Things nursing school FAILED to tell us

[Debbie_LPN]

Wouldn't it have been great if they told us this stuff in nursing school?

NOTE: A LOT OF MINE WERE MEANT FOR LTC NURSES

The human body is capable of holding 200 cups of H2O/coffee in your bladder....literally.

We were always instructed "Your body needs sleep to heal, rest, ect...",yeah that's funny.

Practicing sterile procedures for EVERYTHING is a waste of time(except catheters).

Of the 40 pts I have, I know what all the side effects of their meds are(yeah, all 50 meds per pt!!!). Oh yeah, and I know the GENERIC-TRADE names too.

Remember calcuating drip rates for G-tubes??? I don't.

They won't tell you what a med-cocktail is in school.

Anyone else wanna share???? :chuckle

[Jamesdotter]

Here is something that was never even HINTED upon in nursing school I wish they would have covered:

Hierarchy/chain of command at the hospital. All the workplace dynamics you will have to deal with and how to deal with them. Oh, that would have been helpful information. I'm no kids, I'm in my 30's, I've had many, many jobs but I was no prepared for the stuff I had to deal with in the hospital setting that had little or nothing to do with nursing skills or performing your job description.

I guess we were luckier--our med-surg instructor who explained hospital hierarchy to the class finished her explanation this way "**** runs downhill!" The maintenance man who was working in the hall outside the classroom nearly split a gut laughing.

[chellelynn25]

that:

Nurses eat their young

The smiling demented lady will not think twice about working up a loogie and launching itT at your face

No matter what you mix it in, hide it in liquid K+ does not taste good

The pt who gets Kadian,Ativan,Flaxovate,Cymbalta,Neurontin all at 8am med pass will ask for a "pain pill" soon as you leave the room

Its the bowel obsessed residents Enulose day she lets it fly and the still requests a suppostory. You explain to said resident that she had a very lg BM and doesn't need a suppostory. She then calls he daughter who then calls you and chews you out for not giving said suppistory. You end up giving resident said suppository. Said resident sits on the toilet for 45 mins and all that comes out is the suppository.

Thats it's possible that you will slip in a puddle of urine on the floor and end up dislocating your shoulder trying to keep your self from falling into the puddle of urine

There is no sterile technique in a nursing home.

That supervisors will keep your charts hostage for hours at a time then yell when you are late leaving because you still have to chart.

The 1500 fluid restriction pt is always the one who requests 3 cups of coffee with their breakfast tray, will get angry when you remove their h2o pitcher from the room, only to find them with their head under the sink the next time you enter the room.

That the schizo COPDr will think that her O2 tubing is a python that is tring to eat her

Some ppl just need an ativan drip

You will find yourself being chased by a lil old lady with a pill crusher that she stole of your cart

Demented residents will put anything and I mean anything in their mouths

Critical Lab values will always come when your already in the middle of a emergency

That at times it will take 6 nurses to give one little old lady IM Risperdal and that after you give it she will hit you run from the rooming screaming that you shot her and promptly pull down her pants to anyone who passes her in the hallway to show her where you shot her

[lovinthebabies]

That scares the heck out of me! I ALREADY feel like I know nothing! And I'm going to graduate in a year! I mean, I know stuff, but it doesn't feel like enough. (sigh) Does that feeling ever go away?

I have been a nurse for a year and a half and still freak out when something new pops up (which by the way is a daily occurrence in nursing). The trick is to learn from EVERY situation.

[lovinthebabies]

Let me add while I'm thinking about it:

I've learned that, just the reverse of cars that never make 'that' noise for the mechanic, no matter how many times my patient denies chest pain overnight, the moment the doc or day shift nurse comes into the room, patients will pipe up "my chest has been hurting ALL NIGHT!"

And let me name this one Timothy's Razor: "If something goes wrong with a patient, it'll tend to go wrong JUST after I gave report and said it was fine."

~faith,

Timothy.

This was brought to light in a big way last weekend for me. My co-worker had given report on her patient (in for and infected MRSA wound). She reported he slept all night with no complaints (which was true). He coded while she gave report on her next patient.

[FranEMTnurse, CNA, LPN, EMT-I]

That a doctor will give a medication to a patient who is allergic to that medication, and fortunately the patient was already taking Benadryl, but still wound up getting a super infection in her bladder because she was discharged from the hospital with an indwelling catheter.

That sometimes more than one staff member calls in sick and your work load is doubled

[BRANDIE_RED]

Thanks for all the laughs!

[brimama]

loving it

[brimama]

love it

[tinerjayne]

I THINK THAT ALL OF THAT IS NEED TO KNOW INFORMATION. HOW DARE THEY NOT SAY SOMETHING ABOUT THAT STUFF. WHEN I START SCHOOL I WILL HAVE ALL OF THOSE QUESTIONS ANSWERED BEFORE I SET FOOT IN A CLINICAL:rotfl: . BUT MAYBE NOT. I HOPE I NEVER RUN INTO PROJECTILE VOMMITTING OR TOO MUCH POOP.

Sadly your hope will never come true-you will encounter much projectile vomitting And poop.

[tinerjayne]

That no matter how much you advocate, how often you're in their room, how much you get them everything they could possibly need-you will encounter a completely ungrateful and rude patient/family member.

[nursesaurus]

That if you are trying to put a foley in a woman, and miss, leave it in place, then get new cath and try again, you can then tell where you do not want to put it.

Surprisingly I was told this in school :):)

[nursesaurus]

That Nurses are some of the only people who can use emesis basins (new, clean ones) to eat their lunch or birthday cake out of.

I worked psych as a tech for a few years and they couldnt have glass vases, so when someone brought flowers we would use urinals. lol