My First Week Of Nursing And Sh*t Nursing Instructors Say That Made It (Somewhat) better

Working

Beyond SW

Things I learned:

**I will spend a lot of time waiting for the time clock to say 7:08
**How to be more organized
**That I will be sweating like a pig before 8:00 a.m.
**You can never have enough alcohol wipes, gauze pads, IV flushes, pens and tape in your pocket
**Sticky notes are your friends
**What we really looked like as clinical students (lost and scared and desperately searching for a computer)
**That A good preceptor is worth her weight in gold.
**To never, ever smoke
**That I know way more than I thought I knew
**But I can ask for help if I don't know something and I can ask for help even if I have been a nurse for 10 years if I don't know something
**That SW prepared me quite well, but made me completely loopy in the process
**At 5 pm on the third day of three 12 hour shifts, you will know the true meaning of tiredness
**A sense of pride in my work and what I accomplished
**I can HANDLE more than I know
**That band-aids are hard to find
**That if I turn right one more time, I will be in the observation unit again and I don't work there.
**To have everything you need when you go into a room because you already need 4 pairs of hands
**The value of good shoes.
**That you might lose 4 lbs and gain 6 gray hairs
**To make friends with everyone.
**To not worry if you HAVE to annoy someone
**To answer the phone and check out that alarm  because someone will do it  for you in return
**EKG leads can get stuck to the gown and mess up the reading
**To triple check your meds- there are so many ways to potentially make a mistake
**The value of deliberate actions. To go slowly and not get flustered if I need to take my time
**The value of a good mentor
**I LOVE NURSING

Things they said which was actually good advice:

**Ms. L, "No patient care in the dark."
**Mr. S, "Take the darn EKG stickers off the patient before you send him to me."
**Mr. K, "Head-to-toe assessment means head-to-toe. Did you forget to check mucus membranes?"
**Mr S, (not original to him, but oh, SO helpful), "Smoke over fire, clouds over grass and chocolate is close to the heart." Do you know how many EKG leads I put on throughout the day?
**Mrs. C in OB, "Rub that fundus!"
**Mr. K, "Put a washcloth in the bottom of the emesis basin, then it won't splash"
**Mr. K, "It's 6:01, you're late!"
**Mr. S, "Put your hand behind your back and flip the safety on that needle."
**Mr S, "You have to give patient care no matter who is in the room."
**Mr. S, "Pretend that's your family member in that bed, then you will always deliver the best care you can."