I don't know if I'm alone in this, but I seem to have a knack for remembering pointless things.
I remember the names of restaurants that I've eaten at on vacations, the servers' names, and other useless information that I will never need to recall in my life again.
This also applies to my time in nursing school, which admittedly wasn't that long ago, but long enough that a lot of the non-vital "nice to know but not need to know" information that we learned has become a little hazy.
The one random nugget of seemingly useless information that I remember from nursing school is what a scleral buckle is and what it is used to treat. It was briefly mentioned in my second semester of nursing school and for some reason it stuck with me. I've never encountered someone that has had this procedure in clinical OR in my personal life and I really have no justification for remembering it, but I do.
Does anyone else care to share a random nugget of information they learned in nursing school that they still remember, but never actually came in handy to know?
I've seen it - their palms even get red & itchy. Pharmacy just tells us to run it even slower, even though we had it on a pump to start with. It's not a true allergic reaction, and they do seem to be ok with the subsequent doses.
My memory isn't a usable nugget per se,but two different NLN exam questions from during school. I graduated from the University of Maryland in 1981 with my BSN. During NLN's you could tell when each student got to these questions because each would start laughing. The first was you have a 300 pound woman to put on a bedpan. What do you use to keep her from sticking to the bedpan? Of course the correct answer was there, baby powder, but the first answer was baby oil. Can you picture the result of that answer and not giggle? The second question was: it is a night shift and you have patient who pushes the call button then whispers when you come in "quiet, there is a lion under the bed." What is your response to the patient? The first answer was: look under the bed and tell the patient "it's asleep right now. Let's leave it alone and call the SPCA in the morning." Everyone lost it.
In my rehab clinical I had to document an ulcer forming in a patient's buttcrack... I asked the nurse I was assigned to, "How do I document this? Do I write buttcrack?" We laughed so hard! She wasn't sure... The general consensus ended up being "sacral fold." I work in psych now so it's never relevant... but I'll never forget it.
Intragluteal cleft is how my instructor taught me to chart it hahaha
Learning that the proper nursing intervention for a masturbating patient is to provide for privacy.
Ain't nobody got time for dat. Put that back under the covers or get some soap and wash it while I'm gowned and gloved because I have chemo to give you right NOW.
Its not useless but I haven't needed this information in 6 years as a nurse.
It wasn't even talked about much, but I never forget "red man syndrome" which is an allergic reaction to vancomycin where the upper body, usually especially the face, turn red soon after the start of an IV vancomycin infusion. Edema and itching can be seen as well.
I have given vanc sooo many times and it always pops into my head but I've never seen it. I think properly diluted vanc can help prevent it though I am sure it still happens.
When I was in nursing school I had a DD patient who always had a family member in the room. I walked in one time about 10 minutes after we'd started vanco to see how it was going, and the family member said, "He says there's a bell going off?" I asked the patient, who could only say, "Bells in my ears." I said, "
" as I nonchalantly suspended the IV and went to get my preceptor... turned out the ID and neuro docs agreed it wasn't the vanco, but you know... gotta check.
Mfulghum
1 Post
One of many, but definitely the one I use the most for patient teaching.
If your hot and dry, your sugars high. Cold and clammy need some candy.