That's not a bad nurse

I have friends that are not in healthcare that believe if a nurse has to poke you for an IV start more than once... they are a bad nurse. This is an article where I attempt to convey the absurdity of this statement through ridicule and satire. Nurses General Nursing Article

A friend of mine dislocated her shoulder and ended up in the emergency room. Because the emergency room is normally a hot mess express, she ended up having to wait over an hour and a half to be roomed. When she finally saw a doctor, he told her she was going to get some pain medicine through an IV before he popped it back into place. Everything turned out fine and she was discharged within an hour. And then she proceeded to call me (because I'm an ER nurse) and tell me how awful her nurse was. "She missed my IV the first time and she had to poke me again. It was awful". I told her "That's not a bad nurse".

This isn't the first time I've heard something like this. Many people and patients tell me their "horror stories" about emergency, urgent care, or office visits. And when I ask for any more details besides them missing one or two IV starts, they usually don't have anything more to add. And that's when I get frustrated.

If you sat in a pool of your own diarrhea for 50 minutes you had a bad nurse. If you were poked six times for an IV before an ultrasound IV expert was called, you had a bad nurse. If you were given 10mg Haldol and 2 mg Lorazepam by accident because your nurse didn't double check the order and realize the doctor put the emergent psychiatric "go to sleep cocktail" on the wrong patient, and you woke up with a tube down your throat... you had a bad nurse. If you were discharged home and developed a nasty rash on your arm that spread into a wicked skin infection that needed to be treated aggressively with antibiotics because your nurse didn't wash their hands and follow isolation protocols after touching an XDR patient... you had a bad nurse. If you were there for a chin laceration repair and could ambulate without difficulty and the nurse told you it was hospital policy that everyone had to use a urinal or bedpan only... you had a horrible nurse.

If you were not updated with changes in status or progress every hour or so because your nurse was in the locker room exchanging saliva with the pharmacist... you had a bad nurse. If you noticed your left arm was rapidly swelling around your IV site that has Phenergan infusing and you called your nurse in to reassess and they said "meh, it's fine" and walk out... you had a bad nurse. If you had a horrible burn from a kitchen fire and your nurse walks in singing "This girl is on FIRREEE, FIREEE, FIREEE".... You had a bad nurse.... But you kind of have to appreciate the irony.

A bad nurse is someone who diverts narcotics and sells it on the black market for extra cash. A bad nurse only goes into your room to watch the game on the television. A bad nurse doesn't advocate for you or questions things when they're wrong. A bad nurse doesn't clean up their mess and leaves a "sharps and needles minefield" in your stretcher.

I remember being a new nurse and I missed a lot of IV starts. I still miss now, I'm not perfect. And there's no question clinical skills are important in nursing. But to categorize the entire experience with a nurse based on one or two pokes is crazy to me. If I have a nurse that is attentive to my needs, empathetic, smart, and considerate, they could poke me twice and I'd be fine with it. Because that's not a bad nurse

Specializes in Cardicac Neuro Telemetry.
"I want the doctor to start my IV"

No, no you don't. You want the nurse that all the nurses agree is the best.

LOL. I have never heard this one before. Honestly, I doubt most of the physicians I know have started in IV in the last five years and that is being generous. If requested, they'd all agree that the nurses are the best choice for starting an IV.

"I want the doctor to start my IV"

No, no you don't. You want the nurse that all the nurses agree is the best.

Ha Ha a doctor put my patient back on the fetal monitor after she had used the bathroom because I was "nowhere to be found" AKA in another patient's room taking her to the bathroom. He proceeded to mAke coffee because he "supposed" I was also "too busy" for that either! He never hit the record button on the EFM (back in the paper recording days) AND he overfilled the pot with the entire package of coffee from which we used three scoops. You would not have wanted an IV from him anymore than you would have wanted a C. Section performed by me!

Specializes in CMSRN.

So very true! I hear things like this too and it's so far from accurate.

