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Can't even spike a bag!!



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Oct 04, 2009 08:53 PM

Can't even spike a bag!!


OK - so I know I know- we are supposed to go easy on ourselves in the beginning, 'it's a steep learning curve' blah blah blah - but I hate feeling so incompetent!
I graduated in '07 and am just starting my first hospital job now. It's a great floor - super crazy busy, but the nurses are competent and kind to each other - that definitely counts for a lot! But I still just feel like such a mess. My preceptor is good and pretty understanding, but I feel like even she is getting frustrated with me when I - seriously! - can't even spike a bag!! (Seriously -is there some trick someone could share with me here? I can't seem to get a good enough grip and then the spike is halfway in and I'm standing there wrestling with the darn thing - it's ridiculous!) Of course, it also doesn't help that I am so nervous on the floor all the time that my hands are shaking constantly (not terribly reassuring for someone I'm about to stick!!)
Does anyone have any advice other than 'hang in there, it'll get better'?

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9 Comments
No. 1
from user345678
Old Oct 04, 2009, 09:02 PM

Default Re: Can't even spike a bag!!
Just push hard and twist, im sure even the best nurses wrestle the bag
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No. 2
from amms
Old Oct 04, 2009, 09:46 PM

Default Re: Can't even spike a bag!!
Twisting is key...maybe you can check out the Nursing Education Dept and see if they can help you with anything else that you may have difficulties with....good luck!
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No. 3
from JaneyW
Old Oct 04, 2009, 09:54 PM

Default Re: Can't even spike a bag!!
Try not to drink too much coffee or other caffeinated drinks. You will shake less and keep calm easier. This worked well for me when I was in your shoes. I remember shaking when I primed tubing out at the nurse's station! 7 years later, i am teaching at a nursing school and the students think i am so calm and collected!
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No. 4
from nurs09
Old Oct 04, 2009, 09:56 PM

Default Re: Can't even spike a bag!!
I make sure I hold the bag tight, turn it upside down and just poke the spike in, twisting is definitely the key....take each experience as a learning tool, and be patient with yourself!
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No. 5
from birdietiel
Old Oct 05, 2009, 05:54 PM

Default Re: Can't even spike a bag!!
I feel the same way you do. I'm a new grad working in LTC. I had to straight cath a woman. Here urethra was all sunken in, in her vagina. I couldn't find it. There wasn't enough light to see, and I tried it without anyone helping to hold her leg. She has L sided weakness from a stroke. I was so embarassed that I couldn't get it. The charge nurse had to do it for me. The next day I was needed to do it again, and one of my co-workers that I went to school with said she wanted to do it because she complained of being sore from my couple attempts. That's all fine and good, but how am I supposed to learn if they won't let me do it. I was her nurse after all! My co-worker acts all high and mighty like she can't make any mistakes, and then downgrades me. I felt horrible about myself. Good luck. I think over time as we practice we will get better.
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No. 6
from WeeBabyRN
Old Oct 06, 2009, 07:14 AM

Default Re: Can't even spike a bag!!
I've been in the NICU for almost 3 years and I am terrible at starting IVs. Every nurse isn't going to master every skill and when you focus on your mistakes you are making yourself more nervous.

Tell me 3 things you do right...

3 things I do right
1. I am excellent with patient's parents.
2. I am really good with developmental care.
3. I have made a visible difference in patient outcomes in a positive way, this has only happened a couple of times, but if I weren't there things probably would have gone differently.

Now I don't walk around all high and mighty like I'm better than sliced bread, but when I have to call someone over to start my IV, or I sound like blathering fool when I call a doctor, or I STAB myself (it bled bad) when spiking a bag, I remember what I am good at and it makes me feel much better.

It sounds like you have a lot of support, that is worth it's weight in gold. Relax, the hospital has invested a lot in you and they want you to succeed.
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No. 7
from ibambamama
Old Oct 15, 2009, 07:23 PM

Default Re: Can't even spike a bag!!
Thanks so much to everyone for all the advice! The twisting really helps!! (And not getting so nervous that my hands sweat and I can't get a good grip on the bag!)
I am now in my third week of orientation and already starting to feel better about some of these basic skills.
What a great forum!
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No. 8
from DeLana_RN
Old Oct 15, 2009, 08:48 PM

Default Re: Can't even spike a bag!!
After spiking literally thousands of 1000 cc saline bags as a dialysis nurse, I still manage to douse myself occasionally - don't be so hard on yourself (it's advice I need to remember myself since I just returned to hospital nursing and feel like a new grad myself sometimes )

Best of luck to you, you will learn this - I promise.

DeLana
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No. 9
from CynicallyVexed
Old Oct 18, 2009, 03:46 PM

Default Re: Can't even spike a bag!!
i wrestle with those darn abx bags that you have twist and insert to mix... i always break mine haha.. or it goes all over me.. pharmacy really doesn't like me that much either for this LOL!

you will eventually get the hang of it. My hands shaked for like the first week when I did blood sugars and trying to slowly bring the chem stick to the blood and end it up smearing it all over their finger.

you will make yourself a routine, and you will get settled in. Of course your preceptor is going to get frustrated. Old Nurses eat their young, they forget the things that they didn't know one time. That's okay tho, just remember when you precept somebody not to be like that.
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