Nursing humor
Just thought I'd start a thread that might interest some, disgust others, but bring laughter to most, especially those in the nursing or hospital field.
I was working yesterday when the room next to one of my patients was full of people and the crash cart was outside. No code had been called, but something was going on, so, as an orientee and somewhat new nurse, it's ok for me to 'get involved' either as an observer or help out.
The lady was in respiratory distress and was being bagged. This means they had a mask over her face and giving her breaths by deflating a large bag every few seconds. They were trying to hyperventilate a little because her oxygen saturation was quite low.
The pulmonologist was there to intubate her, but needed sedative meds. The lady was fighting and the nurse caring for her went to get the meds. It wasn't enough, so I ran to get more and drew it up for the nurse to give. That also wasn't enough, so I had to run to ICU down the hall for more, as we were out.
I run there and the nurse gives me a sedative called Diprovan, also known as propofol. This isn't a med I'm very familiar with and we don't give this on our unit, but I took it with me, knowing that the doctor would prefer it instead of the Versed that was being used.
So, being a gung-ho nurse, I had visions of the doctor singing my praises and kissing my feet for bringing her Diprovan...all the way back to my unit I ran, eager for my dream to come true.
I get to the room and another nurse comes out saying, "I need propofol", to which I replied, "I don't have propofol, but I have Diprovan!!!"
Needless to say, as the exclamation points came out of my mouth, I was thinking to myself, you are the stupidest person in this room!! Some of the nurses standing there (some of the ICU nurses were in there also, as she was going to be transferred to their unit) are new nurses too, and the charge nurse was in there, all either laughing or had smiles on their faces.
They acted like it was no big deal, but I know my face was red. And my dream didn't come true.
But I did see the pulmonologist today and told her about it, as she didn't hear me yesterday. She laughed and said that wasn't the worst that's ever happened in a code or near code situation! I wish she'd have had time to elaborate!!
I'm glad I have a job where I have fun, even when emergencies are taking place!
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