[tanthalas]

So I'm a BSN working as an LPN in the hospital. We have a bunch of students doing their second year practicum on my floor today. One of the students was with a patient. Later on, I saw this patient's catheter bag hanging on the bed side rail; so I just went in and hung it on its proper spot. A little while later, while helping the student with her patient, I noticed the sshe hung the catheter bag on the side rail when we were going to boost the patient. I politely stated the cather bag should be hung on the little hook under the bed to prevent any injury. She was very receptive.

Again, a little while later I saw the same cather bag hung on the bed rail. I went in the room and put it in its proper spot. I pulled the student's instructor aside and said perhaps, during debriefing, that safety for bedrails could be reminded again. I didn't mention any names.

I was back in the same room helping the same patient with one of the RNs on the floor and the RN hung the cather bag on the bedrail.

I kinda feel guilty as if I was ratting the student out for doing this even though it could have been one of the staff doing it the second time. I also feel bad because it seems like I was being an ass for tattling to the instructor when the student could have just done what the RN did and was simply following suit.

Do you think informing the instructor about this safety issue was in good taste or should I have done things differently?

[casi]

I think it was fine. It's better that students get lectured that hanging catheter bags on bed rails is a no no in debriefing rather than learning from the example of the floor nurses.

[SnarfGirl]

I am a nursing student that is on the recieving end of that sometimes - and it's not a big deal....unfortunately some nurses we follow are bad examples - but good ones like you are only looking out for your pt's. I wouldn't worry about it. But maybe the RN that was doing it should be reminded where to hang the bag? That just my 2 cents!

[locolorenzo22]

Speaking as a student RN...and soon to be RN....and current tech....
I ONLY go to an instructor if I have talked to a student more than 3 times about an issue...and it's just not sinking in. This one student had a major attitude about putting someone's feet up so they wouldn't sink in the bed, telling us we were tying restraints wrong(she was tying the waist one so she could stick her whole arm through there!), etc.....So, i attempted to expalin to said student that we were both last semester RN students...we knew what we were doing AS WELL as where she was coming from....and still got attitude.
So, I went to the instructor. The snippy students are the ones that wind up getting in the bad sides. I think either way, the student learned where a catheter should be hung.

[MBA2BRN]

I do not think you did the wrong thing. In fact you did the student a favor. Speaking as a student who watched a few students mimic something wrong which got him/her into trouble, I have learned not to do what I see. I learned to question methods if I did not learn them in school, look up and follow protocols, and to talk to my instructors! This has kept me safe and progressing in clinical.

Before second semester I used to think that everything I see RNs do is correct. I did not realize that some use outdated methods that are no longer deemed safe and some others are just plain clueless. Don't get me wrong, I have had the pleasure of being around RNs who are on top of everything, but I know that if I do something wrong, I cannot use the excuse "I saw RN so-and-so do it...." or that "RN so-and-so told me to do it."

We students walk a fine line, which makes clinical frustrating and nerve wracking. In order to do the right thing, we need to rely on sources that are evidence based and up-to-date. We also need to speak up and politely let the RN and/or our instructor know that we are not comfortable doing x,y, z a certain way, but we can do it proficiently another way.

Student Nurse who is on the way to fourth semester clinical (5 patients)!

[Daytonite]

Originally Posted by tanthalas

Do you think informing the instructor about this safety issue was in good taste or should I have done things differently?

I think the question is how should the situation have been stated differently to the nursing instructor? I think the issue is a matter of the wording that was used, not that something was said. Tact, diplomacy, and finesse are what you are looking for advice on. "Foot in mouth" syndrome is something we each have to learn to control on our own. It comes from thinking about and planning how to say something before actually speaking it out loud.