She got fired...

[StL_Momma27]

I was in my Ethics class today and one girl started talking about how her friend, an RN was with a patient when they started to bleed out. She said that the patient needed their vein sutured up or they would die. They called the dr and it took him over a hour to get to the room. She knew that she needed a dr in the room, but knew that if she waited the patient would be dead. She saved the patient and her and the dr both got fired.

How is it possible that she saved someone's life, but she gets fired for doing so?

[Esme12, ASN, BSN, RN]

If the MD was the house MD (hospitalist) and wasn't inside the hospital (as he was supposed to be) he would be canned. If the nurse acted outside her practice....whether the patient lives or dies....she could be fired. ON the flip side of the coin if she failed to act "as another prudent nurse" would act she is liable.

In reality the are always alternatives. Unless it was the vena cava..as perpetual student points out....the patient won't die in an hour. Apply pressure. The MD won't answer? Call a code. Get the ED doc there. Call 911 and get the patient transferred. Call the supervisor let her find someone.

Sometimes it really stinks to be a nurse. We park our cars between a rock and a hard place in the parking lot, ALL THE TIME.

[roser13, ASN, RN]

Nursing School Rule #1:Don't believe 75% of the "true" stories that your fellow students will tell.

[Pepper The Cat, BSN, RN]

I'm trying to figure out what caused a " vein to rupture"

[sauconyrunner]

I keep thinking apply pressure. Even when we get dialysis fistulas that are malfunctioning, and bleeding heavily. We apply pressure...and that can be an emergency, but we don't get all up in there suturing. 90% of nurses are not taught to suture, so they don't know when suturing is needed, or what type of suture to use, or what type of suture material to use or even HOW to suture a vein correctly. So my guess is that the suturing was done, and was not what "saved the patients life."

But we will never know. The OP question though... YES, you can get fired for acting out of your scope of practice, and saving a life. A better example. Regular RN's are not permitted by hospital policy to intubate patients. Lets say one night a patient comes in at 2 am severe respiratory distress. By some odd coincidence the RRT and the MD (Both qualified) run into each other in a Larry Curley Moe Moment and knock each other out. You know how to intubate because you were trained at another facility. You are the only one who can do this, and the pt needs it now, can not be placed on cpap or anything. You intubate the pt. THe patient does well. YOu could still lose your job, and possibly face some consequences with the board depending on scope of practice where you are.

[blondy2061h, MSN, RN]

I'm trying to figure out why a vein would bleed to a life threatening degree like that with no other way to stop it.

[psu_213, BSN, RN]

The is not the show 'ER.' Nurses cannot do whatever they want to do in name of "saving lives"--even though, on TV, this is the rationale given for going way beyond one's scope of practice.

While saving a life (as in the person would have died without some immediate action) calls for drastic measures, the nurse should have had plenty of resources at her disposal (such as an RRT) to avoid acting beyond her scope of practice. Plus, as others mentioned, it is impossible to further comment on the situation without all the facts.

[merlee]

Many, many years ago, I was working a night shift with one other nurse and an aide, and I heard a moan from one of the other nurse's patients. She was waaayy down the hall, so I went in to see what was doing. The pt had had a fem-pop just the day before and was bleeding out from that fem artery. As in, when I pulled back the sodden covers, the blood was spurting out. There were NO phones in the pt's rooms, and the call light just rang and rang. I was reluctant at first to yell, not wanting to wake up all of the patients, but after about 10 minutes of constant pressure, I had no choice.

Took another few minutes to get attention. Finally, the other nurse came in, and called the in-house doc and the night supervisor.

The doc relieved me, and the pt was taken to the OR.

I think the original post is just nonsense. These days, there are many ways to get in touch with appropriate personnel, and most issues are more easily resolved.

[Horseshoe, BSN, RN]

In reality the are always alternatives. Unless it was the vena cava..as perpetual student points out....the patient won't die in an hour. Apply pressure. The MD won't answer? Call a code. Get the ED doc there. Call 911 and get the patient transferred. Call the supervisor let her find someone.

I'm trying to figure out why a vein would bleed to a life threatening degree like that with no other way to stop it.

My first thought exactly. Dying from a bleeding vein in an hour? No code called? No 911 call if LTC?

I think the whole story is completely bogus.

[sharpeimom]

too much missing info. an ethics class question, perhaps?

my first thought was that just because i know how to sew up a turkey neck so the stuffing won't escape, and i quilt a lot, doesn't give me any right to go waaaay out of the rn's scope of practice.

[ScrappytheCoco]

Is there no Rapid Response Team at her hospital?

[MN-Nurse, ASN, RN]

I heard it was the vena cava that was leaking. It's generally frowned upon when an RN does a bedside thoracotomy.:thankya:

I heard she did a heart transplant. The donor was the CEO, who didn't even notice it was missing because she never used it.

What is the world coming to when RNs are getting fired for saving people's lives?

[Horseshoe, BSN, RN]

What is the world coming to when RNs are getting fired for saving people's lives?

If the situation even really happened, the chances are low that the nurse got fired "for saving people's lives." More likely, she either didn't do something that could have avoided a life/death scenario, or she did something outrageous that she shouldn't have.

With the sketchy information provided, we can't know for sure whether or not an injustice was done to the nurse or whether or not her firing was justified.