Things you'll never forget from your nursing instructors?

4 I was just thinking back to nursing school and I honestly had a hilarious instructor. She wasn't all tough, like beat you to the ground, she integrated humor into a lot of discussions which made her lectures very interesting. She considered herself "old school" and joked about how much she missed restraints (LOL) so anyways, here's a couple of things I'll never forget from her....

"Become friends with the housekeepers, you will need them."
My goodness, isn't this the honest to God truth. When a PT has explosive diarrhea all over the bathroom, they have no problem helping you clean it up.


"Calcium equals constipation, Magnesium equals Diarrhea."
There was a question about this on my NCLEX! I don't know why it stuck with me, but it did.


"Stay out of the way, stay out of gossip, steer clear of the politics and your job will be easier."

Very true. Being too involved gossiping and being worried about what is going on in the facility takes way too much energy. All of your energy is needed to focus on patient care.

"Make one good friend and you're golden."

A job is not a popularity contest, do your best, take care of your PTs, and go home. One good friend is enough.

What did your nursing instructors tell you that you'll never forget?
Best thing my Psych instructor ever taught us was "never let the patient get between you and the door", which meant to always have an escape route in mind when dealing with Psych patients. This came in handy numerous times in my 25+ years as a Psych RN, and I've regretted every time I failed to listen to my inner voice and not followed this precept.i only wish my instructors had taught us how to deal with co-workers and management, who really were more problematic than almost ant patient I ever had.

That's great advice. I'm a new nurse and we have psych patients at my current job. The one guy really frightens me, as he told me one day "I'll f*** you up." I always make sure I don't go anywhere near him whenever he seems agitated and he's rarely in his room so that's a good thing. I totally agree! Too many chiefs, not enough indians.... nursing school can't prepare you for the BS coworkers bring...

That person in the bed? That person is someone's mother, father, daughter or son. When they are being demanding, belligerent, cantankerous, or just a pain in the butt remember you have the privilege of going home at the end of your shift. They don't. It's not an exact quote of what I was told (by a physician, believe it or not) but when I have one of "those days" I try to remember this.

"There are host factors and there are bug factors"- Why one person gets sicker than another when they have the same virus.My favorite which I always use when I have a nursing student- "We treat patients, not machines" This applies when you have a patient with a low pulse ox or some other abnormality. She said to look at the patient, do they look like they are in distress? Always recheck before you get too excited about an abnormal vital with a patient who looks fine.

The Dean of my nursing school some 37+ years ago on our first day said, "If you'll steal alcohol swabs, you'll steal drugs." While her point was honor and integrity, it always reminded me to check my pockets at the end of each shift. I have her to thank for those times it was only a short walk back to the unit with the narc keys in my pocket vs the long drive back in from home. During our last month of nursing school, the Dean also suggested we stay at our first job (which were plentiful at the time) for at least a year. Her theory, "You can do anything for a year." She didn't tell us it would be all sunshine and lollipops either.

our one instructor used to teach in stories - I don't remember then all, but what she taught us about treating the patient and not the machine stuck with me. She was an ICU nurse when telemetry monitoring first started in the 70's, and it was a tracing on paper (not the computer monitors). Anyway she said her patient was suddenly showing flat line tracing...she raced in the room and gave him a precordial thump. The patient sat up and screamed "WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING?" She immediately slunk off saying "nothing" - and found his leads on the floor!

Always check the patient do not rely on the monitor. Never let an IV run dry. To this day I will not let an IV go dry if I can help it. Pain is whatever the patient says it is. Even if I don't believe them, if a med is ordered and they complain of pain and med is due I give it.

"You WILL defecate when giving birth."

Quote from enuf_alreadyThe Dean of my nursing school some 37+ years ago on our first day said, "If you'll steal alcohol swabs, you'll steal drugs."

"Look under the covers."

Quote from Farawyn"You WILL defecate when giving birth."

I had a Med Surg instructor who used "Frank" - her (imaginary) ex-boyfriend that she kept in her basement - as the example for every single issue we discussed. It was such a weird, funny little thing that you always thought of Frank and his numerous issues when taking an exam. Also having a conversation with our Psych/Therapeutic Communications professor was like going to a therapy session because she was so soothing and warm. One of my favorite professors ever, to this day.