nurse_tnb

Thank you for all the helpful answers and reassurance...and yes i meant i drew the med up with the filter needle. I did not inject the med using the filter needle. Lol!!!

I'M 20+ YEARS YOUNGER THAN YOU AND I SAY YOU'RE NEVER TOO OLD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I have been in this situation many times with techs. My advice is to remember you are the RN. You have the more indepth education and training. You are trained to assess! And it sounds like you have excellent assessment skills. I know it can be hard at times, but if you have done a thorough assessment, stand behind that assessment with confidence. The longer you're a nurse the more confident you will become. Until then, "fake it till you make it!" LOL!!! I'm only talking about faking the confidence part by the way. That does not mean don't ask other nurses what they think. But when you ask for help do it with confidence. That's the trick to gaining respect as a nurse when you are a newbie. ie; I assessed my patient. These are my findings. This is what I am thinking of doing based on those findings. Do you have any suggestions that I may have over looked. That is confidence. But going and complaining about the tech or crying is just not professional and will not get you respect. Im telling you this because I used to cry at work. At first people were symathetic, after awhile it can get old to your co-workers. And who wants to be known as the nurse who cries about everything. You are going to have many many many many many many many many many bad days at work as a nurse. It comes with the job. Set it in your mind now that you will always handle bad days like a professional. From what I read you are a great nurse, assessment skills sound great! Talking with the family to find out what his baseline is--Great! I wish you the best in your career!!!!!

I gave Rocephin I'm for the first time today and I went home feeling like the world's worst nurse. I read up on the med before giving it, so I expected it would hurt, but my little old lady hollared very loud. I just feel like I could of done things better. I hugged my resident for a good five minutes after it was over, I felt so bad. Any suggestions on how I can do things better would be greatly appreciated. I work in an LTC, so my resident is thin with very little body fat. I used a filter needle to ensure the needle I was injecting with would be sharp. I reconstituted the Rocephin with 2.1mls of 1% lidocaine. And I gave it in the middle third of the lateral thigh. What's the smallest gauge and length needle you all would recommended for someone with little to no body fat? Should I have used the gluteal muscle instead? Is it better to go fast or slow? Please help, feeling so guilty!!

laughing but not for the reason you think. same way i feel when im at work! rolling on the floor laughing!!!!!!!!!

Perfectly said! That pretty much sums up every shift when I go to work. Throw and admission in to the mix and then things reach another level of scary. Sometimes I wake up in the middle of the night, anxious, wondering if I did everything I needed to do for my patients. Hoping and praying that during chaos of the shift I didn't make a mistake that could hurt a patient or jeopardize my license.