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Did I See A Ghost Nurse?

Walking rounds during shift changes isn't just a custom It's the main way of ensuring arriving workers are updated on each patient for whom they'll be responsible for the next few hours.

On the other hand, the particular protocol(s) used for such shift change reviews vary among institutions, units within given institutions, and even among shifts.

The proliferation of automation and info tech within hospitals has allowed some places to forego physically visiting each patient / ward in favor of (e.g.) group meetings and / or individual workers' reliance on electronic records for patient familiarization and updating.
Handovers are often done away from the patient to ensure other patients don't overhear details. To ensure confidentiality. Hasn't stopped the doctors doing it though.
 
Handovers are often done away from the patient to ensure other patients don't overhear details. To ensure confidentiality. Hasn't stopped the doctors doing it though.

Slightly off-topic but I do wonder what the 'rules' are on confidentiality for patients in hospital - something happened on the ward I was on that I really cannot believe the rest of us were allowed to hear. Still upsets me thinking about it now.
 
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Slightly off-topic but I do wonder what the 'rules' are on confidentiality for patients in hospital - something happened on the ward I was on that I really cannot believe the rest of us were allowed to hear. Still upsets me thinking about it now.

Stuff like that does happen in the heat of the moment, health professionals are human after all. Confidentiality is massive these days I would imagine there is hundreds of thousands of pounds spent on enforcing it.

It's quite basic really and mostly commonsense. Staff do not discuss the details of someone's care where other people can overhear. In wards this is obviously going to be quite difficult. Staff do not check up on friends and families medical records. Staff do not check up on celebrities records, (unless they are part of their care), etc. Staff do not discuss details of someones care with others unless the patient has given permission, (often written consent).

So what did you overhear?
 
Scribbles please accept my condolences for your losses, and my good wishes that you start to feel better soon. Sounds like you've been through a very tough few months, so take things easy. As some comfort, you still have your friends here on the new forum. x
Thank you Schrodinger :) This new place is helping me through my days a lot right now. Best people on the best forum!
 
Just to say remember that a hospital is a public site and there's nowt queerer than folk or an easier place to go about freaking people out who are likely to be heavily medicated.
 
On a stay in hospital it was my first one I had blood taken from my left arm by someone who didn't work there but was dressed as a nurse and did a good blood take. 5 minutes later the official vampire in residence came and I said but someone's just been and done it. The uniform she wore was nicer than today's get up and just plain white with a wee hat. I'm sure who ever it was actually had medical training though ,she was the only one I didn't mind but she didn't revisit.
Obviously security was alerted.
 
On a stay in hospital it was my first one I had blood taken from my left arm by someone who didn't work there but was dressed as a nurse and did a good blood take. 5 minutes later the official vampire in residence came and I said but someone's just been and done it. The uniform she wore was nicer than today's get up and just plain white with a wee hat. I'm sure who ever it was actually had medical training though ,she was the only one I didn't mind but she didn't revisit.
Obviously security was alerted.

Whoa, back up a minute - she took your blood, did she leave it behind in the hospital ?
 
And what did she/he/it do with your blood once it was taken? What was done with the vials? what was done with the needle etc? what was the blood test for? Did you get your results back?
 
Whoa, back up a minute - she took your blood, did she leave it behind in the hospital ?
The staff never mentioned it further once security had been alerted. But a nurse asked me last night more of the uniform and person who did it. Sounds like a member of staff from intensive care. So it's likely the staff from ward I was on would be well away from interacting with my bodily fluids. Why mine and nobody else's is also a mystery likely known only by the staff. Perhaps a security test ?
 
And what did she/he/it do with your blood once it was taken? What was done with the vials? what was done with the needle etc? what was the blood test for? Did you get your results back?

This poster sounds familiar and I thought the same thing with the wasp post.
I don't know...she said thankyou and toddler off with her trolley. I never heard any results and no more blood was taken from me by anyone.
 
So you've basically been assaulted. What did the police say? What does the security footage show? Where was the local news report? Why did she have a trolley? What happened to the trolley? How would a ghost nurse know how to use modern phlebotomy equipment?
 
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On a stay in hospital it was my first one I had blood taken from my left arm by someone who didn't work there but was dressed as a nurse and did a good blood take. 5 minutes later the official vampire in residence came and I said but someone's just been and done it. The uniform she wore was nicer than today's get up and just plain white with a wee hat. I'm sure who ever it was actually had medical training though ,she was the only one I didn't mind but she didn't revisit.
Obviously security was alerted.

This seems quite bizarre.

Did you ever see this person again? Did security find out anything? Were there results - as others have asked - from this blood test?

Did she have the trolley and sharps bin and vials and all that paraphernalia?

Was it a UK hospital?

