Most Cringeworthy Thing You Did in Nursing School

allnurses Guide · Jan 31, 2018

I completely missed a clinical one day because my car broke down.

I was near the airport and I think I actually walked to the airport and

tried to find the number to the clinical site but wasn't able to. This

was in the early days of cell phones. A lot of people had them but

not everyone. I think I may have had one but didn't have it with

me.

I got in trouble for missing and had to write a paper on

professionalism and present it to the nursing faculty. It

was a pretty good paper.

The other cringeworthy thing that I did... some friends and

I toilet papered one of our instructor's house. Because we

loved him. :)

OyWithThePoodles, RN · Jan 31, 2018

Lots of things I'm sure. One in particular I remember:

I worked in a peds office as an LPN and was doing my OB rotation to become an RN. In the peds office when drawing up a vaccine we would switch the needles out afterward (because drawing them up likely dulled them a bit). It wasn't uncommon for me to "bend" the needle while drawing up the solution to get all of it out. One day at clinical I was drawing up Hep. B for a newborn and bent the needle. My instructor (the sweetest person ever, actually came to my wedding) looked at me and said "Poodles, what are you doing!?" Well crap, sorry. I did it three more times after that. She was so patient.

Davey Do · Jan 31, 2018

if you guys tell me the most cringeworthy thing you did in nursing school. Things that make you look back and think "I can't believe I did that!"

Okay, I don't like to admit this, but ONE TIME while I was an LPN student, I put on a female nurse's uniform.

And my younger brother caught me!

He drew this picture as evidence:

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Davey Do · Jan 31, 2018

The other cringeworthy thing that I did... some friends and
I toilet papered one of our instructor's house. Because we
loved him. :)

I bet he could feel the love!

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Davey Do · Jan 31, 2018

. In the peds office when drawing up a vaccine we would switch the needles out afterward (because drawing them up likely dulled them a bit). It wasn't uncommon for me to "bend" the needle while drawing up the solution to get all of it out. One day at clinical I was drawing up Hep. B for a newborn and bent the needle. My instructor looked at me and said, "Poodles, what are you doing!?" Well crap, sorry. I did it three more times after that. She was so patient.

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Davey Do · Jan 31, 2018

Hey all! I'm a 2nd semester nursing student, and I tend to be pretty hard on myself. I want to be the "perfect" nurse, and it's hard for me to accept that I will never be the perfect nurse because that doesn't exist - especially when you're just in your second semester of school!

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missnursingstudent19 · Jan 31, 2018

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Well, just this Monday at my IV push validation, I got so nervous that I completely forgot to do the second saline flush. Luckily my instructor just said "And what did you forget to do?" and I remembered. Plus I got lost in the hospital at clinical today going to lunch because it was only my second day and I'm horrible with directions.

Davey Do · Feb 1, 2018

Well, that's why they're called "Instructors"- they know the drill, and they guide and instruct.

I'm with you on the getting lost thing. People tend to have more empathy for me if I label myself as being "Directionally Impaired".

Davey Do · Feb 1, 2018

I just remembered a cringeworthy moment in nursing school. We were in the psych portion of the program and another student and I were to role play. She was to be a patient coming onto me and I was to respond appropriately.

Now, when I got into the psych portion of the the RN program, I had already had a couple of years of psych experience working as an LPN, so psych was going to be no big deal. And I had experience dealing with female patients coming onto me, so no problem, right?

Well, my female counterpart in this role-playing exercise was none other than a woman who I had just stated dating. And you know what new love is like: fresh and exciting.

We were sitting in the front of the class at a table and this student was good- she interrupted my assessment with compliments and cooings that caused me to blush, sweat to form on my forehead, and me to stammer like some kind of intoxicated person with a mouth full of mush.

Everyone in the class found out that we had a chemistry thing going on and I did not make a good showing in my exercise that day.

heynurse1996 · Feb 2, 2018

My first IV on a "real person" I was so surprised I got flashback, than for some reason I remembered to advanced the catheter into the vein but couldn't think to do anything else and just sat there dumbfounded that I had actually gotten it my first try.

Luckily my preceptor was awesome and undid the tourniquet applied pressure and prompted me to add the lock!

I was so embarrassed, I had to do a full bed change after that as I had covered this mans bed in blood!

He took it well.

After that in the ER the nurses would let me do tons of IVs but playfully "remind me" to bring a chuck.

My preceptor remarked she'd never seen a student nurse hit an IV every time (5 that day) but still manage to make such a mess!

It became my (very embarrassing) claim to fame in the ER. (After the first one you better believe everyone else got a chuck and towel brought to the room!)

The ER Charge nurse asked if we had a trauma when she saw the pile of towels in the laundry!

Accolay · Feb 4, 2018

I missed reading an email sometime over the summer or just before school causing me to I forget to fill out the state's background check form so I had to miss parts of my clinical.

I hated nursing school. Thanks for the memories :)