Flip, Turn, Crush & Smear

Nurses General Nursing

Published

Just looking for some opinions here.

I am a nursing student and have been feeling like we do the same things everyday at clinical: assessment, bed, bath, adls, vs, meds, & the rare NG or foley. Today I asked my clinical instructor when we will be advancing to more complex tasks. She replied something to the effect of, "Honey this is it. This is what nurses do. We are here to flip, turn, crush, and smear." That caught me a little off guard.

I know how vital all of those things are to patient care, and realize that the things we have been doing in clinical are the building blocks of nursing, but our classroom instructors keep saying, just get through these basics and then we'll get to the "good" stuff.

So my question is: What's the "good" stuff? In your everyday lives as nurses do you feel like you do more of the "good" stuff or more of the flip, turn, crush, and smear?

:)

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More FTCS with some good stuff thrown in.

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Specializes in Peds, ER/Trauma.

what exactly are you being taught to "crush" ?

pills?

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You will be able to help people in times of crisis.

Ease suffering and fear. Save a life. Assist them in achieving a dignified death.

Some will say, "Thank you nurse."

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what exactly are you being taught to "crush" ?

pills?

:) Yeah, I think she was referencing crushing pills.

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Specializes in Peds, ER/Trauma.

you will also be poking, tube-placing, bandaging, assessing, medicating, coding, comforting, etc.....

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Specializes in Emergency.

There's also patient teaching as well as learning about new illnesses and treatments.

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Specializes in Cardiac Stepdown and CVSICU.
:) yeah, i think she was referencing crushing pills.

that's interesting. in my nursing program, we are being told not to crush pulls, and the pill crusher in the med room was removed. supposedly it is a jcaho violation...just wondering...

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that's interesting. in my nursing program, we are being told not to crush pulls, and the pill crusher in the med room was removed. supposedly it is a jcaho violation...just wondering...

uh-ohh, that can't be good. i'll ask next week.

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Specializes in LTC.
that's interesting. in my nursing program, we are being told not to crush pulls, and the pill crusher in the med room was removed. supposedly it is a jcaho violation...just wondering...

how are you supposed to get meds in someone who has difficulty swallowing or a gtube?

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Specializes in LTC, assisted living, med-surg, psych.
that's interesting. in my nursing program, we are being told not to crush pulls, and the pill crusher in the med room was removed. supposedly it is a jcaho violation...just wondering...

how, then, are you supposed to medicate patients who cannot take pills whole? yes, there are a number of meds that are never to be crushed (e.g. kcl and any extended-release medication). yes, there are liquid solutions for many drugs. but unless a pt. has an iv, g/tube or other means of intake, you sometimes have no other alternative other than to crush their meds and put them in a medium (such as pudding or applesauce) to facilitate the process of swallowing.

i am also unaware of any jcaho policy prohibiting this. i was working in a hospital two years ago when jcaho came through, and they never mentioned anything about crushing meds even though we did it all the time. maybe things have changed since then, but i'd sure like to know how they intend for us to get pills down patients who can't swallow them otherwise.

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JCAHO just gets stupider and stupider :rotfl:

maybe they just want people to wash it in between

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