Tell your memorable "1st" story

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In the mood to hear stories. Figured I'd try to get the ball rolling with this...

Tell a story about a significant 1st in nursing school.

For example, it could be your first clinical day, patient, blood draw, exam, even 1st big laugh. I'll tell one...

My very first nursing class ever. It was microbiology & I was excited. I had bought the book & read ahead. Ahh, I was so conscientious (geeky) back then (9 months ago) at the tender age of 32.

Instead of attending my first class I sat by my father-in-law's bedside. He had pneumonia (complication of emphysema) and it didn't look good. He died that very night & I was soooo glad I cut class to be with my husband.

Two weeks later, I was psyched for my very first nursing class. Sure I felt a bad for missing 4 classes, but I learned A LOT about nursing, especially end of life issues. I thought the professor would say something wise, something supportive, or even ask me what I learned about microbiology from my father-in-law's opportunistic infection.

She had nothing to say about my absence. Instead, she suggested drop the class. As you guys know, I don't have the luxury of that when I had to take 7 pre-reqs within 1 year (inc. Anat 1 & 2). I told the prof. I could muddle thru.

All semester, I kept thinking that this woman is my first role model of nursing, the 1st nurse to guide me. She missed a huge teaching opportunity with me. She could have asked me about my two wks of bedside vigils, funeral arrangements, sitting shiva, packing an apartment, and watching sons make sense of their distant father...No, she had her canned lectures and slides.

But that is okay. She may have missed a teaching experience, I had a huge learning experience.

Anybody want to share a story?

--Caroline (only A & P II & ethics pre-reqs left)

(ps. kicked butt on the 1st exam. a in class. sorry to brag)

These stories are great! I haven't started school yet but I'm looking forward to it. Demon babies, flying mucus balls, dead upright pts, hummmm, sounds fun to me! Best night I had was working as an Aide with a CNA in an Alzhiemers unit. Had to stop "Frank" from depositing urine into the large garbage bin for soiled laundry - I guess I belong there - I would just sit down when I had a spare second and ask the gals what was up.:chuckle

more stories...these are great!

My funniest first:

First immunization. Had the guy sitting on a chair, so I had to squat down to get to his deltoid. Hands trembling, I started to "shoot". Stopped. Didnt even get close to the skin. Started to shoot again. Again, I stopped myself. Finally, Closed my eyes, and just darted it in. Opened eyes, saw the needle sticking out of his arm. My eyes rolled back in my head, I turned white as a ghost, and I hit the floor. Woke up, Jumped up, and finished the job.

My boss still makes fun of me.

Specializes in NICU.

OMG, N-I-B, you just reminded me of my first injection!

It was in my first semester of nursing school, and we were on this very old ward (ward, not unit...think open ward with eight beds all in plain view of each other) in this very old pre-WWII hospital that serves mostly indigent patients.

My instructor brought me over, with my injection, to the bedside of this half-delirious man, who was to be my first ever shot in the a-double-s. We helped him roll over, and I was thanking the Lord and his momma that he was mostly out of it, because I was already tense and nervous. I liked the *idea* of giving the shot, but in reality I wasn't sure I could do it. First time jitters and all that.

So I prep the site, and she's hovering right over my shoulder (it was a check-off so it had to be witnessed) (and why is it that all my dang stories have to do with someone hovering over me? I think I have stage-anxiety!). She says, "Okay, now just jab it in really quickly." I'm like, okay, sure. I pose, resting my wrist on his leg. One. Two. Three.

Four. Five. I can't do it. A bead of sweat trickles down my neck.

She says, "Do it, go ahead. Really fast. Onetwothree."

I start my count again, trying to buy time.

One. Two. Jab.

Except I didn't jab. I lightly tapped. In fact, I tapped so lightly that the needle bounced right off of his rhino-like skin. I was mortified!!!

My instructor starts barking at me, "Go!Go!Now!Stickitin!"

I'm starting to panic now, just a little, and am thoroughly humiliated because the ENTIRE ward and all of its visitors are now staring at me, some with sympathy (Oh, poor little nursing student...) and some with horror (Oh, dear God, don't let her be MY nursing student...).

