Recently I started working on a tele/med/surg (transitioning to PCU) unit in a large hospital. I haven't had a permanent nursing job in over six months so I'm getting back into it although I did some per diem.
While I like some of what I do as a nurse, I feel incompetent in some things.
For instance, the other day I helped out a nurse, by trach suctioning her patient. Well I opened the package and instead of the sterile cup for saline, it was a little cardboard pop up box!! Well it's got holes and the saline just leaks out. It doesn't make sense of am I missing something?
Also, I started an IV the other week and it had good blood return, but it would leak blood/fluid from the catheter insertion site so much that I couldn't get it clean around there and the patient said she didn't want it all. I'd never had that experience ever in my career where it just keeps leaking around....It was in the vein and had good return...I have no idea what happened!!!
The other day, I checked a patient's colostomy bag and it was really full. Even in an isolation gown, it was a mess!! The stool came out formed and no matter how hard I try, there's always some remaining in the bag. Should I have changed the whole bag? When it's liquidy, it's easier in some aspects. But because of how it comes out, it gets all over the bag. and I had to change gloves like 5 times. And then when I went to dump (no pun intended) the stool into the toilet, it made a big splash and of course got on my scrubs. What a defeat. Any tips?
Give me a difficult tele strip and I'll decipher it for you, otherwise, all the other stuff I suck at and am not so graceful...
