Where do the damn pillows go?

[dudette10]

Seriously. I don't know. I just know they are worth their weight in gold in hospitals.

Two nights ago, central supply brought up a huge bag of them. I saw it with my own eyes, and I lit up like a Christmas tree. WE HAVE PILLOWS!

Tonight, a patient asked me for a pillow. I very confidently said, "I'll get you one. Give me a minute."

Off to the stock room I go. No pillow in sight. I asked one of the CNAs. She would certainly know where the pillows are, right. Turns out that when they came up two nights ago, she grabbed them and hid them in the closet of one of the rooms. She told me where they were because we get along like that.

Again, I feel on top of the world. I KNOW WHERE THE SECRET PILLOW STASH IS!!!

I put my hand in the closet, and all I came out with was an empty bag. The one that held all those wonderful pillows two nights ago. *****!

Why do pillows leave and never come back? I seriously don't understand the life cycle of the almighty hospital pillow.

Enlighten me. Please.

[JDZ344]

Some of ours get torn or stained so badly that they have to be thrown away.

[Fiona59]

Interhospital transfer steals more than they bring.

Porters take pillows back after dropping off patients

One OR is terrible. Needles stuck in pillow while final pain med is given results in pillow getting chucked out due to puncture.

We used to hide ours in the tubrooms (tubs are no longer used per ID) We'd put them over spare IVACs to hide them. Then CS figured it out and took the lot.

[carolmaccas66, BSN, RN]

They get beamed off into another universe!

I had this in the ED a few weeks ago. lol needed a pillow; I hunted everywhere, had to report no don't have any. Her relative complained. Nothing I can do about it.

Sometimes I've noticed the ambos (paramedics) take them on the bed with the patient. But I've ALSO noticed that when relatives/friends come in to pick up people after their ED stay, they bring a bag, close the curtain so relative can get changed & the pillows are gone later. Coincedence?

I believe there is an international pillow stealing ring, in all hospitals world wide. They have their plan of World Pillow Domination worked out down to a tee, with operations in every country & state. Then they will black mail the world's hospitals to get their pillows back! Hee hee...

[dudette10, MSN, RN]

After having a lovely date with my own pillow at home, I had to come back and read.

EMS and transporters. Good call. The next time I see a someone brought back from a procedure or test or comes up from ER, and the transporter tries to leave with a pillow, I'm stealing it. They shouldn't be using it again without changing the case at least, so I'm justified.

Right? Right?

[carolmaccas66, BSN, RN]

I myself have actually seen two RNs fighting over an IV pump, trying to justify why they needed it by their patient's condition. One would say my patient is sick and needs fluids for blah blah, then the other one would come up with more horrendous conditions as to why they needed the pump! I don't think that pump worked in the end...

I've worked in oncology and all the pain pumps there are locked & the keys are kept either there or in the OT. Even if you decided to walk off with it, you couldn't unlock it anyway w/out a key. Also the keypad inside has a code you have to punch in to let u open & set the pump.

[nurseprnRN, BSN, RN]

i used to work in a hotshot place where we got people from all over the country. if the linens came with them (and we know how that happens-- ems untucks them, everybody grabs an edge, and it's one-two-three over to the gurney and your sheets are gone) we'd toss them in the laundry. sometimes they would come back to us. we had sheets from mayo, mass general, stanford, methodist (the texas one), and all over the place. sorta like collecting stamps from foreign nations.

as for stealing equipment, i would like to submit my story: i had an old family friend who was dying of cancer and came into the big city to get his chemo. i chanced to hear he would be there one day, and i was there on a case, so i tooled on over to say hi. his wife was beside herself-- ed was in terrible pain and the only way he was comfortable was in that big recliner chair where he got his chemo, and the ambulance was there to take him 50 miles to home. so hell, what else would i do? i asked the ambulance guys if there were coming back this way anytime soon, and they said, sure, as soon as they dropped ed off they'd be back to the city. so i said, "take him home in the chair, and get him gently into his house, and bring it back." they did. and i didn't even work there . sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do.

[xtxrn, ASN, RN]

They get beamed off into another universe!

I had this in the ED a few weeks ago. lol needed a pillow; I hunted everywhere, had to report no don't have any. Her relative complained. Nothing I can do about it.

Sometimes I've noticed the ambos (paramedics) take them on the bed with the patient. But I've ALSO noticed that when relatives/friends come in to pick up people after their ED stay, they bring a bag, close the curtain so relative can get changed & the pillows are gone later. Coincedence?

I believe there is an international pillow stealing ring, in all hospitals world wide. They have their plan of World Pillow Domination worked out down to a tee, with operations in every country & state. Then they will black mail the world's hospitals to get their pillows back! Hee hee...

[BunnySan27]

Really.....if i had to count the minutes used looking for pillows, blankets, sandwiches, iv poles.....i think i would be short a shift on my check lol!

[fuzzywuzzy, CNA]

I work in a nursing home and we actually have enough pillows (other supplies are another story though). Every time we get an admission they always arrive with a pillow or 6 from the hospital because EMS moves the person on the fitted sheet and takes everything with it. So if you have someone being discharged to an LTC, make sure you take most of the pillows away when you prepare the patient for lift-off!

We have a few residents whose family members spend a lot of time there, hounding the staff for everything, and on top of that they want to hoard all of our supplies too! I arrive at 7am and find their rooms stocked with a month's supply of just about everything there is! And they always have way more pillows than needed at one time... always the newest/plumpest too. I've personally "liberated" pillows from those rooms a few times in the morning before the family got there so the other residents could actually have more than one pitiful flat pillow to rest their heads on!

[carolmaccas66, BSN, RN]

Wait...I just turned my back for a second...NOW MY PILLOW IS GONE!!!!

lol

[Anna Flaxis, BSN, RN]

Wait...I just turned my back for a second...NOW MY PILLOW IS GONE!!!!

lol

See any ambulances around?

[xtxrn, ASN, RN]

They need little GPS tags, like a film sewn into the hems.....