So many questions... sorry!
 
This seems quite bizarre.

Did you ever see this person again? Did security find out anything? Were there results - as others have asked - from this blood test?

Did she have the trolley and sharps bin and vials and all that paraphernalia?

Was it a UK hospital?

So many questions... sorry!
I was only told that security had been alerted and I received no further comment about the incident leading me to assume it was an internal matter. The hospital was monklands general and the nurse was not a ghost. She had all the paraphernalia, it wasn't til the phlebotomist arrived to take blood that the alarm was raised as the nurse had just done it. Staff not happy to discover that and called security. I did enquire as to results and further developments but was told nothing. If there's a problem they will get back to me.
 
The incident caused me great unease, it really brought it home to me how public a hospital is and easy access etc and nobody notices the comings and goings on the wards. And there's banks of people laying there vulnerable and helpless. Not a nice place to be when you're not well.
 
I got no feedback and no results. Hospital did not report to police etc.
 
It was only yesterday when a nurse suggested the intensive care uniforms fit that description and I agree...So it's answered my questions. I think in my case it was a nurse from another department sent for the job as a check to see if staff were complis mentis enough to notice someone out of place. It seems it was a case of nil points.
 
I got no feedback and no results. Hospital did not report to police etc.

Even if they didn't believe you they would have reviewed the security orderlies CCTV footage and got back to you - suggesting in a nice way that you were mistaken.

If they did believe you, (it was "LSD Friday" or all the staff had hangovers), they would have reported it to the police - its standard practice.

That's why I don't believe you.
 
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It was only yesterday when a nurse suggested the intensive care uniforms fit that description and I agree...So it's answered my questions. I think in my case it was a nurse from another department sent for the job as a check to see if staff were complis mentis enough to notice someone out of place. It seems it was a case of nil points.

No hospital departments don't work like that and don't use patients in some sort event training. I get that you are trying your best to backtrack on this but it's not fooling me.
 
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It happened. 2010 January. And yes it would be on cctv as it did have it. I just don't get to know answers because most people act like you and either won't report or fail in duties! Which harms patients.of which I was one and yes the answers are there if you have access. But my questions are never answered.
 
No hospital departments don't work like that and don't use patients in some sort event training. I get that you are trying your best to backtrack on this but it's not fooling me.
Well I didn't think they did either but this place was an eye opener
 
It was only yesterday when a nurse suggested the intensive care uniforms fit that description and I agree...So it's answered my questions. I think in my case it was a nurse from another department sent for the job as a check to see if staff were complis mentis enough to notice someone out of place. It seems it was a case of nil points.

Re: your first post regarding your experience. So you saw a person dressed like a "nicer" version of modern nursing attire? A "nurse" suggested it was a ICU uniform ?

I'm guessing the "nurse" and yourself have never been anywhere near an ICU. ICU scrubs don't look like that and they don't have a "wee little hat" that's a skullcap.
 
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It was only yesterday when a nurse suggested the intensive care uniforms fit that description and I agree...So it's answered my questions. I think in my case it was a nurse from another department sent for the job as a check to see if staff were complis mentis enough to notice someone out of place. It seems it was a case of nil points.

Re: your first post regarding your experience. So you saw a person dressed like a "nicer" version of modern nursing attire? A "nurse" suggested it was a ICU uniform ?

I'm guessing the "nurse" and yourself have never been anywhere near an ICU. ICU scrubs don't look like that and they don't have a "wee little hat" that's a skullcap.
No it wasn't scrubs....My dad ages ago had cancer and was in intensive care after the I'm in the western general Edinburgh.....I had not paid attention to various nurse attire as had other things on my mind but thinking back...The nurses taking care of him just wore little white dress uniforms rather than trousers etc. And they did have hats on and were lovely...couldn't have asked or wanted more from any of the staff from the cleaners all the way through to top management for him. But thinking back to my hospital experience the uniform was just like that and the nurse behaved just like they did. So although yes some kind of incident that shouldn't have happened for whatever reason. If it's classed as assault it was done in an expert manner and caused me no physical trauma.
 
The tail end of this thread has been amputated.

Sorry, I don't like doing such things, but it was simply an angry exchange that also broke the rules against speculating on real-life identities.
 
No it wasn't scrubs....My dad ages ago had cancer and was in intensive care after the I'm in the western general Edinburgh.....I had not paid attention to various nurse attire as had other things on my mind but thinking back...The nurses taking care of him just wore little white dress uniforms rather than trousers etc. And they did have hats on and were lovely...couldn't have asked or wanted more from any of the staff from the cleaners all the way through to top management for him. But thinking back to my hospital experience the uniform was just like that and the nurse behaved just like they did. So although yes some kind of incident that shouldn't have happened for whatever reason. If it's classed as assault it was done in an expert manner and caused me no physical trauma.

I will be civil I promise.

So to recap as we've moved away from your post that a ghost took your blood, through to it was a training exercise now on to the way ICU staff are dressed.

Lets get back to your experience.

So I again say when you told the nurse that a "nurse with a little wee hat" took your blood, with a mysterious trolley who vanished what did he/she say?

Staff have to complete an Incident report with "open disclosure" taking place. I'm still not sure when this event took place but if it was within the last 10 years then you would have been spoken to.
 
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It happened. 2010 January. And yes it would be on cctv as it did have it. I just don't get to know answers because most people act like you and either won't report or fail in duties! Which harms patients.of which I was one and yes the answers are there if you have access. But my questions are never answered.

Tell us about your questions then. So 2010 - that's interesting. "because most people act like you and either won't report or fail in duties" - I don't know what this means.
 
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No hospital departments don't work like that and don't use patients in some sort event training. I get that you are trying your best to backtrack on this but it's not fooling me.
Maltreatment does exist (I appreciate you haven't said it doesn't) .. on one occasion when I was brought into A&E, the doctor designated to me took blood from me by rotating the needle inside my arm until my entire left hand was covered in blood and was actually looking me directly in the eyes as if studying my reaction when he was doing it until I shouted out in pain. I got no apology from him, he told a nurse to clean me up as he was walking out of the room and she tossed some wipes onto my table and told me to clean myself up. I hadn't been brought to the hospital for anything anti social like violence so I still can't understand what his problem was but it was definitely deliberate .. I wasn't drunk or on drugs or anything, it was really weird. I told a nurse about it on the ward I was later taken to because I was considering reporting him, the nurse said all that would probably happen would be that a poster asking staff to be more careful would be put up. I didn't have a pen on me at the time to write down his name, I wasn't in a very good state at the time anyway to be worrying about asking for a pen, I tried to take a photo of my hand with my phone but my lens was too scratched up on my old phone to get a picture. I wish now I hadn't cleaned my own hand so that the staff on the ward I was taken to would have asked questions. I think the doctor in question was just burned out instead of bogus, I saw him walking about a few times over the next few days although he was a sadist, no doubt in my mind. He even smirked when he saw he was causing me pain.

edit: bogus hospital staff are also not unheard of, one bloke masquerading as a doctor was caught at the hospital I used to work at after a MOX (early internal email system used by the NHS around 2001 times) was sent out to all staff and he was challenged. The director Neil Labuke made a film about the phenomena titled 'Nurse Betty' about a woman wrapped up in a fantasy world revolving a hospital soap opera she was a fan of where the woman starts working as a fake nurse at a real hospital. This film isn't a comedy film, the studio released this seemingly 'wacky' comedy trailer to sell more tickets.

 
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Maltreatment does exist (I appreciate you haven't said it doesn't) .. on one occasion when I was brought into A&E, the doctor designated to me took blood from me by rotating the needle inside my arm until my entire left hand was covered in blood and was actually looking me directly in the eyes as if studying my reaction when he was doing it until I shouted out in pain. I got no apology from him, he told a nurse to clean me up as he was walking out of the room and she tossed some wipes onto my table and told me to clean myself up. I hadn't been brought to the hospital for anything anti social like violence so I still can't understand what his problem was but it was definitely deliberate .. I wasn't drunk or on drugs or anything, it was really weird. I told a nurse about it on the ward I was later taken to because I was considering reporting him, the nurse said all that would probably happen would be that a poster asking staff to be more careful would be put up. I didn't have a pen on me at the time to write down his name, I wasn't in a very good state at the time anyway to be worrying about asking for a pen, I tried to take a photo of my hand with my phone but my lens was too scratched up on my old phone to get a picture. I wish now I hadn't cleaned my own hand so that the staff on the ward I was taken to would have asked questions. I think the doctor in question was just burned out instead of bogus, I saw him walking about a few times over the next few days although he was a sadist, no doubt in my mind. He even smirked when he saw he was causing me pain.

edit: bogus hospital staff are also not unheard of, one bloke masquerading as a doctor was caught at the hospital I used to work at after a MOX (early internal email system used by the NHS around 2001 times) was sent out to all staff and he was challenged. The director Neil Labuke made a film about the phenomena titled 'Nurse Betty' about a woman wrapped up in a fantasy world revolving a hospital soap opera she was a fan of where the woman starts working as a fake nurse at a real hospital. This film isn't a comedy film, the studio released this seemingly 'wacky' comedy trailer to sell more tickets.


