You're overflowing with awesome tips. Now you can share them and have a chance to win money! For our fifth National Nurses Week 2018 Contest we want to hear your best tip for nurses. Maybe it's perfectly suited for an experienced nurse or maybe it works best for a nurse who is just entering the workforce. Whatever the case, tell us best tip for nurses in the comments below and you could be the winner of one of two $250 Amazon.com gift cards.
Even if our panel of all-knowing udges doesn't choose you as a grand prize winner, you could still be selected as one of two runner-ups and receive a cool prize package including everything shown below and MORE!
What are you waiting for? Let us know your best tip and get that much closer to winning!
Specializes in Flight, ER, Transport, ICU/Critical Care.
There is no substitute for good patient assessment. Develop a routine and stick to it. It should not take more than 3- 5 minutes. Stay focused. Try not to get too trapped with long convo of symptomology unless pertinent issue found or change has occurred or there is a critical finding. This is physical assessment - what you find when you lay hands and instruments on a patient. Accuracy matters. Auscultation matters.
I said, "In homecare, the parents really are experts in their child's care."
I have some cases where it sounds ironic.
OK, MOST parents with a medically fragile child really are experts in their child's care.
Most kids who qualify for home nursing have problems with their breathing. The etiology of their breathing problems will vary, and often - when the underlying disease is rare - the parent knows as much as the nurses. Sometimes they know more than the regular pediatric floor nurses.
The child is in the hospital because he needs something that can only be found in the hospital, such as surgery or specialized testing. Trachs, BiPap, vents - these we do at home. And nobody knows the child as well as his own parents. If they tell you that that procedure works better if you do it this way, listen to them.
Elfriede, you're right that this doesn't apply to all parents.
There's many funny, quirky tips myself and all of us could leave, but that's most important to me is 'stick to what you know.' What you were taught, read, and know to be true. With so many nurses, we all have different techniques and ways about us, but you'll often run into those who have made modifications to their skill. While we can all appreciate anything that may make more sense or make life easier, some of those modifications aren't safe or correct. That being said, many skills and techniques are updating, always stay with that. But, especially with training, lean on what you know. Clarify it to be safe.
Medic/Nurse, BSN, RN
880 Posts
There is no substitute for good patient assessment. Develop a routine and stick to it. It should not take more than 3- 5 minutes. Stay focused. Try not to get too trapped with long convo of symptomology unless pertinent issue found or change has occurred or there is a critical finding. This is physical assessment - what you find when you lay hands and instruments on a patient. Accuracy matters. Auscultation matters.
This is the basis for everything nursing.
:angel: