Nursing Practice

Nurses in the U.S. practice procedures on mannequins, butt I ran across a video from Taiwan about a decade ago which was filmed by a news crew. The young college students were practicing giving each other enemas in a lab. There was nothing explicit shown but the nursing students were laughing, giggling and having a great time. One of the young nurses was making a great face as the water flowed in. I couldn't understand the dialog but the web page on which the vid was located said something to the effect that the students were taking one for the team in order to become better nurses.

I also once found a 1950s nursing research paper online once that described a training project for Boy Scouts. The project was to show the Scouts a temperature taking film and then have them practice on each other. The paper never mentioned which hole the thermometers went into but did say it would probably be the only time Scouts would see a temperature taken or have the opportunity to take a temperature which seems to imply rectal temps.

Do nursing students in other countries practice on each other or on model patients?

The modern practice on mannequins explains all the trouble and problems I've had with nurses this last year . I have to live with a catheter and it's supposed to be changed by a nurse once a month . So far I have had too small of a catheter that twisted up inside me and a visit to a E.R. . Not filling the balloon enough and it fell out of my bladder and was stuck painfully in my penis , not inserting the catheter in far enough and then the nurse forcing the balloon io inflate . Another trip to the E.R. . {more then once} Nurse pulling on the catheter to seat the balloon and pulling it so hard it pulled though tearing me open inside . Each time they “screwed up” i had to live in a diaper for a week or so then another catheter . So in less then a year I have had 15 catheter changes and three of them to bigger more painful catheters . If they had learned/practiced on each other I don't think I would have gone though such treatment . I have terminated my contract with my nursing Company and now change my own .

I don’t doubt that in the old days, nurses may have given enemas to each other. They also came from homes where enemas were common. These days, if I were a nursing instructor, practicing enemas on mannikins wouldn't be quite enough. I would also have students give themselves a Fleet and also a water enema outside of class so they know what they feel like. I'd give them a couple of weeks or so.

I’d want a follow up discussion in class with any further instructions needed, giggles or not. I think it’s important that nurses feel what a patient experiences during this procedure. Some student nurses may come to class hardly knowing what an enema is.

I think it’s important that nurses understand what a patient experiences during this procedure. Some student nurses may come to class hardly knowing what an enema is.

@Vicki_V Mentioned in another post my wife had to have a tube with a camera saved up her nose to inspect the back of her throat - the Doc said he had experienced the procedure a couple of times in medical school. Sounded like the students practiced on each other. Experiencing some procedures like enemas give medical staff insight into patient feelings. But a self administered enema is different than being exposed and having someone you don't know giving you one.

Where do you draw the line?? Should Catheterization and other intimate and not so intimate procedures be experienced???

I was the recipient of the finger of a young female student doctor doing ( I’m guessing) her first DRE. It was after a male doctor did it.

I only wish it had been her under the watchful eye of a nurse, taking my rectal temperature.

As recent as the early 2000s, I know the phlebotomy students would practice sticking each other with needles. The lady I knew that was studying that field was a needle/piercing kinkster. She already knew the tricks and could make it feel good. The instructor picked up on this. and partnered her with the rookies. She said some of them had no biz in that field, and yet, they were going to get jobs hurting people.

I have heard of some students in the early 2000s exchanging enemas as part of nurse training, but I cannot confirm that rumor.

I dated a girl that was studying phlebotomy and can confirm they practiced by sticking each other.

I can also confirm I was used as practice material for blood draws and IM injections in the arm and butt, usually while naked.

I would receive a blow job if I was a good patient and did not squirm too much!

I don’t doubt that in the old days, nurses may have given enemas to each other.... I think it’s important that nurses understand what a patient experiences during this procedure...

It is important that nurses, doctors, NPs, PAs all understand what a patient experiences. As @Vicki_V mentioned many decades ago, nurses practiced enemas (and blood draws and injections) on one another before being allowed to admnister those to a patient. Mannequins may be anatomically correct but they don't scream, move, pull away, etc. – all things that nurses and others deal with in real life situations.

About a year ago I was in the hospital and got constipated. After 4 days the young nurse said we need to do something about that. I said a Fleet enema would be the fastest and easiest cure. After a little discussion about why I didn't want oral laxatives she came back with the Fleet enema.

