Dumbest thing you have been asked

[VentMedic]

I can see that mistake.

Medical Student = Short white coat
MD = Long White Coat

I hate those nerdy little white jackets they make the med students and 1st year wear.

Most do look forward to their 2nd year of residency when they can wear a "real doctor coat".

 

[timmy84]

Fourth year nursing student at a very expensive very prestigious university comes to the nurses station with 98yo woman dying on pneumonia in a wheelchair. She says, "here she is..." her teacher says, "WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!?!?!?"... floor nurse says... "I wanted you to get me her SAT... that's why I handed you the oximeter"

 

[usafmedic45]

Fourth year nursing student at a very expensive very prestigious university comes to the nurses station with 98yo woman dying on pneumonia in a wheelchair. She says, "here she is..." her teacher says, "WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!?!?!?"... floor nurse says... "I wanted you to get me her SAT... that's why I handed you the oximeter"

I don't know whether to laugh or scream.

 

[VentMedic]

Had a doctor ask us what are BLS and ALS.

That is because those terms are only used for EMS.

 

[timmy84]

I don't know whether to laugh or scream.

Well the teacher screamed, the floor nurse... who herself only recently graduated from a local ASN program laughed after someone mentioned she was going to graduate 120k in debt and at the very least she will know the difference between SAT AND STAT

 

[WuLabsWuTecH]

I forgot all about this thread!

After Pt was stabbedin Carotid and Jugular, 2 L of blood on the ground, the 2 medics and 2 EMTs on scene are doing everything we can to get him packaged up and transported.

LEO: What's the status of this patient? Would you say this patient is critical?
Medic: Uh... YEAH! As critical as they come!
LEO: What about stable? B/c you guys sometimes throw us curveballs and patients can be critical AND stable?
Medic: No he's not stable! The puddle you're standing in can tell you that!
LEO: (about to say something)...
LEO 2: I think we better let them work. We'll question the puddle after they leave.

---------
On the radio:

Medic 1: Medic 1 inbound to your facility from an auto accident, Level I Trauma Alert, pt is in full arrest, we're getting some v-fib here and there, defib times 2, no change, CPR still in progress, we'll need a full team, ETA 3 minutes.
Nurse at Hospital: Medic 1, can you get me a set of vitals please?
(loooong pause on the radio)
My partner who also hears the radio says to me:What does she want them to be? Need a faster heart rate? We'll push slower. Want respirs up? We can bag faster!
Medic 1: Um... He was in arrest when we found him.
Nurse: Does the patient have a hx of hear problems?
Medic 1: Hospital, you're breaking up, before i lose you completely can we go to the trauma bay?
Nurse: we'll see you in the trauma room.

--------

 

[gicts]

Triage nurse- "You all can start IV'S?!" :wacko:

 

[armywifeemt]

I was taught my EMT-B skills through the company that I work for. Anyone in the company could come and sit in to earn 4 hrs of continuing education hours. I had a man who had been a Basic for the company for almost 25yrs sitting beside me at one class about traumas.

When my instructor (who would soon be one of my managers after I joined the company) mentioned platelets and white/red blood cells, the guy said:

"Huh, I never knew there were platelets in blood." :blink:

Ahh... the true meaning of continuing education... for those who were too stupid to pick it up the first time.

 

[DV_EMT]

yeah... for the R1's here they can wear full length labcoats. however, Pharmacy interns are required short labcoats. IV and compounding techs wear long labcoats. RT wears scrubs w or w/o labcoats (long). and all the blood suckers wear short labcoats.

 

[VentMedic]

Fourth year nursing student at a very expensive very prestigious university comes to the nurses station with 98yo woman dying on pneumonia in a wheelchair. She says, "here she is..." her teacher says, "WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!?!?!?"... floor nurse says... "I wanted you to get me her SAT... that's why I handed you the oximeter"

Time for that "teacher" to be re-educated. The use of slang or such abbreviated terminology, especially in a hospital, is not appropriate for the education of a student. These terms are not used in a discussion with students of any type, including doctors in training, or new grads. It is difficult enough to prevent medial errors without adding additional confusion.

You ask me for a "sat" and I can give you at least 5 different "sats" in less than 10 minutes. You have SpO2, SaO2, SvO2, ScO2, SjvO2 and SmvO2 from the PA. I can give you values measured from the blood and values from beside technology.

An RN with 20+ years of experience in the ICU may ask if I've gotten my "sats" on a patient. But, since we have that patient together and we know the patient is a TBI with an IJ for SjvO2 monitoring, I (also with 20+ years of experience) know he/she means a blood draw for monitoring calibrations. As well, if Nitric Oxide is running or the patient is in the burn unit, "sat" again takes on a different meaning. When in doubt, I ask.

In the situation posted, the "teacher" must "teach" the differences and not instruct by assumptions.

If you did not understand the abbreviations I used in this post, you can imagine the confusion for a student in a clinical situation.

