Keystone Cops Student Nurses

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Just wondering if I should be worrying abou this. I'm a freshman student nurse and started clinical in October. Yesterday was my second clinical in a LTC facility. It just seemed that I (and another student) couldn't seem to do anything right-- just couldn't get our acts together. In one instance we had to get a patient OOB with the Hoyer. Learned this in lab and used the procedure only one other time before. When it came to positioning the sling it became very ackward. Instructor was watching which made us even more nervous and pointing out everything we did wrong or not fast enough which added to the stress. Things went OK after the patient was safely transferred to the shower chair, had her shower and returned to bed but felt like the instructor was watching like a hawk which just made me even more nervous. So now I'm doubting myself. Will probably get a crappy grade for this clinical round but I'm wondering when you were students did you have "off" days on your clinical rounds? And should I worry about this. Thank goodness on an off day I had a truly great patient but I'm kinda bummed out about this. I can't explain why it was a bad day but it worries me.

Originally posted by P_RN

You should see the big old toothy grin on my face.

A long time ago hospital beds didn't lower and didn't have electric head/foot controls...only a hand crank.

So I was making up an occupied bed.

FLAT bottom sheet, FLAT rubber draw sheet, FLAT draw sheet, and FLAT top sheet.

OK, so I made my folds and leaned on the bed for balance and had the patient rolled to the far side........and then...... the bed started rolling away from me......me leaning on the bed, standing on the footstool......I FORGOT TO LOCK THE WHEELS.

Fortunately it was a 6 bed ward and one of the ambulatory patients came to my rescue.......funny now......embarrassing as heck then!!!

I made Keystone Kops look down right suave!

Heck, that's nothing! I once managed to dump a 300 lb. patient on the floor while making an occupied bed! To add insult to injury, I also gave her an ice water shower once she was safely back in bed! The clip of her ice bag caught on the freshly made bed sheet!

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Specializes in ICU, CM, Geriatrics, Management.

Funny thread!

Sure I'll have stories for y'all in the coming days.

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Specializes in LTC, CPR instructor, First aid instructor..

Ooh the precious memories of the ice water bath my nurse gave me. It was heavenly.:rolleyes:

I was on mega doses of Solu Medrol at the time, oh was I ever diaphoretic. My bedding and gown had to be changed every shift.When it happened, my nurse for the evening had just finished a complete linen change and gown change on me. Then as she turned around to leave, she bumped into my bedstand, and the freshly filled container of ice water with ice chips dumped said contents all over me.

My nurse was shocked:eek:and oh so apologetic, but she didn't need to be. My daughter was with me when it happened, and we both burst out laughing. :chuckle I then thanked her for that heavenly bath, because it was oh so refreshing.:rolleyes:

After that, she began to laugh too as she rechanged my linens and gown.:D

Fran:nurse:

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Yep, been there done that too!!.....Once in clinicals my instructor another student and I were taking a patient for a shower, she was quadroplegic and about 350 pounds of complete jello.....So, we got her into the hoyer, wheel her down the "big shower", set her on the "shower chair", get her all washed up, pick her back up with the hoyer and start to go down the hall.....Now, the whole time in the shower she's telling us how she needs her "bowel program" done when we get back to the room....well, by the time we got back to her room, it was DONE!!....she had started slipping lower and lower in the sling and then her butt was sqeezing out the hole in it, which put pressure on her you-know-what which caused her to plop-plop-plop her "bowel program" all down the hall!!!.....by the time we got to her room we were all laughing so hard we could hardly breath, including the patient!!!.....picture this hoyer lift blazing past you in the hall with a huge naked woman poopin' all down the hall, and three white clad nurses pushin' her as fast as that thing would go!!...musta looked like some really weird Indy 500!!......It was one of those "nursing moments" that if you told it to someone outside of the medical field they would be shocked and apalled, but its something that people involved in it STILL laugh about, well except for the cleaning people, they weren't too thrilled about it!!...hee hee

On a serious note, the best thing I learned is that ITS OK TO NOT KNOW EVERYTHING!......and it' OK to say "I don't know the answer but I'll go find out."....patients respect that alot more than somebody that tries to look like they know everything and just end up sounding ignorant.....Just stick with it, it all comes together and you'll look back on these moments and laugh!

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Specializes in Telemetry/Med Surg.

Thanks everyone for these wonderful posts. I'm enjoying reading about your experiences. Keep 'em coming! Just pondering my clinical grade for this last clinical of the semester. All my others have been good. arrrgggghhh

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Hang in there!!! Some things will just take practice, and you will eventually find your own pace and your own style. It does get better!!!!:)

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Specializes in LTC, CPR instructor, First aid instructor..
the whole time in the shower she's telling us how she needs her "bowel program" done when we get back to the room....well, by the time we got back to her room, it was DONE!!....she had started slipping lower and lower in the sling and then her butt was sqeezing out the hole in it, which put pressure on her you-know-what which caused her to plop-plop-plop her "bowel program" all down the hall!!!.....by the time we got to her room we were all laughing so hard we could hardly breath, including the patient!!!.....picture this hoyer lift blazing past you in the hall with a huge naked woman poopin' all down the hall, and three white clad nurses pushin' her as fast as that thing would go!!...musta looked like some really weird Indy 500!!......It was one of those "nursing moments" that if you told it to someone outside of the medical field they would be shocked and apalled, but its something that people involved in it STILL laugh about, well except for the cleaning people, they weren't too thrilled about it!!...hee hee

:chuckle :chuckle :chuckle :roll Now that's one of the more precious moments in nursing.:D

Fran

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