Jokes on me....?

Nurses General Nursing

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I've been traveling for almost 2 years now and have gained so much knowledge along the way. Been a nurse since 2007 and its been an honor. Very big accomplishment for a mother of 3. My recent position was in east Columbus on a busy CMICU unit. Patient ratio is 5:1, which I couldn't believe due to patient acuity ( OHS patients, fresh thoracotomies, Ptca, and pacer implants, etc). This particular night I started with 4 patients, a patient awaiting OHS on Heparin drip with a new infection, new onset Afib on a cardizem drip, IVDU with endocarditis/septic emboli going for colonoscopy starting prep and new MI first troponin 5.74. The night was BUSY to say the least, family issues in one room, colon prep already working in another, sleep deprivation in the 3rd and constipation in the last. I had 2 heparin drips, Aptts drawn every 6 hrs, one therapeutic, the other way to high. My new MI needed her drip shut off, my OHS patient was therapeutic. As the night went on I ordered a new bag for my OHS patient. Doing hourly rounding I noticed the OHS room was dark, no glow from the IV pole. Going all the way in the room I found that the bag wasn't hanging, the pump shut off and no connection to the patient. Found the bag and tubing in the trash. Waking the patient up, she reported a guy being in her room dismantling the IV, thats how she was awakened. Coming out to the nurses station, I asked if anyone had been in that room or dismantled the IV. It was met with disbelief from some and laughter from others. It was 3 males working that night, charge being one of them. Not knowing how long it had been off I quickly restarted the bag I ordered and waited for next Aptt to be reported. It was barely therapeutic. I was very upset by this. No excuse can be made for someone's actions. It was deliberate. What can I do moving forward? What are my options? I think light should be shed on this act? Patient safety can be argued. I need help in understanding this. I'm struggling....and ended with a 5th total complete patient before morning. HELP.......

I'm not really saying anything. No one would "confess" or own up to the "mistake". The heparin was off my other patient per Dr's order and a schedule recheck was ordered for that patient. There's no excuse for someone to go in another nurses' room and dismantle and throw away a drip. My opinion though.....

I hope that when you reported it to the manager, that you reported only the facts. Here, it definitely sounds like you're insinuating it was a prank. That's a pretty big allegation. After all, those actions would be criminal behavior.

In a nutshell, if you're unsure of what happened, don't insinuate otherwise. That's just to protect your own professional reputation.

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I hope that when you reported it to the manager, that you reported only the facts. Here, it definitely sounds like you're insinuating it was a prank. That's a pretty big allegation. After all, those actions would be criminal behavior.

In a nutshell, if you're unsure of what happened, don't insinuate otherwise. That's just to protect your own professional reputation.

Agree with you on the technicality of no confession, but I guess if one doesn't want to be accused of toying with someone's medical care as a prank, there's always the option of fessing up instead of sitting there laughing at the "traveler"...

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When you write about a topic it says make the title attention grabbing. So I did. It's definitely not a joke or prank when patient safety is at question and somehow if I never noticed this drip was shut off and the patient reinfarcted, the discussion would have put my professionalism at question. Only the facts were reported. I'm well aware of legalities. I don't need a lecture just wanted some insight or opinions on how to handle this.

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Who's calling it a prank or a joke?

Sounds more like an act of sabotage.

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One of the nurses on the floor during the discussion about the heparin being off said, "Well she didn't die did she." That comment just sparked the fire more, like it was a blast of oxygen to a flame. I'm just baffled at people's thought patterns......

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Reporting it to whomever is fine, but I think that it would have been even better to have filed an official incident report immediately. They can't ignore those, and it would have helped you to have official documentation supporting you in the event of an adverse outcome and subsequent attempts to blame you for it.

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Specializes in ICU + Infection Prevention.

First, tell us what hospital so we can all be sure never to work there or be a patient there!

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I'm with you on an incident report. Have done it as a traveler before (different situation/hospital) but it doesn't necessarily mean that you won't be blamed. The whole floor vs. YOU. Somehow/someway it can easily be made to "go their way." Those can be ignored, seen it happen. The only official documentation that can't be deleted is in the patient's chart.

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There's no excuse for someone to go in another nurses' room and dismantle and throw away a drip. My opinion though.....

I agree. That's unacceptable.

If a pump is alarming and the other RN is busy I'll check the order and either restart or stop the drip and find the other nurse and update them. If I have time I might even hook them up with another bag if available.

Best that you're gone now.

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Specializes in CTICU.

What advice are you looking for? Sounds like you reported the incident, there's an investigation pending, and you're out of that contract. Nothing more to be done, right?

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I'm actually in the grievance process due to my agency deeming me un-rehirable after the investigation. Not sure how that worked out. I honestly feel like that's somehow faulting me, so I guess it's not done. So if you can think of anything let me know. Thanks

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Well guys I changed my screen name to MISUNDERSTOOD because I am! I had to file a grievance with my travel company because of the investigation into the "Thrown away heparin bag", they deemed me UN-REHIREABLE!! Not sure how, why, who but I can't let this go. I've now been unemployed since September 27th, lost my insurance because COBRA is ridiculous if you don't have income coming in. I'm awaiting to hear back from them after the grievance process completes. I'll let you guys know how that goes. Thanks for all the comments thus far.

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