30 Nursing Life Hacks You Probably Didnt

Know About
Brilliant tips and tricks for nurses to make work more efficient.

By Rozzette Cabrera, RN - Mar 4, 2016

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16. Try KY Jelly for dried blood.Aside from lubricating certain body parts, you can also use KY Jelly
to remove dried blood stains from your patients skin. It lifts the blood off of the surface to make it
easier to swipe with a cotton ball. Make sure youre still wearing your gloves while doing this trick and
remember to wipe a good antiseptic on the area as well.
17. Clamp catheters with a syringe barrel.In case you ran out of Kelly clamps, you can use a syringe
barrel. Just take the needle part off, pinch the tube between your thumb and index finger and insert it
into the barrel. This is particularly helpful when your patient is on bladder training.

18. Avoid mess and dip to lube that Foley. Instead of squirting the lubricant from its syringe into your
Foley, remove the plunger off and stick the tip of the Foley directly into the barrel. This gives you
more control and a well lubricated Foley tip without the mess.

19. Give hovering and overly-involved family members a job to do. Families are often overwhelmed
with the feeling of not being able to do anything, involve them in patient care even with minimal tasks
to help them feel like theyre participating. This is also an excellent way to establish rapport.

20. Place a urine bag before sticking a pediatric client. Put a urine bag on the kid before lab comes
to stick em for blood. Theyll scream and usually pee themselves BAM! Urine sample. -
HerpieMcDerpie/Reddit

21. Pause before leaving a room. Before you leave a room, take a few seconds to check to see if
theres anything else you need and can do at that moment. This is particularly useful if youre
gowned, saving you a few minutes by simply pausing.

22. On priming a new tubing. When youre priming new tubing, clamp the tubing first, spike the bag,
and slightly fill the chamber before priming. Thatll help prevent any air bubbles in forming in the
tubing.

23. Countthe respirations when youre taking a patients pulse.When youre checking respirations
on a patient, dont tell them what youre really doing. Instead, act like youre assessinghis pulse and
count the respirations. If you tell them youre counting their respiration, theyd be conscious and will
immediately begin to breath more which will give you an inaccurate reading. Much better if you could
place his arm across the chest so you can feel its rise and fall.

24. Make woundassessment easier. When doing a skin assessment on a person with a bunch of
wounds, bring another person with you to write each one down with measurements and what
dressings you put on while you call them out on them. Doing so will prevent you the need to touch
your pen and paper or regloving.

25. Shaving cream to remove stuck feces in body hair. If you have a patient with BM stuck in their
body hair, lather the affected area with shaving cream then wipe it off with a wet cloth. It will come
right off.

26. Removing rings with an elastic strap. Use an oxygen masks elastic strap to remove rings
without cutting them off. Heres a video on that technique.

27. Warm your stethoscope.Nothing gives a jolt than a cold metal brushing through your skin. Warm
your stethoscope by rubbing your hands together to form heat in your hands then cup your
stethoscope.
28. Calm elderly or confused patients by giving them heated blankets. The feeling of warmth will
relieve restlessness and keep them from roaming around or getting out of the bed.

29. Keep a second uniform in your car for emergencies. There will be a time youll need one so
always keep another set of scrubs.

30. For salt water drowning victims. Place a sheet over the pillow and bed, use dry cloths with baby
powder and the sand will be removed easily; roll up the sheet and remove.

What other hacks can you share?

See Also
 10 Tips on Surviving Your First Work Year as a New Nurse
12 Tips to Help You Conquer Every Nursing Shift
10 Nursing School Clinical Exposure Tips for Student Nurses
6 Nurses Week Facts You Probably Didnt Know
6 Useful Tips for Fresh Graduate Nurses

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Rozzette Cabrera, RN
Rozzette Cabrera is a registered nurse pursuing her childhood dream of becoming a professional writer. She spent a few years
putting her profession into practice until she decided to take her chances with freelance writing over a year ago. Her life has
never been the same since then.