mistymae22

Patient got admitted with the PICC and had antibiotics given during outpatient the day before admission, through the PICC. It was in the physician notes. Last Chest Xray for it was the beginning of this month when it was first placed. I forgot exactly where they said it was but if it was deep in the heart, the heart rhythm would be out of whack. He was on a tele monitor and he was sinus rhythm the whole time. His vitals were stable and there were no signs or symptoms of any respiratory distress or discomfort. I asked him at the end of the shift if he felt any different than before he got any blood, and he said he didn't feel any different. He was getting blood and plasma through the PICC. And then antibiotics outside the hospital. Would the reactions come way after the blood and plasma were given? Anyway, he's HGB ended up moving up 2 points. So the body absorbed it even though PICC was not in the ideal place.

Hi, I had a patient recently and I was giving blood through the PICC. I forgot to get an order for chest X-ray and to get doctor to verify PICC placement before continuing to use. When I went on shift the previous nurse was already using the PICC for blood. As well as other nurses before him. I was so busy and slammed to see if there's an order to use PICC. Well charge nurse picked up on it and we got an order for chest X-ray. PICC ended up being in wrong place. But meds and blood were already given through that. Patient seemed fine and no emergency happened but what could happen if you give meds and blood if PICC is not in right place?

I know exactly what you are going through. I find myself making dumb mistakes too or even asking dumb questions to my preceptor, because she also makes me nervous sometimes. All I can say is to hang in there, ask questions if you don't know anything. Make sure you ask for clarification on doing something if you aren't sure! And if you don't know something or forgot something, always say that you will look it up, and take you word for it. Also, don't think about messing up. Because if you think about it too much more than the task itself, you will most likely end up messing up. I'm on the same boat as you! Just trying to take it day by day and task by task. Always think and take your time!! (:

Thanks bTrue and heartsgal: I'm luckily almost done. I thought for sure OB was gonna be my calling, but at least I know I don't wanna get into that when I graduate. For the most part, my preceptor is pretty patient with me but I don't think I'll be seeing too much of her anymore since she has another job on the unit, so she won't be assigned to patients. I'll have to just show up on the unit and hopefully find someone to work with. There's always at least one nurse on the unit who doesn't mind students. I'm gonna be working a lot this week and next so I could finish faster (:

I never said I know it all. And I do take responsibility for what I don't know. I always ask questions, and sometimes, nurses get annoyed with that. I observe them, and sometimes, they get annoyed with that too. I never said they are stupid. I just said that they don't seem to be used to emergency situations, since they don't see that many emergency situations on the unit. Most of their patients are fairly healthy and not coding in any second. I just get motivated and get frustrated when the nurses don't use me for help when the situation isn't an emergency or critical.

Well I don't know how much more positive I can get. Like I've said before, I go there and I always offer help to them and I always smile at them. Btw, even when someone doesn't constantly smile at you like a robot, it doesn't mean they are negative. I even smile and make nice with the nurse who bad mouthed me to the manager. Even my teacher said that I handled the situation well! But I get what you guys mean about having a more positive attitude. I didn't mean to sound like I was ridiculing them, I was just expressing what I saw and my experiences. I don't feel this way about all of them. Some of them are sweet and great, however, I do see a few that sit around and gossip and just talk on the phone to their friends. Now, I was always taught throughout nursing school to never do those things...and when I see nurses do those things, I can be a bit judgmental and I'm guilty for that...but, my nursing instructors really drilled it into my brain to never just sit around the unit and gossip or talk about what's going on with me personally. I guess I can be less judgmental....but I really am not there to talk about peoples' personal lives, I'm there to mainly learn!

I understand that. On the more intense floors it gets pretty crazy, the workload. And that can explain why some nurses (not all) get easily irritated with students. My mom is a nurse and she also gets pretty impatient with students. But it's best to know what your student can do, if he/she can do vitals or check blood sugars, let them do that maybe. And the skills they don't know how to do, show em a few times and then maybe let them try at least once when the case isn't as critical. My nurse preceptor is pretty good at that. With my first preceptor, I noticed the cases and workload wasn't as intense and she just wanted to get things done to be done with it. Some nurses are just like that, where they won't let the student do the skills bc it will take longer.

Brithoover: I will definitely remember to try to stay humble and patient always when I become experienced nurse! Because even the experienced nurse doesn't know everything.

Well the difference is is that they are experienced nurses and I am not. If I don't know something, some give me a hard time about it, but they don't know other things either. And I wasn't attacking my preceptor, she did know what to do, but other nurses were running around the unit panicking. I just think many of the nurses in my unit are not use to really sick patients. They freak out about any sick patient. I don't think everyone is out to attack me, it would just be nice if they worked with me. If you remember what it's like to be a student, think about going to clinical where no one really wanted to work with you or teach you. Not fun! And the skills I forgot to do aren't basic skills you see on every unit, they are skills that specifically obtain to OB, in which I haven't taken OB clinicals in a year.

