Needle Issue

[Future-AZ-Nurse]

i have to admit it, i get a little lightheaded around needles but i don't want this to get in the way of becoming a nurse. it is probably one of the simplest tasks a nurse can do but its one of the scariest to me. is there anyone else that gets the same way?? how were you able to overcome this and give shots/iv's?? what was your first experience like??

[dseem13]

I myself am not afraid of needles, but there was a girl in my nursing class who was. She actually fainted when she saw her first IV inserted. Just being around them more and more (inserting them, watching them be inserted, just practicing with one with a dummy etc) helped her get used to it. Now she can insert them like a pro without getting lightheaded at all. I think desensitizing yourself is the best way to go. Good luck!!

[CrunchyMama, ASN, RN]

I don't get light headed or anything but I don't like needles and I have no idea how I'm going to give an injection, lol! But, I'll be starting next week so I better get over it quick! Good luck!

[user.name]

The first time i tried to start an IV, it was my first morning of clinicals in 1st semester at 6am after drinking way too much coffee. I was scared to death and was shaking so bad that i couldn't do it myself and felt like i was going to pass out. Luckily, my instructor was awesome and grabbed my hand and practically put it in for me. It still made for a pretty traumatic first day of clinicals, but i laugh about it now. Needles are no big deal to me anymore. I don't think that I did anything except for continued to put myself in situations where I was forced to watch/try IVs/injections. As long as you're willing to keep trying, i think it's just a desensitization type thing. Good luck with everything.

[CrunchyMama, ASN, RN]

Another thing....at my school we don't do IVs in clinical. We do them on each other in lab eventually but we won't actually do an IV on a patient until we start working. I think it's stupid because you need all the experience as possible. But my prof said it's because every facility has different policies and they don't want to teach us one way and then you'd have to learn another way when you start working. Seriously, how many different ways are there? Anyone elses school do this?

[Katen]

Another thing....at my school we don't do IVs in clinical. We do them on each other in lab eventually but we won't actually do an IV on a patient until we start working. I think it's stupid because you need all the experience as possible. But my prof said it's because every facility has different policies and they don't want to teach us one way and then you'd have to learn another way when you start working. Seriously, how many different ways are there? Anyone elses school do this?

I swear we could have the same instructor...mine said the same exact thing to us about two weeks ago when we brought up IVs. I couldn't belive it either...I just stood there thinking are you kidding me...all the money I'm paying to come here and your going to leave out a huge part like IVs!

[That Guy, BSN, RN, EMT-B]

Oh my, we had someone who was balling and almost had a panic attack before her first IV in lab. We took her outside, slapped her around a little and she was fine. Ok not really, but we just gave her a pep talk and after her first one she was ok.