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

[wooden nickel]

I understand why you hate cathing males. I am a male nurse and everybody grabs me to cath the males. (cause the females I don't do). And yes it seems everybody and their brother has a poor prostate!!!

But what really gets me is when they have a foreskin that has not been retracted in years (nor clean) and you have to deal with that. GROSS!!

One time I was called to help, and when I went into the room the nurse had the foreskin down (by force... I noticed) and the blood supply was obviously being cut off!! We quickly corrected it and all was good, but my gosh!... PAIN

Even though I hate it, I do it. (for the good of the pt) And after that scene I don't mind near as much. That pretty much changed my out look.

What about you, what changed your outlook.

i disimpact on a frequent basis.

it's just something i have to do or my pts will be miserable.

i have come to dread cathing male pts.

i don't think i've had any with a normal size prostate, and i almost always meet obstxn.

the coude isn't even helpful.

leslie

[not now, RN]

Cathing women that are older than dirt. I have a hard time, every time. I ask them to cough, I get a flashlight...nothing. I usually have to get the senior nurse who will roll them on their side, while I hold a leg, and get it every.single.time.

Most wound vac stuff. I can rarely find a leak. And the waiting while I cross my fingers hoping the dressing takes on that "raisin" look.

Trying to convince a confused patient that the tele needs to stay on and having monitor techs call me repeatedly to "let you know that the tele in 12 is off..." even if I explain that it's a confused patient and I'm doing my best.

Bowel prep. Mainly because I feel bad that I'm putting them through it.

[rnparrot]

I hate trying to explain to a 4 year old what "dead" means and why his little brother will never come home again.

I hate looking a parent in the eyes and saying, "Yes, your baby is brain dead. No, there is *no* chance that we are mistaken. Would you like him to be an organ donor?"

I hate sitting outside a patient's room and discussing "the harvest" of a 21 month old's organs with the transplant coordinator.

I hate clipping locks of hair and taking final foot/hand prints of a child immediately prior to him being wheeled away for organ retrieval.

(side note: I had a very bad week at work this week.)

you can take all the c-diffs and colostomys and everything else that everyone hates to do, but nothing can be worse than doing your job susan! you are loving and compassionate when a job couldn't get any worse.:balloons:

[confused101]

I hate trying to explain to a 4 year old what "dead" means and why his little brother will never come home again.

I hate looking a parent in the eyes and saying, "Yes, your baby is brain dead. No, there is *no* chance that we are mistaken. Would you like him to be an organ donor?"

I hate sitting outside a patient's room and discussing "the harvest" of a 21 month old's organs with the transplant coordinator.

I hate clipping locks of hair and taking final foot/hand prints of a child immediately prior to him being wheeled away for organ retrieval.

(side note: I had a very bad week at work this week.)

This is why I can't do kids! You are blessed to be able to do this job. One day you will be rewarded!

[rnparrot]

i work in ltc, there are alot of things that i hate, and sadly, i do not like caring for the confused, totally disoriented patient. i have no patience to "reorient" the 10,000 times a shift and chase after them when they walk off the floor.

i also do not like doing the lady partsl cream thing. isn't there a pill they can take?????

cathing females...no thanks. i cannot handle poop in a commode or bedpan....i gag horribly and get so embarassed. so i always try to leave some water in the buckets or pans so the poop doesn't stick! ewww grosssss!!

speaking of c-diff, we just had a run of it on our floor. the smells comiing from those rooms was enuf to make anyone gag.

there is just so much gross stuff we are asked to do as RN's and although we don't like to do it, we do it for the good of the patients, because, afterall, isn't that why we got into this field...to take care of people??

[jnrsmommy]

I absolutely dread cathing male patients. I can count on one hand the number of times I've had to since I started nursing. Twice in clinicals, thought I screwed up royally when absolutely nothing came out of their foleys except some thick purulent drainage. Instructor thought it might've been a really bad UTI and wanted me to collect a sample. So I wait and wait, nothing after 2 hours. Let the instructor and nurse know, they send the patients out. They have fistulas that were not known about before. Talk about being scared, thought I caused them...lol. Once after I became a nurse, had another male that we discovered he had a fistula after I inserted a catheter, although his turned out to be a really sad story. So, I think I'm jinxed where those are concerned and try to avoid them at all costs.

[elizabells, BSN, RN]

I hate cathing the baby boys - girls I usually get first try. But the boys; I just can't seem to hold that foreskin back. Grrr.

And the embarassing one: IVs. I'm fanTAStic at venipuncture blood draws, as in other nurses seek me out to help, but I've been on my unit, student and RN, since March 2006, and I've successfully gotten ... drumroll please ... one IV. One. I'm pathetic at advancing and flushing.

[istartcpr]

Getting a pre-op patient w/ a bowel obstruction thats vomiting stool. UGH!!

[doe9181]

I hate catheterizing females, especially heavy-set ones. Sometimes I feel like I'm on a safari trying to find treasure, digging around down there. I have only been successful once. All the other times, I get the wrong hole! Does anyone have any tips?

I hate c. diff, any diarrhea, emptying colostomies, and changing diapers. I had a man once that had a severe code brown. I walked into his room and the was diarrhea all over the bed, all over his legs, feet , and the front of his gown, all over the floor, the walls, the IV pole, the furniture (nightstand and table), and all over the damn bedside commode, but get this. When he turned around his butt was perfectly clean!!!!:eek: Me and my charge nurse were like how the heck did he manage that?

I could deal with vomit, secretions, and trachs but I hate poop. I love wounds also. I had a woman whose skin looked like it was melting off her legs. They were all oozing and shiny and kind of bloody. She had no top layer of skin. I forget what she had. I think it might of been a form of the flesh eating bacteria. I was fascinated by it while my preceptor stood there and gagged.

[elizabells, BSN, RN]

I hate catheterizing females, especially heavy-set ones. Sometimes I feel like I'm on a safari trying to find treasure, digging around down there. I have only been successful once. All the other times, I get the wrong hole! Does anyone have any tips?

When you get it in the wrong orifice, leave it in. Start over (with all new sterile stuff, obvy) and aim above the first one. It's your landmark.

And good on you for being okay with wounds. They're like my Kryptonite.

[sharona97, BSN, RN]

:barf01: Had to have my coffee while reading the barfing of stool........ eeeeeewh.

[PRESLA]

]:barf02:I am good at handling smells and procedures I just can't take SNOT. Anything respiratory coughing up sputum. Gag.

Lisa