Funny OR Stories
80
|
Pocket Guide to the Operating Room (Pocket Guide to Operating Room)
Price: $35.39
List Price: $45.95 |
|
Instrumentation for the Operating Room: A Photographic Manual
Price: $38.01
List Price: $56.95 |
|
Berry & Kohn's Operating Room Technique
Price: $74.00
List Price: $93.95 |
|
Playmobil Operating Room
Price: $39.99
List Price: $19.99 |
|
O.R.: The True Story of 24 Hours in a Hospital Operating Room
Price: $4.99
|
|
Canadian Operating Room Nursing Journal
Price: $53.27
|
|
Operating Room Technique College Textbook Berry & Kohn's Operating Room Technique (Mosby, 11th edition)
Price: $124.99
List Price: $84.95 |
|
Special Operating Room
Price: $15.95
List Price: $19.75 |
|
Critical Thinking in the Operating Room
Price: $45.00
List Price: $49.00 |
|
SONY Drums from the Big Room ( Windows )
Price: $99.99
List Price: $299.95 |
Funny OR Stories in the News
- 2009 year in review - Staten Island's top storiesStaten Island Advance11 hours ago
What were the biggest Staten Island and New York-area related stories for the year? This is a question we're trying to answer with your help!Right here, we've compiled the ten most-read news, sports and entertainment stories on SILive.com in...
- Stories foster connections for social work classSt. Olaf College News3 hours ago
St. Olaf social work students use stories and memories to build in-depth relationships with Northfield Retirement Center residents. "Learning how to work at a relationship so it has depth is crucial to being a social worker," says Associate Professor of Social Work Naurine Lennox ’64.
- Decade: Andrew Bujalski On âFunny Ha HaâindieWIRE29 hours ago
EDITOR’S NOTE: Every day for the next month, indieWIRE will be republishing profiles and interviews from the past ten years (in their original, retro format) with some of the people that have defined independent cinema in the first decade of this century. Today, we’ll step back to 2005 with an interview indieWIRE’s Michael Koresky had with Andrew Bujalski upon the release of his “Funny Ha Ha ...
I have been an operating room nurse for many years. It is a very challenging and very rewarding profession. There is a ton of stress, and to even it out, a ton of fun.
I was once working with an orthopedic surgeon. He slipped on something and fell. As he fell, he made sure to land with his hand above him. "Am I still sterile?", he asked. I could barely catch my breath to tell him no.
Here is a joke one surgeon told my colleague and myself at about 2:00am after we had been working straight through since 6:30am the previous morning:
Did you hear about the dyslexic, insomniac agnostic? He stayed up all night wondering if there was a Dog.
I know the joke is not so funny, but she and I laughed for almost 15 minutes. We laughed so hard that we could not begin the surgery. The surgeon kept telling us it wasn't that funny, which only made us laugh more.
One day I was charge nurse. One of the other nurses came to me and pulled me aside. "Do you have any tampons?", she asked, "Deb just called out of room 6 to ask for one." Room 6 was doing total joints that day. No-one was allowed to enter or leave during the surgery. I told the nurse that Deb probably wanted a femoral wick (a sponge used for drying the femoral canal...more commonly called a "tampon). The nurse was convinced Deb wanted a tampon until I asked her, "Where will she change it?" That did it, she knew no-one would change their tampon with an entire room of people watching.
Can you imagine a surgery where the doctor asks you for crazy glue, a bra hook and a rubber band? I was working one day, and a doctor asked for for exactly that! I thought he was joking. He yelled at me to go and get them. I went out and found out that, yes, we had these items. The doctor used them as a retraction device for a finger surgery. He put the rubber band around the wrist, crazy glued the bra hook to the finger nail and hooked the bra hook to the rubber band to keep the finger bent.
We have funny names for many things:
"Hand grenade" is not an explosive device, it is a type of drain reservoir, it looks like a hand grenade.
"Tampon" is not something only used by females, it is a femoral wick to dry out the middle of the bone during total joints.
"Sponge" is not something to wash dishes with, it is a thin to thick piece of gauze to blot the wound with.
"Time out" is not putting the child in the corner because they have misbehaved, it is making sure you have the right patient, right site, and correct implants.
"4X4" is not a piece of wood, it is a type of "sponge".
