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!
When you're about to hang a new bag of IV fluids, don't pull the IV tubing from the old bag without taking the bag down off the pole first. Don't spike through the bag!
You could get really wet.
Been there, done that with a bag of heparin in a pressure set even. Never knew those things could spew that far unto the air.
I had a several day old post op colostomy with a large, gaping draining midline incision on dopamine, tpn, fluids and like a hundred antibiotics. This lol came in and literally gained 50 lbs of water over night. She is also deafer than a doornail and she gets fed up of trying to answer questions that she cant hear, so she just kinda waves you off and closes her eyes. One morning the cardiologist called and I gave condition report, he asked questions about this or that, and I answered him. Well then he asked "is she positive or negative today?" Pause. I answer and tell him that "because she cant hear and that I work nights its hard to tell. I do say that she has been sleeping well and that she seems to be in ok spirits when she is awake." Pause. Dr. says, I meant OUTPUT. Im a cardiologist, I cant do anything about her mentation, but I can fix the output..." All the girls heard it, and I could have died. Oh my. ~Ivanna
I asked a student one day to put a new ER patient into a gown and she told me that was "tech" work and she was here to learn what nurses do, and not do scut work. THAT went over well. Now that you mention it, I never saw her in the ER again, humm, wonder why?
OMG! I can't even begin to fathom saying something like that!
Thank you everyone...keep them coming. For the posts that I have NO IDEA what you are talking about (since I haven't started yet) I am still taking notes. I plan on saving this thread and referencing it each semester so as it becomes clearer it will all make sense. I have looked up a couple abbreviations that keep popping up and then I laugh. (Especially the NG suction accidentally used on a foley/cath...I get it now...lol).
Anyhow, thanks again. Just wanted to tell you I appreciate all the feedback.
(Abishag. I like to call her the First CNA. Cool screen name. )
Explained what VTach looked like on the telemetry monitor and gave a lengthy explanation of how it was a very bad rhythm, and then finished with, "That's a bad one because it can progress to VFib."
Whereupon the student jumped in, "Oh, I see, so if the patient has VFib, then you would call the doctor, right?"
The Monitor Tech and I both said, "No, that's when you'd call a CODE!" :uhoh21:
When you're about to hang a new bag of IV fluids, don't pull the IV tubing from the old bag without taking the bag down off the pole first. Don't spike through the bag!
You could get really wet.
Additionally, when you are spiking a bag of TPN, be very careful not to put the spike through the bag.
Specializes in CNA, Surgical, Pediatrics, SDS, ER.
As I was getting ready to roll her bed upstairs, I said "Is your husband planning on coming with us?"
to which she replied angrily "THATS MY SISTER!!!"
I honestly had no idea she was a woman. I've never made that mistake again.
That is hillarious!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I myself have asked and done some pretty stupid & embarassing things. My latest was putting in a Head CT w/ & w/out contrast for a pt w/ abd pain. It was supposed to be an abd & pelvis CT. The doc asked if we were going to give the contrast through the pts ear. It was the end of my shift and I was wiped but we all got a good laugh out of it.
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
what you dont want to do is wanting to know what dumb things people did thinking it is entertaining. :down:
my apologies. i realized shortly after the potassium reply that some mistakes can be gut wrenching/deadly and not entertaining. that post really scared me. but ultimately (and primarily) my intent is to learn from the mistakes not to be entertained. :) thanks for pointing out my first "dumb mistake".
When you're about to hang a new bag of IV fluids, don't pull the IV tubing from the old bag without taking the bag down off the pole first. Don't spike through the bag!
You could get really wet.
Ha ha, just the other day I went to change 2 pressure bags for both a CVP monitor and a A-line. For some unknown reason, on the second bag change I unspiked the bag BEFORE letting the pressure out of the pressure bag!!! LOL, it was hilarious as the fluid propelled at great force all over me and behind me, I was soaked! The patient and I had a good laugh over that...:chuckle:lol2:
Okay, let me tell a couple on myself, but from when I was a new pharmacy tech, not nurse, but still very funny.
I had to do a lot of mixing. We had a machine that you hooked to the bag of fluids, and it could remove fluid from the bag, or add to it. It was operated by a pedal, so it was like a pedal controled syringe. Kinda cool. While, I was mixing away one day, and I clicked to instill 500ml of solution in the bag, instead of withdraw. And the machine worked very quickly. So I quickly added 500cc of air to a full 1000cc bag of NS. Exploded like a bag, everybody runs in to see me soaking wet.
I also was cleaning out med draws on patients that had went home. DIdn't know what nitropaste was at the time, but a nurse had left an empty packet in the drawer, that had oozed out. Got all over my hands before I saw it. I was my hands, and went on about my busisness. I was working out a lot at the time, and my normal BP was like 100/50-60 any, so within a few minutes I was flat on the floor. Nurse came ot pull meds to find me unconscience with a BP of 75/30. Got me some NS real quick in the ER
than for you more experienced nurses to get a chuckle!
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:down:.thumb.jpg.6ef22235a95e8726ea425a8585c9cf44.jpg){kind=small}
i realized shortly after the potassium reply that some mistakes can be gut wrenching/deadly and not entertaining. that post really scared me. but ultimately (and primarily) my intent is to learn from the mistakes not to be entertained. :) thanks for pointing out my first "dumb mistake". 
tvccrn, ASN, RN
762 Posts
Been there, done that with a bag of heparin in a pressure set even. Never knew those things could spew that far unto the air.