"Keep your nursing skills"? What is it?

[DatMurse]

I have been an active nurse for 4 months. I am on a medical/oncology floor which I very much enjoy, but now I am questioning... What in the world are all of these "nursing skills" That people have been talking about with med/surge and keeping it.

Its not IVs. I dont start IVs too often for some weird reason. Even then, that is hardly a true nursing skill. Foleys come once every month or so. The sterile technique is used often due to ports. These "Lab skills" are what my friends call "monkey skills" that can anyone can learn after so much time on the floor.

But is the nursing skill, the assessment skills of knowing what to look for? Firm stomach could mean constipation. Lack of sight on one side that is new could represent an active stroke(Which I did find). knowing the patho of diseases and what to look for?

So is it your assessment skills of what they are talking about? All of these other "lab skills" seem like they are easily teachable and something I wouldnt even consider a real skill.

[SoldierNurse22, BSN, RN]

There's physical skills and then there's critical thinking. Critical thinking fits into everything you do, including physical skills.

For example, when accessing a port--especially one of an oncology patient--what if you break sterile technique? Of course, you know as a nurse the importance of keeping the procedure sterile in order to protect the immunocompromised patient from illness that could potentially kill them. Beyond that, you know about how chemotherapy affects the patient on a cellular level from the immune system to the gut to solid organs such as the liver and kidneys. Sure, you could teach just about anyone to do this skill--but someone less-trained than a nurse likely will not have the extensive knowledge to go with it. This is central to keeping patients--especially your vulnerable onc population--safe.

And absolutely, the big thing they're probably talking about is assessment skills and critical thinking. For example: you come in on at the start of a new shift. A patient has some faint rhonchi in their lower lobes, which you can see is a new development that the nurse before you did not hear. You teach them about the incentive spirometer, encourage them to get out of bed and walk. However, when you do your noon vitals, the patient has an elevated temperature and is displaying subtle signs of confusion according to his wife. What do you do? That is what nursing is about--catching signs of trouble and alerting the appropriate folks in order to secure early treatment for your patient. Someone who was unfamiliar with the signs and symptoms of early infection in an oncology patient may not put those things together. That's what your skills and knowledge allow you to do. You see the patient as the whole person down to the molecular level and can act accordingly.

[DatMurse]

And absolutely, the big thing they're probably talking about is assessment skills and critical thinking. For example: you come in on at the start of a new shift. A patient has some faint rhonchi in their lower lobes, which you can see is a new development that the nurse before you did not hear. You teach them about the incentive spirometer, encourage them to get out of bed and walk. However, when you do your noon vitals, the patient has an elevated temperature and is displaying subtle signs of confusion according to his wife. What do you do? That is what nursing is about--catching signs of trouble and alerting the appropriate folks in order to secure early treatment for your patient. Someone who was unfamiliar with the signs and symptoms of early infection in an oncology patient may not put those things together. That's what your skills and knowledge allow you to do. You see the patient as the whole person down to the molecular level and can act accordingly.

Thanks for confirming what I thought. I remember as a student I used to think it was foleys and what not lol.