How did she/he get through nursing school?

Nurses General Nursing

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I have more than one coworker that I'm amazed that they got through school. I really like them, but marvel at their cluelessness. These are not new nurses, to say the least.

Specializes in Med-Tele; ED; ICU.
Also,some might say I am stupid when they see me trying to insert an IV. I am not stupid,it is just that I have not started an IV ever in my nursing career of over 10 years.

Skilled and smart are totally different domains... and being skilled in one thing confers little benefit in unrelated activities.

But i will always ask first,or refuse to start them.
You sound pretty dang smart to me...
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Ehh, I think some people charm employers the same way they charmed their nursing instructors. They excel at flying under the radar, and use those skills to get through life. Probably something to be learned there for a lot of us.

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Specializes in Flight, ER, Transport, ICU/Critical Care.

I discuss issues as found.

• Nurse A > 10 years experience, good nurse, new to ER, from step-down, supposedly had ACLS X 2 waiting to take next recert as soon as offered. Cardiac patient comes in, she comes storming out in a fluff, I need more Lidocaine!! I was like why? She said, there's not enough to on that crash cart. (I had stocked and locked that cart earlier -- it was a busy day).

That cart had plenty of lidocaine. Bolus. Infusion. Infiltration if a doc wanted to pop in a chest tube/central line.

I asked her how much she needed.

900 mg for bolus, that will stop the ectopy. she replied.

The ACLS dose is 10mg per kilogram! Can you just do me a favor and call pharmacy or the supervisor?, she asked.

I thought that dose will stop more than the ectopy. Thankfully, she didn't have access to enough and didn't give a partial whopping ass dose.

I told her no problem. Sure, right after you ask the doc to write you an order for that lidocaine.

It was handled.

• Nurse B - I was playing house mouse one night and took some urgent meds to a med-surge nurse (20 years experience). I don't recall the meds a routine type antibiotic and maybe an antiemetic (but on an admission). The supplier had changed the packaging from what she was evidently used to. I hand them to her. She hands them back to me and ask are you sure that's xxxxx ? I said I don't have to be sure, as I don't ultimately have to be the nurse to give it, but I pulled stock off the order sheet.

I ultimately went to the med room with her and verified the medication.

Then I asked if she had any other questions for me.

• Nurse 3 - A burn patient 2 degree 20% covered in ice water soaked dressings, shivering. I found the ot in one of my trauma rooms while she was "watching my back, giving me a hand" - he also had a sooty airway, on no oxygen with no IV access. He was in a closed space explosion and had inhalation injury.

I asked/really told her to please help me by going to the med room and getting the RSI box and bringing me a doctor in here right away. All while I was tossing off the ice cold dressings, assessing the airway & adding oxygen via non-rebreather, getting him on a monitor and gaining IV access. The doc arrived and assessed, patient would eventually be on a vent and transferred to the burn center.

I mean we all make mistakes. Pull the occasional doh moment. But, that's not what I'm talking about. The 3 referenced had a pattern. This is par for their play on the course.

Medical mistakes ARE the 3rd leading cause of death.

Think about that.

:angel:

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Some people catch on quicker than others. Some never catch on. Rather than being derogatory toward them help them learn.

I am pretty sure the whole point is that, as you said, some never catch on. So, educating them is not an option. Because, they never catch on.

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Medical mistakes ARE the 3rd leading cause of death.

Think about that.

:angel:

Just one small correction.

That statement, which the media love throwing about, is only true if we count nosocomial infections as "medical mistakes."

Nosocomial infections (respiratory, systemic, liver, kidney) combined, are a leading cause of death in the US. But not all nosocomial infections are caused by medical errors, unless the error exists in hospitals not putting all geriatric ICU pts in isolation wards with perfect quarantine and sterilization.

Sometimes HAis are simply comorbidities in very sick pts.

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I discuss issues as found.

• Nurse A > 10 years experience, good nurse, new to ER, from step-down, supposedly had ACLS X 2 waiting to take next recert as soon as offered. Cardiac patient comes in, she comes storming out in a fluff, I need more Lidocaine!! I was like why? She said, there's not enough to on that crash cart. (I had stocked and locked that cart earlier -- it was a busy day).

That cart had plenty of lidocaine. Bolus. Infusion. Infiltration if a doc wanted to pop in a chest tube/central line.

I asked her how much she needed.

900 mg for bolus, that will stop the ectopy. she replied.

The ACLS dose is 10mg per kilogram! Can you just do me a favor and call pharmacy or the supervisor?, she asked.

I thought that dose will stop more than the ectopy. Thankfully, she didn't have access to enough and didn't give a partial whopping ass dose.

I told her no problem. Sure, right after you ask the doc to write you an order for that lidocaine.

It was handled.

• Nurse B - I was playing house mouse one night and took some urgent meds to a med-surge nurse (20 years experience). I don't recall the meds a routine type antibiotic and maybe an antiemetic (but on an admission). The supplier had changed the packaging from what she was evidently used to. I hand them to her. She hands them back to me and ask are you sure that's xxxxx ? I said I don't have to be sure, as I don't ultimately have to be the nurse to give it, but I pulled stock off the order sheet.

