Nurse in trouble for complete nonsense.

[sicushells]

A little backstory, and then I'll get to the point, so please try to be patient with me. :typing

Most of my patients are post-ops/post-intubation, so they have dry throat usually for a day or two. Some can't drink because they've had abdominal surgery and need bowel rest, sometimes for weeks or months. Instead of offering them ice chips/sips (bad), we can offer them mouth swabs, which are sticks with these little green sponges on the end that you can dip in water. I hate the mouth swabs because they don't really make people feel better, they just have something else to complain about (not getting the swabs dipped fast enough). But enough about the freakin' mouth swabs.

One of my coworkers was working overtime the other day. During report her patient waves the mouthswab in the air and says "DIP IT!!!" To which my coworker responds, "I'll get to it in a minute, but we need to do report first." The nurses do report, the patient gets her mouthswab, everyone's happy. We had multiple transfers/admits the usual craziness. She transferred that patient from the ICU to the Floor early in the day, got a patient from the OR, had lunch, everything was going okay for her. 8 hours in to the 12 hour shift, our nurse manager comes up to her says, "Get your stuff and come to my office." In front of other nurses, which upsets my coworker.

Turns out the patient who went to the floor told her daughter that my coworker called her a "stupid old *****" to her face. The daughter and patient were crying, the NA found them, and followed up with management. (makes sense, I would do the same) So my coworker gets sent home, and suspended for the rest of the weekend.

After my coworker goes home, the nurse manager calls her back and says, "I talked with the nurse you gave report to, and she says you didn't call her that, so you can come back for the weekend afterall."

My question for you guys is, what on EARTH does my coworker do to follow up with this? It doesn't seem like that's nursing management policy, but who does she talk to to get an unbiased opinion?

Thanks in advance.

[neurorn6]

Unfortuately, this is something that I have seen more than once in our profession. Managers and hospitals are concerned about "the client's" preception of their care. Hospitals spend hundreds of thousands dollars on surveys to gauge how "clients" feel about "the hospital experience".

I get extremely angry, because it always comes back to the nursing staff. We didn't answer the call light fast enough, or the patient was complaining about mouth swaps or the staff was too loud. It amazes me that the blame gets thrown at us but it the powers that be, never address the bigger issues like staffing, or admissions/discharge issues, or acuity of patients.

The truly sad thing is that your coworker has little if any recourse, unless you have a very strong, proactive union.

I personally feel that because we are a dominantly female profession, we get taken advantage of. If we were a male dominant profession, things would be handled differently.

I'm curious as to the area of the country that this occured. I have found that things are handled differently, depending on the geographical area.

Anyway, I wish your friend well and hope things go well professionally.

[Liddle Noodnik]

Oh HE!! NO! I would have had myself a nice WE off. Screw her...let them look for a replacement because of her "mis-management":nono:

chuckle...

I guess if I was that nurse and I received the "dip it" command (sounded like a command to me) while I had the nerve to actually do something besides stand at that person's bedside for 5 seconds...

I might have been TEMPTED to say "dip THIS!"

but would likely have just asked them to wait a moment! Doesn't seem like a crime!

Sheesh... the customer is always right, eh?

sigh...

but perhaps the patient THOUGHT something bad was said?

In which case that is unfortunate.

[FireStarterRN, BSN, RN]

Was the patient physically incapable of dipping her own mouth swab? I was just curious because many people can be trusted to dip their own without succumbing to the temptation of drinking the water.

[oramar]

I think she suspended her and then realized she had no one to replace her. Common sense would say that you get all the info first then suspend if it is warrented. Hey, if I had a dollar for everytime I said that health care managment is sadly lacking I would be rich today.l

[Dolce, RN]

And people wonder why there is a nursing shortage.

[NurseAlwaysNForever]

At the facilities I have worked at a person who has had a complaint filed against them must be temporarily suspended immediately until the complaint is investigated, then they are allowed to return to work. It is the policy in many places, sad but true.

[Ruby Vee, BSN]

just seems like really poor management to me. why wouldn't the manager have found out a little bit more and gathered her evidence before sending a nurse home and humiliating her in front of the other staff. if she had just confirmed the facts first, then none of this would have happened.

having said that, i would have dipped the woman's thing when she asked. it would have only taken a second, and all of this would have been averted!

i agree with you about the poor management.

but i must respectfully disagree about dipping the mouth swab. had the nurse interrupted report to dip the mouth swab, the patient would have interrupted her again to dip the swab again. and again. and again. i've been through the mouth swab nonsense with many of our patients, and sometimes you just have to ask them to wait!

i had a 29 year old lung transplant patient not long ago whose mother was dipping the mouth swab in flavored tea as often as he could suck it dry. the guy was still intubated, mind you, and the day nurse, while telling the mom that it was a bad idea, allowed it to continue anyway. over the course of a couple of hours, he "drank" an entire 16 ounce bottle of the stuff. then he vomited right at change of shift, and he aspirated. the mother was madder than a hornet because "the nurses made my son vomit."

i wanted to say "no, you moron. you made your son vomit." but of course i didn't. the son developed a pneumonia and was in our icu for months. the mother still thinks i'm terribly mean because i wouldn't let her near him with the fruity flavored tea in the 5 minutes or so i was his nurse before he vomited.

[icunurse42066]

And people wonder why there is a nursing shortage.

:yeahthat:

[Batman24]

I would have myself a nice weekend off. I would then follow it up with a Monday morning meeting with this manager, her superior, and someone from HR. It's poor management and completely out of line.

[sicushells, RN]

Was the patient physically incapable of dipping her own mouth swab? I was just curious because many people can be trusted to dip their own without succumbing to the temptation of drinking the water.

I think the patient could have dipped it herself. People sometimes think because they've had surgery, that they can't do anything for themselves. Which leads to the whole "independence promotion" nursing intervention, lol.

[sicushells, RN]

i agree with you about the poor management.

but i must respectfully disagree about dipping the mouth swab. had the nurse interrupted report to dip the mouth swab, the patient would have interrupted her again to dip the swab again. and again. and again. i've been through the mouth swab nonsense with many of our patients, and sometimes you just have to ask them to wait!

i had a 29 year old lung transplant patient not long ago whose mother was dipping the mouth swab in flavored tea as often as he could suck it dry. the guy was still intubated, mind you, and the day nurse, while telling the mom that it was a bad idea, allowed it to continue anyway. over the course of a couple of hours, he "drank" an entire 16 ounce bottle of the stuff. then he vomited right at change of shift, and he aspirated. the mother was madder than a hornet because "the nurses made my son vomit."

i wanted to say "no, you moron. you made your son vomit." but of course i didn't. the son developed a pneumonia and was in our icu for months. the mother still thinks i'm terribly mean because i wouldn't let her near him with the fruity flavored tea in the 5 minutes or so i was his nurse before he vomited.

there's always that too...

did you apologize to the mother? after all, it's not her fault she's from the shallow end of the gene pool.