Clinical Nursing Skills and Techniques

Clinical nursing skills and techniques: Browse our article database below to find great tips and tutorials for a variety of nursing skills such as giving an injection, putting on sterile gloves, catheter insertion, and much more. These articles and included videos are written to help give practical advice and show common techniques to nursing students, as well as those interested in the nursing profession. These can be a great way to learn how common procedures are performed. If you would like to know more about nursing skills, visit our main nursing skills overview article. To view an individual skill, just browse the articles below.

Vial Coring Prevention

Learn how to prevent vial coring when piercing a rubber stopper of a vial with a needle. What is vial coring and does it present a problem for the patient? Vial coring can occur when a needle is used to pierce a vial’s rubber stopper. Coring occurs when parts of the rubber stopper enter the […]

One-Hand Scoop Technique

Recapping a needle is extremely dangerous, and healthcare workers such as nurses should avoid recapping. Instead, needles should be disposed of in an appropriate sharps container, and healthcare workers should use needle safety devices when handling or disposing of sharps per their healthcare facility’s protocols. Some of the risks of a needle-stick injury include pain […]

Car Seat Restraint Safety Pediatric Nursing Review

As a nurse you can play an important role in teaching a parent about car seat safety. This education actually starts at birth before the baby goes home in its first car ride from the hospital. This lecture will concentrate on the main concepts you need to know as a nurse and for exams. Don’t […]

How to Withdraw Medication from a Vial

Learn how to withdraw medication from a vial! Drawing up medication from a vial is an essential skill a nurse must learn to do. Medications that are given IV, IM, or subcutaneous routes are stored in a vial. This article will also cover prevention of rubber stopper coring, changing out the vial access device with […]

How to Swaddle a Baby

Babies have been swaddled for thousands of years. Even in the Bible, we read of Jesus being wrapped in swaddling clothes and laid in a manger. Today, babies are still swaddled by labor and delivery nurses (and new moms and dads) across the world. Why Swaddle a Baby? Swaddling a baby has at least two […]

Newborn (Infant) Vital Signs Pediatric Nursing

Learn how to assess vital signs on an infant! As a pediatric nurse, you will be required to know how to assess vital signs on many different pediatric populations, such as the newborn (infant). This review will detail how to assess the respiratory rate, heart rate, temperature, weight, length, head circumference, and chest circumference. Assessing […]

Face Mask: How to Put on (Don) and Take Off (Doff) PPE

This review will demonstrate how to put on and remove a face mask! When applying a face mask and removing it, the nurse wants to take specific steps to ensure their safety. This review will cover the following information: Common mistakes people make when applying or wearing a face mask Tips for putting on a […]

Tube Feeding Nursing Calculations Review

Tube feeding nursing calculations review for students! This review will demonstrate how to solve tube feeding calculations that require you to solve for dilution based on feeding strength, total volume, and administration time. What is a tube feeding? Just as the name says, it is a way to deliver nutrition to a patient via a […]

Tips for Counting Respirations

Tips for counting respirations as a nursing student! Counting respirations seems like a fairly easy skill, right? Well, it can actually be tricky, especially when you’re first learning the skill. In addition, you will find out quickly that for some patients it’s really easy to take their respiratory rate while others not so much. Therefore, […]

How to Administer or Take a Pregnancy Test

How to take or administer a pregnancy test review for nurses! As a nurse you may be required to collect and interpret a pregnancy test. This review will help you understand what a pregnancy test measures, how to administer a test, and what a negative or positive result looks like. Demonstration on How to Take […]

Assistive Devices NCLEX Nursing Review (Crutches, Walkers, Canes)

Assistive devices NCLEX nursing review about crutches, walkers, and canes. These assistive devices are used to help patients with mobility. It is essential you know how to fit a patient properly for these devices and how a patient should use them. Don’t forget to take the assistive device NCLEX quiz after review these notes. Crutches […]

How to Withdraw Medication from an Ampule

Learn how to withdraw medication from a glass ampule! As a nurse you will encounter some medications that are supplied in a glass ampule, and you will need to know how to break open the glass ampule and withdraw the medication from it. Also check out how to withdraw medication from a vial. Demonstration on […]

Assistive Devices NCLEX Questions (Crutches, Canes, Walkers)

Comprehensive assistive device NCLEX questions quiz that assesses your nursing knowledge on crutches, canes, and walkers. As the nurse, you must know how to properly fit a patient for these devices, how to correctly ambulate with these assistive devices, types of gaits (specifically with crutches), go up and down stairs, and how to get up and […]

Walker (Assistive Device) NCLEX Questions

Assistive devices NCLEX questions for walkers. As a nurse providing care to a patient who will be using a walker, it is important that the patient is fitted correctly for the walker, uses the walker properly during ambulation, and knows how to sit down or get up from a chair with a walker. In the […]

