By Marcy Phipps, RN, a regular contributor to this blog. Her essay “The Love Song of Frank” was published in the May (2012) issue of AJN.

Nursing students, 1918/Cornell University Library/via Flickr

I remember being a new nurse and having an order to place a Foley catheter in a female patient.

I was filled with dread. Urinary catheter placement was the only skill I’d failed in nursing school (I’d contaminated my sterile field), and placing a catheter in this patient was sure to be a challenge, as she was obese and unable to cooperate. It was not a one-person job, even for a far more experienced nurse.

When I asked a coworker for help, she sighed and said, “I don’t have time. This isn’t nursing school, you know. You just do the best you can and get the job done.” […]