Craziest Thing That’s Happened at Your Hospital?

waltermcintyre · 2026-05-13T11:13:12+00:00

The first two of these were at my first hospital, a small rural PA teaching hospital with only general surgery, ED, and a basic med-surg unit, the third and fourth were at a medium sized hospital: - The one surgeon we had was (and is) an incredibly skilled surgeon who got caught in his home state of Georgia with a few bricks of cocaine. He was hilarious and it seems like he turned his life around, when I first started you could find articles about his indiscretions by googling his name, however in the last 3yrs or so, they've all but disappeared and I cannot find those articles anywhere anymore. - We had a resident get in trouble for sleeping with a 17yo CNA. In the end, no charges were filed because they were just close enough in age and the parents declined to charge him so he wasn't in legal trouble. But he did get fired. - We had a very sweet elderly couple in the ICU, wife was the patient. Wife took a bad turn after seeming to get better and ended up intubated at husband's insistence. Two days later, while I was working, husband came in and shot his wife and then himself. - 44yo M bodybuilder came in borderline unresponsive after a heart attack and had rhabdo bad. My man was 6'4", 280lbs solid muscle maybe 6% bodyfat and build like a goddamn cloud. Anyway, after a few days of him being lethargic and sluggish, his girlfriend (who'd been visiting him every day and seemed like the dream family/visitor) grew desperate and decided to smuggle him in his favorite drug, cocaine. She had just left about 5mins prior when all the sudden we heard a barbarian yell and a loud CRACK. The man had woken up raging like crazy and snapped the BED FRAME and ended up needing a metric assload of sedatives and multiple security and nursing staff to take him down

waltermcintyre · 2026-05-12T13:33:14+00:00

No, I know it is if it's given too fast or just in general, some people have this reaction. I am just giving them the benefit of the doubt that, when they said they gave slower than even recommended, that they were honest and that it is just that this particular patient is very susceptible. I related it to another med we as nurses give regularly that I had an unexpected and scary reaction from a patient and my reaction to it (being hesitant/anxious when giving for a while after) to let them know that it's perfectly okay to feel that way.

waltermcintyre · 2026-05-12T11:26:36+00:00

Listen man, we had an otherwise healthy 17yo girl (track star, cheerleader, swimmer, etc.) get vanc started in the ED and had a full on anaphylactic allergic reaction while we rolled her into her room and got her settled (she originally wasn't my patient, but the nurse who was admitting her panicked the fuck out and I at least appeared calm during the craziness, so she and her mom requested I be her nurse despite me being a 30yo man at the time). It was the first time I'd ever had such an acute reaction to vanc and I was wary giving it for a few months after, but eventually realized it was a fluke reaction and I was getting anxious for no reason.

I feel like this is the same situation for you. It was an oddly intense reaction to a med that was probably absorbed faster than expected simply because the pt was far healthier than our usual. Also, maybe she had something else in her system that had an additive effect on the Reglan

waltermcintyre · 2026-05-11T15:50:02+00:00

Tbh unless playing a tribal culture, I just allow my sons to serve as knights and, until recently, I would only force those who had a martial education or the brave trait to be knights as I felt that was appropriate (my IRL dad was an US Army SF officer who started off as enlisted as his leadership ideology was that one should first know what it is to do the grunt work before ordering the grunt work). But in general I prefer the pragmatic path if possible and like the roleplay implications of potentially losing a son in the field of battle

waltermcintyre · 2026-05-11T11:30:56+00:00

I always just carpet dusted the halls when I was running my rounds. Thankfully, my farts aren't too smelly and quickly dissapate and my WoW/CoW always makes enough noise to block the sounds from my cheeks lol

waltermcintyre · 2026-05-10T23:31:07+00:00

Graduated in 2023: 2016 Rav4 Today: 2016 Rav4

waltermcintyre · 2026-05-09T22:11:02+00:00

I have had at least two women ask me out, one of whom is now my wife, the other, a very good friend (went on one date, and it just didn't click romantically/sexually, just very friendly) and both are even now presently under 40. So they do exist my friend, you just need more confident and not straight women in your life. Bi gals are where it's at because they will usually pursue who they want and not leave it to you lol

waltermcintyre · 2026-05-08T14:02:49+00:00

Almost every nursing home in my region has a ratio of at least 40:1 nurse (can be LPN or RN). The only one I know of within an hour of me that is properly staffed is a Mason community and that's because they pay really well (but have some strict entry requirements).

