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!
Specializes in CCU, SICU, CVSICU, Precepting & Teaching.
a few second year students ran ns too fast. they were scared they'd get in trouble so they refilled the bag with tap water. this was brought up at our school of nursing's lived experience day.
the instructors were not pleased.
it's amazing what the human body can withstand, and it's amazing the mistakes patients can survive. but only if you admit your error as soon as you recognize it and immediately notify the person who can help you rectify it -- the charge nurse, nurse practitioner, physician, whomever.
Specializes in CCU, SICU, CVSICU, Precepting & Teaching.
okay, the very first day that i was off of orientation, i get report on my icu patient from an experienced nurse. the report lasted all of five minutes. so, i go into the patient's room and noticed a) he is a prisoner with 5 guards in the room and b) his heart rate is 70...60...30...0! so i yell for help, get someone to start cpr, run to get the crash cart and slap the pads on the guy. i noticed that he is handcuffed to the metal bed so i ask the guard to unlock them quickly. the doc walks in the room, orders 200j, i say "i'm clear, you are clear, everybody clear" and hit the button, just like i had learned in my acls class. but...i had not noticed that the patient's feet were still shackled to the bed....electrical arcs went everywhere and i smell burning flesh. not good....the patient did not make it and i tried to console myself with the fact that this patient was not a nice person (child molester). he also had severly damaged his heart with cocaine use and probably wouldn't have made it anyway. anyway, after contemplating leaving nursing, the nurses on my floor were very supportive and convinced me to keep at it. i had to answer to "sparky" for quite a few months. this was 10 years ago and i really love my job as a competent icu nurse now but whew! what a way to start!
i remember doing something very similar. unlike you, however, i didn't have the presence of mind to ask the guards to remove the wrist cuffs. fortunately, someone else did.
This is actually a very informative and somewhat entertaining thread. I'm an LPN starting my pre-req's for nursing school.
While I was in LPN school, during clinicals, I was just starting my assessment on one of my pts. She moaned when I tryed to arouse her so I started to take her resp. I listened for an entire 60 sec. she only took four breaths. Just then the Unit Manager came in the room to assess her heels for breakdown. I said, "There is something wrong. I only count 4 resp." The Nurse Manager askes me to turn off the TV and the air bed as she whipped out her steth and started to listen. After a few seconds she pops back up and says with sincerity, "Honey, she's dead." At the time I was so shaken by the experiance I had to ask to leave the unit to collect myself.
But looking back I can't help but ROLF.
Some of the best advise that I can give that hasn't already been said is never make up things. One of my classmates was failed over making up part of an assessment. The thing that got him was a silly bandaid. :smackingf
...and, Always approach every situation from another's point of view. The shoe should always be on the other foot. :urgycld:
and that's my . Please take it for what it's worth!
About two weeks after becoming a CNA, I was working in the Alzheimer's unit & I was wheeling a pt to her room. . . The pt wasnt all the way back in her seat, and her foot got caught on the front wheel of the wc and flew forward, head first.. I didnt realized how bad it was til I saw blood flowing from her head.. I felt SO HORRIBLE!!
They called the paramedics, I got her in bed, took some vitals & she looks up with me in all hopelessness & says "Honey am I gonna die??"
Gosh I just started crying then & now, a year later I wanna cry again!
Moral of the story, always make sure everyones all the way back in their chair, with foot pedals if possible, and I always have my hand on the back on the pts shoulder when Im pushing them..
.. She did end up dying about two weeks later .. I felt horrible, but they tried to console me saying she was so close anyways.. that just sped it up a little.. Wellllll.. I wont be making that mistake again!!
During our first year of nursing school, I had a friend who had been in the patient's room for a really long time doing an assessment. I asked what took so long when she came out. Embarrassed, she replied that she couldn't hear any bowel sounds so she listened for 5 minutes in each quad just like we were taught. After completing this and still hearing no bowel sounds she realized that she had the chestpiece of the steth turned to the wrong side the whole time.
I also had a fellow student who charted that a patient's urine smelled like "pneumonia" when she meant "ammonia".
I just wish that I had read the post about putting 10 cc of NS into a Protonix vial and pulling out the syringe before I did just that in clinicals this last week. I had a nice refreshing shower :nuke:
I'm in the UK and a Psychiatric nurse so perhaps I shouldn't be posting in a general forum... but here goes.
On my (Locked) ward we have clients that are on sections that can only be altered with written permission from The Home Office (IE Central Government).
They are not allowed off the ward, to be discharged , to be transferred to another ward or hospital etc etc without this written permission.
As they have committed a criminal offence whilst mentally ill, e.g Murder, Rape, GBH. ABH
So to get to the point of this post.
Remember you are part of a TEAM.
DO NOT MAKE UNILATERAL DECISIONS!
We recently had a student nurse that did not agree with some of the policies on our ward.
She thought that the clients should have free access to the kitchen to make themselves a drink when ever they wanted.
She was told numerous times that this was dangerous, as client 'X' was with us due to stabbing someone and the kitchen had knives, forks and spoons he could use to do it again. (let alone access to boiling water.)
But NO she didn't agree to this and kept leaving the Kitchen door unlocked.
Nor did she think it was unwise to be alone in a room with a Rapist. ("He won't hurt me as he likes me" -- Hello? You think he only rapes people he hates?)
She would let clients off the ward by themselves when they are only allowed off with escort. SHE KNEW THIS... but she thought it would be OK as he promised to come back
She thought she knew better than qualified staff, consultants AND the Home Office.
I'm in the UK and a Psychiatric nurse so perhaps I shouldn't be posting in a general forum... but here goes.
On my (Locked) ward we have clients that are on sections that can only be altered with written permission from The Home Office (IE Central Government).
They are not allowed off the ward, to be discharged , to be transferred to another ward or hospital etc etc without this written permission.
As they have committed a criminal offence whilst mentally ill, e.g Murder, Rape, GBH. ABH
So to get to the point of this post.
Remember you are part of a TEAM.
DO NOT MAKE UNILATERAL DECISIONS!
We recently had a student nurse that did not agree with some of the policies on our ward.
She thought that the clients should have free access to the kitchen to make themselves a drink when ever they wanted.
She was told numerous times that this was dangerous, as client 'X' was with us due to stabbing someone and the kitchen had knives, forks and spoons he could use to do it again. (let alone access to boiling water.)
But NO she didn't agree to this and kept leaving the Kitchen door unlocked.
Nor did she think it was unwise to be alone in a room with a Rapist. ("He won't hurt me as he likes me" -- Hello? You think he only rapes people he hates?)
She would let clients off the ward by themselves when they are only allowed off with escort. SHE KNEW THIS... but she thought it would be OK as he promised to come back
She thought she knew better than qualified staff, consultants AND the Home Office.
She is now a hair dresser.
I guess she is lucky to be a hair dresser and not DEAD!
than for you more experienced nurses to get a chuckle!
At the time I was so shaken by the experiance I had to ask to leave the unit to collect myself. 
. Please take it for what it's worth!
.. I felt horrible, but they tried to console me saying she was so close anyways.. that just sped it up a little.. Wellllll.. I wont be making that mistake again!!
Ruby Vee, BSN
17 Articles; 14,051 Posts
this could not have come at a better time for me. thank you. and to all the newbies out there -- good advice!