3 things you wish someone would have told you, that you had to find out on your own..

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Specializes in LTC and School Health.

The purpose of this thread is to pass "pearls of wisdom" to novice nurses, experienced nurses may learn something too. I'm not a new nurse, 3 years in but I can still use some pearls. I'll go first:

1. Always go with your gut instinct, if something does not seem right investigate and ask questions.

2. Never unspike a pressure bad without deflating it first. It will explode

3.Remember to clamp the line when unhooking lines... especially when running PRBC

4. Don't trust everyone that smiles in your face, however it is important to have atleast one work buddy to confide in.

Okay, that is four. Add as many as you like.

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Specializes in Med/Surg & Hospice & Dialysis.

# 1 above can not be stated enough! If you think something is wrong, but can't put your finger on it, ask!!! If your pt thinks something is wrong, they are usually right.

Learn who the reliable coworkers are and ask them questions, but if you need help, tell them what your thoughts are and what you would want to do. It lets them know you are trying to solve the problem and they can help guide you in the right direction.

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1) If a patient says, "I'm going to die tonight", DON'T automatically chalk it up to confusion.

2) Patients do NOT sleep all night on night shift.

3) Don't assume that's chocolate pudding on that LOL's face and hands!

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Specializes in Hem/Onc/BMT.

3) Don't assume that's chocolate pudding on that LOL's face and hands!

Good lesson! :lol2:

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Specializes in Cardiac/Neuro Stepdown.

3.Remember to clamp the line when unhooking lines... especially when running PRBC

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1. Communicate as effectively and effiiciently as you can.

2. It is ok to know what you know, but good to know what you don't know. And where to look to find the answers.

3. Gloves, gowns and face sheilds are your best friends for anything that's gonna projectile. And in an emergency, things are gonna projectile.

4. Make your life outside of your work as full and rich and meaningful. Have good friends. Laugh a lot. Do things that help you to be centered. Get some sleep, take a little walk, read a good book.

5. Call your mom, your dad, your siblings, your favorite auntie every once in awhile......they worry about you if you go too long without talking to them.

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1. Never let anyone hear you speaking bad about your patients. Never. That stuff gets around easily.

2. Hourly rounding, especially at night, is EXTREMELY important.

3. Don't take shortcuts. Do things right the first time. If you don't have time to do it right now, you probably won't have time to fix it later.

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I am still pretty new myself but one thing I learned last night was to be very cautious when holding onto a med (especially a narcotic) when it should be wasted at the time you drew it up and figured out you weren't going to give it d/t pt. condition, long story short, pt. complained of pain last night, still a fairly new transfer from our Observation unit, before I went to go give the 2mg of Morphine I checked her BP to make sure all was OK before giving her the narc, well BP was 87/59, needless to say I nixed the morphine plan and went into the med room to find someone to waste it w/ me, when a couple older nurses advised me to just hang onto it in case she needed it later when BP went up, so I did. Fast forward 5hrs when I remembered the morphine and had been through a 2hr rapid response w/ this pt. for hypotension not too long after I checked her low BP when she complained of pain. The pt. was transferred to CVICU and started on dopamine drip (no one was too familiar w/ this pt. and we didnt know that her BP was not going to return to normal anytime soon for us)....anyways, waste meds right away b/c I had to go all the way back down to CVICU and plead w/ the nurses there to waste w/ me (vial had long been thrown away so all I had was a full un-marked syringe of 2mg of morphine diluted w/ NS so they had to take my word for it, that it was indeed what I claimed it was in the syringe)...

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Specializes in Peds/Neo CCT,Flight, ER, Hem/Onc.
2. It is ok to know what you know, but good to know what you don't know. And where to look to find the answers.

I think it's better to know what you don't know. Keeps you out of trouble.

Human Resources is not your friend.

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Onething, I learned is that it is ok to leave a call light going if you are in the middle of something else. I always look in the room to make sure the patient is ok and ask if they need anything emergrent. If they are ok, I leave the light on so i remember to return to them and return to what i was in the middle of. This gets annoying to other coworkers but its alot better then forgetting about them.

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As a CNA in nursing school:It's easy to hurt yourself and expensive to heal. The key to manual blood pressures is often a better stethoscope You have to really fight for your breaks, but some people respect you more when you do.

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Specializes in LTC, assisted living, med-surg, psych.
Onething, I learned is that it is ok to leave a call light going if you are in the middle of something else. I always look in the room to make sure the patient is ok and ask if they need anything emergrent. If they are ok, I leave the light on so i remember to return to them and return to what i was in the middle of. This gets annoying to other coworkers but its alot better then forgetting about them.

If it annoys the co-workers so much, why don't they answer the call light? :confused:

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