What's your best 'Nurse Hack'?

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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?

Specializes in Crit Care; EOL; Pain/Symptom; Gero.

7) If you have to draw blood on a super tough stick, look for superficial veins on the foot and use a 25ga butterfly.

Caution:

Check your State Nurse Practice Act before even thinking of phlebotomy or IV stick on a patient's foot.

Task frequently is limited to anesthesia providers only.

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Specializes in Med-Tele; ED; ICU.

When removing tape or other adhesives from fragile skin, use alcohol prep pads and go very slowly and you can peel the tape off without pulling the hair or causing a skin tear (which should be a "never" event)

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This is a good thread!

I always write the date and day in the tape of an ostomy pouch with a permanent marker. The patient never seems to remember exactly when it was changed last. Just makes life easier

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If you have a wound vac that is leaking... turn the machine so you can see it from the patients wound so you can look at the seal check. Turn off music, TV, no talking. Take an alcohol swab and rub over the vac drape. Once you come across the leak there will be a hiss. Then fix the leak!

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Specializes in Long-term care, ICU..

Ice a NG/OG TUBE for a few mins before inserting. It stiffens it up so it's less likely to coil. Stick a chuck pad in the bedpan so you can throw out the pad, easier clean up. Flush the IV, place a tourniquet and use a 3 cc to gently draw back blood on a stubborn IV. Bed in lowest position and bed alarm on for confused patients, and utilize restraints.

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If the IV pump keeps beeping occlusion take it off the pump and see if it drips by gravity. Then go get a new pump!:woot:

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Specializes in Med nurse in med-surg., float, HH, and PDN.

Don't think this is a 'hack', just a warning from the voice of experience. If you have a tube feeding to do, and cough medicine is part of the meds you are to give, make double sure you've got ALL the feeding out of the g-tube. I just poured it in on top of the feeding, thinking it would just go on down like everything does. Well, it didn't. It solidified. Coca-cola did not work, nor any other soda. Suction and/or pushing a bolus did not work. Just remember that cough syrup and G-tube formula turn almost to cement. Don't try to shortcut like I did.

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Very hard of hearing patients, I place the ear part in the patient's ear and talk into the other end.

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Specializes in Med nurse in med-surg., float, HH, and PDN.
Very hard of hearing patients, I place the ear part in the patient's ear and talk into the other end.

Stethoscope, you mean? Gosh, I hope so; I just spent 30 seconds thinking, "the ear part? what ear part?"

I've been up too long, my brain seems to be closing down for the night!

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Specializes in Pediatric Critical Care.
7) If you have to draw blood on a super tough stick, look for superficial veins on the foot and use a 25ga butterfly.

Caution:

Check your State Nurse Practice Act before even thinking of phlebotomy or IV stick on a patient's foot.

Task frequently is limited to anesthesia providers only.

Really? Because we put PIVs in the foot in pediatrics regularly.

I can't think of a reason why a state practice act would specifically restrict foot IVs. What state are you thinking of? I would like to look it up.

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Nursing hack?

I assume you mean an un orthodox short cut.

Suction.

Depending on the breathalyzer unit- PT too hammered to blow. Place mouthpiece in pts mouth. Have somebody manually squeeze lips to create seal. Put suction on exhaust end, pulling a breath through the breathalyzer.

I can't advocate this next one, but the person who passed it on said it works.

Obese male needs a foley, but you can't find Waldo. The gopher isn't sticking his head up. You know it has to be in there somewhere, but you can't find it.

60 cc cath (not Luer) syringe. Remove plunger. Hook suction to small end of syringe. Place other end on the gopher hole. Apply suction. Grab that thing by the neck as soon as it sticks it's head up.

:roflmao:
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Specializes in Cardio-Pulmonary; Med-Surg; Private Duty.
If the IV pump keeps beeping occlusion take it off the pump and see if it drips by gravity. Then go get a new pump!:woot:

You may not actually need a new pump. If it's an Upstream Occlusion, lower the pump so there isn't a loop in the tubing between the bag and the pump -- make sure the tubing is a mostly straight shot from bag to pump.

Our pumps don't have enough "oomph" to pull fluid uphill, so it alarms "upstream occlusion" when what is really needs to say is, "I'm too wimpy to pull liquid uphill from where the tubing dips down and up again".

I find that it mostly happens when a piggyback got hung and the main bag was lowered... that creates a dependent loop in the tubing (think about how you learned not to have dependent loops in catheter tubing).

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