clinical tricks to wow your instructors...

[evans_c1]

Hey I just thought I would open this thread for students to learn new shortcuts and tricks to impress your classmates or instructors with. I'll share a couple and let's see where this goes.

1. Think your pt's IV is infiltrated? One trick for a pt. who is either obese or just edematous is to turn off the lights in the room and shine a pen light at an angle toward the IV site. If it is infiltrated it will glow bright usually.

2. I hate it when I open up a 10 ml syringe of NS to flush an IV or anything and when you clear the air bubble at the top it hits the ceiling! While the syringe is in the package, squeeze the syringe until you feel it "give a little". DO not try to push it as hard as to pop the cap off in the package. If you let that pressure off, when you go to open it, the air will be much easier to clear from the syringe...without hitting a classmate or instructor!

[1Tulip]

Senile (demented) or delerious patients who clench their teeth and won't let you do oral care or look in their oral pharynx...

Get a bunch of tongue blades. Gently put two, one on top of the other, so that the tips are between the top and bottom teeth in the front. (Usually there is some place in the front of the mouth where there is a little bit of malocclusion.) Then take two more tongue blades and insert them between the first two. Then two more, then two more. You're gradually wedging the mouth open. As the mouth opens, you can work the stack of tongue blades back between the molars. When the mouth is sufficiently wide enough, you can put in bite blocks, or just take care of whatever you needed to do and then remove the tongue blades.

I worked in ICU and hated it when other nurses told me the patient "wouldn't let" them do oral care!!!

Obviously this doesn't work on patients who are swinging at you, but it can be safely done even when patients thrash their heads around.

[manna, BSN, RN]

Or another trick that works from #2 - instead of pushing "forward," aspirate back a little air first (pull the plunger back), then it'll be much easier to push the air out!

[pinefarmgirl]

Great thread idea! Anyone have more?? (bump)

[S.N. Visit, BSN, RN]

I don't know if this will wow anyone or work for everyone, but I have used a little trick to get demetia patients to eat. I'll say "Will you taste this and tell me if it's too salty/sweet?" The next time I'll say "Does this taste alright, maybe it needs something, what do you think?" I just keep repeating those line's or adding similar ones and they have eaten every time :wink2:

[prmenrs, RN]

When you're taping a dressing, fold a little tab on one end of the tape so the next person doesn't have to scratch around trying to get the end off. (Don't do this on an IV, of course!! )