[Chloe'sinNYNow]

Originally Posted by IampattyRN

I think that you should just be writing for yourself... because "we" is just you and a couple of other responses.

Not all feel that I've made my point. lots of responses still dont' get what I am writing eventhough I've written it over and over

Patty, for your own health and anxiety level, please let this go. I think this thread helped to expose a lot of good points. But you need to let others have their say without taking each one so personally. You are on the attack. If this is how you react on the job, you will find yourself alienating a lot of people who can make your days (or nights) difficult. This is a small issue. As my dad likes to say, "is this the hill you want to die on?" In other words, pick your battles.

Good luck in moving forward,
Chloe

RN-BSN, BA

[nursemike]

Originally Posted by wellhereiam

Our school doesn't learn how to "spike IV's" (I'm not really sure what that means. Insert an IV, right?) until second year. At least, I know we don't do something with IV's until our second year. Year one: First quarter is basic skills (AM care, take blood pressure, get urine sample, etc); Second quarter is assesssments; Third quarter is meds. I don't know the exact sequence of second year, but that's how our school goes.

"Spiking the bag" is putting the large, pointy plastic end of the tubing set into the bag of IV fluids. It's the kind of thing that's so basic that after you've done a few thousand, it's hard to recall that it is a skill and has to be learned--until you get a bag or bottle of fluids you've never seen before. Bottles need a vented tubing set, some solutions need filters, and sometimes there are different sorts of caps on the access ports. There is no shame in saying, "I've never done this before, could you walk me through it?" The person you ask may later say to other nurses, "Can you believe he didn't even know how to spike a bag?" and this will probably lead to some amusing stories about times others have spiked their first bags.

I think most of us would think of "inserting IVs" as placing the canula in the vein, which is quite another matter. For a lucky few, that skill seems to come pretty naturally, but many of us have to work at it. It's not a particularly complicated process, but requires a fair amount of dexterity.

If I may take a couple more swats at this poor horse, I think the student in the original post was wrong to want to appear less green than he actually was. No harm done here, but there are plenty of times when one must swallow one's pride and say "I don't know," in order to practice safely. Pretending to know something you don't can kill people, although often all it does is make a mess. But I think some posters are trying to make the point that it makes it easier to say "I don't know" when the person you say it to isn't rolling her eyes or sighing impatiently. I take the original poster at face value that she didn't roll her eyes or sigh. I think it's very possible the student may have guessed that she would later say to other nurses or post on allnurses, "Can you believe how dumb this guy was?" The best advice I can give a student, or a new nurse, is just to accept that you are green, and others will at times find that amusing, or frustrating, but even as they are laughing or shaking their heads about how dumb you are, most will realize that they were just as green, once upon a time. After all, if any of us were really all that smart, we'd be posting on alllawyers.com.

[nursemike]

To all posters: I think we've done a pretty good job of keeping this thread collegial and not getting into personal attacks. Clearly, there are differences of opinion, and while we did skate pretty close to the old ADN vs. BSN quagmire, it seems like we managed not to fall into it. I would hope, however, that we could refrain from further discussion as to whether someone "gets it" or needs to "let it go." Please try to debate the topic, rather than the poster. I doubt anyone is going to change anyone else's opinion dramatically. Those who feel the discussion has run its course and all that can be said, has been, are certainly free to ignore any future continuation. By the same right, there are probably a number of replies by several posters who understand just what the OP is saying, but think she's wrong. Fair enough.
Again, thanks to all for a decent job of keeping this thread civil. Carry on.

[BumblebeeRN]

Originally Posted by nursemike

"Spiking the bag" is putting the large, pointy plastic end of the tubing set into the bag of IV fluids. It's the kind of thing that's so basic that after you've done a few thousand, it's hard to recall that it is a skill and has to be learned--until you get a bag or bottle of fluids you've never seen before. Bottles need a vented tubing set, some solutions need filters, and sometimes there are different sorts of caps on the access ports. There is no shame in saying, "I've never done this before, could you walk me through it?" The person you ask may later say to other nurses, "Can you believe he didn't even know how to spike a bag?" and this will probably lead to some amusing stories about times others have spiked their first bags.

