What is the best nursing advice you ever got from another nurse?

Published

I will be graduating soon, and wondered what advice you've received that made you a better nurse?

Specializes in PACU, OR.

1: Don't panic. Never panic.

2: Cover your butt. Documentation is all that keeps you out of court and your name on the register.

3: The patient comes first. (should have made that no 1)

4: Never forget that hospitalized patients have entered an alien environment.

5: Patients tend to regress to an earlier developmental phase.

6: And especially for PACU: if a patient asks you to marry him, it's only the Diprivan talking....

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in Administration, Psych, Clinical Research.

Treat all your patients with empathy: I treat the old grandmother who has been laying there for years, like she is my grandmother, treat the drug addict young man like it was the brother you grew up with, the young man in the motorcycle accident like your husband. The annoying family making demands as if it was you...as nurses we are the most demanding and annoying when our loved ones are in the hospital.

Up Vote Up Vote ×

From my preceptors mindset of simplification in a complex environment,...

When it's all said and done, if the patient is "pink and breathing" at the end of your shift, you did a good job.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in Surgical, quality,management.

1) if it is written to stand up in court.............Rewrite it

2) Your patients don't understand the technical words - simplfy eg "your IV has infiltrated, I need to resite it" means Your drip is working any more, I am going to need to put in a new one. Or "Ok your sats are dropping, I'm going to put a neb / 02 on" your OXYGEN levels are a little bit lower than what I am happy with, I am going to put this mask on you / this tubing into your nostrils.

3) think about what you are going to do with your pt. sit them out of bed for lunch? time for a skin check to the buttocks, listen to their lungs when they are on the edge of the bed, do a few deep breathing and coughing exercises and some ankle pumps. Ask do they need to freshen up before lunch. Then they can eat in peace without you disturbing them again

4) ask for help when you start getting behind not when you are so confused and disorganised that you don't know where to start. Getting a hand with an IV is a lot better than having to do all of another nurses meds 10min before report.

5) If you are concerned about a pt and not getting the help you need from the overworked intern, call a rapid response / medical emergency team call. They would rather one of them than a code blue 30 min later. Tell the intern who yells at you for doing that to go and sing another song cause the patient comes first.

Going to stop lecturing now :)

Best of luck

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in Med/Surg, LTAC, Critical Care.

A nurse didn't tell me this, it was passed down from my Great Granddaddy, to Granddaddy, to Daddy, to me.

"If a man is gonna pay you an honest days wage, you best do him an honest days work".

Put simply, do your job assigned to you. If you have an IV that needs restarted, RESTART IT! Don't wait 7 hrs to pass it off to the other shift. If it is your job to call a doc about a consult or lab values... DO IT!

Up Vote Up Vote ×

Do not forget to eat and pee! (not at the same time)

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in General Surgery, Orthopaedics, ICU, ER.

Always ask questions and never be afraid to ask for help. It's better to ask for help if you're unsure rather than attempt something you're not sure of and cause an error.

Up Vote Up Vote ×

Never be afraid to ask questions, because the minute you stop asking questions is the same time you stop being a good nurse.

Don't second guess your gut feeling, because sometimes your instinct is all you have.

If it wasn't documented it wasn't done.

Patients are people so treat them that way.

If you feel overwhelmed take a step back and breath.

If you don't take care of yourself, you can't take care of others.

Sometimes the best thing you can say is nothing at all. Just listen.

Boy I sound like a Hallmark card. :)

Up Vote Up Vote ×

  1. Don't run. Running scares people. If you're going to run, you'd darn best mean it.
  2. Come early. Don't be one of those people who shows up right at the start of shift... at least not at first. Coming early gives you time to think, get organized, and set the tone for your day the way you want it to go.
  3. Stay late if you have to. Rushing to get things done and doing them halfway doesn't make you a good nurse. Staying late to do them right does.
  4. Do unto others as you'd have them do unto you. Do you want your IV bags to be dry when you come on shift? Then make sure that yours have at least four hours on them when you go off. Make sure your PCA patients have another syringe available. Don't use the last PRN anything and not send for it to be replaced.
  5. If the IV looks bad, it probably is. This goes with its sister theory: Just because it has a blood return doesn't mean it's still good.
  6. Treat your patients the way you'd want your family to be treated.
  7. Wear a good watch.
  8. Set your IVs to beep before your bag is empty. Note what time that will be on your report sheet/brains/whatever you call them. Walk in the room five minutes early with a bag of fluids in hand. NO one likes a beeping IV.
  9. Always trust your gut. Always.
  10. It's good to be scared. In fact, please be scared. If you're not scared, you're not giving your inexperience and the fact that you've now got human lives in your hands the proper respect.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in Critical Care.

Said to me during my first ACLS megacode back when you and the examiner were the only ones in the room...

"Honey, he's dead. Anything you do will either keep it that way or or make it better. Slow down, breathe, and do what you know how to do."

Got me through ACLS and every code I've been in since.

Up Vote Up Vote ×

My godmother told me, "Work as a CNA for a year before you go to nursing school." That was great advice.

My mom told me, "When the smokers go out to take their breaks, so do you... or else you'll never get one." (That was fabulous advice thirty years ago when almost every nurse smoked.)

An older nurse told me, "Take your breaks, take your breaks, take your breaks. Do you think your manager is gonna come to your house and cook your dinner for you when you get sick or have a nervous breakdown? You signed up to work for 8 hours and that's what you give them, then you go home. (I'm one of those sad codependent people who often stays 2-3 hours after work to finish stuff up.) If I catch you working for free again, I'm gonna kick your butt. Sit down and eat your supper."

A ward manager told me, "If you have demented or psych-like patients, turn the temperature down in their rooms at night. Very few patients will crawl out from under those warm blankets."

A policewoman told me, "Freaks love nurses--women without weapons who come and go from unguarded doorways and walk by themselves to dark parking lots at all times of the day and night. Look around your car, look around the lot, watch what you are doing at all times, and be aware of your surroundings." That saved me from getting mugged or something at least twice that I know of.

An older nurse told me, "Are you Jesus? If not, then you are gonna make a mistake sometimes. That's the way it is, so learn to deal with it."

Up Vote Up Vote ×

Good advise a nurse can tell another nurse.....

I don't know I'm not a nurse. I imagine anyone would tell me right now to go to another job field.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
+ Join the Discussion