Canes Nursing NCLEX Review

This is a quick NCLEX review over canes for nursing students! Canes are assistive devices used to help a patient ambulate. As the nurse you must know the following material about canes: How to tell if the cane properly fits the patient? How to ambulate with a cane? How to go up and down stairs […]

Crutches Nursing NCLEX Review

This is a quick NCLEX review over crutches for nursing students! Crutches are assistive devices used to help a patient ambulate. As the nurse you must know the following material about crutches: How to tell if the crutches properly fit the patient? The different types of gaits used for crutches? Make sure you know this […]

Pulse Points Nursing Assessment

Learn how to check pulse points in this nursing assessment review. We will review 9 common pulse points on the human body. As a nurse you will be assessing many of these pulse points regularly, while others you will only assess at certain times. When you assess a pulse point you will be assessing: Rate: […]

How to Perform Hand Hygiene with Soap and Water (Handwashing)

Learn how to perform hand hygiene with soap and water. Handwashing is performed routinely by healthcare workers to help prevent the spread of germs. It is essential that nurses use proper technique when performing hand hygiene. There are two ways to perform hand hygiene. This can be achieved by either using soap and water or […]

How to Administer an Intramuscular Injection in the Deltoid Muscle using Z-Track Technique

This article will review how to give an intramuscular (IM) injection in the deltoid muscle using the z-track technique. Before administering any type of medication whether it is an IM injection or oral medication, always review your facilities protocols on how they require you to administer that specific medication. Before giving an injection, ALWAYS make […]

How to Assess Cranial Nerve V (Trigeminal)

Learn how to assess cranial nerve V, the trigeminal nerve. What is the role of cranial nerve 5? The trigeminal nerve allows us to feel sensation in our face, and it has motor functions that allow us to chew food and clench down. To assess the trigeminal nerve, you will need some supplies: soft cotton […]

How to Take a Temperature 6 Different Ways

Learn about 6 different ways to take a temperature. What is a normal body temperature? It varies from person to person: Adults: 97’F to 99 ‘F (average 98.6’) Children: 97.4’F to 100’F Anything over 100.4 ‘F is considered a fever There are many different routes used to measure a temperature. This includes the: oral, tympanic (ear), […]

Hard to Find Veins When Drawing Blood, Starting IVs, Venipuncture

What if you can’t find veins on a patient, yet you need to start an IV, draw blood, or perform other venipuncture procedures? This happens more often than you’d think, and even seasoned nurses struggle to find veins in patients who are obese, dehydrated, or suffering from advanced renal or heart disease. Luckily, there are […]

Best Veins for IV Insertion and Blood Draws

In this article, I’m going to talk about the best veins for IV insertion and blood draws. Every nurse is different in what veins they love to use when drawing blood or starting IVs, but these are the ones I love. Video To be successful at drawing blood or starting IVs you must: Know your […]

How to Assess the Six Cardinal Fields of Gaze

Learn how to assess the six cardinal fields of gaze as a nurse. In nursing school, you will have to complete a nursing head-to-toe assessment and during this assessment you will have to assess the six cardinal fields of gaze. What is the purpose of assessing the six cardinal fields of gaze? It helps to […]

Visual Acuity Test with a Snellen Chart

Learn how to assess visual acuity using a Snellen chart as a nurse. In nursing school, you will have to complete a nursing head-to-toe assessment and during this assessment you may have to assess visual acuity using the Snellen chart. What cranial nerve is tested when assessing vision with a Snellen chart? Cranial nerve II […]

How to Remove Sutures

Learn how to remove surgical sutures (nursing): Sutures (also called stitches) are used to close wounds either from an injury of some type or a surgical procedure. There are various types of suture patterns used. The most common, which will be demonstrated in this article, is the simple interrupted suture. In addition, there are these […]

How to Remove Surgical Staples

As a nurse you will be removing surgical staples. This article will detail how to remove surgical staples in a patient after surgery. Why do patients have surgical staples? To close a wound of some type, which is most commonly a surgical site. While working on a post-op floor for vascular surgery patients, I encountered […]

How to Clean Dentures Nursing

Cleaning dentures is a basic nursing skill that you will be performing as a nurse. Many patients are very sick and are unable to get up out of bed and clean their dentures. Therefore, as the nurse you will have to do this. There are some things you want to consider when providing denture care, […]

Cranial Nerve Examination Nursing

During the head-to-toe nursing assessment, you will be assessing the cranial nerves. In this article, I want to break down how to assess cranial nerves I through XII (1-12) as a nurse. Why do we assess cranial nerves? In short, to see if the neuron/nerve works! Why wouldn’t a cranial nerve “work”? In many neuro […]

Intake and Output Calculation NCLEX Review

Intake and output calculation NCLEX review for nurses. This quick review will highlight how to calculate intake and output because these type of questions may be on your NCLEX exam or (definitely) on a nursing lecture exam. It seems like calculating I and O’s is self-explanatory, right?! Well, it can be tricky, especially calculating intake […]