Hi everyone,
I just found this website a couple of days ago and thought I'd see what it is all about. It is great to have a forum for ED nurses. I am also a paramedic and I know of a few sites for medics, but haven't seen any specifically for ED nurses. I have worked in a large ED for 4 years as a tech. I would love to hear from any ED nurse who has some knowledge/humor about their experiences working in the ED.
Ok this is not an ED experience..I ain't smart enought to work ED..Ask my enemies they'll tell ya..LOLLL
Years ago another LPN and I went into a patient's room.. The patient was a BIG DUDE.. BIG DUDE.. He was on bedrest. Complete BEDREST..This was before DRG's. He said 'I have to go to the BR.. I was a new LPN and so was she.. So she handed him a urinal.. He said NO you don't understand ..I HAVE TO GO TO THE BATHROOM.. She handed him the urinal and we left... Later he rang his light and asked us to empty the urinal..My friend was kinda scared of him so I went with her .. He had ... how should I put this,, oh Hell He sh** in the urinal.. I almost peed in my pants.. It looked just like a chocolate covered banana.. I've never been able to figure out how he got it in the right place... I told my friend I suppose you should chart that as a 'formed brown stool.""
Maybe you had to be there...
WR,,, three commas for Becca
I reviewed my previous post and I swear I wasn't drinking when I misspelled it...:))
ewwwwwwwww! I bet that was nasty! Did you tell anyone else? I had a little elderly lady come up to me in the hall and said, "honey this is for you." It was her own feces. She was very proud of herself. That was my last semester of nursing school and that was one of the funniest things that happened to me all semester.
I have worked in the Emergency Department almost two years now. I have caught that "bug" and wouldn't consider doing anything else. Currently, the hospital I work for is working towards being a Level 2 or 3 Trauma Center. We should get some very interesting situations. As of now, we do get circumstances I would love to share such as a hair nose trimmer stuck in a rectum...hmmmm...trimming the butt hairs? Or just having a little fun with a battery operated item? lol...Better yet, a nice police officer thought the 911 call was great and shared a taped version of it with us. And I guess a guy just wanted to have a little fun with his trimmer....geeezzz who wouldn't?
I hope to read some more interesting stories!
It never ceases to amaze me the things that people put into their bodies. Usually they have some dumb story that they made up that doesn't fit the injury. It does make things a little interesting, doesn't it? But a nose hair trimmer??????????????/
Oh one Sat morning at a walk in clinic I worked at we had a rent-a-doc on duty and myself... Charts were all done the door jam and onto the floor.. The waiting room was full..OF course every one had been sick all week but hadn't had time to visit there reg doc.. The secretary only put a brief despcrition of the malady on the chart..
I picked up the next chart and it said "foreigh body" I figured it was some guy with sawdust or metal in his eye.. Nope it was a pretty 30's something young woman. Who was getting married the next Sat.. She volunteered the info..
I guess her b/f soon to be hubby ( ok I can't spell fiance) was out of town.. She had been busy with a hi-lighter and the top had become lost..Last thing I wanted to do on a busy Sat.. A pelvic.. And the rent-a-doc was probably younger than both of us...All the other staff wanted to know what color the cap was .. I kept telling them all day "only the doc and I know"
I once worked two ER's. One night at job 1, man came in with vibrator up the old poop shoot. he said he never did this before. of course he had to go to surgery to have it removed. (ever listen to bowel sounds with one of those in there) Any ways, 2 wks later at my other job same man came with the same story that this has never happened before. after he gave me all the too much to know details, I reminded him I was his nurse at the other hospital. Never saw this man again. I bet he went out of state to be seen!!
This is an old post of mine but it fits at this time.
Working for a borderline double digit IQ community, i had a 39f brought in by ems for c/o pain. her husband was smart enough to follow her by pov, while she was transported. upon arival, she was screaming to give her medications to stop the burning! Hx, given by non hysterical husband: they were initiating sex, with the lights off and instead of reaching for the ky jelly he reached for the for the bengay and applied it over the vaginal area causing severe pain.
Of course douching was not considered by her part, she thought we had the magic syrup. We sent her to BR for her anual shower, taught her about the meaning of soap, and advised her that the curtains separating the cubicles are not sound proof, since she could not stop talking about her disgusting sexual habits.
I was in Psych before I went to ER and had one heck of a time moving over. They are very different kinds of nursing.
My first week at the County hospital I had my first trauma patient. He was ETOH and poor historian to say the least. He had a wound on his arm... smelled really bad and had a really crappy bandage job. Since I wanted to assess it, I pulled the dressing back and maggots were crawling all over the bandage and his wound.
After 5 year in a level one trauma center (busiest in America) you get everything. One of my peers who was removing a sock also removed what she wasnt expecting and screams.. so much for a poker face...