Well the teacher screamed, the floor nurse... who herself only recently graduated from a local ASN program laughed after someone mentioned she was going to graduate 120k in debt and at the very least she will know the difference between SAT AND STAT

Again, inappropriate use of terminology by a teacher who should know better.

As for as being in debt, many hospitals will pay off the debt of RNs and other medical professionals since they have confidence that the person who puts forth 4 years of effort to get an education will be seeking a career and not just a job.

 

[Sasha]

Triage nurse- "You all can start IV'S?!" :wacko:

It's sad that we have so many confusing levels... Poor nurses and docs can't keep up. When I worked BLS IFT I gave up trying to explain BLS and simply answered "No, we do not have the training/equipment for that" whenever they asked if we got an IV, strip, temp, pulse ox, etc.

 

[mycrofft]

Sasha, in your "vein" of question...

It's a two-parter asked when you are really busy, really bummed out, or really tired, asked by someone wearing crisp clean whites or a lab coat, or maybe has lawyer cards in his pocket:

Part I: "Did you do (so and so)?".
your answer: "no"
Part II: "Well, why NOT?!".
(You can insert the most likely sound effect here).

 

[firemoose0827]

Received a call at my paid EMS gig at a local nursing home for a female patient unresponsive, not breathing. We respond code 3 and arrive in less than 2 minutes from our station, go running up the stairs loaded with bags and equipment, get to the patients room...the door is closed and locked...:unsure:...I start to first look for a hidden camera and a TV host to jump out from somewhere to say "SURPRISE!" but none of that happened. So I knocked loudly and yelled "Ambulance, did you call for us?!" I heard from the inside a muffled response "YES, JUST A MINUTE!!!" ...???...
I than start to get a little concerned and yell to them to open the door now, so we can treat the patient. Two seconds later the door opens, its a Nurse Assistant with a bag of dirty clothes and garbage in her hand out of breath, as she sees us she tells me "I needed to change her diaper and clean her, than change her clothes, I forgot to do that earlier this morning and I didnt want to be in trouble."
:unsure::excl: I was bewildered and confused! I looked into the room and saw our patient in the bed. I went to check her pulse and when I lifted the arm the entire body tilted up, stiff with rigor, her back was full of lividity...I turned to my partner and had them call dispatch and to advise the coroner than proceeded to belittle the nurses assistant about the condition of the patient and the fact she was probably gone for a few hours now.
She just stared and tried her best to look surprised...

 

[Sail195]

Received a call at my paid EMS gig at a local nursing home for a female patient unresponsive, not breathing. We respond code 3 and arrive in less than 2 minutes from our station, go running up the stairs loaded with bags and equipment, get to the patients room...the door is closed and locked...:unsure:...I start to first look for a hidden camera and a TV host to jump out from somewhere to say "SURPRISE!" but none of that happened. So I knocked loudly and yelled "Ambulance, did you call for us?!" I heard from the inside a muffled response "YES, JUST A MINUTE!!!" ...???...
I than start to get a little concerned and yell to them to open the door now, so we can treat the patient. Two seconds later the door opens, its a Nurse Assistant with a bag of dirty clothes and garbage in her hand out of breath, as she sees us she tells me "I needed to change her diaper and clean her, than change her clothes, I forgot to do that earlier this morning and I didnt want to be in trouble."
:unsure::excl: I was bewildered and confused! I looked into the room and saw our patient in the bed. I went to check her pulse and when I lifted the arm the entire body tilted up, stiff with rigor, her back was full of lividity...I turned to my partner and had them call dispatch and to advise the coroner than proceeded to belittle the nurses assistant about the condition of the patient and the fact she was probably gone for a few hours now.
She just stared and tried her best to look surprised...

Wow I have heard so winners but this one takes the cake! Its pretty sad actually

 

[firecoins]

I was off duty doing non ems stuff. Just being a civilian. A cop car stopped and asked me directions. Usually its the opposite.

 

[medichopeful]

I was off duty doing non ems stuff. Just being a civilian. A cop car stopped and asked me directions. Usually its the opposite.

That is pretty funny. Did he recognize you, or was it just some random officer?

 

[EMT11KDL]

I was off duty doing non ems stuff. Just being a civilian. A cop car stopped and asked me directions. Usually its the opposite.

Wow, LMAO!!!

 

[VentMedic]

Received a call at my paid EMS gig at a local nursing home

If this was at a nursing home, why were you taking report from the nursing assistant? Was this just some fromality with that NH that they had to call EMS for confirmation of death? That would be rare but there are some quirks in some counties in some states especially with the difference types of Coroners.

 

[firecoins]

That is pretty funny. Did he recognize you, or was it just some random officer?

I was in NYC. I was not in area where I work. So the cops had no idea who I was.

 

[medichopeful]

I was in NYC. I was not in area where I work. So the cops had no idea who I was.

Strange. And a bit scary.