You know its going to be a bad shift when...

Nurses Humor

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Just as you're walking into the hospital for your shift, you hear "Code Blue" followed by your unit.

Eight of your patients have had 13 BM's, and it is not even the first hour. (Happened to me 3 weeks ago, wound up dealing with 27 bms that day)

All of your patients are restrainted and just happen to be related to Harry Hodieni.

Your coming on shift, and you see a patient from your unit making a break for the main entrance in their Birthday Suit followed by six nurses and two techs from your unit.

When the night shift (Or day shift) who doesn't smoke hands you a pack of cigarettes and says "Here, You'll need this."

During report on 605, night nurse laughs and refuses to tell you why.

When the night shift tells you good luck.

The night shift says it was quiet and hopes your day goes the same.

When the A/C breaks down and its 102 outside or the Heater goes and its -32 outside.

You only have one patient at report.

When you come into work, and everyone is bagging the vent patients, because of no power.

When you hear a doctor go "Oops."

The the Alheimers guy in 405 tries to climb into bed with Alheimers lady in 406, insisting they are married, let alone they live in two different states.

Five nurses call O/S for the 7 a to 7 p shift, and there are 30 total care patients with no techs.

When your patient has 72 different meds to be given during the day. (I have seen this one also.)

Feel free to add

Adam, RN

Passed my Boards 7/18/2005

You know its going to be a bad shift when...

its a full moon

you arrive for report to be greeted by a CNA who has just sustained a concussion from an aggressive resident, and the phone rings from the agency to tell you the other RN will not be coming because she has just had an accident on the highway and is being sent to hospital. (this happened to me)

i wonder why that always is? i work in l &d and we always have a crazy busy night. i also work in assisted living with mid-late stage alzheimers and they always seem to refuse meds/strip/wander/cry and act up on the full moon.

i used to work for nypd and it was always a crazy night there too. lots of violence/drunkeness. which of course always leads to the er being insanity to the ultimate degree. we should do a study. cuz when we say gee it must be a full moon-it never fails-it is. :smackingf :smackingf :lol_hitti

love hugs and kisses to all. this was the first night i've been off and was able to be awake. damn 12 hr shifts. lol thanks for all the laughs. may our shoes make us walk on clouds

i wonder why that always is? i work in l &d and we always have a crazy busy night. i also work in assisted living with mid-late stage alzheimers and they always seem to refuse meds/strip/wander/cry and act up on the full moon.

i used to work for nypd and it was always a crazy night there too. lots of violence/drunkeness. which of course always leads to the er being insanity to the ultimate degree. we should do a study. cuz when we say gee it must be a full moon-it never fails-it is. :smackingf :smackingf :lol_hitti

I agree. When there's a full moon out, I know I'll have a rough day at work. I work as a CNA in LTC and the unit I mostly work on is a crazy one. (Full Moon or not) But it's TOTAL HELL on full moon day. The hallway is lit like a Christmas tree with patients ringing the bells all night, they scream for the nurse or the aide, the confused patients keep getting out of their beds and wheelchairs causing their alarms to go off, and patients get overly cranky and combatitive, even the nice ones. :imbar

:balloons: I remember I was stuck working on my 23rd birthday in May and it was full moon night. I was never really superstitious, so I didn't think much about it. Well when I walked in at 3pm, the unit was chaotic.The Med Nurse told me it was full moon and the floor is total hell. Residents were screaming and shouting, they kept hopping out of their wheelchairs and sounding off thier tab alarms, and everyone was on the bell nonstop. I remember this one lady kept unbuckling her seat belt, pulling her tab alarm off, and walked to the front door trying to open it.

Two confused patients kept playing with the call light and I was so mad that they kept saying that they didn't need anything or that they didn't push it. One would push the bell and wheel away from it and the other had the bell glued to her hand. I wanted to take their call lights away and stick them where the sun didn't shine. When I passed out dinner trays, one of the residents shouted that she wasn't hungry and threw it on the floor. She planned on throwing it at me, but I moved out of the way. I didn't want to wear food on my nice new scrubs.

Plus during feeding time, my patients didn't want to eat or picked at their food. One spit her carrots out on my shirt. ICK! Gross! I ended up wearing food for the rest of the night. One of our short-term residents didn't like the supper and everytime I got a different meal, she would toss it at me and tell me to get something else. I told her egg salad, tuna fish, or peanut butter sandwiches is all we had and that's final.

Most of the patients I put to bed that night was either cranky or combatitive. One of my favorite patients whose known for occasional mood swings was very verbally and physically abusive. I was washing her up for bed and when I finished, she yelled that I didn't wash her and to come back here. She took off her johnny and threw it at me. I put it back on her and told her that I washed her up, changed her brief, and gave her a backrub with her favorite lotion and that I had to go to my next resident. The bells were going off again-probably my other resident ringing for the toilet.

She threw her johnny at me and cussed me out saying that she'll tell the nurse on me for not washing her up and when I tried to put her johnny back on, she punched my arms hard. I had two big bruises for a week. I covered her with a blanket and I told her if she wanted to lie there naked, fine, but was getting the nurse. I had it and I didn't have to put up with her behavior. I was so mad and almost cried. This is my birthday present? I got the nurse to calm her down and she told me to take a break.

On last rounds one of the total care patients threw up all over her bed and had runny diarrhea seeping out of her depends. She was heavy and I had to clean her up, yup total bed and everything; her johnny, pillowcase, topsheets. What a night, but I did survive. :imbar

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