She pulled off two toes as an a souvenir.
FB in rectum everything from wood massager, toothbrush holder, Salt shaker (large with faceted sides) most are removed in endoscopy but not the smooth sided ones.
Level one designation for all those ER fans has all specialties available and go down from there. Didn't know what the heck trauma designations were until I worked in ER
I've been in the ER over 7 yrs now, but I had a funny incident when I first started there. It was like my second day, and another nurses patient put his light on and said he had to have a BM. So I put him on the bedpan (he was a COPDer being seen for an exacerbation).
After a few minutes, his brother comes out and says very calmly "I think something is wrong with my brother." A couple of us go in and he was in full arrest!!
We coded him, to no avail - he stayed dead. For a few weeks after that, whenever anyone needed to use a bedpan, all I heard was "Don't send Babs, she'll kill your patient!" LOL
I wasn't funny at the time, but now I can see the humor in it.
I've been a Nurse for 30 years, (almost 20 in ER). My first 10 years were spent in OR. The funniest thing I remember happened in the Cysto Room. Our Urologist inserted his cystoscope into a female patient and peered through the scope. He sat straight up with a look of disbelief on his face, shook his head and looked back into the scope. Without hessitation he remarked, "In 30 years of practicing Urology this is the first time I have ever had a pair of eyes staring back at me!" Apparently, this woman was "pleasuring" herself with a small pet snake and lost it up her urethra! I don't think I have ever laughed so hard in all my life!!!!
Ok Ok! I got one! I work in the Emergency Department and Medical-Surgical floor.
One night I was working the Med-Surg unit when ER calls us and asks for a bed because they had a local drunk who they simply could NOT get his ETOH level down after his 5th liter bolus of NS. This guy was nasty, according to the ER staff so they decided to give him a bath before admission. Well, about 10 minutes after they had admitted the patient the ER nurse that admitted him called me and informed me they had found the problem to this situation. The ER nurses decided it would be a good idea to take the bed he was lying on outside to spray it down with the water hoes since he and the bed had been SO nasty. Well as they where doing this they found a bottle of 100% proof Vodka underneath the bed railing that the nurses did not catch. He couldn't of brought it in when he came in because he arrived by EMS, but there was family that came to visit him so, we came to the conclusion that his family brought him the ETOH. But I found it funny that after every liter of bolus we where giving this guy, he'd drink another fifth. LoL!
I had a guy recently, came in by EMS & the radio report said "laceration to penis", so I'm thinking- great, just want I wanted.... So guy comes in & I go to check out the wound- he is schizophrenic & says voices told him to insert a firecracter into & penis, and light it. His penis is basically busted open fillet-style, so it lookes like he has 2 separate penises. Apparently, this guy has inserted pencils & drinking straws into his penis in the past. While he was in the ER, he had to go to the bathroom, so I said I would help him with a urinal- he got so mad at me, saying it hurts to pee. I wanted to say, well no sh** it hurts to pee, you've just exploded your penis! Anyways, the urologist ended up taking him to OR & basically castrating him, because he had caused too much damage to try to reconstruct his penis. Ouch!
Since we are on the subject of the ER and the Penis...
LoL.. I had a patient one time that came in by private car with complaints of a laceration to the for-skin of the penis. Got the patient into the room and finally had a chance to to assess a him and get the 'scope'. Had the patient drop his pants.... as he was telling me how he got this 'laceration'. The patient told me that his dog bit him there.... I said to myself... haha yeah right... So when the doctor came into the room and we where just about to sew him up... the doctor had said... so what did you do to the dog... to make him do this... I started laughting I almost had to leave the room... LoL
Back when I was a medic in the ER I was asked to insert a foley on a pt. This is not unusual as we are often asked to perform caths on males. Policy was to have the same gender as the pt do the proceedure to ease any embarassment. The flag went up when I noticed that the pt had a female name. I peeked around the curtain and saw a woman wearing a long evening dress and heels. I asked one of the RN's if there had been a mistake and they said "nope". I talked to this pt for a few moments as I set up the tray and soon discovered that the RN's were correct as this "female " pt was named Bob up until a few years ago. Can anyone say dude looks lika lady?
:firedup:
Good luck in yor new career.
As you know from being a paramedic.
If you can perceive it it can happen in the ER.
If you cannot it can still happen!!
The world is a MAD place and you are at the gates in the ER.
:luck: Myfanwy
I am new in the ED myself-say 1year now. Working in the ED can be very stressful to say the least at the same time full of fun.
The first things that patients want when they come to the ED is something to eat.Next thing they want is bus ticket, bed slippers, pillow and the list goes on. They get upset what they are being interviewed, except if the requested things are supplied. Lots more to say next tme.
Didn't know what the heck trauma designations were until I worked in ER