Surgery is a place where people love to play jokes on the new person. Some of the things we ask for are nonexistent...for example:
"Mitochondrial Welder"--This is often asked for. I once worked with a nurse who had been in the OR for about 5 years. We had asked her for the Mitochondrial Welder when she was new...who would have thought she would fall for it again. One day I found her and a new (to the OR) nurse in the stock room, frantically looking for something. I asked what they were looking for and they told me "the mitochondrial welder". I laughed and told them to go back and say we didn't have one. I reminded them there is no such thing.
New drugs come out every day. One day, in the urology room, an anesthesia provider decided to have fun with one of the nurses. He told her the patient kept moving and he needed some "nomoveatall'. She was desperately calling Pharmacy, when I found out and stopped her.
This became a big joke....but some people never learn.
Later that same month I found this nurse calling Pharmacy to ask for some nocoxafloxin. Once again, the request came from the urology room. I told her to hang up, there is no drug called "no cocks a flopping.
The OR is a special place for special people. Your ego has to be strong enough that it doesn't get caught up in the fun and games...and big enough that it doesn't get hurt by them. I love my job and all it's inconsistencies. The bonus is there is always a need for OR Nurses in this world.
PrintShare it! — Rate it: up down flag this hub
Comments
Thanks. It's not all fun and games, but humor is a great way to relieve stress!
Hello k@ri,
I was an OR nurse at Methodist Hospital in the Texas Medical Center waaaaaaay back in the 70's. I also loved it! As you say, it is high stress but also a lot of fun. Most everybody loved orthopedic surgery. With most of the patients......it is not a life and death situation like it can be with some other types of surgery. Therefore the best jokes and laughter were always heard in those rooms.
Since you are a fellow nurse, take a look at some of my hubs regarding the emergency stickers. The medical people really grasp the importance of how they can truly help in emergency situations. An entire hospital system up in Rhode Island is putting information about them into every person's package when being discharged from that hospital.
Looking forward to reading more of your hubs! Your newest fan.
Thanks! I'll go take a look.
These are some great and very amusing stories.
My mother is a nurse, as was her mother, and they also have some very amusing stories, but this is not to say they don't take their job seriously, because they have just as many tragic stories to tell. Like you said, humor can be a great way to remove stress.
Thanks. (I've been accused of taking my job too seriously at times...but when you take people to the brink of death, cut them open, sew them up, and wake them up...doesn't it make sense)
No wonder you love your job! I've always thought it had to be a stressful job, but you guys know how to break the monotony.
The urology joke made me choke on the cookie I was eating!
Proud Mom--Yes it's stressful, but sooo much fun. There is never a boring day! Thanks, and I glad you are OK...wouldn't want to see "Woman chokes on cookie while reading about new drug nocoxaflopin".
I can *totally* relate to OR staff pulling practical jokes to ease the tension! Back in the 70s, I was the babysitter...uh, ward clerk...on OB in a teaching hospital. Our residents were real cut-ups ('scuse the pun)...imagine M*A*S*H's Hawkeye and BJ delivering babies instead of treating war wounds. When things were slow (meaning most of the month of July), they'd have "duels" up and down the halls using giant syringes for water pistols. One day the action was in front of the nurses station, so when one ran out of water, he stepped into the half-bath at the back to fill his "pistol" from the toilet! OHNOYOUDONT! I yelled, and shooed him out. Other times they'd fill rubber gloves with water, tie off the ends, and toss 'em back and forth. When they tired of that, they'd put the balloons in the tubes used to send paperwork back and forth (like in a bank's drive-thru). Tubes not coded for a particular floor would land (literally) in a basket in medical records in the basement. Problem being OB was on the 7th floor, and a heavy tube would come out of the ceiling in MR like a rocket, then open on impact! MR was sure the water bombs were from 7th West, and we could precisely count down the seconds until they'd be calling to cuss out Frick and Frack. Of course I always said *our* docs couldn't possibly be responsible for such pranks. ;)
A tired med student once fell asleep on a gurney in the hall. Woke up in a delivery room under a sheet with his legs in stirrups, looking at a gowned and gloved Frick or Frack clicking episiotomy scissors and cackling. You betcha the poor guy never fell asleep on a gurney again! These two got away with stuff because when it counted, they were *the best* OBs anywhere. But when they had nothing to do, watch out!
Your stories make me laugh with fond memories! Do you recall a foam that you could scrub with, it came in a metal bottle like mousse does? I remember a time when you always wanted to check before you sat, because the docs thought it was great fun to spray it on your seat while you were gowning or otherwise distracted. It is so true that these people need to be kept busy!
