Taught a patient how to use an IS (incentive spirometer) the wrong way……after he ordered it.
Trying to Remove a Femoral Nail. Surgeon pulling on Nail, Assistant pulling on Surgeon & Tech pulling on Assistant
Funny (stupid? totally disrespectful!) while it lasted, then nearly tragic.
Very busy night shift ER back in the day, near the end of the shift. Doc was near exhaustion. A guy comes in with an obvious huge are secondary to cellulites caused by mixing his cocaine with tap water and injecting it.
He was in an agitated state came charging out of the room yelling DOC DOC CHECK MY ARM. The doc in his fatigued and bit of a smart Alec state pulled out his pen and drew a checkmark on the guys arm.
AS you can imagine the patient did not take it well, it took 4 of us to pul the patient off the doc before the police arrived to the him to jail.
Very straight-laced, serious Fellowship (advanced training) ortho surgeon, whom we weren't sure really had a sense of humor. Wore a ridiculously hideous Christmas suit to our office Christmas party and then had to go in to the ED to reduce a dislocated hip, while still in that horrid suit. The patient took a picture and sent it to me. Hilarious. Ice broken forever. He's cool.
Lost his scrub pants to his ankles after putting an X-ray gown on
Called me Elenor, said “I know you’re not Eleanor but you look like one.”
Could not explain the long name of HCTZ to patient which is hydrochlorothiazide
A physician many years ago once wrote an order for “Shark Insulin” as a joke for the House Supervisor, whom we all knew very well, and was good-natured. She was notified of the strange order, and actually called several veterinary clinics looking for the product. Of course that was as far as it was supposed to go. However, the original order itself was shredded, but the copy was accidentally sent to pharmacy. The next day, it was discovered that the pharmacy purchasing person had worked most of the day trying to find shark insulin (which doesn’t exist). The physician had a discussion with the head of the physician department and he took all the blame. We all had a good laugh, even the pharmacist that received the copy of the order. We still laugh about it today.
