What is the dumbest thing a student/newbie ever said or did??
I ask because I'm starting nursing school in May and want to know what NOT to do!
I thought it could be entertaining as well if not for those of us that are saying "I don't get it...why was that dumb??" than for you more experienced nurses to get a chuckle!
Also if there is anything that a student did that isn't exactly dumb just a BIG no-no please please share!
I worked as an aide in LTC before I got my license. One night I was getting this lady ready for bed and noticed she had a humongous mole on her elbow. For some reason, and to this day I have no clue why, I went to tell the nurse about Miss B's elbow wart. So she came into check it out (slow night, what can I say?) and here's the nice part...
Her boob had managed to sway to the side and was under her arm, so in all reality, it was her NIPPLE that I thought was mole I didn't even realize her breast had fallen to the side... Oh my.
You'd think after being female all my life I'd have learned anatomy by that point, LOL!!
This sounds awful but my charge nurse told me this story about my former preceptor. Apparently one of her patients was crashing so she yelled out of the pt's room, "hurry someone call 911!"
So, a phlebotomist who happened to be passing by the room at that time rushed to the phone on the wall and called 911. All of this on a cardiology floor!
This sounds awful but my charge nurse told me this story about my former preceptor. Apparently one of her patients was crashing so she yelled out of the pt's room, "hurry someone call 911!"
So, a phlebotomist who happened to be passing by the room at that time rushed to the phone on the wall and called 911. All of this on a cardiology floor!
WOW I don't blame the phlebotomist as much I would probably do the same, automatically do it.
"There is one new staff nurse followed a physician's round. He asked the staff to hold his TIE for him as he is bending down to auscultate the patient's lungs. Instead the staff nurse held his THIGH."
This is soooo hilarious thank you for sharing, I had a good laugh.
I'm thinking hemolysis. If red blood cells get to warm they burst open. Inside the red blood cells is potassium, but just a tiny bit. But multiply that by millions of red blood cells, that's enough potassium to stop the patient's heart.
Always look at the whole picture of the patient. Always know your primary diagnosis.
We had a group of students not too long ago......... pt had had a colon resection..... pts stool was black and tarry............. do not think that is just a bm......... think of the things that it could be......... GI bleed......bleeding at the anastomosis site........Hct was 24...........and had received 2 units of blood the shift before............
pay attention to the details.....
And know that the only stupid question is the one that you do not ask.
My CNA co worker said to a family "He was so beloved here" like he was alraedy dead... at a Hospice. She was 11 years a CNA. I wondered why she was allowed to do a lot of things she said and did, like not report a LOA on a pt who was gone from 6pm-11pm,since she forgot to check on him from 2pm -8pm, so it came as no surprise to me when she lied about me on twp very sticky situations, my word of honor was dismissed, i was forced to give a two weeks notice since it was unethical to begin with for me to even acknowledge that insult with anything but a two week notice, i refuse to work with liars, but have had to put up with worse.
What is the dumbest thing a student/newbie ever said or did??
I ask because I'm starting nursing school in May and want to know what NOT to do!
I thought it could be entertaining as well if not for those of us that are saying "I don't get it...why was that dumb??" than for you more experienced nurses to get a chuckle!
Also if there is anything that a student did that isn't exactly dumb just a BIG no-no please please share!
Thx!
The "dumbest", biggest no-no is NOT to ask (what you think) are stupid questions, and instead blunder ahead pretending to know it all.
2. This was not a newbie. This actually happened at a hospital in Tulsa: A nurse warmed blood in the microwave prior to transfusing. As far as I remember, the patient died.
Whoa.
Had a student give K+ elixir IV.
But my favorite was an experienced nurse who struggled to get a patient out of bed, because she was told he had standing orders for a suppository.
First semester, I gave a male pt who was totally mobile except for the chest tube, a bed bath. I was so nervous and focused on following all the steps that I had just learned, that I didn't even bother to ask him to do what he was able to. I was so into doing it right, that I even ended up giving him peri-care! Oops! :imbar It didn't occur to me until later that day, that he was completely capable of cleaning himself - and should have! Ah well, maybe I made his day.
Went to toss an emesis basin full of Hep C blood. Stepped on the little pedal to pop open the lid of the trash can w/ red bag. Pop goes the lid, hits the emesis basin (because I was holding it too low and close to the lid), up goes the blood, all over the walls, the room, me...
This is the first time ever in 5yrs experience (non-nsg) that being fully gowned and wearing all my PPE has saved me. It scares me now to think I used to think it was useless and inconvenient...at least I still wore it.
Also, while working as a tech in a very busy ER where our usual patients are geriatric and where it is not uncommon to have a couple codes+ in ED or in house a shift...
ED director/RN, who often fills in as house supervisor, steps in to say good night, notices patient we are receiving from paramedics is crashing and screams...
than for you more experienced nurses to get a chuckle!
I didn't even realize her breast had fallen to the side... Oh my. 
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forrester
197 Posts
One would have to think that the rbc's lysed, spilling potassium and a variety of lysozymes into the plasma. Not good for the patient.
I imagine the blood would both hemolyze and then begin clotting up.
Any biochemists out there???