Comment of the week: Slippery when wet

I remember seeing a young lady wearing white scrub pants on a cardiac unit with a patient on telemetry, of all things, wearing underwear that read “JUICY” and “SLIPPERY WHEN WET.” Talk about causing another heart attack or increased heart rates in patients who have had cardiac issues or are being monitored. This person was asked to come outside the room and was spoken to about this. She had to change, and she apologized because she had just thrown on a pair of white underwear and didn’t realize she grabbed the white pair with neon pink and green writing with the phrases mentioned above. She did laugh it off and said it was a good thing she didn’t cause any heart attacks during her shift. She was glad to have had someone bring it to her attention because she was really tired that morning and just threw on a pair thinking she grabbed her solids.
Now what if a patient had a cardiac event and was questioned about what events took place before his symptoms started? Or what he was doing when he started feeling symptoms? That would have been an interesting story for sure… “Well, I was watching the nurse empty my foley and when she bent down to… I saw the phrase through her white scrub pants…and, well…that’s when I started feeling those heart palpitations and that’s all I remember….”

—Evelyn, BSN, ADN, RN, on Top 6 ridiculous nursing uniform policies