So I jab again. Harder. Except this time, I don't bounce, but only the tip of the needle goes in, BARELY. I'm like, Oh, crap, what now? So I hesitate for a mere millisecond and the guy raises his head and plain as day screams, "F***! STICK IT IN ALREADY, MOTHER****ER!"

I was quite impressed by my ability to raise the near-dead, I must say. I never wanted to give another injection as long as I lived, and thus began my reputation within the hallowed halls of my nursing school that followed me until graduation.

I have talents.

I'm just not entirely sure what they are!

Last summer a soldier came into my 4 bed "acute area" for burns he had sustained while doing rope training (climbing up a rope, repelling down). Both of his hands and all of his fingers but one had pretty severe friction burns. I was carefully cleansing the wounds and bandaging them, wrapping each finger individually so he would have some sort of use out of his hands. As I am cutting the kerlix on the last finger dressing I accidentally cut his one "good finger" I got so upset that I jumped backwards, tripping on the soldier's helmet and started to fall--with the scissors still in my hands-- I managed to make a small laceration on the forehead of the doctor on call that day. The next day the docs presented me with a pair of scissors all taped up with the inscription "Open with caution around nurse" I will never live down the day I went on the "Scissor Attack".

These are hillarious!!

Ok, here are mine...

Our first quarter of clinical rotation was in a nursing home. I went the night before to interview the sweetest lady ever. She answered all my questions, but being new I didn't focus too much on her medical history. I felt like I was prying, so I got what I could from the medical record and she and I mostly talked about psycho-social related stuff. This lady was in her mid-90's and in fairly good shape. It wasn't until the next morniing when I was helping her bathe that I found out she had had a mastectomy on one breast... when she removed her gown. I was so surprised!!! It was nowhere in the medical record. She noticed my shock and was really sweet, saying something like, "Oh this... I had that surgery back in teh 1950's." I sure learned the importance of obtaining full histories! Later on I wondered how many other students she enjoyed playing this "trick" on because our nursing instructor said I wasn't the first person surprised by this lady's mastectomy.

During our OB rotation, I was in a patietn's room with a few fellow students and our insructor while one of the other students was being checked-off on d/cing a Foley catheter. The moment was tense because she wanted to do well. The rest of us were watching quietly and intently so we could do well when our day would come. Well, she did everything correctly except otwo little things... she didn't pinch the catheter as she pulled it out~~and~~she started holding it way too far back as she began to pull. As you can imagine, the catheter came out like a wild snake, flopping around and spraying pee-pee all over the bed and our instructor's lab coat. I remember our instructor staying totally calm while shaking her head as if to say, "Unbelievable!". Of course nothing was said and we all acted like nothing unusual happened since the patient was alert and watching us. We were novices but we all knew that a Foley probably shouldn't take on the personality of a venom spewing snake. It was hillarious in hind sight though. Oh these poor instructors.. they really do put up with a lot. THEY should be the ones writing a book! We learned a lot about how to properly d/c a catheter that day. W also learned about how to stay calm in the face of disaster. Little things mean a lot, huh?

My last one involves me. Again it was the OB rotation. The rotation was a short one because it was during summer quarter. Our instructor wanted us to each see a c-section as well as a lady partsl delivery during our clinical experience. It was the last day of clinicals and I had yet to see a lady partsl delivery. Thankfully a woman was in labor and expected to deliver before our clinicals were over. My instructor put me in that lady's room. I stood at the food of the bed behind the Midwife's sterile instrument table. NExt to me was the baby's radiant heat warmer turned on high. The room wasn't huge and there were oodles of people in there. The patient, her sister, a delivery nurse and her preceptor, the midwife, a nursery nurse and her preceptor, and me. We were packed in like sardines. The room was hot and I didn't eat breakfast. The mother was pushing like a champ and I was getting hotter and hotter. I felt like I was getting nausated and tried to wedge myself between the radiant heat warmer and sterile field table to get some air from the ceiling air conditioner vent...to no avail. The baby was crowning and bulging... just about to deliver when the room began to spin. I looked at the door, made a bee-line for it, made it to the hall and held onto the handrail as I looked up and saw my instructor and another student rushing toward me. My instructor said, "Are you ok?", and I remember saying, "I feel like I could faint.". That's the last thing I remember. My student buddy said I immediately went straight down and my head hit the carpet like a load of bricks. The next thing I remember was another student cradling my head in his hands while I was still on the floor...the rest of the students were standing all around me. I was ok, and my instructor took me to the nurses station to drink some water and to put my head between my legs for a few minutes. Later I went back to the room and watched what all happens AFTER a baby is born. :roll I learned the importance of eating breakfast, staying hydrated, what a hot environment can do to people and to avoid hot, crowded rooms. At the end of the day in our post-clinical conference our instructor told us that if a patient ever tells you they feel like they could faint, then they probably will.

