So yes, it was a...well...an interesting experience today when my friend Hayley and I got to practice putting nasogastric tubes in each other. an NG tube is a tube that goes through your nose, down the back of your throat and into your stomach for feeding, pumping or medication. We've been practicing on mannequins, but at open lab this morning Hayley and I decided to do it on each other so we have a better grasp on how to do it on a patient. I'm 98% sure that we are the only two in our semester of nursing who have done it on an actual person and so let me just give a shout out to other nursing students...DON'T DO IT! It was miserable! Yes, it is easier to place it when the patient can swallow, but WOW it's awful! It's so uncomfortable having some plastic tube going up and irritating your nose before just settling in your thro
at. Your eyes start to water and you gag and ugh. Maybe I'm just a wuss, but now I can definitely empathize with my patients that need an NG tube. Of course, I probably am a total wuss, since it was only a pediatric NG tube, three times smaller than an adult one!
checking it's not coiled in the back of the throat
a proud moment of my life: checking the pH of the gastric content and it's in the right place!woot woot!
You know, I have no prince charming, so now I have to swoop mannequins off their feet :)
4 comments:
Just seeing pictures of this made me want to throw up. I could NEVER be a nursing student. EVER. I am so glad there are people like you out there who can do that and not pass out. I applaud you.
Oh Erin. You're nursing student now. You just don't realize it. And it won't show up on your college transcript.
I can hardly wait to visit Melissa's family at Christmas. I can tank up on cookies and egg nog and then just have Melissa NG me and clear it all out. No pesky indigestion!
Way to go Melissa! I can't even imagine voluntarily doing that.
I just have one question... Why? The only answer that comes to mind is: masochism.
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