FORUM #16 - April begins with that crazy "April Fools Day" on April 1st - Chat with us and tell us your craziest stunt or one that happened to you on "April Fools Day." I have a zinger that happened to me many years ago when I was doing unit nursing. I'll never forget it.
Of course there are also great days such as April 10: National Siblings Day; April 11: National Pet Day; April 22, 1970, the first Earth Day, observed every year since as the anniversary of the birth of the modern environmental movement. Arbor Day (The last Friday of the month of April) which has been observed as a day to encourage tree planting and to raise awareness of the importance of trees and forests.
https://www.thespruce.com/
So back to my April Fools Day story:
I was working at a major NYC hospital beginning my morning shift on April 1st. I was feeling great having slept poorly the night before. When I arrived on the unit, I was told that I was being floated to the Adolescent Unit from my usual Children's Unit. I really wasn't in the mood to deal with Adolescents (1yo2-24yo at the time! Now most units only go to 16 or 18.).
In any case, I wasn't thrilled to be floated. When I arrived the night male nurse (a burly, big guy.) was giving report. He seemed very stressed and said during the night that they got a immigrant transfer who arrived with a highly contagious disease. He reported that the boy of 12 didn't speak any English and had no family with him. He reported that he had a high temperature of 103 and an IV running. He also said that he appeared very afraid and was on Strict Isolation. I always hated the gowning, gloving and masks (Who knew it could become second nature with COVID.)
So as I listened with half an ear, I heard the Head Nurse say, "Pat, will you go in and check his temp for us?" Oh no. Did that mean he was going to be my patient. I reluctantly got up and went to the room. Talking to myself about how I wished I was home in bed instead of here, I gowned, masked and gloved and entered the room. I found a mess on a "blood drawing table" left at the bedside and became angry that this was left for nurses to clean up. There appeared to be a small body under the covers, but I couldn't see a head, only the IV running under the covers. I pulled back the covers only to find two pillows with an bloody-tipped IV running into the sheets. I freaked out and thought the frightened child pulled out his IV and ran away. I ran out into the hallway screaming, "Help, the little boy ran off !"
As I exited the room, I saw all my colleagues standing in a group and laughing heartedly..."APRIL FOOL'S" they yelled ! OMG...was I embarrassed and somewhat angry, too. I yelled at the male nurse, "I'm guessing you had a really slow night!" LOL :stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye:
