What's your best 'Nurse Hack'?

Nurses General Nursing

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I'm a soon-to-be new grad RN (only 29 days!! woo-hoo!) and I am curious to know from the seasoned working nurses: What is your best 'nursing hack' or advice for a baby nurses like me?

1. If working nights, I attached a small flashlight to my ID badge, easy to asses IV sits etc without waking the pt.

2. I put all my patients names down the left side of a sheet and all the hours of my shift across the top... form a grid and then if my pt has meds due at 8, 2, and 4 I write them in those spaces. Vitals are at 8, 12,4 for us so I wrote in VS and then cross it out when done and charted. I also put in my IV checks (8, 10, 12 etc and put a check next to it when done and cross out when's charted. Under each pt name I put diagnosis, IV site and size, code status, diet, last PRN meds, This sheet helps me keep track of my time management and let's me see the "to dos" vs the "done" and the "charted" vs "need to be charted" at a glance.

Never Assume

Be respec

Never Assume

Be respectful but check information for your self.

I still use this one--don't ever stuff (or karate chop) gross pillows to get them into cases. Instead turn the case inside out and grab the inner corners and the top edges of the pillow and the pull the pillow through. Quick, smooth move with no extra nastiness in your face.

Patient with lots of grime/odor--add some shaving cream to the hot bath water. Works like a charm but be careful with anything menthol in urethral/mucous membrane proximity.

Specializes in Pediatric Critical Care.

If this is still confusing I quit as it is obviously an inability to communicate the concept properly.

Ohhhkay, between you and brillohead, I think I get it now! Hope that I didn't offend you, I just couldn't picture what you meant! (I work in pediatrics, a lot of things from the adult world don't compute at first :facepalm:)

Specializes in Pediatric Critical Care.

4-When spiking a piggyback bag, first roll the clamp all the way to the top and tighten it. Spike the bag, fill the chamber, and unroll the clamp. The fluid will fill the tubing with no air bubbles.

To add to this, prime TPN sllllooooowwwwly to avoid air bubbles. Like, slower than you think could possibly be necessary. It will save you lots of time in fixing a beeping pump later in the shift.

Also, if you wait till the arm swells up a lot to decide it has infiltrated, you are too late. Compare the arm/hand with the PIV to the opposite arm/hand. You will catch changes in size/color/temp sooner. If the dressing is wet, flush the IV and make sure it isn't leaking at the insertion site.

Also, don't just look for swelling immediately proximal to the IV. Look on the bottom side of the extremity. Think about where gravity would drain the extra fluid to, and look for swelling there.

Specializes in Pre-op, OR, & PACU.

If you don't do it already, wear compression socks. Spending an entire shift on your feet can be very taxing on your legs. Compression socks made a HUGE difference between my legs being a little achy and wanting to cry at the end of the day. Hang your socks to dry to avoid shrinking. It's also good to invest in supportive shoes that are comfortable. Your feet will thank you!

If you don't do it already, wear compression socks. Spending an entire shift on your feet can be very taxing on your legs. Compression socks made a HUGE difference between my legs being a little achy and wanting to cry at the end of the day. Hang your socks to dry to avoid shrinking. It's also good to invest in supportive shoes that are comfortable. Your feet will thank you!

I didn't learn this as early as I should have. It's great advice!

I think the problem was that it wasn't spelled out in the original post to mean "how much fluid is used to mix and flush each medication individually" -- people were thinking that all of the meds were poured into the graduated cylinder, and so in order to give all the meds, you would have to give the entire contents of the graduated cylinder.

Very few facilities have the time/staffing to crush and administer and flush each med individually (there's actually a thread on that subject right now, in fact), so most places simply have a pre-administration flush, then the amount of liquid with the all-crushed-together meds, then the post-administration flush.

In your case, however, you have to do a pre-administration flush, then crush and mix and administer Med 1, then another flush, then crush and mix and administer Med 2, then another flush, then crush and mix and administer Med 3, then another flush, then crush and mix and administer Med 4, then another flush, and on and on until all meds have been individually administered. Using your graduated cylinder water as the source for all your flushes and med administrations gives you the total amount of fluid used without having to write it down and keep track of every flush and every med administration.

It makes sense now, knowing that each med has to be crushed and administered separately. But since that's not the common practice for most nurses here (even though it is considered the best practice, there simply isn't enough time to do it that way in most facilities), it wasn't commonly understood the way it was initially posted.

Thank you for re- wording. I'll have to find that thread. I truly didn't know that this wasn't the way everyone did it (one at a time) and I've been nursing a decade. It does take a very long time but they would have kittens if we did it any other way. ( Not trying to start any arguments just saying how it is at my facility)

Unorthodox but if you really need a patient to have a BM, try this enema: warm (NOT HOT) coffee, chocolate milk, and molasses.

Works EVERY time. :eek:

Specializes in Critical care, Trauma.
Unorthodox but if you really need a patient to have a BM, try this enema: warm (NOT HOT) coffee, chocolate milk, and molasses.

Works EVERY time. :eek:

At our hospital we do receive orders for Milk and Molasses Enemas. We have a specific protocol that spells out how to prepare the enema, and includes measuring the temperature after it has been warmed in a microwave. "Word has it" that someone apparently administered one in the ER prior to the creation of the protocol without realizing it was too hot, causing internal injuries and requiring hospitalization. :wideyed:

My best nurse hack is to walk away from gossip. It doesn't matter if it's subtle or outright walk away. Also many things can be taught (multi-tasking, skills, etc.) but I can't teach you how to give grace and kindness to people who don't deserve it. Hopefully that's in you.

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