The Strangest/Most Inaccurate Things You Learned In Nursing School

Published

Teachers are people too. They make mistakes.

What are some of the most inaccurate/laughable/downright strange misconceptions you had/were taught to you in nursing school?

- When I was in my first semester of my LVN program and had zero experience in healthcare, I had the impression that an entire procedure had to be completely ended if I broke sterile technique. It's done. For good. My professors were such militant drill sergeants that I simply imagined that the patient will never get a Foley until the end of time. It never occurred to me until I met a senior student that, uh, you just get another kit and try again. The profs treated Foley kits like they were endangered pandas. There was no "It's OK. Just wash your hands, get another kit and try again." I know. Silly, right?

- One of my former professors said that you should never give an enema to an unconscious patient laying flat because they will aspirate the enema. Hand. To. God. I will never forget this. It was not a matter of saying a patient will aspirate if not at 30 degrees HOB. No. The enema liquid will travel the 30 some feet of gastrointestinal tract and hop into the patient's lungs. She was a pretty good prof too so I do not know how to justify this lol

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in ICU.

Our main educator has a master's degree in nursing, but a lot of what she says is inaccurate. She has very little experience in actually taking care of a real live patient, and apparently doesn't keep up with new stuff. (But she has her master's, and that is all that matters here.)

Up Vote Up Vote ×

Priming IVs in the lab last week with our instructor is just not the way they are doing it in practice.

Up Vote Up Vote ×

First semester of nursing school, A&P1, the instructor says: "A temperature of 100 is so bad, because water boils at 100 degrees, and since most of your organs are water, at 100 degrees your organs start boiling."

Hand to god.

The entire class just stared at her in disbelief, I will never forget that. No one even was able to ask "is that a joke?" before she'd moved on to the next thing.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in Complex pedi to LTC/SA & now a manager.

Well water does boil at 100C (~212F) so yes if you had a temp of 100C your organs would boil. Thankfully a fever is considered ~38.5C so yes 100C would not be a fever but boiled organ soup. ;)

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in NICU, ICU, PICU, Academia.

The year was 1976. It was my first day of LPN school. The director of our school as a retired Army nurse of 30 years' experience. She dismissed the two male students from the room, closed the door and faced the class.

"Ladies, I want to caution you about something. When you have clinicals, you must go NOWHERE ELSE in your student uniforms. (White dress, white hose, caps, the whole enchilada.)"

"Do NOT stop at the grocery or the gas station. Go immediately home and change your clothing before going out in public"

Why, you might ask? Infection control? Risk of soiling the pristine, blinding whiteness of the uniform? Not exactly.......

"Men are turned on by a women in white stockings and you risk being raped!"

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in Pediatrics, Emergency, Trauma.
The year was 1976. It was my first day of LPN school. The director of our school as a retired Army nurse of 30 years' experience. She dismissed the two male students from the room, closed the door and faced the class.

"Ladies, I want to caution you about something. When you have clinicals, you must go NOWHERE ELSE in your student uniforms. (White dress, white hose, caps, the whole enchilada.)"

"Do NOT stop at the grocery or the gas station. Go immediately home and change your clothing before going out in public"

Why, you might ask? Infection control? Risk of soiling the pristine, blinding whiteness of the uniform? Not exactly.......

"Men are turned on by a women in white stockings and you risk being raped!"

:roflmao:

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Well water does boil at 100C (~212F) so yes if you had a temp of 100C your organs would boil. Thankfully a fever is considered ~38.5C so yes 100C would not be a fever but boiled organ soup. ;)

Yeah, that's why we thought she was joking. Like, is this a lesson about the importance of what scale you use for all measurements, and not switching from Farenheit to Celsius?

No, she didn't realize she had switched from one to the other.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in Emergency/Trauma/Critical Care Nursing.

This wasn't an instructor but a coworker I overheard talking to her patient. She told one pt (who just so happened to be a RN herself) that she shouldnt refuse the zofran because "it potentiates the effects of the pain meds" huh?!?

Then told another pt who was an alcoholic that they shouldn't drink etoh because it flushes the dilantin right out of their system. I don't know where she gets this stuff.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
The year was 1976. It was my first day of LPN school. The director of our school as a retired Army nurse of 30 years' experience. She dismissed the two male students from the room, closed the door and faced the class.

"Ladies, I want to caution you about something. When you have clinicals, you must go NOWHERE ELSE in your student uniforms. (White dress, white hose, caps, the whole enchilada.)"

"Do NOT stop at the grocery or the gas station. Go immediately home and change your clothing before going out in public"

Why, you might ask? Infection control? Risk of soiling the pristine, blinding whiteness of the uniform? Not exactly.......

"Men are turned on by a women in white stockings and you risk being raped!"

Oh. My. Gosh! I know all the men I know are so turned on by Ted hose (that's what those white stockings look like to me! LOL!)

Up Vote Up Vote ×
+ Join the Discussion