Would your teacher have failed your IV piggyback for this?

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We have a teacher who failed a student for the following. Our CPE sheet has a certain number of things that must be verbalized and/or done. The student checked the MD order in the chart, did the 5 rights on the pt. Ensured the correct amount of medication in the bag. The student setup the pump correctly(rate/min, volume to be infused, volume infused, etc). The student primed the tubing correctly and then went to flush the pt.'s IV after wiping with alcohol. But the student had forgotten to bring a saline flush into the room. So the teacher immediately says,"oh my god, you failed. move over i'll do it." and then the teacher almost forgets to flush the line herself until the PATIENT says,"hey you're supposed to flush that first!". this teacher is known for chewing out students and aiming to make them feel inferior or incompetent. she talks about them to the nurses and other students...and if you ask any question to her, she just walks away. or if you show any sign of being unsure, she walks away. we've been checked off on IV insertions, etc. But anytime an IV comes up, she says,"oh NO, you guys have no clue how to do that, blah blah blah". But would any of you have been failed for forgetting to bring a flush with you, even though you verbalized it and hit EVERY point on the CPE sheet? I'm not one to ever complain about a teacher, I've always thought it was the students making it sound worse than it is, but not in this case. In our med/surg class for example, only 15 ppl out of 130 passed the first test. And since then, I've heard nothing but excuses about her. I've been within 2 questions of an A on both her tests, because it's really not the teachers fault, the students just don't know how to think critically. But still, would you have been failed for the forgotten flush?

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Specializes in ED, ICU, PACU.

Why did you have to use a saline flush for a piggyback? Flushing with the primary line is totally acceptable and customary. I'm confused as to what this teacher was thinking.

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Specializes in med surg home care PEDS.

OMG this sounds just like my professor, she failed a student for not being able to get the flush in the med-lock. I couldn't believe it, if you hesitate for one minute to gather your thoughts she pushes you out of the way and medicates the patient herself. and you fail. I don't know about any one else but sometime I have to think what the procedure is. Almost every one repeating the clinical I'm in failed last semester not for theory, but for med pass. One person will fail for something and another will pass despite the same thing, I don't get it

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oh let me change it. she said it was going to be a piggyback, and now i realize it wasn't actually a piggyback. there was nothing flowing into the patient, nothing continuous. so the student was hanging a bag of antibiotic, and was going to flush the IV before connecting the antibiotic tubing to the patients arm. and that sounds just like my teacher as well. another student was hanging an IV later the same day in the same group, and forgot to wipe the IV port with alcohol until the teacher stopped them and told them to wipe it, they spilled medication on the floor and still passed. and another student felt the IV site for edema and stated there was edema, and didn't continue. yet they passed even though they didn't actually do anything. she isn't playing favorites at all...because she'll yell at one person one day for something, then someone the next day. you get your turn to get yelled at, even if the student right before you made the same mistake and didn't have a word said, she might yell at you.

oh and I do have a question. if you hang a bag of something and connect it to the machine and have the rate, everything set up...instead of opening the clamp and letting the medication run freely into the trash, can you just push start on the pump and let the medication come down through the tubing and drip into the trash can to avoid losing medication? because the teacher opened the clamp and lost 20ml of 50ml to be infused.

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Specializes in Surgical Telemetry.

I can't even begin to count how many times I have forgotten to bring a flush along before starting an infusion or disconnecting one. But I guess as a student you need to make sure you have all the proper equipment, although I don't think it's necessary to fail a student for that.

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oh and I do have a question. if you hang a bag of something and connect it to the machine and have the rate, everything set up...instead of opening the clamp and letting the medication run freely into the trash, can you just push start on the pump and let the medication come down through the tubing and drip into the trash can to avoid losing medication? because the teacher opened the clamp and lost 20ml of 50ml to be infused.

No, the med will not drip out if the system is open. The pump pushes the med into the vein when the system is closed, but if the tubing is unhooked the med will run out freely from the pump to the end of the tube, you still need to use the roller clamp and learn the touch for how much to open it so the med just drips...your instructor needs better control!:lol2:

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In our med/surg class for example, only 15 ppl out of 130 passed the first test. And since then, I've heard nothing but excuses about her. I've been within 2 questions of an A on both her tests, because it's really not the teachers fault, the students just don't know how to think critically. But still, would you have been failed for the forgotten flush?

Be very, very careful about making statements like this. Some people are good test takers and they can get an A on an exam without even knowing anything about the material.

When you have only 15 out of 130 to pass an exam, something is wrong all the way around...the instruction was bad, the test structure was faulty, something was wrong. You will always have that very small handful of students who will do well no matter what is on the exam.

The reason that this is a pet-peeve of mine is I have done extremely well on critical thinking exams until this semester...and I have also seen a nosedive in the quality of instruction, and the majority of my classmates have seen the same thing happen and it's reflecting in the grades.

So don't ever, ever assume that just because you are doing well this semester, that all is puppies and butterflies because I am a walking example that it can change on a dime...and when I'm getting 90% or better accuracy on Saunders questions, ATI, and the disk that comes with our book...that is when you know it is the test structure.

With regards to the flush...no, I don't think it should have been a fail, but she may have been more concerned with remembering all of the supplies that were involved and that a mental checkoff should have been done before starting.

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We have an teacher just like that. I just pray i don't get her at the hospital sites she is a nightmare. She talks bad about students and is rude to other teachers.Good luck

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Specializes in Medical Surgical/Addiction/Mental Health.

I am currently in Fundamentals and have not had any clinicals as of yet. My instructors are so very nice. In fact, when they lecture, they point out the material that is of most importance. After doing so, they will also mention the other material is for reference or clarification. I have taken my first test and earned a 94%. The week before the test, they went over what material to study for the exam. The material was spot on. Most of the people in my class are MA’s or CNA’s. Two other classmates and I have never worked in the healthcare field. Anyways, during lab, we were going over vitals and one of my professors came up to me and said, hey…I know you have never done this before, but when you take blood pressure, the sounds you will hear are this, this, and that. She explained to me how to determine the systolic and diastolic. First time, pow! She could have just let me practice and to see if I would have “gotten it”. Instead, she was very helpful in letting me know what to expect…I know I will have her again for OB/PEDS. I have also been practicing the ATI book and most of the material in the book, we have lectured in class and I tend to do very well on the practice exams. I haven’t begun my clinicals yet and I hope the support system doesn’t change. If it doesn’t, then I can honestly say the program I am in will prepare me well to be a great nurse.

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true i should be careful with that. i shouldn't place everyone into a category. i was partly basing it upon the people who claim they "studied" for weeks and failed. but these are the same people who laughed the first day of class because they said they forgot everything from last semester. or they're the ones who laugh at the idea of going to class. but true, some people can guess they're way to an A and know nothing.

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Specializes in 5th Semester - Graduation Dec '09!.

That doesn't make any sense. I'm just really glad I don't have any wacko instructors like I hear some people on here.

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That doesn't make any sense. I'm just really glad I don't have any wacko instructors like I hear some people on here.

Me too, although I did have one last Spring that was a little strange, but in an amusing way...not a mean one!:lol2:

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