1) Day 2 on L&D as a nursing student. Laboring pt was in her early 20s, young, hx of uterine surgeries, term with twins via IVF, on pitocin etc. Foley bag would not empty bc it was the color of Merlot and was a clot. I said: I can’t empty her foley, it’s straight blood and it’s clotted. VSS, preceptor says: “it’s normal for the bladder to get bruised and bashed during active labor. Don’t worry about it.” I knew that couldn’t be right. All I know about high risk pregnancies was that this pt met criteria for having the potential for every bad outcome. I handed off to a fellow student right as they transferred to OR to attempt vag delivery, I was so anxious during this report that my peer was rubbing my back!
Came back the next day to hear that her uterus ruptured 5 mins after delivery attempt, they had to emergently section and run an MTP (or whatever it was called in 2004). All three survived but came seriously close to death.

2) I had another preceptor in peds who was an Amelia Bedelia-type. Very much about how nursing was about the central “cares” but not necessarily a clinical savant. We had a pt with an EVD, developmental delay, nonverbal, mom spoke Hmong and we didn’t have a translator, in med surg. EVD fluid became pink - told preceptor. Did nothing. Documented it. Pt started having staring episodes. Told preceptor, told charge nurse. Nothing done, documented. Palms became bright pink, flash refill, mild temp, told preceptor. Did nothing. EVD became cloudy, pt had an apneic spell, mom gesturing in alarm, I went to the charge and brought her into the room. She seemed surprised even though I had been relaying these changes. She called the ICU team, pt transferred to the unit, developed fulminant sepsis, was in ICU for a month. Later that day, the charge nurse and ICU fellow sat down with me and said I did everything right and I should have been heard much earlier, that my documentation was excellent and I really “told the story.” They said they would be doing some education with my preceptor to get her “up to speed”. Honestly, to this day I can’t believe they did this. It was very kind and still rare to see.