Talking to my brother about our shared curse/ability to detect minor stimulus that other people can filter out. Infuriating is many situations, but suprisingly useful in nursing sometimes.
My patients have often been surprised to find me checking in on them after I hear the tiniest thing going on their rooms - for instance, the gurgle of air through an NG the patient had disconnected had me in their room in under a minute. With my confused patients, I hear them starting to stir from their beds before anyone else.
My favorite by far, though, was a paraplegic patient I recieved who had a long standing pressure sore on their coccyx. It had been present for months when I arrived, and no therapy seemed to work. One night, the dressing fell off while I was turning the patient and although there wasn't any exudate or signs of infection I detected a slightly musky odour that I recognized. I swabbed it, and sure enough - MRSA. The patient was put on antibiotics and the wound healed over the next few months.
The best part was, I bet the doctor a dollar it was MRSA and he actually paid up!
I work on a far better ward now, and I'm sure other nurses can also sniff out infection, but it amused me nonetheless.
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