IV skills are tough for everyone at first!  It is so intimidating.  But with time it gets easier.  It is as much art as skill.  The best advice I got when learning IVs is go by feel not site.  Really learn to palpate the vein.  Be patient with yourself--it takes practice!  And everyone misses at times.  Any nurse that says they NEVER miss is a liar and I would not let them poke me!

RNdude says ...

Not really a skill, but I hated that damn competency on the stinkin' wet-to-dry dressing.  They were failing people right and left. 

Man, I still get nightmares where I walk into class and there's a line of those fake butts lined up with the instructor saying "You must perform this skill to progress in the program ..."

That one and trach care for some reason ... I kept crossing my field with the darn swabs.

I will have to say, though, I'm glad my instructor was a fiend on sterile technique - I sailed thru lab skills final lottery!

Nanette - Re cath insertion.  Are you asking about male or female?  (Doesn't matter!)  In school, for the male patient, my instructor asked "Who knows how to drive a stick shift?!?  Put your hands around it, move it through the gears if you have to, when you've struck gold, you'll know!!   HAHA  I loved that instructor!  Be certain not to get so nervous that you have connected to the bag, or you have a receptacle if you are doing a straight cath.  Nothing worse than getting a successful "in" only to have urine flood the bed! 

Everything gets easier, and your confidence grows with time.  Trust any one of us that's been around for a while.  Before you know it, you'll be an old hand!!!  (No pun intended.)

i have had instructors tell me that the meatus in a female will wink to.  i havent gotten a chance to do a foley cath on a live pt yet. im sure i will this summer tho

I've had a lot of trouble starting IVs, but all of my Foley insertions have been perfect, so it's different for everyone I suppose.

I hope to get plenty of practice done this summer with an extern, as I am a senior nursing student. I will be sure to attempt as many IV starts as possible, and hope it gets better with time.

tdage says ...

RNdude says ...

Not really a skill, but I hated that damn competency on the stinkin' wet-to-dry dressing.  They were failing people right and left. 

Man, I still get nightmares where I walk into class and there's a line of those fake butts lined up with the instructor saying "You must perform this skill to progress in the program ..."

That one and trach care for some reason ... I kept crossing my field with the darn swabs.

I will have to say, though, I'm glad my instructor was a fiend on sterile technique - I sailed thru lab skills final lottery!

 

Oh, yeah!  Stupid trach care! 

I am very grateful and fortune to work in an ER.  My mentors have made all tasks whether IV's or cathers very simple for me to master when I first started in the capacity as a nurse and now I teach others. I hope all seasoned nurses are patient with new graduates.