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A few weeks ago, ohiobobcat posted a topic about giving his first epi-pen and I was just wondering: what are some other firsts for the nurses out here? What have you never done before? (in terms of nursing practice. I don't want to hear that you've never skinny-dipped. That's a topic for another day)
Or, what's something you recently were exposed to for the first time in your career? I'm curious to know which experiences some of us have yet to face at work.
This is some bad juju to say it out loud... but here it goes. In my 2 years of nurse and 1.5 years as a tech... Never have I ever had a patient die on me. Not even one that was not expected to make it through the night. I've also never done post-mortem care. But.. I work in med-surg. Ain't nobody got time for that.
In a little over 2 years of being a nurse, I have never done cpr. I have been part of a code, but was thrown into recording which was interesting for a first experience. I have never placed an ng tube either. We get them every so often, but I have never had to place one.
Try to do compressions next time. The first time I was in a code I did. I think I broke his ribs.
He was already gone, and the family was on their way up to sign a DNR. I still remember his name, bed, room number and diagnosis.
Successfully performed a neonatal IV stick until last week; and infuse platelets until two weeks ago.
Neonatal work ups are the current bane of my existence because I can't always get the IV, and as far as platelets we don't always transfuse in the ED at my hospital-it was pretty exciting after being pretty anxious about it in the first place!
Successfully performed a neonatal IV stick until last week; and infuse platelets until two weeks ago.Neonatal work ups are the current bane of my existence because I can't always get the IV, and as far as platelets we don't always transfuse in the ED at my hospital-it was pretty exciting after being pretty anxious about it in the first place!
I hate sticking peds, especially the babies. For one thing, the crying breaks my heart. The other thing, you can't explain to them to hold still. On the other hand, if they are still, it's holy hell terrifying because then that is one sick, sick kid. Nothing made me happier in the ER than having a kid who had me on the worried side react like a ninja when we stuck them. I might still be worried, but it certainly took an edge off for me.
I've never had to do CPR outside of the hospital.
On a similar note: oddly, I've never actually had to do chest-compressions in the hospital! For some reason, I seem to come across quite a few community emergencies though. The first time I did CPR was out on the street when I was a brand-new grad. I managed to get a pulse back just as the paramedics arrived. I cried like a baby right after, so maybe it was better that I wasn't at work
Never have I ever inserted an IV with ultrasound. Trying to learn. One of the docs said he'd show me.
I took a class on that and now it's been so long I probably couldn't do it if my life depended on it I had gotten pretty good at using the ultrasound to put them in on real live patients with crap for veins.
Farawyn
12,646 Posts
I'm sorry.