Weird habits you've picked up since starting Nursing school

Published

A few of mine:

Checking the expiration date on EVERYTHING.

Evaluating everyone I meet for IV placement.

Laying out every utensil I need before cooking.

Watching every person I see with a cane to make sure they're using it correctly.

Specializes in NP / USAFR Flight Nurse.

I periodically clean my stethescope, pen, penlight, and workspace at clinical with tb spray and alcohol wipes...

Also, I put a clean towel from the linen cart on my chair at clinicals and sit on that...Im becoming a germophobe :)

Up Vote Up Vote ×

Ruining tv programs for everyone in the room-like the time they portrayed a bunch of strippers spinning around a pole and I said "Ugh-they're SHARING a pole? You don't EVEN want to know what's on there!"

Putting everything in my pockets (even at home now). Checking to see that pants have large pockets when I buy them.

Handwashing for twenty seconds and using paper towels to shut off the water. Opening doors to public restrooms with my feet, elbows, or a paper towel.I wash my hands everytime I come into my home now.

Doing a mini assessment on my 90 year old grandma every time I visit her.

Trying to remember not to talk about bodily functions with the other nursing students at the lunch table at school.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
After LVN and RN school I have picked up no habits other than I don't buy blue pens.

LOL-I found a blue pen in my bag the other day and reflexively threw it out in horror.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Yeah I'm definately doing the germ thing. I was recently at a cook-out and the guy who was cooking was sweating profusely. I stood there and watched him take his hand ( that was also cooking the food) and wipe the sweat off his bald head. I gagged immediately. And to make matters worse he poked the meat wtih his finger to see if it was done! OMG! And guess what.... he was a manager at KFC!!! LOL. Needless to say as much as I love BBQ.... I didn't eat that day.

:eek: :imbar :barf01: That is just disgusting! OMG!! I honestly think it just doesn't occur to some people that they do yucky things.....

Up Vote Up Vote ×

Mine has to be that I've become a hypochondriac!:lol2: Every headache I have is a bleeding aneurysm, each leg cramp (even though Im a runner) is a DVT, you get the idea!

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in RN, Cardiac Step Down/Tele Unit.

I check my husband's pedal pulses. Drives him nuts. I also critique the medical shows which really gets him going! (Honey - it's just a SHOW!!!) I do visual head-to-toe's when I am waiting in line at the store. (Ooh, pursed lip breathing - COPD!!!)

Oh, and I have recently started talking to my hubby on the phone using the SBAR technique. (This is your wife. I noticed that the air condition on my 2007 Saturn is not blowing as cold as it should be. I recommend having a coolant level checked...I swear he thought I'd lost it!)

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in ICU.

lol, this thread is great - i hadn't realized i do half of these things!

added to some of them, i know i write in medical shorthand in places where people have absolutely no idea what the heck i'm talking about

and when i'm watching medical shows, i yell out the answers - and get excited when i'm right - which annoys everyone...lol

Up Vote Up Vote ×

some of the things I have started doing is assessing people when they tell my they have a headache , cut , etc...

I automatically start asking location, duration, etc. questions lol:lol2:

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in OR Nursing Internship.

I have started using therapeutic technique on friends and my BF. "that must be hard for you". "it sounds like you are upset about blah blah". I figure that wow I could have learned these skills earlier to communicate with everyone! When I hear someone talking about a health related problem I usually ask more questions to see if I can help them get to a solution. After nutrition class I eat alot more fiber...only wheat bread is in my house now. I can talk about the most grossest things and still eat my lunch. Everytime I get tipsey, I somehow end up talking about something nursing related.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in Mostly LTC, some acute and some ER,.

I have a habit of diagniosng myself . . . . even though thats not in a nurses duties to create a medical diagnosis. . . i do it anyway (to myself) I tell everyone else to see a doctor.

Up Vote Up Vote ×

Have you all seen this cute Student Nurse shirt? I start school in August, but from what you all are saying, the shirt is true as true can be!

I think the pic will be bigger if you click on it. :)

Up Vote Up Vote ×

I am guilty for check expiration dates on everything. I have it so bad i went to cook something for my husband the other day and i went in the freezer and i started checking the date from the tyson meat. well they all said dec. 07 so i started throwing everything out until i realized that this is the year 2007. I was so embarrassed. I also tell my family about all the germs that are out there. I also have a real bad habit with sanitizer.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
+ Join the Discussion