I'm a new grad working nights on a tele med/surg floor. I've had the following scenario happen several times and always get different answers depending on who the charge nurse is, or who I ask.
The patient comes up from ER and placed on tele monitor. Sometime in the night they have a 7 beat run of VTach. I check on pt & he is asymptomatic. I find no documentation in the ER notes of any previous episodes. An hour or 2 later pt has another run of VTach. Pt is still asymptomatic. For this situation I've been told the following by different nurses at different times: 1) Call MD and make him aware this is happening 2) Don't call MD as it is the middle of the night and pt is asymptomatic but print the strip and place on the chart so he will see during rounds 3) Continue to monitor pt but do nothing b/c pt isn't presenting symptoms.
Which is really the most appropriate action. It's a little confusing to be told "not to worry about it" when another nurse suggested I call the MD for the same thing when it happend in the past. I appreciate any input.
