Tales from the Nuthouse: Lest You Think I have a Really Cool Job

[wolf]

So the other night we get this guy who looks just like the GEICO Caveman. This would probably be a funnier story if he looked like the GEICO gecko, but even the nuthouse isn't that weird.

So, he needs to be restrained and I happened to be down near the feet. There were six people from nursing helping out with the restraint. Based on what happened, it was lucky that the dude was relatively cooperative.

I take off his shoes and get a look at his feet and ankles. I immediately looked up at him and said, "Hey buddy, are you itching a whole lot, like all the time?"

"Yep," he says.

"So, has anyone told you that you have scabies?"

"Yep."

Suddenly, the man was kryptonite. The other crisis worker and I ended up finishing the restraint ourselves after all the nursing staff jumped back like they had gotten electric shocks off the dude.

Scabies is really only mildly scary stuff. If you're wearing gloves, you're pretty much good. It requires skin-to-skin contact to transfer, and fairly extensive skin-to-skin contact at that. Rarely transfers off of surfaces.

Oh well, I guess it was their first scabies exposure.