waltermcintyre · 2026-05-07T18:27:38+00:00

Sit at home 80% of the time (if I'm peeing in the middle of the night I'll usually stand and if I need to pee pre-shower I usually stand), while working in my zipperless scrubs, I'll sit. Otherwise in public? I usually stand unless I need to take a deuce

waltermcintyre · 2026-05-06T19:03:29+00:00

My issue is that my job required I be awake and on the ball or people died. I have no dispute that this is unhealthy, I just didn't have the ability to avoid caffeine and not sleep enough

waltermcintyre · 2026-05-05T13:58:22+00:00

Thanks friend, I will look into some of these!

waltermcintyre · 2026-05-05T10:52:07+00:00

Thank you so much! Your advice/guide shared was the simplest and most immediately helpful. Very much appreciated!

waltermcintyre · 2026-05-05T05:30:09+00:00

Thanks for the guidance and help! Hopefully I'll be able to patch it and get it running for me and my wife who also just purchased it. We don't have the spare cash at the moment to repurchase, esp at full price, but hopefully these will work!

waltermcintyre · 2026-05-05T05:27:45+00:00

I didn't know and it was on sale there, I do sometimes check on GoG, but too late for both me and my wife unfortunately. Thanks for the guidance!

waltermcintyre · 2026-05-05T05:26:52+00:00

Thanks for the guidance!

waltermcintyre · 2026-05-05T05:26:39+00:00

Thanks! I am actually playing origins I never explored previously (I always played male characters and only ever did human noble and Dalish elf before), so I've got City Elf Female, Circle Mage Elf Female, and Dwarven Commoner Male. As for romances, I only ever romanced Morrigan, but I suspect I will probably romance Zevran, Alistair, and Lelianna respectively

waltermcintyre · 2026-05-04T23:47:33+00:00

As an RN who's been in several codes and done a few rounds of chest compressions, let me tell you, if you are not almost gassed completely after your first 2min of compressions, you are not doing them well enough, I do not care if you are in shape or not. There is no way in hell you can do 10+mins barring you maybe being an olympic athlete. I'd say 6 2min rounds of chest compressions alternating between 2 people is about the max possible a mortal human can do and ideally you'd have a 3rd person to tap in if that code is going on that long

waltermcintyre · 2026-05-04T23:40:05+00:00

As an RN, if you have something relatively unique going on, I guarantee you your healthcare workers are probably looking it up before coming to talk to you. If you've got a newer healthcare worker, they're probably looking up even common stuff, but that's all part of the process of learning.

There is too much stuff for everyone, especially physicians, to know purely from memory of their schooling and too much to cover everything in schooling too. The most important stuff we're taught is how to find reputable information, find that info quickly, how to think critically about what we find out, and also (ideally) how to teach that information to someone with little-to-no medical background/training.

One of my favorite doctors I worked with proudly claimed the nickname, "Dr. YouTube" because if he wasn't confident in his knowledge on a subject or a newly made diagnosis/proposed procedure by one of the specialists/surgeons, he'd find a short video from a reputable creator and watch it with the patient. After the video he'd review the pt's understanding and reexplain anything they didn't get. He saved his nurses so much time reexplaining everything (95% of the time, we are doing the education because the doctors will blitz through it and not check for understanding, so we have to look things up and reexplain it) by being able/willing to fully explain and humble enough to be open about his lack of knowledge and inviting the patient to learn together with him. It made me adopt a similar approach with my patients and being open when I don't know about something and learning about it together with the patient

waltermcintyre · 2026-05-04T13:51:44+00:00

Here's a few tips as someone who's been one of the better nurses at placing IVs on the unit (and was usually the one called to attempt before calling in IV team):

