Those darn boys!

Last night I was admitting a horribly sick lady who needed an arterial line. I spent at least 30 minutes poking her poor wrist trying to get arterial access. She had virually no pulse which made my job just about impossible. I finally gave up. By noon today, she REALLY need the line put it, so 2 of the other residents went up and did it. They came back down over an hour later and told me that they got it right in on the first try. I believed them. I spent the afternoon feeling bad about my procedure skills and that I let the boys show me up. I found out tonight that wasn't the case at all. Adam couldn't get the line in, and it took Jay (a former phlebotomist) 20 minutes! Those boys! I'm starting to realize I'm not any less competent than they are-they just don't talk about their failures.