I think most of us would think of "inserting IVs" as placing the canula in the vein, which is quite another matter. For a lucky few, that skill seems to come pretty naturally, but many of us have to work at it. It's not a particularly complicated process, but requires a fair amount of dexterity.

If I may take a couple more swats at this poor horse, I think the student in the original post was wrong to want to appear less green than he actually was. No harm done here, but there are plenty of times when one must swallow one's pride and say "I don't know," in order to practice safely. Pretending to know something you don't can kill people, although often all it does is make a mess. But I think some posters are trying to make the point that it makes it easier to say "I don't know" when the person you say it to isn't rolling her eyes or sighing impatiently. I take the original poster at face value that she didn't roll her eyes or sigh. I think it's very possible the student may have guessed that she would later say to other nurses or post on allnurses, "Can you believe how dumb this guy was?" The best advice I can give a student, or a new nurse, is just to accept that you are green, and others will at times find that amusing, or frustrating, but even as they are laughing or shaking their heads about how dumb you are, most will realize that they were just as green, once upon a time. After all, if any of us were really all that smart, we'd be posting on alllawyers.com.

your post has been the smartest response I have read from my OP

Never would I ever roll my eyes at anyone. I have people do that to me at work and it infuriates me.
I love helping others, and I am still learning too. Every day.

[BumblebeeRN]

Originally Posted by nursemike

To all posters: I think we've done a pretty good job of keeping this thread collegial and not getting into personal attacks. Clearly, there are differences of opinion, and while we did skate pretty close to the old ADN vs. BSN quagmire, it seems like we managed not to fall into it. I would hope, however, that we could refrain from further discussion as to whether someone "gets it" or needs to "let it go." Please try to debate the topic, rather than the poster. I doubt anyone is going to change anyone else's opinion dramatically. Those who feel the discussion has run its course and all that can be said, has been, are certainly free to ignore any future continuation. By the same right, there are probably a number of replies by several posters who understand just what the OP is saying, but think she's wrong. Fair enough.
Again, thanks to all for a decent job of keeping this thread civil. Carry on.

LOL. thank you! LOL

[BumblebeeRN]

Originally Posted by DutchgirlRN

Would spiking a bag not be a skill learned in class before doing it on the floor? Just curious?

in my school we learned the skill in class, at the nursing lab in my community college.
but after reading sooooooo many responses, it seems that a lot of schools don't teach that at school, and apparently the students in a lot of schools are left to learn all the basic nursing skills on their own.

[BasBleu]

Originally Posted by IampattyRN

in my school we learned the skill in class, at the nursing lab in my community college.
but after reading sooooooo many responses, it seems that a lot of schools don't teach that at school, and apparently the students in a lot of schools are left to learn all the basic nursing skills on their own.

In my ASN program we weren't allowed to hang IV meds until our last semester and then we had a lab that taught us how to program the pumps, primary/secondary lines, etc., but interestingly enough, these were already set up with the bags already spiked in the lab setting and priming lines/spiking were never discussed and I never thought about it until I was actually at the bedside with an RN one day ready to hang a piggyback. She asked me if I knew how to do it and I told her yes, hung the minibag up, pulled off the cap and watched as the whole bag of abx promptly poured onto the floor. Nurse just sighed and said "I'll call pharmacy and get another bag." It was THEN I understood that some bags could be spiked upside down and some couldn't. Have never made that mistake again

[BumblebeeRN]

Originally Posted by BasBleu

In my ASN program we weren't allowed to hang IV meds until our last semester and then we had a lab that taught us how to program the pumps, primary/secondary lines, etc., but interestingly enough, these were already set up with the bags already spiked in the lab setting and priming lines/spiking were never discussed and I never thought about it until I was actually at the bedside with an RN one day ready to hang a piggyback. She asked me if I knew how to do it and I told her yes, hung the minibag up, pulled off the cap and watched as the whole bag of abx promptly poured onto the floor. Nurse just sighed and said "I'll call pharmacy and get another bag." It was THEN I understood that some bags could be spiked upside down and some couldn't. Have never made that mistake again

at my school we had "pretend" bags.... meaning that they were reusable bags, so we learn how to spike and prime our IV's with tap water!
so I never did anything without doing the bag upside down!

good story!