Who is your most memorable pt?

Published

Specializes in Emergency/Trauma.

Mine was a tiny little lady in the special care Alzheimers ward during my first semester of Senior year. This little lady was so quiet and frail, until it came time to give her meds! :angryfire She became evil. She said to me, in the middle of the dining room screaming at the top of her lung, "Get away from me, your killing me. You're a dirty biotch! I calmly said, "Well, that may be the case but you still have to take your heart pill" She looked up at me, she reminded me of ET in the closet scene, and took her pill no problem. Later she was in her room taking a nap when I went to check on her, I covered her and took off her glasses, she opened her eyes, still reminding me of ET, and said, "Oh thank you dear, you're so nice to me." I love her, miss her and will NEVER forget her! :heartbeat

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in ICU/ER.

Mine was when I was a CNA and we had a young lady in her 30s who was end stage cervical cancer, I was helping her to the BR and it took about 10 min to make it in there. She was in terrible pain. She was kind of whimpering/whining and I rubbed her shoulders and said "I am so sorry suzy--life just sucks" or something along those lines, she looked me dead in the eye and said "no life doesnt suck, life is preciouse" she died surrounded by her 3 little kids/husband/parents and in laws 4 days later.

I will never forget her, and when I find my self finding life a challenge I always remember her words.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in ICU/Critical Care.

My favorite patient was the one who would say "Hi, this is Bob"...everytime we answered the call-light from the desk as if we didn't know who he was.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in RN, BSN, CHDN.

I have so many I wouldn't know where to begin.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in ICU.

well, i have quite a few, but the one that springs to mind at the moment is the

85yr old dancing man - he had his little radio, and would dance around the nursing station, or his room or wherever he could find space.

still makes me smile thinking of him - with all the sadness that goes on in the hospital, it was nice to see such joy in a person

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in ICU/ER.
My favorite patient was the one who would say "Hi, this is Bob"...everytime we answered the call-light from the desk as if we didn't know who he was.

lol YOU should have said, "sorry wrong number"

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in NICU Level III.

Mine was a really old lady during nursing school. She took my hand and told me she would be in Heaven soon and hoped to see me there. Also she told me I would make a great nurse someday.

Up Vote Up Vote ×

Mine was probably a male TBI that was in his 30's. He required a soma bed for his safety. For three months he was on our unit, every day I would come in and ask him orientation questions. Out of all the TBI's I worked with he had some of the most clever answers that made me laugh (inside) like when I asked...where are you at? he'd respond I'm driving a garbage truck. He was referring to his soma bed which was big and green. I'd get round about responses when I'd ask about who he was like I know your the biotch that took the pizza's to the forrest. This went on for the entire time he was there but as time progressed he got less aggitated. Instead of trying to pull out his peg tube each day he started to hand me it and say things like mmmmmmm that was a good milkshake, cheeseburger or whatever....when I'd give him his boluses of feed. One day, nearing the three month marker I went in not even wanting to ask orientation questions because everyone on the unit thought he was never going to progress as I did I in part but I did. I asked what his name was and he responded...correctly. Then he said and you're Stacey. I nearly peed my pants. Then he said and your the one that ate the moon and only left a small piece for me. I thought...yes he's getting better! By the time he left, he still was not oriented, only to self. I was not longer Stacey the woman that was working the corner but just Stacey, his nurse. All the rest of the staff was still working the corner in his mind.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in Geriatrics, Transplant, Education.

I've had a lot of memorable ones...currently, my most memorable is a 96 y/o deaf/mute LOL who was on my rehab floor s/p bilateral nephrostomy tube insertion. One Friday night (I work M-F 3-11), I said to her (bc she can read lips) "bye bye, I'll see you on Monday" She grabbed me by the face and gave me a big kiss on the cheek & said she loved me. I almost melted. :redpinkhe

Yesterday they moved her down the hall to LTC, so she's no longer on my team anymore, which I was kind of sad about, but I'll go say hi to her everyday. Sometimes I'm one of the only ones who can convince her to take her MOM or Lactulose, so I have a feeling that I might be visiting her a lot :nurse:

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in Cardiology, Oncology, Medsurge.