Yah, I try to clean something and I always check on my patients and see if they need anything (: Then, I ask other nurses if they need help. Most of them don't take me up on my offer though. I just feel like such a bother to my preceptor though. I asked her about my eval this week, I didn't even work with her this week, and I went to the unit to give her the eval...but she was too busy to fill it out this week. So I spoke to my teacher about it, and she said that its ok to ask the last nurse that I worked with to do my eval. I then emailed my preceptor about it and said that I'm just gonna ask so and so to do my eval since I worked with her this week (midterm week). She hasn't responded, and I probably should've left it alone until I see her next time, whenever I see her. That's also the thing that's different between me and them, I like to sometimes repeat myself to emphasize a point or restate what they say to me to make sure I got it right, but in their minds...it sounds like i'm not listening or paying attention or i'm just bugging them. My preceptor is the kinda teacher where if she tells or shows you once, she expects you to get it right after that. Which is understandable, but i'm the kinda student that needs to review, study, and do a skill over and over again before I master the skill! I just have different ways of learning, and I'm ok with that. It just clashes with some instructors. Which can be uncomfortable...unfortunately! It's been so inconsistent, because she has different jobs on the unit, so I can't be with her all the time now. So, i'm just winging it and showing up, and hoping and praying to work with a nurse that will be willing to work me. It's really sad. I just feel awful because I thought i'd love my practicum experience and I was sooooo excited before clinicals began! All my classmates I feel love their practicum sites and have such great working relationships with their preceptors. And i'm just left out of the loop, desperately trying to work with someone who is at least somewhat willing to work with me for at least just one day....

Thanks! I'm almost done. 7 more clinical days to go on the unit! Next week, I'm going to do 3 days...so after that, I will have 4 more left. It goes by so quickly. It's also difficult when my preceptor looks at me like i'm a dummy for not knowing how to do something or not remembering material from a year ago. Before this clinical qtr., I haven't stepped foot in a hospital in about 6 months! So, I haven't had practice clinically wise. I know I looked and sounded dumb my first two weeks especially, but I'm starting to feel more comfortable as I am in the hospital more and more. In fact, the more i'm in the hospital, the more i'm loving nursing (: I love taking care of the adults lol. But the babies are such cuties (: I will try to get my eval done by the nurse that I worked with this week, because she let me do a lot with her; therefore, I feel like she'd give me a more accurate and fair eval than any other nurse i've worked with. Hopefully it goes well!! I just wanna pass and move on, pass my NCLEX, and work on a medsurg floor (:

Thanks VeronikaRN! I sounded quite negative on my first post. I should try being more positive. That's a trait of mine that I've been trying to work on. I haven't had all bad experiences. My main preceptor still lets me do things and the nurse I worked with let me do a lot of skills. Some days, the nurses are appreciative of my help, and they say thanks many times to me. Even my former preceptor who complained to the manager about me, when I see her on the unit, I am still polite and I smile and I say hi to her. I mean, that's all I can do. This week was just difficult, because the day I was suppose to work, there were not many nurses that wanted to take in a practicum student for the day, and my preceptor was doing another job. It depends on the nurses who work on the day, if I clash with em or get along with em. I notice I get along with the older nurses versus the younger nurses, in general. And the newer nurses, are the best teachers because they understand what I'm going through the most. I do get what you mean about the different teaching styles, and how one seems lazy, but aren't. I am just used to a certain style...I was always taught to always keep busy on the unit..and when i see nurses on the unit gossip/talk about their personal lives a lot more than check on their patients, I find it odd. But i guess it makes sense for my unit to do that a lot, because there cases aren't as critical or intense as other units..... I just have a different personality than them, and I'm more like, "go go go go go" whereas, they like to sit and chat when their patients don't necessarily need them at the moment..... I figured, that I fit in way better in a med-surg unit. lol

mariebailey: You are right when you said that nurses don't owe students anything; however, these nursing students are going to be the future's nurses someday. You would think they want to build up good nurses for the future...

Well, you can't say it's all my fault 100% without even being there and seeing it yourself. I appreciate your honesty, but you blaming me 100% is uncalled for. Maybe I come across as a know it all student and that can be a turn off, but I always try my best to be respectful and I try to help them out. You make it sound like I go to clinical with a disrespectful attitude, when you haven't seen me in the clinical setting. And that isn't fair...

Maybe how I said things sounded like an attack on all nurses. I'm just reporting my experiences and what I saw on my unit. Like I said, I've worked on other units where the nurses do such outstanding work and they let me in their team! Such amazing teamwork on those units. Not all the nurses on my unit are clueless, a lot of them are smart and check in on their patients consistently. However, some of them, including my first preceptor, are lazy...and that is fact! I guess I'm just not into their speciality, and that could be why I clash with the unit in general. But I never go to clinical with an attitude that they owe me anything. I always go to the unit with a respectful attitude, and I always offer help to all the nurses. I will bring them treats on my last day of clinical....but as of now, all I can do is offer help, smile, and try to work with them. That's what I 've been doing, you are telling me it doesn't work...then I honestly have no idea what to do other than do the complete opposite...which I won't do because that behavior is just unprofessional!