Sorry to hear of your experience there Swifty; doesn't sound nice at all. As I was reading it I at first thought that the doctor was just trying to 'get the vein' properly (don't know the technical term) if perhaps it was rolling away from the needle (do your veins have a tendency to do that?) - but even if so, he didn't have to be quite so abrupt, not to mention the nurse's demeanour too.

And yes, maltreatment most certainly does happen in hospitals; I had a bad experience during my recent stay although thankfully it was just one event. Makes me wonder why some staff go in for the 'caring' medical profession if they're going to behave like that.
 
Sorry to hear of your experience there Swifty; doesn't sound nice at all. As I was reading it I at first thought that the doctor was just trying to 'get the vein' properly (don't know the technical term) if perhaps it was rolling away from the needle (do your veins have a tendency to do that?) - but even if so, he didn't have to be quite so abrupt, not to mention the nurse's demeanour too.

And yes, maltreatment most certainly does happen in hospitals; I had a bad experience during my recent stay although thankfully it was just one event. Makes me wonder why some staff go in for the 'caring' medical profession if they're going to behave like that.
I quit the wards because my ex was diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia, I was looking after her at home doing the cooking, washing and housework and had started nodding off at morning handover so I realised I wasn't being fair to my patients (after senior nurses spotted I was flagging and told me to get some fresh air) or her so I chose her because I wasn't physically fit for the job anymore.
 
Stuff like that does happen in the heat of the moment, health professionals are human after all. Confidentiality is massive these days I would imagine there is hundreds of thousands of pounds spent on enforcing it.

It's quite basic really and mostly commonsense. Staff do not discuss the details of someone's care where other people can overhear. In wards this is obviously going to be quite difficult. Staff do not check up on friends and families medical records. Staff do not check up on celebrities records, (unless they are part of their care), etc. Staff do not discuss details of someones care with others unless the patient has given permission, (often written consent).

So what did you overhear?

On some wards this isn't adhered to because 'Report', where staff hand over each morning, is done at the foot of each patient's bed. I have never understood why this is done as anyone passing can hear what's being said. Used to make me cringe for the patients.
 
Maltreatment does exist (I appreciate you haven't said it doesn't) .. on one occasion when I was brought into A&E, the doctor designated to me took blood from me by rotating the needle inside my arm until my entire left hand was covered in blood and was actually looking me directly in the eyes as if studying my reaction when he was doing it until I shouted out in pain. I got no apology from him, he told a nurse to clean me up as he was walking out of the room and she tossed some wipes onto my table and told me to clean myself up. I hadn't been brought to the hospital for anything anti social like violence so I still can't understand what his problem was but it was definitely deliberate .. I wasn't drunk or on drugs or anything, it was really weird. I told a nurse about it on the ward I was later taken to because I was considering reporting him, the nurse said all that would probably happen would be that a poster asking staff to be more careful would be put up. I didn't have a pen on me at the time to write down his name, I wasn't in a very good state at the time anyway to be worrying about asking for a pen, I tried to take a photo of my hand with my phone but my lens was too scratched up on my old phone to get a picture. I wish now I hadn't cleaned my own hand so that the staff on the ward I was taken to would have asked questions. I think the doctor in question was just burned out instead of bogus, I saw him walking about a few times over the next few days although he was a sadist, no doubt in my mind. He even smirked when he saw he was causing me pain.

edit: bogus hospital staff are also not unheard of, one bloke masquerading as a doctor was caught at the hospital I used to work at after a MOX (early internal email system used by the NHS around 2001 times) was sent out to all staff and he was challenged. The director Neil Labuke made a film about the phenomena titled 'Nurse Betty' about a woman wrapped up in a fantasy world revolving a hospital soap opera she was a fan of where the woman starts working as a fake nurse at a real hospital. This film isn't a comedy film, the studio released this seemingly 'wacky' comedy trailer to sell more tickets.


This is really horrible stuff, Swifty. I'm feeling for you.

I've had a few incidents in my many hospital stays/appointments, which I should've reported, but didn't have the energy to. Being seriously ill on top of life's other trials really makes you pick your battles.

My poorly dad received absolutely dispicable treatment by one member of staff in one "rehabilitation unit" earlier this year. My response was to demand a bed elsewhere from head nurse (sorry, not good with medical titles) or else I would have to move into my dad's room with him, as there was no way I was leaving him there alone with that orderly working there.

When an ambulance couldn't be found to take my dad to the other ward in the other hospital in the next county, I called on my brother's help and we both got him the hell out there and drove him ourselves to the other hospital.

My brother made a huge noise about the complaint he was going to put in, but dad was dying and I just knew we wouldn't have the energy to do it, and we never did. I hope the "private word" I had with the head nurse (who seemed aware of this member of staff being a problem, and wanted me to put in a complaint) was good enough and that they found another way to get rid of that man.

I cried all day that day.
 
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