I'm a student NURSE

NurseOnAMotorcycle, ASN, RN · Jun 4, 2014

I had the opposite reaction when I was a student doing CPR for the first time. I was terrified and wanted ANYONE to take over! No forthcoming volunteers.

It was outside on a sidewalk and someone alerted me to some guy laying there "all blue". A security guard in the adjacent building asked me if I was a nurse as I was yelling orders at people while doing CPR. I said "No! I'm a student nurse so get someone here who knows what the heck they are doing!!"

The guy lived after being defibrillated by paramedics several times and then going to the nearby hospital.

schnookimz · Jun 4, 2014

Two summers ago I was at the pool with my best friend. At the time she had just finished nursing school and passed her nclex.

Across the pool, the lifeguards were doing a drill where they throw a dummy doll into the pool and then blow their whistle to jump in and "rescue" it. My friend heard the whistle go off and saw the dummy--which she thought- was a child. She literally launched herself out of the pool and with boobs flying went running over screaming IM A NURSE IM A NURSE. I definitely pretended not to know her

libran1984, ASN, RN · Jun 4, 2014

A bicyclist was clipped by a car in the rain and fell face first, unconscious, in a deep puddle. A lady screams, "I'm a nurse! Don't touch him!"

As he drowns in 3" of water bc she won't let anyone touch him....

We moved him and saved him from this "nurse". Here's ur sign!

Another one I read was on here was a nurse sees an MVA and someone is thrown from the vehicle. The person is comforted and the nurse remains with the alert pt until EMS comes. The pt develops CP and the nurse starts looking for ASA to administer b4 EMS arrives... Trying to treat it like a heart attack! Lol!!! Here's ur sign!

One "nurse" brings her mother into the ER for back pain. I'm about to give an IM injection of toradol when the nurse stops me and refuses to let me administer it bc "toradol is only IV". Here's ur sign!

ktwlpn, LPN · Jun 4, 2014

QUOTE>>UNQUOTE O,those ambiences, they ride like a chariot, don't they? Sorry to bust on you, I'm actually quoting an elderly southern man I had years ago as a patient. Big toothless grin, long dirty hair and nails,stinking of booze and nicotine and still drunk. He was a DIRT TEE man but he was funny....He loved that ride....

Back to topic...back when I was a nursing student I was in a local dive bar with some friends and some poor old man fell OFF his bar stool. Flat out-out like a light. My group were pretty well tuned in by then, we didn't notice a thing until all of the lights came on and EMS charged through the door. And he was on the same side of the room as we were. That alone tells you the kind of place we were in-they just let the poor soul stay there on the floor in the dark....Turns out he was IDDM and used to bottom out and fall over in that bar on a regular basis. One of my girlfriends started screaming " My friends are in nursing school, they can help" repeatedly. We put our heads down. We could have been fined for drunk walking that night-we sure should not have offered anyone our help with anything, not even buttering bread.

Esme12, ASN, BSN, RN · Jun 5, 2014

YEARS AGO and I mean YEARS ago...IN the days of all white...we went out after work to the local watering hole. Some butt head saw us grabbed his chest and flipped out of his bar stool onto the floor...before any of us could react our new grad (who had just passed ACLS which was very new then) jumped to his aid and administered a pre-cordial thump (the routine then for a witnessed arrest) this guy sat up grabbed his chest shouting "OUCH what the **** was that for!!!" our new grad was so angry she said "You donkey behind!" then she hauled off and punched this guy right in his face.

I probably should have responded more therapeutically, we all should have....but we were laughing so hard we couldn't speak... :roflmao: .

We later reminded her about checking for a pulse first...I'll bet that was the last time this guy tried that stunt! :whistling:

NurseOnAMotorcycle, ASN, RN · Jun 5, 2014

Some of these are painful!! :facepalm:

HouTx, BSN, MSN, EdD · Jun 5, 2014

There is a HUGE difference between Nurse & First Responder. FR competency is outside our normal scope of practice. Me? I tend to maintain radio silence if there is a 'medical emergency' in a public venue.... limiting my nursing interventions to calling 911 summoning the more qualified professionals.

