There are few bugs as commonly hated as cockroaches. Not only are they one of the most undesirable creatures to happen upon, whether at a hotel room or a restaurant, but they are also insanely hard to kill and get rid of, due to their extreme resilience and speed.
There are many places where you may expect to find cockroaches, even if you always hope you do not. But a hospital — an emergency room, more specifically — is one of those locations where you really do not think you will encounter a cockroach.
It is not like the hospital in question had hygiene problems. Two nurses on TikTok met a patient who came in carrying a cockroach with them, not in a pocket or a bag, but inside their body.
A negative rating for sure
The TikToker who shared the video, a nurse named Maegan, is walking out of the hospital with her coworker, Tatum, at the end of their 12-hour shifts. On camera, she asks Tatum to rate their shift to which the fellow nurse replies: “Negative 20 because my patient coughed, and a cockroach came out.”
People in the comments were, understandably, shocked and disgusted by the described incident. No one expects to come across such nightmare fuel in their lives, even for ER standards.
“Okay… so I used to think I could be a nurse ’cause blood doesn’t bother me. NO ONE EVER SAID TO EXPECT COCKROACHES.” Wrote one netizen.
“Sounds like Tatum had a once-in-a-lifetime experience. Hopefully it stays that way.” Commented another.
Maegan has other videos of her and her coworkers rating their shifts, and it seems Tatum has had a few bad shifts in her lifetime.
Nurses have to often deal with the unexpected, but a surprise cockroach appearance may be raising the bar. Luckily, the video doesn’t get too graphic, so doesn’t amount to the nightmare fuel it might otherwise have. But here’s one more reason to respect nurses and other healthcare professionals for the indispensable work they do.