By the way, all of us taking our OB rotation that quarter passed classroom and clinical parts of the course.

Keep the stories coming... great fun way to learn!

This one isn't about me but I witnessed it.

During my surgical rotation we got to look over the scheduled surgeries and choose the one(s) we wanted to watch. I chose to watch an open cholecystectomy as did a fellow student. The doctor was really cool and was explaining everything, even pointing out various organs. He even had someone give me a stool to stand on to get a better view. He offered one to the other girl too, who, by the way, looked like a deer caught in headlights. So about 20 minutes into the operation she decides that she'll take the stool anyway. Only she sits on it instead of standing. I was so engrossed in the surgery that I didn't see her stand up to try and leave but I sure heard the crash of instruments as she went down.

The nurses said, "We got one down." And one of them helped her out of the room like it happened everyday. I found out later that it is a very common occurance.:chuckle

At the end of the day, we were with the rest of our clinical group talking about what we had seen. The girl who fainted said, "All I remember is getting really hot all of a sudden and trying to leave. Then I heard someone say 'We have one down." And then I realized....Oh sh** it's me!!" Everyone was ROFL!

I was working part-time as a tech while attending LPN school. I had been divorced for about 1 1/2 years then. I had an elderly confused patient who needed his diaper changed. He had been pulling at his foley all night so there was some blood on his peri area. I was cleaning him up when he looked at me and said," Now I don't want to have sex". So I told him I didn't want to either. Now keep in mind, I am overweight, and haven't even thought about dating since my divorce. So the joke I tell about this is that I can't even get little old confused men to want me!!!!:p

Originally posted by NICU_Nurse

Aiight, peeps, I'll tell you my stupid story so that none of you EVER have to feel stupid again just because you're new. 'Kay?

I was hired in the NICU and was terrified. I don't have kids, have rarely held babies; in fact, I only knew one person with an infant in my entire life, and he was six months old when I met him and started helping her care for him as a sort-of live-in nanny (long story, not for this post...:D).

Get the picture? No babies. No experience. Zip. Nada.

My very first day out of classroom orientation, my preceptor says, Kristi, that baby needs a diaper change, bath, and change of linen because the diaper came undone.

I look over at this baby, who is in an Isolette (incubator). Looks innocent enough. Biiiiiiig baby, barely fits in the Isolette. Nice ten pounder recovering from respiratory distress at birth. Looks at me. I think he smiled.

I'm like, okay, nooooo problemo, senorita. I've got this under control. Dying babies, no. Diaper changes and changing sheets, no big dilly-o.

I gather my supplies and go to the Isolette. The baby looks up innocently at me.

I realize the baby is covered almost head to toe in disgusting green liquid stool. It's in his hair. He's grabbing at it with his hands. It's all over his legs, socks, EKG leads, pulse ox, everything. The sheets are ruined.

The theme to Damien: The OMEN starts up in the background. Honest. Hoh-hoh-hoh-hoh! Hoh-hoh-hoh-hoh! Hoh-hoh-hoh-hooooo-hoooo-ho-hoh! (higher pitched) Hoh-hoh-hoh-HOH! Hoh-HOH-hoh-HOH! The baby's eyes turn red like the devil's. He starts to cry and his tongue is forked, I swear to you.

I'm like, crap, how am I going to do this? My preceptor is watching me from the corner. I crack my knuckles and begin to sweat. I mean, SWEAT. It's freaking HOT in the nursery, and I am looking like one of the Campbell's Soup kids- you know, the one who's been smoking crack all day? My cheeks are flaming, I'm feeling pressured, she's watching me, the baby's chanting incantations in Latin.

