[ELKMNin06]

Ok-so im a new grad. Still in orientation. Thank goodness my preceptor keeps me in line, however, I still do dumb stuff all the time, lol.

Last week, while drawing blood off the A-line and attempting to do glucose testing...I squirted myself with blood, and another time all over the wall...and other time all over sink. However, in my defense, that was only 3 times out of like 100 that I did it well...lol.

Yesterday I was drawing labs off my A-line and it must have been 0400 bc I decided not to take the test tube out of that, um, plastic thing that kind looks like a needle that you put the test tube in (omg thats awful, I dont even know what the name of it is ) then I took it out of the aline...oops...blood all over again. Grrr. lol.

Oh, then I was priming a line, and normally i'm good at this...yeah except the time this week I let it run all over the floor...duh. Oh, once I was trying to draw up some water to put down the NG tube...I couldnt for anything get the water to go into the syringe...hmmm...the cap was still on...ugh I felt stupid.

Some other things: I suck at giving shift report and I sound like an idiot when I talk to doctors.

On my second night shift (the first I drank waaay to much coffee) I almost fell asleep on my station.


I do lots of stuff well too, lol. Im just waiting for the day when I screw up something with the foley and urine ends up everywhere. So, now that you all think i'm idiot, share your stories too so I dont feel as bad lol

ps really, im not doing that bad lol.

[janfrn]

I do some of those things sometimes, and I can't blame it on being a new nurse. Sometimes I just momentarily forget what I'm doing... until I see the blood. I've tried to irrigate foleys that have blown right off the sliptip and gotten bathed in pee for my efforts. Yum. One of my coworkers (who has at least twice the experience I have) was helping me admit a post-op and we were switching over from the OR pressure set up to ours (see my posts on using pumps on pressure lines for a hint) when she pulled the spike out of the pressure bag without noticing that it wasn't the one she'd clamped, but the other one. The IVF sprayed across the room for almost ten feet! We had a good laugh over that one.

[Rayrae]

We had a common saline flush bag in our med room when I started last year, and I remember one time when my preceptor told me to draw up some saline for a med and I stuck a needle into the bag... needless to say it leaked everywhere and had to be replaced!! Other things like once forgot to shut the med port on a pt's G-tube they only used for night feedings (at a pretty high rate), and had to wake them up to change the sheets an hour later w/feeding all over the bed. I'm sure there are many others but that's what comes to mind immediately

[Boston-RN]

I was trying to "help out" some of the CNA's, I'm in a rehab hosptial and the persons transfer status to the bathroom was "BEDPAN ONLY and she was sitting in the w/c so instead of getting her to bed I put the bedpan under her in the chair.......the person that took it out from under almost pee'd herself laughing......Not gonna help next time LOL

[RGN1]

When I first started drawing up IV meds I always eneded up firing the stuff round the treatment room - it took me ages to work out how to add the sterile water to the powder in the vial without building up all that pressure with the resultant fountain!

[Hoozdo]

[quote=ELKMNin06] Ok-so im a new grad. Still in orientation. Thank goodness my preceptor keeps me in line, however, I still do dumb stuff all the time, lol.

Last week, while drawing blood off the A-line and attempting to do glucose testing...I squirted myself with blood, and another time all over the wall...and other time all over sink. However, in my defense, that was only 3 times out of like 100 that I did it well...lol.

Yesterday I was drawing labs off my A-line and it must have been 0400 bc I decided not to take the test tube out of that, um, plastic thing that kind looks like a needle that you put the test tube in (omg thats awful, I dont even know what the name of it is ) then I took it out of the aline...oops...blood all over again. Grrr. lol.
*******************
I did that once, LOL. That thing is called a VAMP and VAMP tip. I think all of us have done that at one time or another!

Oh, then I was priming a line, and normally i'm good at this...yeah except the time this week I let it run all over the floor...duh. Oh, once I was trying to draw up some water to put down the NG tube...I couldnt for anything get the water to go into the syringe...hmmm...the cap was still on...ugh I felt stupid.
I do that A LOT with a 60 cc syringe. Dang that cap looks invisible. One time I had a pt with many lines with multiple infusion and plugged an expensive a/b in one of the Ysites. Found out after about 10 minutes that all the fluid infused on the floor because that line wasn't plugged in to the patient


On my first day on the unit, I was opening a vial of Fentanyl and sliced my finger right open, OW! Another stupid thing I did in my first week was needle stick myself after drawing up a vial of Procrit.....had to tell pharmacy I dropped it to get another one!

I am only 10 months in, but I am trying my best not to make stupid mistakes.

[RGN1]

Oh my, I'd forgotten my one & only "needlestick"!! LOL

I was adding a med to an infusion bag & somehow didn't get the angle quite right or there was a fault in the port (which is what I want to believe, of course). Anyhow I pushed really hard & sended up sticking the needle right through to the other side of the port & straight through my gloves & the soft tissues of my thumb!!!

Oh well, if you're going to stick yourself it might as well be with a clean needle that's just drawn up a dose of a fairly common antibiotic!!

[stressgal]

Ummm, Lipids go below/after the filter or the filter will clog and all the tubing needs changed.

[acgemt]

How about the most embarassing?? My cute as a button 81 year old came in for falure to thrive and alzheimer's/dementia issues. I chose not to secure her belongings (after all what could an 81 year old do???) When it was time to tell her she was being transferred to another facility, she wan't too happy. When it was ativan time, she whipped out her can of pepper spray from her pants pocket. With so many people in the room, I just dove right on top of her trying to get it out of her hand. My eyes got the brunt of the spray. Oh, those 81 year olds. Never trust a cute face!!

Needless to say, yes pepper spray hurts, The nurses were all squirting me with saline...and milk. Oh the embarassment.

[ELKMNin06]

Originally Posted by acgemt

How about the most embarassing?? My cute as a button 81 year old came in for falure to thrive and alzheimer's/dementia issues. I chose not to secure her belongings (after all what could an 81 year old do???) When it was time to tell her she was being transferred to another facility, she wan't too happy. When it was ativan time, she whipped out her can of pepper spray from her pants pocket. With so many people in the room, I just dove right on top of her trying to get it out of her hand. My eyes got the brunt of the spray. Oh, those 81 year olds. Never trust a cute face!!

Needless to say, yes pepper spray hurts, The nurses were all squirting me with saline...and milk. Oh the embarassment.

LOL. Milk? thats funny. Glad i'm not the only one doing things like this