Things you learned the hard way? (funny)

Nurses General Nursing

Published

Specializes in PICU.

I'm sure we all have many stories to tell on ourselves how we learned something the hard way.

The first one for me was learning that it's not a good idea to squat down to a little boy's level when you're assisting him with a urinal. Also, that leaving a gown down as a 2nd barrier isn't a bad idea either. :lol2:

Good thing urine's sterile, right?

Specializes in CMSRN.

I learned recently that even FSBS can spray blood at you. Luckily my face was not in the line of fire but it shot up my arm and left upper chest.

I had stuck this lady quite a few times and always had to milk the finger.

Go figure.

Specializes in LTC/MDS/PPS.

Lots of things..most important one I remember is don't hold the sleeve of the gown in front of your face as you're telling your Alzheimers patient to "Go ahead, just put your hand through the hole"..my nose quit hurting a few days later.. I still laugh about it.

Specializes in Critical Care, Education.

OK - Here are a couple of good ones

OFF TO PATIENT - then - OPEN TO AIR

Steps in balancing a hemodynamic transducer... if you do it the wrong way, arterial blood shoots dramatically across the room & everything else in its path.

NEVER PUMP UP THE PRESSURE TOO MUCH ON A BLOOD BAG

They tend to explode in a really spectacular way.

Gosh, it seems my "life lessons" have a tendency to leave me looking like Carrie in the prom scene.

Specializes in Critical Care.

Always crank the pressure off a tyco before pulling the spike out of the bag of heparin. I didn't know that heparin was SSOO sticky.:lol2:

when you go in to spike a new bag, make sure you invert the old bag BEFORE you unspike it :)

Specializes in Public Health, TB.

When taking down a pressurized line, don't unspike the bag before relieving the pressure. Luckily it was only saline.

i used to see newbies do this all the time when I was in cath lab recovery:If you are watching a femoral arterial sheath pull, do not stand at the end of the bed. Or least you will want to wear protective equipment.

As a SN I learned NOT to give a SSE thinking you could put the bedpan under in time :/ .

Specializes in LTC, Acute Care.

My big "oops" was my first day out of orientation as a new nurse in LTC. I was to administer a gravity tube feeding and I made the huge mistake of not pinching off the g-tube when I noticed my resident was about to cough. Needless to say, I made the biggest mess all over the resident, his bed, the floor. I was so ashamed and I apologized profusely to the resident lucky for me he was gracious and understanding.

Hold onto the top of the plunger if you have to "push" whatever it is you are trying to unblock w/a G-tube!

I also learned the hard way with fingerstick GBS checks, the blood CAN spray it doesn't always just "bubble" out. I have one lady I always have to milk the finger because she never gives up a drop of blood otherwise. well, like the other poster, luckily my face wasn't in the line of fire but my entire upper chest was and my entire arm were! Imagine, she never bleeds a drop and this one time with just some slight pressure, BLAMO it was like water being forced out a pinhole in a balloon. It went everywhere. And everyone wonders why I always, always, always have a lab coat on. ;)

Learned the hard (and wet and sticky) way, never hang the bottle of tube feed and then spike it! :uhoh3: Don't know what I was thinking that day. Also learned make sure all the possible ways out of the tubing are CLOSED before priming the line..again, wet, sticky and couldn't figure out WHY my leg was that way, I had the end aimed at the garbage can no where near my leg! Until I brought up the tubing to take a closer look and got a face full of Jevity! (that one I had a reason for my stupid move, the old tubing we used didn't have other ports, and the new ones did.

Specializes in LTC/SNF, Psychiatric, Pharmaceutical.
I learned recently that even FSBS can spray blood at you. Luckily my face was not in the line of fire but it shot up my arm and left upper chest.

I had stuck this lady quite a few times and always had to milk the finger.

Go figure.

I've had a few fingersticks that just "went" everywhere myself. You'd never figure you might need a face shield for a capillary stick, eh?

Specializes in LTC/SNF, Psychiatric, Pharmaceutical.

Wear a gown when you're cleaning up a resident with Alzheimers who is having a bad case of the runs. I learned this when I first became a CNA, nearly 10 years ago. Took me a half-hour to get my resident cleaned up and settled down for sleep. I stepped outside, looked down at my scrub top, and saw four brown streaks drawn right across my chest. Ew.

Thankfully, I didn't see anything anywhere else on my uniform... or my skin. Considering how difficult this particular resident was, I think now I got off pretty lightly.

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