I reach into the Isolette. I struggle for 20 minutes to clean this mess up. I bathe the baby. I change the diaper. I undo all of the old linen, and replace it with new linen.

Umm.

Hey.

Did you knooooow....

Isolette doors open up and swing down?

In retrospect, I should have asked myself one question. It would have made the whole process much easier.

Ahem.

"HOW DID THEY GET THE BABY IN THERE IN THE FIRST PLACE?"

That's right, folks. I did ALL of that with my arms stuck through the portholes of the incubator. I pulled the old stuff out and put the new stuff in through the holes. I lifted the baby and held him aloft through the holes. I turned and flipped him through the holes.

It never once occurred to me to open the freaking door.

Nice preceptor, huh? Think she could have mentioned that BEFORE I worked for 20 minutes?

And yet, despite the absolute horror and humiliation of that experience, I am a very bright and capable person. And so are you. I am an excellent nurse. And so will you be. :)

So come on, people, let's hear those stories. I assure you, none are as stupid as mine. If you think THAT one's bad, I'm saving the rest for margarita night. :D

:roll :roll :roll

This is one of the FUNNIEST things I've ever read! Thank you, Thank you, for sharing! I needed a stress reliever; you supplied.

Specializes in ER, PACU.

When I was in LPN clinicals, we were partnered up with another student in the beginning to take care of one patient. Our patient was a man with a long history of alcohol abuse, as well as other things, and our assignment was to move the patient from the geri chair into the bed. This man was at least 6 ft tall and probably about 250 lbs...of DEAD WEIGHT. He couldnt help us at all, so soon we had to get 4 other students in there to help us lift him. The guy in the window bed (the other patient in the room) was sitting on the commode and although the curtain was closed, we all know there is still not a good feeling of privacy. He starts to yell out, and demands the nurse manager. She walks in and is talking to him to try to calm him down and he starts to yell "This guy has about 5 nurses caring for him, noone comes in to see and serve me.." going on and on. While this guy was yelling and raving, one of my fellow students (this girl is known to be clueless) tries to interject herself in our transfer and knocks over the heavy steel IV pole. It begins to fall toward the patient on the commode. My partner jumped over the bed pretty much on top of our patient (flying like superman) and catches the pole RIGHT before knocking the guy out. The man never saw it coming because of the curtain. I dont know how she caught it in time, but that guy would have been knocked out cold! (Not that it would have been that bad since I was sick of hearing him! LOL). Right after that we went out into the hallway and were laughing so hard we were on the floor. Even the instructor laughed when we told her what happened!

Ok all, here is a 1st for me...

I was fresh out of college, working on med/surg. One of my pts died on my shift, and I had to go in and do PM care.

Sooooo, the CNA and I go in and get started. The time came to roll the pt to his side......

and there was this SOUND that escaped from his mouth ~ the pts mouth... you know, the one that was without life?!?! Kind of was like a groan from the bowels of he** !!

I screamed, and everyone came running! Once they all realized that the newbie just got "broken in" as they called it ~ they were unable to stop laughing!!

Hmmm, I worked with an EVIL bunch, huh?

:chuckle

Took me a while to recover from THAT one!

Specializes in Home Health Care.
Originally posted by NICU_Nurse

OMG, N-I-B, you just reminded me of my first injection!

So I jab again. Harder. Except this time, I don't bounce, but only the tip of the needle goes in, BARELY. I'm like, Oh, crap, what now? So I hesitate for a mere millisecond and the guy raises his head and plain as day screams, "F***! STICK IT IN ALREADY, MOTHER****ER!"

I was quite impressed by my ability to raise the near-dead, I must say. I never wanted to give another injection as long as I lived, and thus began my reputation within the hallowed halls of my nursing school that followed me until graduation.

:roll OMG, I laughed so hard i was in tears after reading this post! That is so funny. I give my husband injections, and i'm sure he's felt the same way towards my hesitance! :chuckle

Thanks for the laugh everyone, these are the funniest stories :D

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