Which nursing skills do you dread?

[TigerGalLE]

What nursing skills do you absolutely hate doing? Even if it is super easy and not time consuming? Which orders do you read and just think to yourself, aw man! I hate doing that!! I'm just curious!

I hate doing dressing changes. (I think b/c we get a lot of gangrene wounds... and they stink!)

I also loathe hanging blood! I don't know why... it isn't difficult

And of course enemas and disimpactions aren't too fun either!

I also hate giving eye and ear drops. I don't know why...

I also hate having to collect stool samples... ewwww the idea of scooping up the poop into the little cup... gross

[TigerGalLE, BSN, RN]

I hate hanging blood for many reasons.

1. there is always a chance they will have a reaction

2. frequent vital signs

3. tough on the veins, usually will end up having to start a new IV

4. Having to go all the way downstairs to get it

5. Having to make another busy nurse stop what they are doing to come check it with you

[P_RN, ADN, RN]

I hate recording a code. I can't write as fast as the 2 dozen people are shouting. I wish there were a tv camera in every room that would just record it all. Then some of the doofi (med students) might hush up.

[rnsrgr8t]

When I used to do pediatric primary care, I hated doing hearing/vision screens. I have no idea why.

I hate giving IM PCN. It is thick and even with the correct guage needle is slow to inject. Always gives me the willies after I give it.

I hate suctioning.

I get the willies when someone has bad dental cavities. I think it is b/c I have had to have a lot of dental work myself.

Way back in my old oncology days I hated giving Amphotericin (amphoterrible we called it ) and IVIG. My patients ALWAYS got rigors no matter what I did.

I also hated continuous bladder irrigations. I had a child on it due to cytoxan related hemorrhagic cystitis.

I have no problem cathing baby girls but hate cathing baby boys, I have no idea why. Boys are not as difficult, just bothers me for some reason.

I used to hate accessing portacath's. I hated inserting that huge needle into someone's chest.

Calling in scripts to pharmacies...uggh I can never just leave a message b/c they never get filled and there some pharmacists that either cannot speak english or just are rude.

Dealing with insurance companies. Whether it is for prior authorizations for meds, surgeries etc. I hate the hoops they make you dance through before they will let you do what the patient needs.

[time4meRN]

Triage when the ER is full , 8 hour waits and having to explain to people that we are not wendy's, first come first serve. I usually get a blank stare and then I hear' " I know , but I came before both of those people ".. Sometimes fallowed by a discription of my race with a female dog name behind it.

I also dislike giving charcoal to OD's.

I hate consious sedation.

[Elvish, BSN, DNP, RN, NP]

I hate hanging blood for many reasons.

1. there is always a chance they will have a reaction

2. frequent vital signs

3. tough on the veins, usually will end up having to start a new IV

4. Having to go all the way downstairs to get it

5. Having to make another busy nurse stop what they are doing to come check it with you

Thank you TigerGal. #1, 2, and 4 are the exact reasons I hate hanging blood.

[not now, RN]

Checking blood sugars, especially when they are on an insulin drip and it's every hour. It's just such a tedious process: scan my badge, scan your wristband, scan the package the strip comes in, clean, poke, get the drop, wait for result, go to the med room, look up the dose on the sliding scale, find a nurse to co-sign the MAR...and on and on for the next three people.

[hikernurse]

Someone asked already but no one answered, what is so bad about hanging blood?

I can only answer for myself. The thing I least like is the viscousness of the blood itself. It's just so red and thick . Ugh. And I can't help but be reminded of nasty blood borne disease, either. The other thing is that it takes extra time to double-check, stay with the patient for the first little while and monitor VS, etc. Plus the blood has to be gotten in person. It's really not a big deal, just a lot of little things that add up .

[not now, RN]

Plus the blood has to be gotten in person. It's really not a big deal, just a lot of little things that add up .

We can get a CNA or someone from the transport team to pick it up for us. They have to be instructed how to do it, go with a nurse once, get signed off, then someone from the lab gives them a red dot for their badge meaning they are ok to pick up blood.

I like picking it up myself. It gives me break from the floor without having to actually take a break. I take the stairs so I can be gone longer.

[EricJRN, MSN, RN]

I work in a NICU, so the poops and suctions are easy to bear.

The easy things I dislike doing are weighing babies, getting their length, and changing IV tubing.

My most disliked task is getting vented babies out for kangaroo care. I witnessed a vented baby crash when a nurse was getting it out for kangaroo care so now it freaks me out. I just make sure respiratory is with me when I have to get a vented baby out of their isolette.

I'm with you, WeeBabyRN. With all of the complex tasks that go on in the NICU, it's amazing how some of the little things can really throw us off. Weighing and lengths are good examples.

Recently, the young dad of a fmr 23 weeker decided, after several weeks and a lot of encouragement from us, that he was finally ready to hold his ventilated baby. Less than 30 seconds after being handed to dad for the first time, this very weak and severely hydrocephalic baby somehow reaches up and pulls his ETT straight out.

I know that kangarooing is a good thing, but I sometimes secretly :innerconf breathe a sigh of relief when I learn that a parent came in and did skin-to-skin during the day instead of on my night shift.

[mom4josh]

C. Diff?? what the heck is a C. Diff?

The nastiest smelling poop in the world! (Close second is a GI bleed.)

[hikernurse]

I work in a NICU, so the poops and suctions are easy to bear.

The easy things I dislike doing are weighing babies, getting their length, and changing IV tubing.

My most disliked task is getting vented babies out for kangaroo care. I witnessed a vented baby crash when a nurse was getting it out for kangaroo care so now it freaks me out. I just make sure respiratory is with me when I have to get a vented baby out of their isolette.

I'm too new to be willing to do kangaroo care on a vented baby. The nurses who do that with the vented patients are always very careful to say that whether or not it happens depends on the comfort level of the nurse which takes a lot of the pressure away.

Regular tasks are so much easier with the little ones--suctioning a baby is almost pleasant and trach care is nothing to dread, but what I don't like is giving babies their baths. I love after when they are all clean surrounded by clean linen, but I always stuck my own babies in the tub with me (a little inappropriate for my patients, I do realize) and handling a slippery little baby with all kinds of drains, etc. in a flimsy basin always puts me on edge.

[hikernurse]

Anything to do with sputum or feet LOL. Collecting a sputum spec or putting on TEDs makes me physically ill. I nearly passed out once watching a podiatrist cutting this patient's toenails... you know, thick, crusty, yellow, curly toenails. AAAAUUUGGGHHH!!!!!!!

Funny thing is though, trach care doesn't bother me at all. (I've learned to move fast)

My first day of clinicals was in a LTC facility and the visiting podiatrist pointed to me and said, "She'll do." I followed him and soon found out that the doing involved following the doctor and cleaning up the icky toenails as he cut them. Other than his attitude , the sound of the cutting and watching the nails fall to the floor just about did me in. I admit, after one patient I murmured something about a post-conference (this was around 0900) and fled. Fortunately, he didn't pursue me although I don't know who he got to clean up after him.