So my day of procrastination in the surgery didn’t change the fact that I was about to embark on actual nursing care. My patient was still there for me on Friday and needed a list of things performed that I had never done.

What is it about the first time that is so scary? I can go over and over something in my mind and pump myself up with positive thoughts, but when I get to the moment – particularly the first one – I just melt and go blank. Is that what you’d call performance anxiety?

Regardless, yesterday was the first day I gave someone a shot, the first time I gave any meds to anyone, the first time I had to mess with a NG tube and the time I checked someone’s blood sugar.

By the time it was all done, I had stuck her twice and nearly spilled the crushed and diluted meds all over the floor. Stupid NG tubes. It was all *its* fault. There was something occluding the tube, and my instructor was trying to be helpful by suggesting that I try to wiggle the top of the tube to move the obstruction. Doesn’t help. But while I was doing that, my opposing hand that is holding the syringe tries to give it a little twist hoping that will clear the tube. Nope. Instead the syringe becomes unplugged from the tube and said medicine starting gushing onto me, the patient and the floor. Did I mention that my instructor and two fellow students are all looking over my shoulder?

Thank God for small miracles though. In my panic, I placed the spilling syringe into the container of water I had waiting to flush the tube with, which was the next step. Only instead of getting 40mL flush, she um… got over 300mL. I was immensely mortified. But looking back, very little of the meds were lost and I learned many many valuable lessons.

Back to the books…

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