A fairly new nurse asked for help bagging a body, as she had never had to do that before. On the way in I stopped, grabbed her arm and said "dead bodies make noises!". She just looked at me with a "yeah right, pull the other one". The other nurse solemnly agreed, yes, they make noises. Newbie couldn't quite decide if she believed us or not, when we kept insisting that dead bodies really do make noises!
So as we were turning the poor fellow onto his side, (he was rather large), the air rushed out in a loud "AAUUUUGHHHH".
She froze looked up at us, totally wide eyed and exclaimed "I am SO glad you warned me before!! I didn't believe you!"
Always look up your medications before you give them if you don't know what they do. Always, even if you don't feel like you have enough time. For one, it's good nursing practice and you could avoid an adverse outcome, secondly if you don't know what it does and your patient is A&O, he will ask you what it does (even if it's a home medicine he takes regularly) and then you will look like a moron.
Agreeing with the people who say to take your break, and go get snacks whenever you need them! It may seem like you're wasting half an hour that you could be getting things done when you go to lunch, but if you don't eat when you need to, you will be sluggish and your thinking won't be as clear, so it actually saves you time in the long run to just go ahead and eat so you can be more focused and energetic when you need to be.
Get to know the unit, it's atmosphere, the nurses etc before you start to make jokes, laugh about things etc. what is considered a joke on one unit, may be offensive on another.
I am still a newbie but I would say ask questions, project confidence, go easy on yourself, and if you are given "advice," heed it if its good advice and keep your mouth shut if anyone sends gossip your way. They will pretend to care about your progress but talk about you the same way they talk about others. We baby nurses are learning and that critical thinking applies to our patients AND our patience.
There is a difference between a stressed out patient lashing out because they are frightened and a hateful patient being hateful. Learn the difference and don't tolerate abuse. I get paid to treat and care for my patients and to talk them through what is going on, I don't get paid to be called a racist because I won't give you narcotics for your chest pain when I've seen you in my ER for the same complaint five times in the past two months.
"listen to your little inner voice, it's probably telling you something important".
My inner voice has been whispering "kill them, kill them all, kill them now..." for a very long while. Thanks for the advice. Up till now I've been trying to ignore it, and it's been quite a strain.
My advice is to do things by the book & be careful of taking shortcuts. If you are already doing things right, it may help relieve some if the stress when the state survey team pops in for their yearly visit!
VANurse2010
1,526 Posts
Don't automatically assume an experienced nurse is doing her job well or properly. Some people have been doing their jobs for a long time - poorly.