Manual dexterity

[Genreserieux]

Hi allnurses community,

Im writing here because I am a new nurse (graduated in June last year) and I have a job on a medecine floor and I love it! my coworkers are great but there seems to be one thing that I have a lot of trouble developing;

manual dexterity.

i can't seem to perform skills right most of the time!

The only thing I'm good at, are IV placements and even for those, I miss sometimes (I know it's normal though)

if i want to place a foley on a female; the catheter always goes down somehow when I try to put it in the opening. On a man? When there is resistance, I fear that i'll force too much to advance the catheter and most of the tricks I know to pass through that doesn't seem to be working when I am the one trying to insert the foley.

i also suck at drawing blood! I missed two mles

with huge veins sticking them 2 times each and I feel so incompetent now. I feel like I'm a student again because I can't seem to do anything right

but it in the other hand for two months, I got every single one of my blood draws and iv's, even more challenging ones. But recently I seemed to regress...

Were some of you like that? I have good critical thinking and people say I'm a good nurse but damn, the incompetence I feel when I cannot do a simple blood draw is making me

feel real bad:(

[VivaLasViejas, ASN, RN]

I used to have the same problem from time to time. I was usually very good at IVs and Foleys, and when I had a run of successes I was in what I called "The Zone". But there were also times when I was most decidedly NOT in "The Zone", and I fumbled like someone who had never done the task before in their life. It was frustrating, to say the least.

Best I can tell you is, you're going to have days when you can't hit the broadside of a barn, and others when you are flawless in your technique and accurate in your placement. It's just part of nursing. And welcome to Allnurses!

[meanmaryjean, DNP, RN]

I did bedside for 38 years and sucked at phlebotomy on Day #1. I also sucked on my last day.

Meh - no one is good at everything all the time.

[brownbook]

Awful to say, but nothing builds up your self confidence with IV's and blood draws like watching someone who is really really good at them blow it! Everyone blows it once in a while.

Yeah, I know you (and I) are not in their league, we blow it somewhat more often than the IV Queens do, but you will get better. Eighty percent of IV and blood draw success is confidence, not manual dexterity! The slightest "bad" feeling about it causes an adrenaline release and unnoticeable hand tremors! (That's my theory.)

Keep trying, review the 100's of tips already posted on Allnurses. I like watching YouTube videos. If I managed to get better in my 35 years of nursing, you will.

(No it didn't take me 35 years to get better, just in my varied career sometimes I was working where I hardly did any. At the end of my career my main job was starting IV's and I did get good at it.)

[amoLucia]

Read this a little late.

Keep trying and MAKE SURE you're on the CORRECT side that you feel most comfortable (ie left or right). For each task!

I am not totally lefty; nor am I totally righty. I am NOT equally handed when it comes to tasks. I do perform different things in different hands, so getting the correct angle is important.

Did you ever hear of the 'Self-Fulfilling prophecy'? It works like if you think you're going to fail, you most prob will fail. If you go in feeling like you'll do well, you should succeed. So go in being POSITIVE.