Recently my husband had surgery and in that facility pre-op, the anesthesiologist usually starts the IV. They have started thousands and anesthesiology is who we call in an emergency when nothing else can be gotten. And on the day my husband was having surgery, the anesthesiologist missed on the first attempt with a student watching as well. She gave me a little look to see if I was upset (the surgeon had outed me as a nurse) and I just smiled and said, "we all miss sometimes, those veins can really mess with us". I could see her let out her breath a little. I'm sure she hears complaints all the time but she definitely wasn't going to hear one from me.

A bad nurse is one that does not adhere to the central dogma of nursing. Has a little empathy. Poor sense of ethic.

However, if you miss a couple with the IV, I would say the best choice is to let someone else try.

I had someone request a PICC line for an outpatient surgery because she was a "hard stick". Okayyyyyy..

"I want the doctor to start my IV"

No, no you don't. You want the nurse that all the nurses agree is the best.

Yes, I have heard that one a TON! But they always have a story to tell about how bad it was last time and how the 'Head Nurse" had to come in and start it. Well I started telling patients that I was "Head Nurse" when someone came to me and asked me to try an IV that they couldn't get. Before everyone goes ballistic over me saying that, we didn't have head nurses or charge nurses at the surgery center where I worked. Even my manager thought it was funny.

Specializes in CCU, SICU, CVSICU, Precepting & Teaching.
LOL. I have never heard this one before. Honestly, I doubt most of the physicians I know have started in IV in the last five years and that is being generous. If requested, they'd all agree that the nurses are the best choice for starting an IV.

I hear "I want the doctor to give my injection". No you don't. You want the nurse who actually gives injections on a regular basis.

Specializes in LongTerm Care, ICU, PCU, ER.

You want the doctor to start your IV? OK. But he's going to stick it in your neck.

Specializes in LongTerm Care, ICU, PCU, ER.

I explain that starting an IV is like being a major league batter. Some days, you hit nothing but home runs. Some days, you strike out every time you're at bat. On good days, you hit some and you miss some.

Specializes in Med/Surge, Psych, LTC, Home Health.

Lord.... if missing IV sticks makes one a bad nurse, then consider me

Annie Wilkes.

Specializes in School nurse.

Besides the fact that these kinds of comments are fueled by social media, I think this is just indicative of the general public's level of ignorance regarding the knowledge and skill set required to be a nurse. They just have no idea. And it's sad.

Specializes in Peds Critical Care, Dialysis, General.

I just had an endoscopy/colonoscopy. I had an experienced nurse who was orienting at our facility (yep, went to my own small hospital) try to start an IV on me. I suggested my fat sidewinder on the left side, but she told me that they preferred the right side since I'd be on my left side. I said, okay and good luck with that, especially my AC. Well, that's where she went. Found a nice, bouncy vein that absolutely rolled and disappeared. I had a nice bruise and hematoma. She deferred to her preceptor, which I appreciated. She got my right wrist. Was nurse number 1 bad? Nope, she did a great assessment and was everything I'd ask for in a nurse. She chose her battles carefully.

My daughter-in-law was in labor with our grandson. Things started to go downhill. The epidural decided to quit, she has no pain tolerance at all. The baby started having decels. L & D isn't my area, but I remembered some stuff from nursing school. DIL's nurse was an experienced nurse, just new to L&D. During the chaos and increasing threat of an emergency section (anesthesia was in the room for quite a while), the nurse felt overwhelmed and asked an experienced nurse (I knew her) to step in. We were grateful that her orienting nurse knew when she needed to back off, take a break and learn from the seasoned nurses. We actually requested to have her back, but she got reassigned the next shift. She was a terrific nurse.

I am not always the best at IV starts. Some days are diamonds, some are dust. Elders with fragile veins and crinkly skin are difficult. An experienced, 70+ nurse taught me in one session so much about starting IVs when I had to start one on her...I thought that was the best ever! One the smartest nurses I know will tell you he is not your go to guy for IVs.

Now, if you want a Dobhoff placed, call me.

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