A member of my clinical is trying to decide whether or not to quit, she is 2nd semester (near the end of 2nd) and has been written up for throwing insulin stylet and saline flush syringe in to the garbage rather than sharps, in addition the instructor said she "did not flush saline lock prior to hooking up IV, did not scan (computer based MAR0 in the lidocaine for a potassium bag (RN working with her witnessed that it was lidocaine but policy is scan before use) and leaving an edematous arm in the wrong position for 3 hours.
After all this she feels she isn't cut out for this and is scared she may hurt someone.
What do you think, should she drop? or stick it out?
One other thing she thinks if she is dropped for clinical reasons she will be black balled in all the other nursing schools.
You guys didn't learn fundamental skills on med administration in a lab? WE can always remediate if we screw up and put some time in practicing our skills. And in my program you can write a paper on pretty much ANYTHING--all ya gotta do is volunteer.
Anyway, you asked so I was just giving you some feedback. Hope everything works out...
Wow so you had a lab on not throwing syringes in the garbage? I have to wonder how that went.
She emailed me a while ago and dropped, thanks for the input everyone, I was hoping to get something to encourage her to stay.
I was hoping to get something to encourage her to stay.
Seems like she is just not crazy to be a nurse, and maybe this is what is needed for most people who don't fit right in.
As he neared HS graduation, when I asked my son what he wanted to be, he breezily tossed off "architect." I asked how many buildings he had traveled to to study in person. None. I asked how many floor plans and exterior views he had in his portfolio, or even doodled in his spare time. None.
So I told him that architecture is very competitive, and since he obviously wasn't crazy to be an architect, he needed to get real and find something he could love and get lost in, instead of a mere word to impress others with. It turned out to be engineering. He is crazy to be an engineer, so that is where he belongs.
Maybe your friend is in search of something to be crazy enough over. Maybe she'll find it. Now some folks are never crazy to be anything. Well that is fine. I know a man who was a fur flesher. No kid dreams of becoming a fur flesher, but the world needed him to do it, he did it well, and besides he raised some wonderful kids.
Specializes in ED, ICU, MS/MT, PCU, CM, House Sup, Frontline mgr.
Wow so you had a lab on not throwing syringes in the garbage? I have to wonder how that went.
I think the poster was making a good point. The lab of which she speaks is on medication admin safety to INCLUDE sharps and their containers during 1st semester. I too have no idea how your friend did not get the point (no pun intended). If your friend had truly cared to know the information, she would have picked it up during your lecture, lab, and related readings. Maybe this is not the only bit of information she glossed over that would harm a patient or others in the future?
I am not stating that none of us will make mistakes as students or as nurses, but some information should be considered so basic we don't make mistakes. Not only could she have harmed a patient in this case, she could have harmed staff like CNAs, housekeeping etc. So, in this case, I have to agree with your friend.
She emailed me a while ago and dropped, thanks for the input everyone, I was hoping to get something to encourage her to stay.
You can still encourage her to pursue a dream she will be more comfortable learning and achieving. Don't make her feel bad for choosing to do something different. Not everyone needs to become a nurse in order to be successful or to help others.
I think the poster was making a good point. The lab of which she speaks is on medication admin safety to INCLUDE sharps and their containers during 1st semester. I too have no idea how your friend did not get the point (no pun intended). If your friend had truly cared to know the information, she would have picked it up during your lecture, lab, and related readings. Maybe this is not the only bit of information she glossed over that would harm a patient or others in the future?
I am not stating that none of us will make mistakes as students or as nurses, but some information should be considered so basic we don't make mistakes. Not only could she have harmed a patient in this case, she could have harmed staff like CNAs, housekeeping etc. So, in this case, I have to agree with your friend.
You can still encourage her to pursue a dream she will be more comfortable learning and achieving. Don't make her feel bad for choosing to do something different. Not everyone needs to become a nurse in order to be successful or to help others.
:yeahthat: Thanks for clarifying that for me MBA2RN! :):)
She needs to look long and hard at what she wants to do and how much she is willing to work for what she wants. A few lumps and bad day are nothing in clinical- that is what you learn from. If the errors continue, she needs to figure out why she is making them and really make an effort to change that aspect of herself. Reviewing policies before doing procedure, working slower and thinking out all the steps, more observation possibly would all help.
In the hospitals where I do clinical they both allow the stylets to be thrown in the regular trash. The sharp is retracted so no stick worries. I still put them in the sharps container as it just feels right....
Wow so you had a lab on not throwing syringes in the garbage? I have to wonder how that went.
this was also part of our lab on safe medication administration. our teacher stressed that safe medication administration isn't over after the patient gets the med.
Why would a saline flush syringe go into a sharps container? Do some of them have needles on them? I don't get it. If not, it seems like an uneconomical waste of space in a sharps container.
Wow so you had a lab on not throwing syringes in the garbage? I have to wonder how that went.
That is one of the steps listed when giving injections. Check your procedures book.
My opinion is that if you really want to be a nurse you'll do everything you can to better yourself. If you make a mistake in clinicals then you'll do everything you can to learn what you did wrong, work on fixing it, and learn from your mistakes. I don't think it's a good sign to make some mistakes and then run from them and think about dropping out. Maybe their heart isn't in the right place. Maybe they're just nervous; I don't know this person personally. But it's a big decision, whether to leave or stay, so they have to make it for themselves, and do it for the right reasons.
Saline flush goes into the sharps **because the teacher says so** not because of logic, and as for the insulin stylet it is a new type that once used you can not extend the needle again, you could safely throw it in the garbage (many RN's do) however that is against hospital policy and seems to me to be a reasonable plan.
The bottom line here is I wanted to get some comments that might help her to stick it out, well she quit before I could do that...in my school the only support you get is from your peers, the instructors are not supportive.
Last, I question whether I want to do this nursing thing at all, in the 5 hospitals I have been in the RN's are burnt out, routinely use unsafe practices, and more than once I have seen them use the computers to job hunt during work hours, the doctors don't appear to be much better off.
There is a list I could go thru of all the things I have seen, from refusing to give morphine to a 100 yo cancer victim (she is drug seeking!!!) to doctors talking about their recreational drugs use.
I have to think I am in the worst region for hospitals in the country or some of the posters here are really really naive.
Why would a saline flush syringe go into a sharps container? Do some of them have needles on them? I don't get it. If not, it seems like an uneconomical waste of space in a sharps container.
That is one of the steps listed when giving injections. Check your procedures book.
when i went to NS, ALL needle adaptable syringes were to go in the sharps box....unless broken into pieces
I too considered dropping out in my second semister of nsg clinicals. But someone wise just told me to finish, get my degree, and if I didn't like nsg I could always do something else; I didn't have to practice nsg. I finished, I'm an RN and love being a psych nurse now (where I don't have to worry about IV's :)
koan
44 Posts
Wow so you had a lab on not throwing syringes in the garbage? I have to wonder how that went.
She emailed me a while ago and dropped, thanks for the input everyone, I was hoping to get something to encourage her to stay.