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What’s the difference between a new nurse and a newbie nurse?

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Scenario: Six admissions come onto the unit within a half hour
The new nurse will be a little overwhelmed, especially if she’s got more than two admissions to do within a few minutes. She’ll settle down, though, and do the best she can, asking for help with starting IVs and hanging fluids. Later she’ll go back over her charting and fix anything she missed.

The newbie nurse will take the three admissions she’s assigned, grab her rolling computer and start working in the first patient’s room. While she’s going to get an IV start kit, she’ll notice that the second patient is trying to get out of bed despite having a broken leg. In her rush to keep that person safe, she’ll forget about the first patient and, having retrieved her computer, will add the second person’s information into the first person’s chart. The third admission will be on the call bell every 30 seconds, so our newbie will decide that the best solution is to roll all three beds into one room and truss the patients in their own bedsheets, like turkeys, until she can get everything sorted out.

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Agatha Lellis
Agatha Lellis is a nurse whose coffee is brought to her every morning by a chipmunk. Bluebirds help her to dress, and small woodland creatures sing her to sleep each night. She writes a monthly advice column, "Ask Aunt Agatha," here on Scrubs; you can send her questions to be answered at askauntieaggie@gmail.com.

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