What's that smell?

If you are easily grossed out, this is not a post for you.  If you are a nurse you will die laughing, after you finish retching. 

Friday was Valentine's Day.  It was a great day for me.  I had an unexpected present from my parents and an unexpected email that had me smiling all day.  And I can happily say this story did not happen to me.

It was towards the end of shift and a a patient had decided to have a GI Bleed.  For those not in health care this produces a very distinct odor.  The nurse of this patient continued to complain that she could still smell it, even though those sitting by her no longer could.  Just before end of shift, as night shift was arriving, she happened to look down as someone commented on her badge only to realize she had GI Bleed on her badge and shirt.  This produced quite a bit of hysteria for her and muscle cramping laughter for the rest of us, even as we tried to fix the situation.  Guess she wasn't lying about that smell.

And today I found a reason no hospital should have double rooms, ever.  I was getting an admission into a semi-private room.  There are really only 2 rules for patients in semi-private rooms according to our unit secretary: neither patient can be in contact isolation and they must be the same gender.  Doesn't seem too complicated, really.

My patient arrived while I was busy giving medications, and the patient was placed in the room.  The patients daughter approached the desk shortly after their arrival to notify the charge nurse that the patient who was already in the room was not the same gender as my new patient.  Thankfully my patient had a good sense of humor about it and we shortly had them in a private room.

The best part was the cardiologist sitting next to me.  His comment "Welcome to Obamacare, we are all just citizens"  I told him that comment would end up in my blog, he said he didn't mind being quoted. 

Anyway, I think from now on I will try to avoid working 4 shifts in a row during the full moon.  I am just not sure what else to blame for all the craziness that was the last four days.  I just know I don't know how any of that actually happened.