Which nursing skills do you dread?

Nurses General Nursing

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What nursing skills do you absolutely hate doing? Even if it is super easy and not time consuming? Which orders do you read and just think to yourself, aw man! I hate doing that!! I'm just curious!

I hate doing dressing changes. (I think b/c we get a lot of gangrene wounds... and they stink!)

I also loathe hanging blood! I don't know why... it isn't difficult

And of course enemas and disimpactions aren't too fun either!

I also hate giving eye and ear drops. I don't know why...

I also hate having to collect stool samples... ewwww the idea of scooping up the poop into the little cup... gross :lol2:

Specializes in Too many to list.

Trachs, I am just not happy with anything that will expose me to respiratory

secretions unless I am masked. If I have patients that do not cover their

coughs, and this happens often enough in LTC, these days,

I will always wear a mask. I am an asthmatic, and this is just basic self

protection. When I worked in ICU, I was often sick during the first 6 month

from working with intubated patients, and their secretions.

I am not crazy about colostomy changes or burping their bags either.

There is simply no way to avoid the flatus that is released. I end up checking

them twice per shift, and try to deal with them as soon as possible.

It is easier to deal with unpleasant procedures early in the shift rather

than later when I am pressed for time. On nights, I will have all of this

done by 4 am if I can.

Not much else, bothers me.

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Specializes in IM/Critical Care/Cardiology.

In Peds BP on all 4 extremeties. Not hard to do, just time consuming.

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Specializes in Community, OB, Nursery.

Suctioning a trach.

Hanging blood.

Giving Rho-Gam.

Beyond that, I'm pretty good.

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:barf01:

clostridium difficile.

a highly infectious diarrhea.

leslie

you forgot to mention..with a smell sooo bad it would bring most people to their knees gagging!! I hate C. Diff! Its a smell you will never ever forget.

My worst, and I cannot belive I made it through without passing out, vomiting or both..was a pt we were transporting in the ambulance (remember how small the bus is, w/no way to open a window or get fresh air) who had a newer colostomey with C. Diff AND a GI bleed..OH MY G*D!! That night will live in my memory forever. The 2 things that can bring me to gagging, all collected in a colostomy bag...:barf02:

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man o man! I am gonna be sick! I almost had second thoughts!

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Specializes in Med/surg/tele/OR.

had two GI bleeders on the floor last night, one on each side of the hall (no safe haven) eww.

Hate NG tube insertions

Suctioning trach and trach care

Disimpacting

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Specializes in PCU/Telemetry.

I'm with you on packing tunneling wounds... it gives me goosebumps all over. I don't like suppositories, enemas, disimpactions...

I dread inserting NG tubes (mostly becuase I haven't successfully inserted one).

OH and continuous bladder irrigation!!!! Especially when it's going in fast. Its like you are always putting up a new bag or emptying the foley.

I used to dread starting IVs but I am actually becoming quite good at it so now I don't mind so much.

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clostridium difficile.

a highly infectious diarrhea.

leslie

That has an odor all its own.....UFF DA

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That has an odor all its own.....UFF DA

"uff da", viking?

i can handle c-diff.

over the yrs, i've had the rich experiences of smelling the decay of corpses, that had been left in the facility a little too long....

so far, nothing has topped that.

leslie

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Specializes in 5 yrs OR, ASU Pre-Op 2 yr. ER.

Anything that involves these words:

-"until clear"

-debriedment

-hemorrhoid

-fissure

-perirectal

-abccess

-infected

-pilonidal

-sebaceous

-enema

-stool sample

-drainage

-tunneling

-disimpacting

-C-diff

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clostridium difficile.

a highly infectious diarrhea.

leslie

That smells awful! We had circular units, and we could always smell it all over the unit.

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I work in a NICU, so the poops and suctions are easy to bear.

The easy things I dislike doing are weighing babies, getting their length, and changing IV tubing.

My most disliked task is getting vented babies out for kangaroo care. I witnessed a vented baby crash when a nurse was getting it out for kangaroo care so now it freaks me out. I just make sure respiratory is with me when I have to get a vented baby out of their isolette.

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