Old School

[marjoriemac, LPN]

Now this may seem an odd title when I have only been graduated for 5 years but... I think nursing is becoming more and more hands off. I have seen nurses use electronic sphyg's because they do not know how to use a manual one. Nurses who think that just because somebody's obs are ok, they are ok. I think patients are losing out as we become more mechanised as a profession and lose the pure and simple 'care'. I became a nurse to care and comfort people, not to interview them, hook them up to a machine and forget about them!

[anc33]

This reminds me of a terrible code I had one time. The woman had a plug in her trach. I couldn't get it cleared so I called in for backup. My charge sees the pulse ox steadily declining on the machine, soon it registered 0. Umm, she was trying to trouble shoot the maching when the rest of us could clearly see that she was turning blue and we were coding her. The charge just swore there was a problem with the sensor. Funny thing is that I was the new grad and she had 40+ years under her belt.

[P_RN, ADN, RN]

I too have seen "nurse the machine" too often. I've seen a nurse try to put a #16 in a shocky patient, when a 22 would get some hydration in her in the meanwhile. Did your patient survive?

[anc33]

Yes, thank goodness. She was definitely dead when the code team arrived but they were able to work their magic. If the charge would have let us call the code earlier it would have never gotten that far. At least it was still okay in the end.

[CapeCodMermaid, RN]

When I was in nursing school, IV pumps were just starting to be used. Some of the nurses loved them, but I had one old nurse who said "I like Eyeballs better than IVAC...never trust the machine...use the eyes God gave you and the assessment skills you're learning in school."

I took her advice to heart and always use what God gave me first. A pulse ox of 98% looks good on paper, but if your patient is SOB and wheezy.....

[TheCommuter, BSN, RN]

Unfortunately, it is tremendously difficult to do things manually and perform full head-to-toe assessments on my patients when I must care for 40 of them...not to mention the demanding family members, bad managers, lack of staff, threadbare supplies, and the rest of the factors I must deal with. I wish I could do Ivory Tower nursing, but that will only occur if I had less patients, more supplies, and further understanding from the folks with whom I must interact.

[wooosp]

I'm a fairly new nurse (~1yr exp.), and I find it SO much easier to use a manual Spyhgmometer than a an electronic one. It takes me longer to use a electric spyhg, not only that, I've found the they're not always accurate.