As she got me into position she said that she was a little nervous. That she had never given anyone an enema before. I told her not to worry and just stick it in and squeeze. Even without practice she still did pretty good.

As recent as the early 2000s, I know the phlebotomy students would practice sticking each other with needles.

Out of curiosity and ignorance on my part, where on the body would needles be stuck when phlebotomy students were practicing?

@agracier the girl I wrote about practiced actual venipuncture on each other, and me, drawing blood from veins in the arm or hand.

@agracier the girl I wrote about practiced actual venipuncture on each other, and me, drawing blood from veins in the arm or hand.

Tnx … I never liked IV needles in the hand. They got really uncomfortable after a day in place …

We practiced vital signs, but that was the extent when I was in school; everything else was with mannequins.

My girlfriend's best friend from high school and another girl she knew went to a residential nursing school run by a hospital back in the 70s.. They and another roommate, along with the rest of the girls in the school lived in apartments across the street. They practiced nursing skills on each other. We would visit them from time to time in their apartment. I wanted to volunteer for the girls to practice on me (even enemas and other naked stuff), but I was too shy and I also thought my girlfriend might get jealous. Definitely a missed opportunity.

I went to paramedic school, and the first day of lab, they had us draw blood on each other. I wound up with a huge horrendous bruise. For IV starts, we had training arms that we used. They went kind of cheap for injections… they gave us a square of foam inside a zip lock bag. The foam was to represent the muscle, and the bag was to represent the skin. We were taught IM and sub Q injections.

Years back I believe it was featured in LIFE magazine, a story about a guy who went to Viet-Nam (non military guy) and got tangled up w/ an animal who scratched or bit him . He wound up having to get the Pasteur treatment (rabies shots in his stomach) given by a young nurse who was supervised, being she was giving them for the first time. She was affectionately known as “scratch”.

Nurses learn to be discreet if they’re giving an enema and the patient begins to experience a “sensual response.” They can tell. Guys are ”outwardly” more obvious! Lol

Ours is internal and takes longer to develop, although mine happened so strong and unexpectedly, I began to moan, and my nurse knew right away. She was so calm and matter-of-fact. It’s normal, she assured me. “Just go with it,“ she said. Words of wisdom I’ll never forget!

I think our medical professionals should be practicing safe skills on each other or those willing, they need to understand what a patient experiences. I know when I was a paramedic in the 90's we used to practice IV's on each other and ourselves. A year ago my daughter had urinary retention at 19, in the ER they had a new nurse who had only practiced on mannequins do it. My daughter said she struggled to find the urethra and then went at the wrong angle and she screamed like hell and made her go get another nurse. I heard her in the waiting room and went to the desk was like WTF is going on. This is a bad experience for the patient and the nurse.

Question - do some schools hire medical models for learning purposes for nurses to practice on - exams, etc.?? Seem to recall this in another thread.

My last nurse , The one that caused me to cancel my contract with them knew how a male would feel when having his catheter changed , She took it upon her self to be as painful as she could be . When a large catheter is deflated it has wrinkles making it almost half again as large , She YANKED it out . When she inserted my new one she shoved it in so fast and hard that for two hours after she left i was passing blood and chunks of my self . Now I know they are doing a job that most/many won't do . I always try to be as polite as possible . I try to do as much as I can to save them as much work as possible . But after she left I called her boss and told her I will do this on my own from now on .

@DoctorJohnny2

I don’t remember during my time in military service in Asia ( Taiwan/ Korea) ever hearing too much about either rectal temperature taking or enemas. As for temperature taking, the underarm method seemed to be the most common.

@Rigel You may find these articles of interest.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/magazine/your-gynecologist-had-to-start-somewhere-thank-these-actors/2015/08/31/894016be-3090-11e5-97ae-30a30cca95d7_story.html

https://forum.facmedicine.com/threads/these-medical-models-use-their-own-bodies-as-teaching-tools.25372/

Nursing students in Korea upset over their rights infringed, from a few years ago.

https://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/nation/2018/09/119_256221.html

College lab rooms have changed 1950s to now: a high definition video cam in every pocket and purse.