Dumbest thing a student/newbie ever said/did?

wonderbee, BSN, RN · Mar 27, 2008

Running down the hall yelling "where are the chest strippers?". We were putting in new chest tubes and I couldn't find the tube stripper tool. The guys had a great time with that one.

spider11 · Mar 27, 2008

I had a student who was in the room when the Dr came in. The student proceeded to tell the Dr that he should listen to the pt's lungs "in the front" because the pt didn't take deep breaths. lol

Here's my stupid question...I had no hospital experience and was a new tech on ICU. We had a pt on a vent come up and his Sats were only 78% on the vent. I asked the charge nurse "aren't they going to put him on any oxygen???" :chuckle Needless to say...we all laugh at that one. I'm a nurse now and we still laugh about it. he he

Ruby Vee, BSN · Mar 27, 2008

there was the student who gave milk of magnesia as an enema because the patient was npo. (student on my unit -- not my student, thank the deity!)

there was the student who have milk of magnesia im -- 15cc in each cheek. (no, i'm not kidding. my best friend, who was her instructor told me about this one.)

there was the newbie who flushed the hickman catheter with 10cc of potassium chloride. to be fair, it wasn't her fault -- pharmacy had drawn it up and labeled it as "heparin flush." interestingly enough, it was the second time it had happened to this particular patient and she knew what was happening and called the code herself before she went down. (couldn't convince the newbie to stop pushing it.) patient survived, newbie went directly home and was never heard from again.

there was the newbie who taped the swan-ganz to the side rail -- with predictable results. then he did the same thing the next day with the triple lumen catheter. after which he went to his instructor and said "someone needs to check my patient," and then left the hospital. (i was the one sent to check his patient.)

there was the medical student who politely opened the door and held it for the patient in the geriatric chair trying to wheel himself down the hall and out of the unit. that would have dumb enough, but it was the door to the stairwell. he held the door open and let the patient wheel himself down the stairs and land upside down against the wall at the bottom of the stairs.

there was the intern who tried for 30 minutes to draw blood gases on a dead patient. never noticed she was dead until we asked him to go back into the room and pronounce her.

i have just as many "dumb nurse stories" about those of us with more experience, including myself! but that would be another thread!

flightnurse2b, LPN · Mar 27, 2008

one of the students in my class had a patient wih a stage 4 decub that they were packing. the patient also apparently had an active gi bleed. one day she came running out of the room yelling "omg! the patient is oozing everywhere!" so we all went in there with the instructor, and she lifts up the covers and says "see? her decub is so bad the necrotic tissue is coming out her orifice"

it was diarrhea.

i dont think she will live that one down for a while.

4x4country · Mar 27, 2008

I am a student myself, so I hear many questions that seem so duh. I have experience as a CNA so I have a basic knowledge about some nursing items. However, the best questions come from the non-nursing students. We graduate in May so we sould have some basic level of knowledge. Last week at clinicals a student asked, what does a no-code mean? The teacher tried to explain, and all she kept saying was a no-code means you do nothing.... isn't their a code? The teacher kept explaining yea, a no-code, support emotional and family. No meds or CPR. Student still did not understand.

It still amazes me that a woman with five children refuses to give a elderly pt a total lift shower bc "she don't know how". She finds three + students to help her. Totaling four to five people to give one bath.

Granted my stupid questions are always asked in the study group the night before a test bc I am so stressed. One time someone was reading, " drink plenty of H2O" . Before I realized it, I am asking what H2O is... lol :yeah: :yeah: :yeah:

Agnus · Mar 27, 2008

I am asking what H2O is... lol :yeah:

Nappie time.

maryloufu · Mar 27, 2008

Never give a med you didn't draw up for yourself. Someone else drew it up? They can give it. Never tell someone you gave a potassium push when really all you did was flush after a potassium drip.Never stand and argue with a nurse about something you saw in a book that she did wrong. Never complain about a peer in front of a patient. Know what a drug does before you give it.

Remember you are going to make mistakes. :heartbeat

Agnus · Mar 27, 2008

Um I was too polite as a student. I had a pt I do not remember exactly what the problems was, maybe she fell or was about to go down or something. Any way I needed help FAST. I did not think it ok to yell in the hospital so I quietly came into the hall and walked to my nurse and told her. She nicely explained that I should have just called out "I NEED HELP IN HERE NOW!"

NursKris82 · Mar 27, 2008

A student in my class, but not my rotation was filling out an assessment. I geuss she didn't assess something or was unsure of what she heard so she filled in what the nurse prior to her did. However, the nurse before her filled it out incorrectly, therefore, she did too. When asked why she wrote that she very honestly admitted because the nurse before her had. I admire her honesty, most everyone would have made up SOMETHING. Anyway, she was a good student, but she failed that semester and had to repeat it.

newlpn08 · Mar 27, 2008

As a first semester student, another student and I was teamed up to do our very first assessment. We looked over the patients chart before going in to see the patient, and we both noted that the patient was blind.

So what do we do. In our nervousness we are doing our head to toe assessment, and we keep shining our lights into her eyes, and the pupils do not contract. I said to the other student"Her pupils are not contracting", and the patient says"You do know I am blind don't you?". It is funny what being nervous can do to you.

TigerGalLE, BSN, RN · Mar 27, 2008

Ha I had a new nurse with me one day. Our pt was very zonked from morphine she received during a procedure. We needed to push Narcan. I was explaining how Narcan had a short half life and we needed to reassess the situation frequently since morphine may last longer then the narcan. The new nurse looked at me like a light bulb just went off in her head and said... "Oh so I need to push the Narcan very very slowly then right?" Um no...

Also please don't give AM insulin to someone who is NPO unless they are on TPN or some type of D5 or D10... They will drop and you will be pushing D50.

And always check your med orders before giving any med. And it is okay to question an order.

If you have a gut feeling about something. Follow up on it.

Tiger

nrsang97, BSN, RN · Mar 27, 2008

I was at work one night and a newer nurse comes up to me and says, "Mrs. Jones said after she burped she is having chest pain, and she is receiving a blood transfusion should I call the doc?" NEVER BLOW OFF CHEST PAIN! I told her to go and get a set of VS and call the house MD. She goes down to said pt room and gets VS, comes out and says "Dynamap says HR 180!" I said check apical rate. She did and I did also, was 180. She called house MD and while she is on the phone I got the charsh cart ready. She looked at me and says " what do we need that for?" I had to explain what we were going to give. Meanwhile await for MD to arrive and had the pt cough, bear down etc. I was explaining that the pt was in SVT.

House MD and PA arrive and I start asking if they want the adenocard. House PA gives adneocard and pt converts.

After I explained to the new nurse why we gave the med we did and the affect it had and why crash cart was needed.

I also gave her a lecture that no matter what you always call with chest pain. Even if you think it is just muscle pain, anxiety, or the person is faking.

I had someone blow it off once and I had to send the pt to the unit. She thought he was faking.

So moral of the story DON'T BLOW OFF CHEST PAIN.