Is it okay to laugh at this?

[hopki099]

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I was in the ER looking at some of the patients' charts in the computerized database. When I reached the "allergies" section, there was a 90-yr-old woman who said:

"Milk gives me heart attacks"
"Carrots and lettuce make me bleed"
and something about eggs.

 

[dr zaius]

Were you supposed to be going through charts?

I'd laugh, but not in front of the patient.

 

[hopki099]

Yes, it's part of my job/training. And no, not in front of the patient. I was just wondering more if these "allergies" were actually possible, or if the poor lady was delusional or made them up.

 

[Electronegative]

By any chance did she say:
"Milk gives me heart attacks"
"Carrots and lettuce make me bleed"
"But I feel better if I have some nachos and coke afterwards"


EN

 

[hopki099]

By any chance did she say:
"Milk gives me heart attacks"
"Carrots and lettuce make me bleed"
"But I feel better if I have some nachos and coke afterwards"


EN

Oh you know her? I think it was Nacho Cheese Doritos

 

[MiniMoo]

She's 90. I've seen much weirder things while working at a nursing home. I think once you're past the age of 70, you get a free pass to be a little crazy.

 

[empty p orbital]

Usually it's not nice to laugh at others misfortunes... in the ER, however, it's a totally different story... 🙂

Obviously priority #1 is the patient's well-being and we treat them with patience, understanding, and kindness, but in a hospital (especially ER) setting, there is nothing wrong with staff discussing the more amusing/bizarre/odd/funny aspects of their job after a pt has been taken care of. Case in point: Over the on EM residency forum there are reoccurring, very popular threads set up for the soul purpose of everybody posting their most ridiculous stories.

I've worked at an ER for the last 1.5 years and yeah I've learned a lot and it's been great and blah blah mushy gooshy stuff, etc... but dude I've seen some messed up **** and some of it has been absolutely hilarious. One time there was a HUGE fat guy (like no joke he was at least 550, probably even 600 pounds) who went into cardiac arrest while in his wheel chair. When they got him into the trauma room, all the doctors and all the techs and all the nurses and all the kings horses and all the kings men tried to lift this guy up onto the gurney, but they just couldn't because his skin kept squeezing out of their hands like jell-o and the positioning was so awkward that they couldn't get enough people around him to lift. So in desperation the doc had to shock this guy's chest while he was hunched over in a wheel chair.

At the time everybody was only concerned with doing their jobs right so that the patient could have the best shot possible, but obviously it is now a legendary tale and any time something funny happens someone always says "yeah but where you here the night..." and repeats the story.

 

[hopki099]

That's awesome. I can't wait to see stuff like that

 

[chman]

Just be careful to not get too specific. You can get in deep doo doo.

 

[orthomyxo]

Usually it's not nice to laugh at others misfortunes... in the ER, however, it's a totally different story... 🙂

Obviously priority #1 is the patient's well-being and we treat them with patience, understanding, and kindness, but in a hospital (especially ER) setting, there is nothing wrong with staff discussing the more amusing/bizarre/odd/funny aspects of their job after a pt has been taken care of. Case in point: Over the on EM residency forum there are reoccurring, very popular threads set up for the soul purpose of everybody posting their most ridiculous stories.

I've worked at an ER for the last 1.5 years and yeah I've learned a lot and it's been great and blah blah mushy gooshy stuff, etc... but dude I've seen some messed up **** and some of it has been absolutely hilarious. One time there was a HUGE fat guy (like no joke he was at least 550, probably even 600 pounds) who went into cardiac arrest while in his wheel chair. When they got him into the trauma room, all the doctors and all the techs and all the nurses and all the kings horses and all the kings men tried to lift this guy up onto the gurney, but they just couldn't because his skin kept squeezing out of their hands like jell-o and the positioning was so awkward that they couldn't get enough people around him to lift. So in desperation the doc had to shock this guy's chest while he was hunched over in a wheel chair.

At the time everybody was only concerned with doing their jobs right so that the patient could have the best shot possible, but obviously it is now a legendary tale and any time something funny happens someone always says "yeah but where you here the night..." and repeats the story.

Oh yea....that's just hilarious. A morbidly obese man's heart stopping always gets me to giggle. 😕

Sociopath much?

 

[4LoveoftheGame]

I guess it can't hurt to giggle if your not doing it in front of the patient but it should probably be mental laughter.

 

[NickNaylor]

I lol'd.

 

[theWUbear]

Just be careful to not get too specific. You can get in deep doo doo.

Unless I'm misinformed, above is false. You just can't use patient identifiers (i'm forgetting the specific term for what i'm calling 'patient identifiers'). You can list the specifics of any case in discussing it (ie. hey friend i just saw a caucasian patient with x disease on y and z meds and said he had a and b allergies!). An example of what you can't do - and its been tough for me a couple times, is say "hey friend, i just saw a patient with the funniest name...you wouldn't believe this patient was named (insert ridiculous name)"

 

[Longshanks]

Unless I'm misinformed, above is false. You just can't use patient identifiers (i'm forgetting the specific term for what i'm calling 'patient identifiers'). You can list the specifics of any case in discussing it (ie. hey friend i just saw a caucasian patient with x disease on y and z meds and said he had a and b allergies!). An example of what you can't do - and its been tough for me a couple times, is say "hey friend, i just saw a patient with the funniest name...you wouldn't believe this patient was named (insert ridiculous name)"

Yes, but if you divulge all those details your friend or someone over hearing you might recognize that as one of their family members and you just breached someone's privacy. You don't need to say someone's name for them to be identifiable. You're best off being minimalist or not talking about it at all.

 

[chman]

Yes, but if you divulge all those details your friend or someone over hearing you might recognize that as one of their family members and you just breached someone's privacy. You don't need to say someone's name for them to be identifiable. You're best off being minimalist or not talking about it at all.

Exactly. But to echo, you don't need to say an actual name to be in breach of the law (if I remember correctly). If you give information that is too specific you are running that risk. IMO, it is best just not to go there.

 

[hopki099]

Oh yea....that's just hilarious. A morbidly obese man's heart stopping always gets me to giggle. 😕

Sociopath much?

The ER is a stressful department with no shortage of frustrations and patient stories to get depressed about.

If you don't find the humor in it once in awhile, you likely will not survive there long-term.

 

[Geekchick921]

Not to their face.

I worked for two years on a med-surg floor that got a lot of neuro patients, including old demented people. I'll never forget this tiny (like 4'10" and 80 pounds) old lady pointing and screaming at her reflection, because "That f****** b**** has been staring at me all morning!" She was so far gone, but it was epic.

 

[mordounhas]

You can get yourself in trouble as a medical student for FERPA violations without using a name. Granted context is key here: in a hospital, if you make a joke about the fattest guy in the SICU who is present there at that time, people would have plenty of information to identify him. If you're on the internet and telling a story without disclosing dates/locations/names or anything that could be used to identify an individual, it's probably less of a concern. Wait until medical school- you'll probably receive several lectures on what you can and cannot say (and basically they'll tell you not to say anything to anyone, if it's anything like my school).

 

[mmmcdowe]

I was in the ER looking at some of the patients' charts in the computerized database. When I reached the "allergies" section, there was a 90-yr-old woman who said:

"Milk gives me heart attacks"
"Carrots and lettuce make me bleed"
and something about eggs.

The nurse wrote that down for humor's sake, don't sweat it. Otherwise she would have just written down milk, carrots, lettuce.

 

[ahowardmd]

Oh yea....that's just hilarious. A morbidly obese man's heart stopping always gets me to giggle. 😕

Sociopath much?

The part about "all the kings men couldn't get humpty dumty onto the gurney" was the funny part, not the heart stopping part. You knew that, I would hope.

 

[willen101383]

The part about "all the kings men couldn't get humpty dumty onto the gurney" was the funny part, not the heart stopping part. You knew that. Don't be an anonymous internet douche.

Yeah...obviously doesnt have much experience in healthcare.

 

[chman]

Not to their face.

I worked for two years on a med-surg floor that got a lot of neuro patients, including old demented people. I'll never forget this tiny (like 4'10" and 80 pounds) old lady pointing and screaming at her reflection, because "That f****** b**** has been staring at me all morning!" She was so far gone, but it was epic.

Yea, I gotta say, after a relative has alzheimer's or dementia it is just not that funny anymore for obvious reasons. They can get really ornery though.

Just a point; it is a natural reaction for some people to laugh during very stressful or serious situations. It is almost a survival mechanism for some.

 

[Suenya]

The ER is a stressful department with no shortage of frustrations and patient stories to get depressed about.

If you don't find the humor in it once in awhile, you likely will not survive there long-term.

Seriously.

 

[Geekchick921]

Yea, I gotta say, after a relative has alzheimer's or dementia it is just not that funny anymore for obvious reasons. They can get really ornery though.

Just a point; it is a natural reaction for some people to laugh during very stressful or serious situations. It is almost a survival mechanism for some.

Sorry, man, I don't mean to offend. THere were plenty of patients that were demented or had Alzheimers that were heart-breaking, like the 80 and 90 year olds that are asking you to call their parents to pick them up ( 🙁 ), but she wasn't one of them. She was ornery and foul-mouthed and the things coming out of her mouth were astounding.

And yeah, to add to your second point, we had a lot of patients like that. If we focused on the sadness of every patient we had that was losing it, we would have all been utterly miserable. Like I said, it's not like we laughed in their face. In the break room, later on, yes.

 

[chman]

Sorry, man, I don't mean to offend. THere were plenty of patients that were demented or had Alzheimers that were heart-breaking, like the 80 and 90 year olds that are asking you to call their parents to pick them up ( 🙁 ), but she wasn't one of them. She was ornery and foul-mouthed and the things coming out of her mouth were astounding.

And yeah, to add to your second point, we had a lot of patients like that. If we focused on the sadness of every patient we had that was losing it, we would have all been utterly miserable. Like I said, it's not like we laughed in their face. In the break room, later on, yes.

Oh, don't worry, no offense was taken. I don't really know what I was trying to say there... but was not trying to make you fell bad or anything. I guess I am just saying that there is no "correct" emotional response sometimes in situations that come up in a hospital setting.

 

[Geekchick921]

I agree with you entirely.

 

[FirefighterDoc]

Ha its funny you mention that because the same thing just happened to me last night. This 400 lb woman wasnt having an MI but she was having dif breathing and very diaphoretic. She somehow made it into a wheelchair out in triage but by the time she came back ( which was fast) she couldnt walk so it took 5-6 of us to get her into the bed ( i had the unfortunate position of lifting a leg and having it in my face). Long story short she wound up in ICU.

Usually it's not nice to laugh at others misfortunes... in the ER, however, it's a totally different story... 🙂

Obviously priority #1 is the patient's well-being and we treat them with patience, understanding, and kindness, but in a hospital (especially ER) setting, there is nothing wrong with staff discussing the more amusing/bizarre/odd/funny aspects of their job after a pt has been taken care of. Case in point: Over the on EM residency forum there are reoccurring, very popular threads set up for the soul purpose of everybody posting their most ridiculous stories.

I've worked at an ER for the last 1.5 years and yeah I've learned a lot and it's been great and blah blah mushy gooshy stuff, etc... but dude I've seen some messed up **** and some of it has been absolutely hilarious. One time there was a HUGE fat guy (like no joke he was at least 550, probably even 600 pounds) who went into cardiac arrest while in his wheel chair. When they got him into the trauma room, all the doctors and all the techs and all the nurses and all the kings horses and all the kings men tried to lift this guy up onto the gurney, but they just couldn't because his skin kept squeezing out of their hands like jell-o and the positioning was so awkward that they couldn't get enough people around him to lift. So in desperation the doc had to shock this guy's chest while he was hunched over in a wheel chair.

At the time everybody was only concerned with doing their jobs right so that the patient could have the best shot possible, but obviously it is now a legendary tale and any time something funny happens someone always says "yeah but where you here the night..." and repeats the story.

 

[FirefighterDoc]

Oh, don't worry, no offense was taken. I don't really know what I was trying to say there... but was not trying to make you fell bad or anything. I guess I am just saying that there is no "correct" emotional response sometimes in situations that come up in a hospital setting.

Yes THIS completely. I cant tell you how many people ive seen die right in front of me....many of them children or babies. The ER ( and pre hospital EMS) can be very stressful. By focusing on those funny stories more, we remember less the real bad ones like the baby who was left in the basement after it was born because the mom never told her parents she was pregnant ( not even when she went to the hospital herself after giving birth because of the bleeding).

Its just a coping mechanism.....at some times it may seem insensitive but thats not the intention.

 

[phantomx87]

Laughing at patients is pretty much the only way you can make it through the day sometimes. Just find a resident or another student and save it for an inside joke when you leave. Seriously, people on the whole are stupid, ignorant, and will never disappoint in doing something completely off the wall. Just laugh it off and move on.