elijahvegas, ASN, RN, EMT-P · Jun 5, 2014

some self deprecating humor:

im a former medic-gone-SRN. i was on my way home from class one day and there was a traffic accident at an intersection about a mile and a half away from campus. Traffic was a mess, and realizing im still in my nursing uniform i felt obliged to check on everyone involved. So i did a mini triage and called for an ambulance and gave them the rundown. There was another S-LPN who got out of her car and helped. One vehicle had 2 passengers and they were ambulatory and fine, but the other vehicle has a distraught hysterical women that was complaining of some pains that were likely caused by her seatbelt

so i just talked to her and calmed her down while keeping one hand on her radial and asking all the routine questions about any pains and a little bit of history. i stayed with her until the ambulances came and i gave them both a mini-turnover so to speak. I remember before leaving the scene the women was thanking me over and over again and i told her it was nothing

the lpn and i were appreciative of her gratitude but then we both realized and chuckled at the idea that we didnt really do much, nor could be really do anything essentially until she stopped breathing and her heart stopped beating :roflmao:

friends always joke around saying things like "its ok, we've got a medic/nurse here in case anything bad happens" and i always reply "im pretty useless outside of a hospital or ambulance. but i can break your ribs if you need it"

sweetdreame, BSN, RN · Jun 5, 2014

I won't say what it was, but I once responded to a "code yellow" type of disaster in a small community. There were probably a hundred victims ranging from very acute to bumps and bruises. At the time I was working in both Trauma ICU and ER. I didn't have a badge or anything because I was simply passing through the town when it happened.

I was triaging patients when I came across this older man. He was diaphoretic, pale as a ghost, and having trouble breathing. He had "the look". I alerted the EMT in charge of the area and told him, this guy needs to go ASAP, he is gonna end up coding. The young EMT shook his head at me with a dismissing smirk and said "code? Really?". His side-kick was a proclaimed "Telemetry Charge Nurse". Who pushed her way through to tell me that the patient was just fine... rolling her eyes at me.

I decided that there were plenty of other patients that I could help and wasn't going to waste my time in a ******* contest with those two. I just said, "well it looks like y'all have it handled then, I just wanted to put in my two cents. I really think this guy needs to go". I went on to continue to triage and help transport patients to the nearest ER via private vehicle, ambulance, etc. I later found out that the guy ended up intubated and flown out to the nearest city.

Huge lesson here: 1)A disaster is no time to push your credentials and try to prove that you are the best nurse in the land. 2) Trust your gut. 3) Listen to people around you...and try to learn something.

fetch, BSN, RN · Jun 5, 2014

There is a HUGE difference between Nurse & First Responder. FR competency is outside our normal scope of practice. Me? I tend to maintain radio silence if there is a 'medical emergency' in a public venue.... limiting my nursing interventions to calling 911 summoning the more qualified professionals.

As one of a couple nurses on my roller derby league, when there's an injury on the track I always try to leave it to either A) the nurse who works in an ED, B) the nurse with 10+ years experience, or C) the first responders who are our referees. I limit myself to grabbing ice or the EMT box, bandaids, etc . . . unless I'm the ONLY one there. I know that there is a whooooooole lot of emergency care that I don't know! The only exception I make is for head bumps - I do have concussion training, and get a lot of head bumps as a school nurse, so if a roller derby girl goes down and slams her head I will do a quick neuro check. Any questionable results though, straight to the hospital.

jadelpn, LPN, EMT-B · Jun 5, 2014

True story--I was working in an ER where there was a pretty significant event which necessitated priority assessments for triage by the ambulances coming in.

I was put in a room with a nurse manager, who was always bragging that she was an MSN who graduated first in her class. And how much she was a "PRACTICING nurse". Even though it seemed she always was "checking up" on everyone and not really doing much of much.

She also had 952 intials behind her name--to the lowest priorities who were the walkie talkies, she would say and I quote "Hello, I am nurse manager, Nurse IminCharge, RN, BSN, MSN, PALS ACLS..." and on it went. I dunno I think there was nervousness, as she was rambling....

Anyways, EMT gives her the report, she does her speel, then says she is going to "observe" me, as she is not "clear" on the expectations, and as an LPN I can not "direct her clinically".

Uhm, OK, I am just going through the motions....WELL, then in comes a report of a Priority 1....which is a code.....and we are told "we have a priority one coming in, we need all hands, stat".....wellll this "practicing nurse" then turns to me and says "scratch what I said before, WHAT the HECK is a priority one???"

As so wonderfully put by a pp--"here's your sign..."

Oh, and to tell it now, that manager would say she single handedly kept everything under control.... :confused: