Admitted a stroke work-up, and the oncoming nurse’s first question? “When was her last BM?”

So, I admit this patient for a stroke work-up. She’s only been here about 30 minutes, but I already handled the admission, set up a CTA (which came back inconclusive but potential stroke, naturally), lined up the MRI for tonight, swallow eval done, and got her a second large bore IV in. We are rocking and rolling. I feel good.

The oncoming nurse shows up for report, and I’m ready to give her all the relevant info: neuro status, imaging details, the MRI plan, everything she actually needs to know to take over. But her first question to me? The one she interrupted me talking to ask when I was talking about neuro checks? "When was her last bowel movement?”

Really? We’re talking about a potential stroke patient here. Why is that even a thought in that moment, let alone the first thing she asks? It’s like some people don’t even think about what’s actually going on with the patient; they’re just rattling off random questions with no focus on what’s important. And in this case, it’s not even some standardized report tool; it’s just… a lack of thinking, period.

This is where it gets dangerous. When you’re caring for someone with a time-sensitive condition like a possible stroke, you can’t just ask random, irrelevant questions and hope you’ll stumble onto something useful. You have to pay attention to what’s actually going on with this patient, right now. Every patient is different, and part of our job is knowing what actually matters.