My patient was an elderly sweetheart who came to the States when she was very young from Germany. She told me about her first experience of riding the cable car in San Francisco, how when she fell down the cable car bellman did not yell at her as one would in Germany ("Ya is Ya and Nein is Nein!"she would say, very strict). The man politely said to her to grasp the railing hard and had pity on her, a strange new land indeed. I remember her telling me about visiting the World's Fair and what a joy it was to sit there and hear her tell her biography.

She reminded me of my great aunt, the one who was a painter. I told her that my great aunt loved the word grateful. I took her down to Xray and I recall when I came back to pick her up with a wheelchair, her telling the technician that her favorite word was grateful, I was charmed. She died the following day.

Up Vote Up Vote ×

I have a lot of memorable ones, the one that sticks in my mind the most was when I was a SN working in a peds hospital. A teen with bone cancer. His parents were actively supportive as was his brother. I worked there about two years part time and during that time saw first one leg, the other, then an arm removed. I finally left moving to another city and never saw him again but still remember the smiles of him and his parents as they joked, teased, and made the best they could of what was at the time a terrible situation and prognosis. This teen would "hide" his playbook magazines give by his Dad from his Mother (who knew he had them LOL) . Their resolve .. the resolution to live day by day still affects me today.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in med surg ltc psych.

I was assigned two patients in my third level of NS clinical. One was ESRD and the other was pancreatic Ca post Whipple procedure. The first was quite self sufficient in her elder age, and the other was in a bad way. After morning vitals were done on the first patient, I went on in to see Mrs bad way. From the beginning I knew something was up about her. She critiqued every single thing I did, quizzed me, used all med terminology. OK, she's a nurse I told myself. She kept me in her room a long time. She wanted her two JP drains documented on her output board separate, expressing that it has been improperly documented combined. Then asked me if I knew what the milky fluid was in her drains. Now I have to ask ... "are you a nurse?"

Her response initiated a swift panic attack in me. "I'm a nursing instructor for a BSN program at such and such college. OMG. And she was from out of state, visiting her husband on business when she became ill. Now she not only will be watching everything this nursing student will be doing, but I in small part will be representing this facility. Now that this was established, I went on to do my best for her. Trying hard to impress and prove to her that I was efficient became important to me. She REALLY drilled me on these questions, which made think back hard on previous semesters. I said "oh yes that's... that's chyle, I've not had an opportunity to see it." Good lesson for me.

There were many more lessons I learned from her, directly from her to me. Not only did I have to perform in front of MY instructor and recieve the seal of approval for check off, I was being graded by my patient also. Talk about performance anxiety! Geez I had to insert an NG tube on her, give her a sub Q Epoetin injection and more. I was quizzed by my instructor about the Epoetin med in front of my patient and I somehow knew and remembered it all. Mrs bad way looked at my instructor (who by the way likes to fail 3/4 of a class and I was on her docket) and said "I have to tell you that your student here has been exemplary, and I think you need to give her an A." My instructor was stone faced, must have lapsed into spontanious shock. She made sure that my instructor knew at this point that she was a nursing instructor, like she was endorsing me in a way. What a wonderful, unforgetable thing she did. She rode me so hard for three days straight, but in my mind, I passed HER test. When I came back the next week I had new patients, but was still on her floor outside her room. She was finally well enough to be ambulatory and on her first cruise around the nurses station, I was standing there going over a chart with my instructor and I saw her out of the corner of my eye. We made eye contact, she winked at me and gave me a thumbs up. I felt for a moment like I had won a nobel prize. Only to recieve my eval from my instructor the following week that was dispicable, passed me by one measly point stating that I didn't know my drugs/meds. Ewww I have severe distain for that woman. But, I still think of Mrs. bad way when I am in a tense situation. She did more for me than I could have ever done for her. :heartbeat

Up Vote Up Vote ×
+ Join the Discussion