Sunday, April 11, 2010

Nursing at the County...Don't Let the Bed Bugs Bite


As a student nurse at the county hospital, I spent many an evening and night performing skills that I had learned in class.

One night on a med-surg floor I was taking care of Mrs. Myers, my paralyzed patient who was sweet and talkative. She rested in this huge bed that was a giant metal frame filled with microbeads. The tiny beads continuously swirled beneath her with the help of the force of air being pumped in at the base. Between the beads and the patient was a soft fabric covering . The bed was designed to help prevent bedsores for patients who were not mobile.

When it was time for Mrs. Myers bedbath, I pulled the rolling table over the bed to hold my basin. One of my fellow student nurses stopped by and offered to help with the final step of my care, the linen change.

As we prepared to change the under sheet, we were shocked to see two cockroaches jump from the over-bed table into the bed! The other SN and I looked at each other with wide eyes and then immediately started sweeping our hands quickly over the bed, hoping to find the critters and knock them out of the bed.

Thankfully, Mrs. Myer was oblivious to what was happening. She remained relaxed and chatted away.

Rubbing our hands wildly over the beads, we smiled and nodded, acknowledging her discussion.

Finally, we saw the nasty critters and swept simultaneously at them at threw them into the air. They landed on the floor and ran out the door.

We quickly excused ourselves, closed the door of the patient room, and went out into the hall…

After getting over our shock and disgust, we laughed at the crazy place we worked. Thank goodness Mrs. Myer never was aware of her bedmates.


18 comments:

Jen said...

Gross but sadly true.

Mrs. M said...

Yuck! Hope she didn't have any more "friends" hanging out!

Beth said...

Ewwww! I heard a statement the other day: The longer you stay in a hospital... the longer you stay in a hospital.

Foursons said...

YUCK! I'm surprised y'all stayed as calm as you did. Bedside manner at its finest right there!

Orah said...

wow - bet u never thought when u signed up for nursing that u would be exterminator as well. Sorry I have not visited ur blog in a while - I was uber busy. I like all your changes and your new pictures ....

The Blue Sparrow said...

Oh now that is just gross! Ewww! Thank goodness she wasnt aware! I would have gone bonkers if that was me, I am a bugaphobe and would have ran screaming down the hall LOL!

Heart2Heart said...

This is super scary that this happens but it shows that no matter how clean you think things are, there is always room for improvement. I've never heard of the bed you described. Sounds really amazing.


Love and Hugs ~ Kat

Jessica D. said...

I would just die!! I don't see how you keep looking for them instead of running out of the room!!

Annie said...

lady! i haven't been on your page in SO long :( i love it! you are such a beautiful momma! you have a beautiful family!

bugs = icky.....i commented on someone else's page earlier today, i have never in my life seen a cockroach (knock on wood) and i would just die if i did!! i would not be laughing, maybe crying ;)

hope all is well!! have a great week!! :)

Mr. Daddy said...

Now doesn't that just confirm the old saying that ignorance is bliss....LOL

Rachel said...

You just see EVERYTHING in your line of work, don't you?!?! I can't believe you were so calm that she never knew! You are far more easygoing than I! :)

April said...

GROSS...I can't stand cockroaches!!!

~*Michelle*~ said...

ewwwwwwwww

and a big *SHUDDER* over here.

I can deal with alot. Crunchy cockroaches make my skin crawl.

Sarah said...

I thought you were going to have a post about actual bed bugs. I have to say in my line of work I'd rather deal with roaches than bed bugs. The bed bug problem is HUGE and coming to a city/ hotel/ hospital near you. The problem is growing and growing. Bed bugs are EXTREMELY difficult to eradicate and spread like wild fire in a hospital/ group home/ prison/ hotel/ apartment setting.

Pam D said...

I was going to say what Sarah above me just said, but she said it much better than I could. I'll take roaches over REAL bedbugs any day. And how funny that you and Brian both had posts about roaches!

Beth E. said...

I'm all itchy now...ewww!

Debby@Just Breathe said...

eww...........

RN Mama said...

Omg! Cockroaches? I would have died, there is no way I could have kept quiet about it:)