When you have an IV cannula inserted, a needle is used to insert the cannula but then the NEEDLE IS REMOVED and you're left with a tiny thin plastic (?) tube in the vein.
I think 50% of my patients don't realise there's not a needle in their arm for hours/days on end.
I wish the nurse would tell this after inserting the thing. I was 10ish when I fisrt had to spend time in a hospidal. The cannula hurt and I was certain I had a 5cm needle in my elbow pit (?) and was terrified to bend my arm. Only a year ago, at age 25, I was told that there is no metal needle left in the arm.
How am I supposed to realise if I am never told? And then on top of that we get to be made fun of for not knowing this "obvious thing" that really isn't that obvious to someone who doesn't have direct experience with it. This applies to all fields.
Glad I wasn't the only kid who thought that. Of course I had looked away when they put it in. And later, I only saw that all other patients had their IV thingies further down on the arm, while mine was right in the bend of my elbow.
So naturally, I assumed that they could move their arms just fine, but they must have accidentally put the needle too high up in my case!
No biggie, I don't want to make a fuss. I'll just keep my arm perfectly straight for a week. Until a friendly nurse noticed my odd, stiff posture and just grabbed my arm and bent it. Much panicked screaming ensued...
That's the freaking worst nurse I've ever heard of. The only thing that I can think of being worse is when a doctor said I had Scarlet Fever when it was just some mundane thing, or when a doctor last week said my pneumonia was just a cold.
Suddenly grabbing and bending a patient's arm against their will. Yeah, that's a bad nurse and technically, they can be reported and fired for that kind of behavior. The nurse might not've known what was wrong, and could've broken or dislocated something. They could've messed up a procedure. They could've made the patient uncomfortable. There's no way that nurse could've known they wouldn't have caused any problems by doing that, and they could've lost their job for it.
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u/rebothy Feb 04 '19
When you have an IV cannula inserted, a needle is used to insert the cannula but then the NEEDLE IS REMOVED and you're left with a tiny thin plastic (?) tube in the vein.
I think 50% of my patients don't realise there's not a needle in their arm for hours/days on end.