Nursing Stories
In a profession where no day is exactly the same, there are undoubtedly an abundance of impossible-not-to-share stories. Whether it be a moving tale that made a profound impact or something downright hilarious, submit now or read and comment on the bizarre experiences of others.
'I was transferring a patient between hospitals and met up with their relatives who had been waiting. They were very thankful for our help and hugged my mentor and then me, but after the hug I noticed that my makeup had accidentally got on her very white shirt. I wanted to apologise, but she was gone in a flash.'
'We were doing the last rites for a deceased patient, but the nurse in charge of the patient has forgotten something. I volunteered to get it but she panicked because she didn’t want to be left with the person alone. I said I’d stay and she rushed out (probably hoping I wouldn’t change my mind).'
'I accidentally fell asleep for over TWO HOURS during my last 15 min break. When I woke up and shift was over, so I ran back to the ward. My mentor was long gone, but my co-mentor who was in for her night shift thought that I had been crying about something, because my eyes were red (I fell asleep with my contacts in) so she comforted me.'
We had four patients who got on like a house on fire during a night shift. They were so loud we had to close the doors. They made the male bay next door jealous, but happy jealous. Really good mood booster!
I came back from break and realised that there was an ongoing crash call. It was my first time witnessing a crash call. One of the nurses asked for an oxygen tank, so I ran out of the bay towards where I knew where the oxygen tanks were and came back huffing and puffing only to remember that all crash trolleys are very conveniently equipped with O2 tanks! All I had left was the walk of shame to put it back.
During night shifts I try not to sleep because I can get cranky and disorientated when I wake up, so instead I just watch Netflix or YouTube vids. One night I put on something that was unexpectedly hilarious and spent almost my entire break trying not to laugh so loud and wake up other staff or choke on my water.
I did placement at an ICU in a private hospital. I learnt a bunch there... when they actually had patients. A few times I would get in and they’d be doing a roulette to decide who was going to get to go home (between the ones who didn’t actually mind waking up early for no reason – I guess they lived close by). One time, the ward only had two patients but one was fully independent and the other was well enough to have physio, so we spent a decent amount of the morning going on a walk outside of the hospital and I got to go home early!”
We were having a slow day at the eye clinic that I was doing placement at, so we ended up taking it in turns to check our own eyes. Turns out I’m blinder than I thought and my eyesight had gotten worse since I had last visited my optician.
So, someone had forgotten to properly check the belongings of a new patient who required two security guards with her at all times. It turns out she had a lighter on her and even with two security guards none of them could stop her from getting hold of an oxygen tank, which she was threatening to smash one of the windows with. Luckily, she didn’t put two and two together or this would be a much different story.
Helped a patient who had to come back to collect medication after being discharged the day before. He was so thankful that he wanted to give me cash. I refused (🙁) but he was adamant that he was not leaving without giving the money. In the end, he put the money in my pocket and literally dashed out of there, so I went to the shop during my break and bought something for the ward.
It was the middle of my first night shift as a student, so like 3am. I was sent to get something from another ward but took the long route because I was bored. I ended up at the hospital’s main entrance. Obviously, I wouldn’t have expected to see somebody else, but in the corner of my eye I saw a dark figure sprint near the reception area. I headed straight back to the ward and told them I couldn’t find what they asked for.
Was having a busy shift, we were short staffed + had an actively deteriorating patient. This was during peak covid times. One of my patients was in a side room WITH covid but he was desperate for a cigarette. We explained to him why we obviously were against that. He said he understood, but 10 minutes later we see him sprinting to the exit. Pain.
A patient was smoking in the wards bay toilets. The patient reeked of cigarettes. The patient was caught in the act too. The patient was still holding their packet of cigarettes. Yet the patient was also extremely offended that we had accused them of smoking.
I had carefully prepped an IM injection, green needle and all. I went to the patient’s bedside in a side room, where 3 or 4 of the patient’s relatives were gathered (yes, the policy is meant to be 2 per bedside). I skilfully administered the injection and attempted to pull it out... but only the syringe part came out and the needle decided to stay in the patient. I was mortified, but the family and patient found it hilarious.
We once had a circle of nurses desperately trying to decipher what the nurse specialist had written in the notes - when everything was still mainly paper based. I felt more like a detective than a nurse! We ended up having to call them.