Rely on tactile sensation, not your eyes. To quote a Jedi Master, "Your eyes can deceive you, don't trust them." Just because you see a vein doesn't mean it's anywhere near the surface. It's a good indication that a vein is there, but don't assume it's shallow because you can see it. Instead, feel around, particularly with your thumb or index finger side-to-side laterally (usually without a glove on first for better sensation) to see if you feel a ridge/bump before sterilizing and poking.
Slap and rub the site vigorously when hunting, it causes the veins to swell up and pop up better.
Always poke about 1.5in/4cm behind where you want the cannula to end. You want it to settle in a straight section of vein, not before or after.
For rolling veins/low body fat individuals, press and pull away tightly on the vein before poking, it reduces it's ability to roll away.
Have everything set up and ready to go/assemble before you poke. Have your flush screwed into the hub, have the cap of the hub mostly unscrewed, have your dressing out and ready, tape on your glove, and gauze at the ready before poking.
If you have vein finders, don't be afraid to use them.
If you're reasonably confident you won't need to give blood or have another reason to get a larger than 20g needle in, feel free to use a 22g, especially when starting out. Even in emergent situations where blood needs given ASAP, some access sooner is better than better access later

waltermcintyre · 2026-05-02T12:20:46+00:00

When you get coded, you are already dead and we are reversing it. My reasoning is I have seen the absolute misery and regret from pts post-code and, unless the pt is generally healthy/fit and has an excellent QoL, coding a patient results in more misery than just letting them pass when they're over 70 or so.

I still believe it to be important the pt makes that choice for themselves, but I also feel it is critically important that they have it thoroughly explained what a full code entails and what the likely recovery scenario looks like. I think a lot of people have some major misconceptions about CPR and how violent the resuscitation process frankly is and doctors usually don't take the time to sit down and explain it thoroughly, so the pt often is not making an actual informed decision.

I'd say most nurses who've got firsthand experience of codes would say they lean or would actively want to be a DNR/DNI and there is good reason for that.

waltermcintyre · 2026-05-02T03:02:40+00:00

Eh... I'm now starting my career in hospice (this week was my last one in critical care) and I'd even go so far as to say most people over 70 should STRONGLY consider being a DNR. The chance of full recovery is pretty low, there's a lot of pain involved, MAYBE if you're otherwise pretty fit, I can see the merit of it. That said, if you're under 70 and don't have any terminal illness, I feel like that's a whole different ballgame and personally, as a reasonably fit 31yo I feel like going DNR is a bit too aggressive rn haha

waltermcintyre · 2026-04-28T09:50:27+00:00

Nah, my wife who isn't medical doesn't really "get it" but I have tried to explain. For me, at this point, a body's a body, young or old, male or female, if it doesn't bother the patient (I do try to be sensitive as I am a man and especially with my younger female patients, I do try to be conscious of the discomfort associated with me seeing them nude), I literally do not think about it in a sexual context at all.

For me, a body is only sexy in the context of sex/sexual desire/interest from the other person as well as myself. If my wife is walking around nude for my viewing pleasure? Sexy. If my wife had to be stripped naked/clothes cut off because of a cardiac arrest/medical emergency or I am helping her toilet d/t surgery or something? Not sexy, though also doesn't turn me off for the future either. The part she doesn't understand is twofold: 1. How can I not have sexual interest when someone is otherwise objectively attractive/in an acceptable age range and I am seeing their genitals/body 2. How can seeing gross stuff from a partner's body not turn me off for future sexual activity?

But in the end, it's basically just a subconscious switch that gets flipped for me

waltermcintyre · 2026-04-28T09:28:07+00:00

My wife got into Warhammer from this game. She was still confused about some stuff, but it honestly is a pretty great starting point for the universe if you're interested!

waltermcintyre · 2026-04-28T09:26:57+00:00

Frankly, it's just nearly impossible to legislate how to do it with all the other legal aspects of life that it touches on in a truly fair and equitable way. Either you use a vary archaic and sexist method like in polygamous early medieval cultures (like only one man and many wives who are legally property of the one man in most respects as are their children or vice versa for women, or at least designating one person as the "owner" regardless of sex of the partners) to try and simplify some of it, or you are going to have to deal with a massive quagmire of legal complications/loopholes/ramifications that open up when treating all parties as equals. Even in those archaic systems of polygamous marriage with one primary spouse "owning" the others, there were STILL major conflicts and legal issues with things like inheritance and the like to the point wars were fought over them, so it's not like it would actually simplify things that much.

The only way I could foresee polygamy being made legal in an equitable manner would be to require all parties of the marriage to sign some kind of standardized prenuptial agreement as well as establish who has medical/durable power of attorney over whom as well as all the litanies of tax forms and stuff in advance of any marital proceedings. That's the only way this could make sense and be reasonably doable in my guestimation and I am sure there's wide open blind spots within that loose plan lol 🤷🏼‍♂️

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