I asked the awesome Twitter nurses I interact with to tell me some of their tricks of the trade for nurses.  Needless to say, I definitely learned a lot!  Check it out, new and not-so-new nurses alike!

Disclaimer: These tips are not to supersede your hospital’s policies/procedures or manufactuer recommendations regarding their products. Please click here for more information on disclaimers.

Tricks of the Trade for Nurses

While the textbooks in nursing school cover proper things like therapeutic communication, sterile procedure, and guidelines for removing a urinary catheter, they don’t discuss some of the more…. ummm…. shall we say, colorful things that help you through a shift. Let’s go through some patient care tricks of the trade for nurses from our fellow nurses on the front lines.

Nursing Procedures

@fewspokenwords  when giving a tube feed turn the patient on their right side to promote gastric emptying and avoid reflux and/or flatus.

Patient Cleanliness

@rymitch18  foaming shaving cream will promptly remove a BM caked on pts hairy body (Like Tilex in a bathtub is tough on soap scum haha)

@rymitch18  surround pt’s scrotum w sheet, then dump a bag of sugar over it to cover as much as possible. Fluid shifts out into sugar.

Medication Tips

@FiddleNP critically ill and getting blood products? Remember the K will rise and the iCal will drop, use this to your advantage.

 

@KaitlynKerrRN  Pt getting high dose or long term antibiotics? Ask for an order for a probiotic, stop the C. Diff before it starts!

 

@Kati_Kleber Pushing adenosine? 18 gauge in AC with two way stopcock. Med in one, flush in other. BOOM BOOM!

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@FiddleNP  Afib with low K and Mag? Treat the mag first if you can or you’ll chase the K. You might even convert ’em

 

@Kati_Kleber  CHF exacerbation patient needs blood? Ask for IV lasix so you don’t have to deal with resp distress in a few hours…

 

 

@Kati_Kleber Proximal occlusion in your IV tubing? Pull back on port closest to bag with 10 ml syringe to get the air out without re-priming.

 

 For more medication tips, check out this blog post: How to Start a Medication Drip: Basics for Bedside Nurses 

 

Patient Comfort

@RNSassyPants  Simply Noise plays free white noise. Warm blanket, lights out, noise on. Knocks out even the sundowners.

 

@PaulMuzopappa  give sundowners a job to do. Have them fold towels. Innocuous and keeps them busy for 20 min while you wait for the meds…

 

@Txgrobie  for nausea…wave an alcohol pad under the patient’s nose while they breathe deeply.

 

@Kati_Kleber Call NICU for a head pillow as a make-shift scrotal pillow for scrotal edema

 

@Kati_Kleber More for scrotal edema: rolled up pillow case = make shift banana hammock

 

The ultimate resource for newly licensed nurses

If you’re looking for a comprehensive holistic self-guided nurse residency program structured in a way that prioritizes your mental and physical health above all else, check out the FreshRN® New Nurse Master Class.

Once you sign up, you instantly gain acccess to 70 modules that only contain the most important, must-have information to help you avoid the perpetual state of information overload common for new graduates. Click here to learn more.

More resources for nursing students and newbies alike

• Discharge Planning Tips for New Nurses
• Nurse Hacks from Experienced Nurses
• Clinical Tips for Nursing Students
• How to Assess an Unconscious Patient Like a Neuro ICU Nurse

 

Becoming Nursey: From Code Blues to Code Browns, How to Care for Your Patients and YourselfAnatomy of a Super Nurse: The Ultimate Guide to Becoming Nursey

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