Garbage Report

[chacha82]

What's the worst report you ever got? Was it the report itself or the condition the patient was left in? Or did it have to do with the style of report the nurse gave?

Bonus Q: When will you stay late to help your coworker? I stayed to place a foley the other night as I had a good rapport with the patient and the order literally went in at 18:57.

[NurseSpeedy, ADN, LPN, RN]

I'm happy to now work in a state where a faxed report is illegal. Although in general I don't see how any competent nurse can find a faxed-only report to be appropriate in a patient being admitted to a hospital, whether it's legal or not.

This was started about 18 months ago. A way to "speed up" the process of getting the patient from the ER to their designated bed. We're supposed to have 15 minutes to read it over, check the computer, and then call if we have questions. That 15 minutes has been iffy at times and good luck getting someone on the phone for questions. I always love when it's sent up when I'm in the middle of someone tanking...then they're rolling down the hallway and I'm just praying I don't need TWO crash carts. No surprise that the number of rapids immediately after arrival increased with this great idea.

[Penelope_Pitstop, BSN, RN]

I, too, received the "nothing new with him" on a man I didn't know from Cary Grant. And, when prompted to give me some history or at least what was WNL for him, the nurse I guess suffered a bout of aphasia.

And I don't like to pick on the ED (Lawd knows I don't wanna work there!) but one time they neglected to tell us the patient was vented. (MedSurg floor, btw).

Buuuut, my favorite? Not mine, my friend...she received report on Mrs. Thomas in 12A. She goes in to check vitals..."hey, Mrs. Thomas?" MRS. THOMAS??? Hey can I get some help in here?" Turns out, the current occupant of 12A was a comfort care patient who had died during the previous shift and was to be picked up for morgue transport. Mrs. Thomas was in the ED waiting for the bed to be unoccupied and cleaned...

[Not_A_Hat_Person, RN]

In Nursing Home Hell, I took report from a nurse who abbreviated everything. I had to ask her to explain every other word.

In corrections, we had written report. One inmate's report was a single word, abortion. Was she scheduled for one? Recovering from one? How long ago? Was it a medical abortion, and we were waiting for expulsion? What are we monitoring for? No one seemed to know.

[gemmi999]

Worst change of shift report I got was a patient in the ER, on a bipap, with only IV access an EJ that has the bipap straps rubbing against it every time the patient moved. The IV looked horribly unstable, the patient's VS were in the toliet, and the RN was at the bedside giving medicine (I don't remember what). I remember looking at the patient and thinking: "****, he needs a central because he's going to end up coding".

Before I even got report I was talking to the ER doc about pt needing better access, etc. The RN comes over and gives me basically: "SOB, on bipap, cardiac irregularities, all medical hx in the chart" and starts talking about her other two patient's. Normally that's all fine because I can just look up details if I need them. So, mid report on my other patient's, the first patient starts getting hypoxic, taking bipap off due to hypoxia, and codes. We immediately call a code and spend the next 45 minutes coding him/stabilizing the pt.

I then get to help the MD with the central line, do all the drips he needs, etc, and haven't even sat down at the computer to chart, have my notes sheet with times and figure I'll just do a *bunch* of charting once the patient was stable.

Admitting MD calls and me and the ER doc go talk to him, admitting MD is asking his medical hx and both the MD and I go to the chart because the first, primary RN had triaged the patient and said it was all in the chart.

NOTHING on the patient was charted. No notes about medical hx, no previous vitals, not even the meds the RN gave at change of shift.

That then became the worst shift ever because I had to figure out what had already been done, figure out his entire hx, he's intubated and relatively unstable and just...ugh. Long night.

[cardiacfreak, ADN]

As I am walking down the hall with day shift nurse, "Mrs. Doe, 52 with diagnosis unstable angina. She's fine and has slept all day and wouldn't wake up for evening meds." We walk into the room, patient is posturing, and making a snoring noise. Turns out she was hypoglycemic, glucose 19.

[TruvyNurse]

We had a nurse who would be pacing at the door. She was ready to go at 7am. She gave the worst reports. Some of her "best" included: 1) not mentioning a gentlemen had a colostomy 2) reporting 16 count respirations on every patient. Even a dying man who was at least 32 a minute. 3) told me a patient needed prepped for surgery he was having in 2 hours but for what surgery she didn't know 4) once we did bedside report and she proceeded to pet the patient and talk to them like a baby "aw he had a big old poop last night didn't ya sweetie?" 5) not being aware that her patient was dead when we were doing bedside report 6) uncomfortably and obviously flirting with a young male patient during report (so bad I turned it in)

Needless to say she was fired after 8 months..

[Tenebrae, BSN, RN]

Patient stable. IDC draining, output reduced since 0600.

Walked into the patients room to find them with very uncomfortable and a badly blocked catheter and when I finally managed to get it unblocked, it drained about a litre of urine so it had most likely been blocked most of the night.

[Tenebrae, BSN, RN]

Had one recently.

"The dressing came off patient does wound. I couldnt find the wound so I didnt put another one one"

Patient doe had a long standing pressure ulcer on the left ischael tuberoristy aprox 1cm in diameter and at least 5cm deep and a nurse would have to have both eyes closed to miss it.

I was somewhat dumbfounded

[SpankedInPittsburgh, DNP, RN]

The worst report I've ever received was when I was a floor nurse and we had a nurse who would simply talk for as long as you let her. Usually it would have little to do with the patient. I put her on a time limit after a while & told her I would just figure out whatever was happening on my own.

As far as staying over. I'll stay as long as I'm getting paid. Once the $$$ stops rolling I stop working

[blondy2061h, MSN, RN]

I've both given and received horrible reports. The worst report I ever gave was- none. I forgot I had the patient. I worked on a unit where charge normally didn't have an assignment. I picked up a patient at 3a on my 7p-7a shift from someone working a 3p-3a shift. They were going home in the morning and needed not a darn thing from me. I peeked in on them twice sleeping then forgot about them. Gave report to day charge on whole unit and left. Had my "Oh ****!" moment halfway home.

I've gotten some real lax reports. Telling me nothing has changed from when I had them the night before- then I go in and find out my previously alert and oriented walkie talkie patient is now confused and combative and requiring pressors. I've found patients laying in stool that was clearly there for hours. I've found them with dried drips. Overdue labs. Messy rooms. One time in report they left out that the patient was not only blind but had both eyes removed. I think they also charted her pupils as PERRLA. So yeah.

[Ladybug70]

I had to float to a different unit in the hospital I was currently working for. The report I got was the patient was being treated for pneumonia but he was doing so much better. When I walked in the room to introduce myself, the patient is lying in the bed.........dead!

[LibraSunCNM, BSN, MSN, CNM]

We had a nurse who would be pacing at the door. She was ready to go at 7am. She gave the worst reports. Some of her "best" included: 1) not mentioning a gentlemen had a colostomy 2) reporting 16 count respirations on every patient. Even a dying man who was at least 32 a minute. 3) told me a patient needed prepped for surgery he was having in 2 hours but for what surgery she didn't know 4) once we did bedside report and she proceeded to pet the patient and talk to them like a baby "aw he had a big old poop last night didn't ya sweetie?" 5) not being aware that her patient was dead when we were doing bedside report 6) uncomfortably and obviously flirting with a young male patient during report (so bad I turned it in)

Needless to say she was fired after 8 months..

Literall crying with laughter right now at #5, I like the way you dropped it in there subtly among the list of other less-serious issues.