I said no to an unsafe assignment. Tonight I had a Aorto-bi-fem-bypass with a right fem-pop-bypass. He didn't go to PACU. Right to the unit. BP unsatble wide opened the OR fluids. Rezeroed his lines, trendelenberged him. Started Dopamine too. No Good. He was 94 degrees with the bair hugger on. Started a CVP (5) and his left groin started leaking. Still not stable. CRNA and a surgeon in the room. 45 min into this I was called to take report on another pt from OR too unstable for PACU. Straight to the floor on a vent. Caused a small uproar. They had another nurse come in an hour early.

Good for you for saying no. I can't believed they would have paired the two unstable fresh post-ops anyway.

Dang!!! You did good. Shame on them for even considering shipping another.

YOU ROCK!!! pat yourself on the back for a job well-done.

That's my girl! The only way to stop nurse abuse is to 'Just Say No'! (applauding your critical thinking)

Awesome! I applaud you!

But what's this "too unstable for PACU" and straight to the floor? That's strange. But having only worked in two hospitals in my life, I didn't realize there was such a thing. Our PACU nurses are critical care nurses and patients must be relatively stable to leave PACU. They have to let anesthesia and the surgeon know they are transferring a patient in unstable condition before they transfer out of PACU.

Being a critical care nurse is mandatory to get a job in PACU here.