I ultimately went to the med room with her and verified the medication.

Then I asked if she had any other questions for me.

• Nurse 3 - A burn patient 2 degree 20% covered in ice water soaked dressings, shivering. I found the ot in one of my trauma rooms while she was "watching my back, giving me a hand" - he also had a sooty airway, on no oxygen with no IV access. He was in a closed space explosion and had inhalation injury.

I asked/really told her to please help me by going to the med room and getting the RSI box and bringing me a doctor in here right away. All while I was tossing off the ice cold dressings, assessing the airway & adding oxygen via non-rebreather, getting him on a monitor and gaining IV access. The doc arrived and assessed, patient would eventually be on a vent and transferred to the burn center.

I mean we all make mistakes. Pull the occasional doh moment. But, that's not what I'm talking about. The 3 referenced had a pattern. This is par for their play on the course.

Medical mistakes ARE the 3rd leading cause of death.

Think about that.

:angel:

I am debating which of the three stooges mentioned is the worst.

I am going to give contestant three a pass. That is lack of knowledge. Pretty egregious lack of knowledge, but the other two competitors are strong in this competition.

Tough call. Nurse #1- Not knowing dosages is one thing. But, common sense must tell you that the stuff on a code cart is packaged a certain way for a reason. Sometimes multiple vials is correct, but should always be questioned. If you have to use 8 vials of solumedrol for your dose, question it. Then give it.

Could you need nine vials (carpujets) of something? Maybe. But since a code cart is set of for arrhythmias......

Nurse #2- Concerned about a medication due to the different packaging.

How could you educate this nurse of 20 years?

"Well, Alice, in the old days, we gave medicine based on the color of the package. But now, in modern nursing, we read the ingredients."

I just don't think lack of education or constructive feedback with these nurses.

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Medical mistakes ARE the 3rd leading cause of death.

Think about that.

:angel:

This myth needs to stop being perpetuated.

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I found that some simply have not kept up with current practices.

For me, I find that when someone criticizes me,I research to find the current,evidenced based practice.

Oftentimes,there is conflicting evidence.

In the short time I've been in healthcare (4 years -CNA/ 1.5 yrs RN student) I've seen a TON of conflicting research. I'm very inquisitive, subscribe to the nursing journals, and have a few professors and mentors who I'm able to bounce ideas and questions off of without it seeming like I'm judging the practices of experienced RNs or my peers. Because of this, I've learned that there are SO many ways to skin a cat. And a lot of them are safe practice. They may not be NEWEST, but there's a ton to be learned from old-school ways. In fact, just yesterday I was reading this article about how it's being recognized that military nurses have a lot to offer in the ED environment because they can do so much with limited resources in a traumatic situation. In this day and age of active shooters, we need those skills and quick thinking to be integrated into our nursing. Yes, there's always gonna be a "right way" to do something "by the book" according to the surveyors from the State, our professors, or whoever but when **** hits the fan I want to know how to save someone's life several different ways.

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Specializes in Geriatrics, Dialysis.

If I had a dollar for every time I've heard, or said myself "how did so-and-so ever pass nursing school, much less the NCLEX?" I'd be able to retire comfortably. It's sometimes uttered in sheer frustration at some boneheaded thing that a nurse that should have known better did. Or more commonly in sheer frustration over something that should have been done and wasn't. For the more common second option sometimes it really can be attributed to sheer laziness but usually it is a result of said nurse simply running out of time in the shift and leaving even more work to pile on the next shift. Then maybe the next shift also runs out of time and it gets pushed to a third shift, after a few shifts of this the nurses start saying "well I didn't work when that charting was due so I'm not doing it!" and they don't pass along in report that it still needs to be done for fear of being called out by the oncoming nurse for not doing it. Then it finally comes to the attention of the nurse manager that it was never done. Then pity the poor nurse that's working that shift that gets the chewing out by the manager for a situation that she/he didn't cause and may not by this point even know about since things notoriously fail to get passed along in report.

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You see the same phenomenon right here on AN as well.

How often do we see students post, "I've got a 72 average (75 is passing), and I've failed two courses and the school is kicking me out of the nursing program. I feel they should give me another chance!"

And people will post agreeing they should get another chance?!? It boggles my mind. No, this person obviously has been given plenty of chances and doesn't have the intellectual or educational skills required to be in the healthcare field. Try hospitality management or something.

I think that is because many nurses still emphasize nursing as performing a bunch of skills.

How many times do you hear nurses with less education say they do more than the nurses that have more education, and should get paid the same amount as the more educated nurse?

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You know how I went through Nursing School?

I opened the door in the front of the building and walked out the back door!!! That's how I went through!

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Specializes in ER.
You know how I went through Nursing School?

I opened the door in the front of the building and walked out the back door!!! That's how I went through!

Thank you, Amelia Bedelia.!

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