" there's a possibility that for all that time they were doing a ritual dance in the room instead of starting an IV but nobody has noticed outcomes hitting the skids?

Not if the ritual dance were as efficacious as the IV. But what if the empirical evidence pointed toward the ritual dance's greater efficacy than the IV?

allnurses Guide · Jul 17, 2012

Not if the ritual dance were as efficacious as the IV. But what if the empirical evidence pointed toward the ritual dance's greater efficacy than the IV?

It wouldn't matter if the Q-word belief meant that nurses might choose superstition over evidence-based practices. You could do a ritual dance one day, and then if the same patient showed up and it was raining, or the patient reported that a black cat had crossed their path on the way in, they would need to change the treatment on the fly - perhaps a sprinkle of tincture of benzoin in the doorway, or throwing away all the odd-numbered sterile glove sizes. Stuff like that. :lol2:

KimberlyRN89, BSN, RN · Jul 17, 2012

Ehhh, I'm not entirely sold on the "q" word yet lol. I'm an LPN at a jail and last weekend I mentioned it was very quiet in the booking area. I mean absolutely quiet: no inmates brought in during my shift, no screens to perform,nada! However I mentioned that it was quiet again on another shift..and then 12 inmates arrived in the booking area within 30 minutes:uhoh21::uhoh21: