Tuesday, November 17, 2009

Stories From the Delivery Room-The Board















Easy going junior resident, Dr. Moore, looked at the board and tensed up immediately. By all indications it was going to be a disaster of a day.

In the middle of the nurses’ station was “The Board”, the central form of communication of vital patient data. Listed were the patient’s name, doc, gestational age, diagnosis and other pertinent information. On this day the board showed all worst-case-scenario patients: a bleeding placenta previa; severe pregnancy induced hypertension; a set of twins in labor; a set of triplets contracting regularly; another patient with a breech baby dilated to 6 and being prepped for the operating room. Additionally, four other patients were dilated between 7-9 centimeters. To top it off, a pregnant diabetic had just arrived and looked like she would need an admission to the ICU for diabetic ketoacidosis. The situation was beyond belief.

Each morning the junior resident arrived around 5A.M. to prepare a report for the oncoming senior resident and obstetric attending physician. As Dr. Moore studied the board, he began to look pale.

In actuality, the situation seemed beyond belief because, little did Dr. Moore know, he’d been set up for a practical joke by the L&D staff. The shift that night had gone from really busy, to incredibly slow. Well, slow is an understatement, we actually had no patients left. It was almost unheard of, but every room in Labor and Delivery was empty. So, as bored nurses are known to do, we decided that we needed to spice up the night…thus a brilliant plan was formed.

Gathering around the board, full of mischief, we came up with the obstetric version of the Perfect Storm. Then, we raced around closing doors, putting up name tags and preparing equipment for our performance that we had choreographed precisely.

As soon as Dr. Moore approached the unit, the chaos began. Nurses began to scurry about pushing IV poles and delivery carts. We went in and out of the empty rooms slamming doors and turning on call lights.

“Would someone let NICU know that we are going to deliver in room 4 soon,” someone shouted towards the nurses’ station, “Tell ‘em we have thick meconium!”

Dr. Moore was taking note of all of the activity as he moved toward the board.

The secretary was repeatedly calling herself, making the phones ring incessantly and also ignoring the call lights.

“The night has been crazy,” explained the seemingly frazzled charge nurse after Dr. Moore had been at the board for a few minutes, “We’ve been short staffed to boot.”

“Excuse me,” I interrupted, doing my best to act frazzled, “Dr. Moore, you have to see this!”

I held in my hand a urine collection cup which I had filled with pale gold apple juice.

“The glucose on this is off the chart,” I said as I held up a urine testing dipstick.

“The urine actually smells sweet!” I declared, taking a big whiff.

Quickly, I added “Let me see how it tastes,” and I took a swig.

Dr. Moore’s knees buckled slightly as he looked at me in horror.

At that moment, the nurses reconverged into the nurses’ station and burst out in laughter.

“What? What are you guys up to?” he asked, with a mix of realization and relief. A grin broke on his face as he grasped the fact that he’d been duped.

With that, the charge nurse picked up the dryboard eraser and wiped the board clean.

We’d pulled off a practical joke that would be talked about for years to come.

39 comments:

Mr. Daddy said...

I am in the presence of Greatness...

I bow down to your superior skills in naughtiness..

You are the Yoda, of practical mayhem...

Ya just got to love night shift, with to much time on your hands... *snicker*

Mrs. M said...

What a great story - so funny! Dr. Moore must have been SO relieved!

Anonymous said...

That is just fabulous! I thought for just a second that I had somehow gone to Once Upon a Miracle, for it surely sounded much more like Mr. Daddy than sweet Julie! Drinking the urine sample... oh... brilliant!

Kelley said...

oh my gosh! That's HILARIOUS! You need to keep those docs on their toes!

Anonymous said...

That was hysterical! He will never forget that night, for sure!! I hope you are enjoying the holidays as much as we are, a whirlwind of fun, laughter and love! Take care dear friend....

He & Me + 3 said...

Oh my gosh that is too funny. What a fun staff you worked with. LOL That Dr. was going to be watching you all for a long time.

Unknown said...

This is too fun! Wish I'd thought of this in my OR nursing days... I can't wait till my resident doc comes home to share this story with him.

christy rose said...

LOL That is too funny! Thanks for the chuckle this morning!

-stephanie- said...

Love it! Good job nurses. :oD

Mrs. Lukie said...

How fun!! Thanks for the funny post first thing this morning :)

Kaleena said...

How funny! I bet that poor Dr. wanted to throw up when you took a sip of your "specimen!"

Foursons said...

Oh you crazy nurses! hahahahaha!

Heart2Heart said...

This was truly a classic moment and one that the Dr. I am sure was relieved to know what all a complete hoax!

Not sure quite what he thought with you drinking the urine specimen! Great laughs!

Love and Hugs ~ Kat

Jen said...

That. was awesome!!!! I can't believe you drank it. I love it!!!

Beth E. said...

That's hilarious...my kind of humor. I love to play practical jokes on people. If you and I lived closer together, we'd get into trouble all the time! ;-)

April said...

You stinker! That's about the best joke I've ever heard of...way to go! ;)

Debby@Just Breathe said...

I love that story. For everything that all of you do and go through it is wonderful to see a bit of fun and laughter going on too!

Anonymous said...

Love the story, but I met he was about to have an MI!

Orah said...

HAHAHA - That is awesome. Hope he had a good sense of humor.

Rachel said...

LOL! You are too funny! No way I could have done that with a straight face! Maybe Mr. Daddy could - like PamD says :)

You'll have to help me brainstorm how to punk Mr. Daddy... seems you're good at this kind of stuff! Thanks for sharing - perfect timing for a laugh!

E @ Scottsville said...

OH wow, that's a GREAT ONE!!!!

I can just imagine the look on his face when you drank the.... uhhhmmmm.... APPLE JUICE!

ha ha ha

mitchsmom said...

That is GREAT! I am SO stealing this scenario!!

ROFL

The Blue Sparrow said...

LOL that is so funny! I love it!

Joy@WDDCH said...

You guys are so naughty!!!!!!!!!! And awesome!!!

~*Michelle*~ said...

Hilarious! although I will admit that I started to get heart palpitations when you listed what was written on that Board.....(and I am not even in the medical field!)

funny stuff.....you guys must be a blast to work with!

Nurse Lochia said...

Oh, I love it! There have been times we have wanted to do it, although to mess with the dayshift staff instead of a doc!

AtYourCervix said...

Your "board" sounds like our board on our crazy days. Which we have plenty of!

The coordinated efforts on the practical joke was priceless!!!!

Ryan said...

OMG!!! Thats so funny, what a great story, hehehe, thanks for funny posting.


Nurse Ryan

Ryan said...

Can I ask for Exchanged link? I Already added you site in my Home hompage. Thanks a Lot.

http://nursebitz.com

Ryan RN

Helene said...

Oh man, Julie, you are too much!! That's hysterical...I could almost imagine the look on his face when you drank the "urine"!

Glad to know that with all the serious issues you deal with in L&D, that you all are able to still have some fun every now and then to lighten things up!

Becca~CapturingSimpleJoys said...

How fun was that!

Lesli said...

That is sooo funny!! But I think I would have let it go on a little longer..lol..Hope you have a Happy Thanksgiving!!

Cheesemakin' Mamma said...

Oh, that's good! Thanks for the laugh today. I needed it!

God Bless,
Jackie

Shana said...

Now.That.Is.Funny. hahaha!! The apple urine is awesome, ha!

Unknown said...

That is soooo funny!! Maybe I will try to pull that off on one of my bosses sometime. Good one!!
Wendy

Angela said...

Are you sure you're not my favorite nurse, Stephanie, from my 3+week stay in L&D? I LOVE this! I really wondered how insane it got out of my "prison cell" sometimes! I'll have to pass this one on to the nurse that made me laugh daily and kept my spirits up while waiting for our "trips" to cook! Glad I found you!

E @ Scottsville said...

Just stopped by to wish you a Happy Thanksgiving!!!

Hope it's a great one.

{{hugs}}

Erica

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