The Top 10 Craziest Things Patients Have Insisted On Keeping In Their Hospital Rooms!

This article was republished with permission from SCRUBS Magazine.

Some hospital patients are unforgettable, whether because of their terrible visitors or their wild antics. Occasionally, even their rooms become memorable to the poor nurses who had to care for them! Here are the top 10 craziest things patients have insisted on keeping in their hospital rooms, as told by you!

1. Every single med cup to use as shot glasses when she got home!
—Allison B.

2. Her cherished, stuffed real dog, the family pet for 20 years who recently passed on!
—Angela M.

3. In our NICU, we had parents who insisted on keeping some “ceremonial” rocks, twigs and other vegetation in the bed. The baby had been born in the family pool and was very sick, requiring ECMO. The parents even insisted that the surgeon wear a certain crystal as a necklace while performing the cannulation!
—Kim Z.

4. A Wiccan altar set up in a room in the ER. The patient was being seen for a broken toe. Took longer to discharge the patient than it did to treat him.
—Carrie B.

5. A patient with a hairy back had a 10-inch serrated bread knife that he used as a back scratcher!
—Bob H.

6. My patient insisted she have her snuff with her, even though she was unable to see where her spit can was, and every time she would hear me walk by her door, she would holler for me to get her spit cup…ALL DAY LONG.
—Penny L.

7. I had a patient who insisted on keeping sliced raw onions in her socks to draw out any fevers she may have gotten.
—Lauren M.

8. A snake…I had a patient who had been bitten by a snake, and he brought it to the hospital and then kept it at his bedside.
—Michelle S.

9. A fridge, an ion fan, an electric can cooler, an ice cooler full of food, a twin-size blow-up mattress (for the comfort of the patient’s husband). The wife (the patient) was NPO during her stay and slept on an egg crate mattress. After Engineering had gotten wind of all the goodies, the husband was stripped down to his air mattress and ice cooler. Extension cords will do you in every time!
—Kim H.

10. Her service dog, a Chihuahua.
—Karen C.

What’s the craziest thing your patient has insisted on keeping in his or her hospital room? Share in the comments section below.


This article was republished with permission from SCRUBS Magazine.

9 COMMENTS

  1. A giant pit bull. The patient asked if his “wife” could stay over night because his home caught on fire, After approval was given the super skinny wife came in with a muzzled, huge angry and poorly controlled pit bull. Of course they were both asked to exit.

  2. Really! All the hospital had to do was say “it is our policy that these items cannot be brought into the hospital. It not only violates infection control policies but our safety standards.” I really would like to know where these nurses worked at for their facility to be that lax to allow patients to do whatever they want to bring inappropriate items into a hospital setting. Cultural issues that people have are addressed but there should be a limit as to how far things are allowed to go when it violates the safety, security, and infection control issues inside of the hospital setting.

  3. A BOOM box with two speakers placed at each side over his head on his bed. He would be rocking out to the 70’s and 80’s while getting chemotherapy. Certainly felt like a dance party each time you entered the room.

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