I bet that med student never fell asleep again, and I bet he tells that story to this day. LOL!
No, ward clerks didn't go into ORs (in this case, delivery rooms). We were the Radar O'Reillys, keeping a lot of balls in the air. Being a teaching hospital, it would've been the med students who needed to check before they sat. They were the lowest of the low in the pecking order, even lower than a WC, who for at least the first week of each monthly rotation already knew more about than they did. And med students were so gullible! If the newbie on duty was hanging around the nurses station with nothing to do, I'd ring his pager just to watch him get all excited. Oh boy! Then watch his face fall when it dawned the page came from the nurses station. ;) I'd just smile and say "Pager works, get some sleep" (in the room set aside for students, not a gurney!).
As for the non-existent surgical instrument, my own version was to send an OB med student on a wild goose chase for lab results that could only apply to a 90-yr-old on the Geriatrics floor or a 4-yr-old on Peds. ;)
I can just see his face when that pager went off. LOL!
k@ri, you funny OR nurse, you! I gotta tell you, I've got tears streaming down my face! Geeeez wheeez, it's a good thing people are knocked off while all this fun goes on over their open bowels! Laugh!
Thanks Elena, glad you enjoyed it! I agree, although it doesn't go on in every case, it's a good thing people are asleep. We try to behave when they are awake:)
Hi K@ri,
I've had my share of operations, and I've often wondered what they talk about while I was away in neverland. I've imagined all sorts of things they could have said, and the thoughts were not nice. Of course, the best part is, I'll never know :)
A very nice hub!
trish, I do not allow people to talk about the patient in my rooms. If someone comes needing surgery, they are trusting us to take care of them. My biggest job in the OR is a patient advocate...if I catch someone talking about my patient, I will lay into them and show my claws! The need has only presented itself 2 or 3 times in over 15 years, so rest assured it is not common.
Twisted! I'll bet you need all the jokes to get through the stress at times.
mythbuster, The laughs help us, and the stress makes us more willing to laugh! It's a different world, but fun.
Can't believe I read through the whole thing half awake!? That was too friggin hilarious! What will they think of next?
May, It's not all fun and games, but when it is, it REALLY is! We have a lot of fun.
I wonder if there's a dog...
May, are you also feeling like an insomniac tonight? or and agnostic insomniac I should say. LOL, that joke is sooo stupid, but it still makes me laugh. This is about when I first heard it, also.
wish I can stay up longer, and catch up on all of my fellow hubbers, but I need some rest. Looks like another long week of no days off again...
I've got to get some shut eye also! Don't want to waste tomorrow sleeping! Good luck with the week!
kari - funny stories, but I am going for OR interview in 2 hours never having had any experience in an OR...and now a little 'concerned' about the 'type' of person I may need to be to withstand the pressure. I'm not a type A personality; do not have a huge ego; am in mid fifties (new RN of 3 years)but have wanted to try OR nursing forever! Wish me luck....I think I might need it after reading your articles!
nursebetty, You should do just fine...the type A-ness is learned and a huge ego is not needed, just a strong sense of self. It is more the desire to work in the OR setting that ensures success or failure. Let me know how you do, and e-mail me if you have any specific questions or need to vent. Good Luck! :D
Soooo funny! On my first official day in the OR, in the middle of a case, one of our ortho docs yelled "I need the Otis elevator, STAT!!" My precepting nurse said "Go grab it. It's right out in the hall" as he pretended to be busy doing something. I was running through the halls, scanning the cupboards for some ortho instrument that I never heard of, when Tim (a surgical tech) walked by and asked what I was looking for. I franticlly explained that "Dr. Bozo" (not his real name...lol) needed the Otis elevator, STAT!!! Very calmly, he said "It's right over here" and led me over to the main hospital elevators, just outside the OR entrance. He pointed to the the top of the elevator's doors where the elevator company's logo was displayed. I looked up and saw a small metal plaque with "OTIS" written on it. I was so embarassed. I didn't even go back to the room (my precepting nurse was still in there...I would never abandon my patient!). Men are so dumb! Us girls in my OR never do that to the newbies!! (Well at least not as often!!)
Shalini Kagal says:
11 months ago
k@ri - this is so funny! One doesn't quite realise that you can have fun in serious places like hospitals too! Looking forward to hear more OR stories.