GTKY: Medical professional funnies

Homcrn · December 2013

Something different to ensue some laughs...what is the funniest charting error you have come across? If you cannot think of one or you are not in the medical profession...how about a medical situation that you have been in that causes you to laugh everytime you think of it. I am sure there are some dozies!

taylormarie923 · December 2013

I used to alway check out the GYN intake forms that patients filled out. Under number of partners you could usually find some good answers such as "too personal" or "too many to count".

Homcrn · December 2013

My clinical director asked me to basically retrain a RN that had been at Hospice for about a year. I knew it was going to be a chore after I reviewed her charting in order to prepare to go out with her. I randomly picked a chart a there were multiple entries about this patients wound. All describe the wound as being "pussy". I promptly told her that the correct term is purulent exudate...and we do not use the word " pus" when charting anyway.
Same girl...went out on a home visit to see a patient that was being started on an antibiotic. Asked her what she should educate the patient on when talking to him about the antibiotic. She rattled off some things including eating some yogurt to help combat the loose stool he may have. Asked her why he may have loose stool. She told me because that is how the infection leaves the body. :::face palm::: Needless to say my recommendation was to let her go. She was fired after many months of trying to educate her. Scary thing was she was hired in with 5 years hospital experience and a bachelors.

emmylou78 · December 2013

Our physicians use a voice to text charting, so it comes up with some random ones sometimes. We all got a laugh when a MD wrote about a pt with a skin complaint, "keratin" became "carrot skin."

Not an error, but we are encouraged to write the patients complaint and use quotes for best charting. Pt complaint, "My hands feel like corn dogs." Yep. I typed that straight in his chart.

Homcrn · December 2013

petdocd said:

A new receptionist did not know how to spell euthanasia so she spelled youthinasia. She was special. Some of the funnier ones were not part of the actual record but came up as patient alerts on the computer. My favorite was my frequent flyer with chronic kidney disease. The note read, " be on high alert. Cat will eat your soul!" So true. My first day of work, I got punched in the face by a client. It sounds like a really fun story right? Well it was an accident her dog slipped off the leash and her fist caught me right in the nose. I had a black eye for a few weeks.

We have alert buttons in our charting system too. I have come across a couple that I have chuckled at, but yours wins!

laurenmdrn16 · December 2013

My favorite was at the school I had a freshman girl who just stated her period and had horrible cramps. Since it was her first time, I called home and her mom wanted to pick her up to buy pads and take her out to lunch etc. I did my best to keep it all confidential, but my clinic was packed. One of her male classmates saw that she was getting dismissed, grabbed his abdomen and said in his best pained voice, "Oh, nurse, I sit next to (female student). I think I need to go home too. I caught what she has!" Yeah, sure you did!

Oh man. I have got a million more. One hilarious charting LOL involves the templates for our electronic documentation. It gives you examples for each automated entry. One potential outcome is "Dismissed to parent -other". The example provided is "Student sent home to change after vomitting when he witnessed another student eat an ant". What the what? In all my years, I have not noticed that this was a common occurrence.

jnsmith85 · December 2013

We get all sorts of strange folks in our NICU. One that stands out, was a man whose daughter was with us for a few weeks.

First day I saw him, he was wearing we all called his "Blade" outfit, from the movies. Next day was a blonde wig, with a batman cape. He also had a mask that he would wear with the cape. He would run through the halls outside the nicu and pretend he was a superhero. (security ended up getting involved) He would stand at the window of our special care nursery and just stare at us.

And he NEVER bathed. I don't know wtf the mom was thinking when she made a child with him.

LetsGoToDisney · December 2013

I used to work in ambulatory surgery before going to law school. One patient kept insisting she had a colostomy and they found polygrips (a poo bag and found denture glue). She had a colonoscopy and found polyps.

Another time, an elderly woman (87 I think) came in for an EGD and colonoscopy and after getting sedated she said, "my husband is so jealous ya'll are getting in my ass before he does."

KevsLove · December 2013

LetsGoToDisney said:
"my husband is so jealous ya'll are getting in my ass before he does."

BAHAHAHAHA! Weeeelp looks like I'm up for the rest of ths night lol My giggling woke DS... Worth it though

Gatorsgirl731 · December 2013

I was a dental assistant in an office that also made dentures. This happened my first week at this office. The last pts of the day were always the ones getting their new dentures. One day I open the door and call for Steve, there are two men in the waiting room. Guy stands up comes in and sits in my chair. I start fitting in his denture, and it keeps rubbing him, so I keep making adjustments. This goes on for about 30 min. By now several of my co workers are standing by watching the new girl. So finally I jokingly say to the guy "your name is Steve right?" To which he responds "No, my names Jim." What!!!! "Steve" was still in the waiting room.

brooklynnerdymama · December 2013

This isn't an error but I thought it was pretty funny documentation anyway. As you know, when a patient is admitted to the hospital, nursing records a list of their possessions to keep track of - usually car keys, wallet, glasses, etc.

Took care of a guy right before going on mat leave whose list, in its entirety, was:
Socks
Can of beer

And in case you were wondering, yes he did have to have an Ativan drip for DTs while there. I wish I could tell you whether or not we returned the beer to him when left.

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