She got fired...

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  1. This is a discussion on She got fired... in General Nursing Discussion, part of General Nursing ... I was in my Ethics class today and one girl started talking about how her friend, an RN was with a...

    by May 23, '12
    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?
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    by FutureRN2013 May 23, '12 8:55 pm
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  2. 129 Comments so far...

  3. Guide
    May 23, '12 by
    I'm not sure I understand what, exactly, the nurse did?
    Bklyn_RN likes this.
  4. May 23, '12 by
    Quote from Hygiene Queen
    I'm not sure I understand what, exactly, the nurse did?
    She saved the patient without the dr being in the room. She was supposed to wait until he got there, but the patient would have died. It took him over an hour to get there.
  5. Guide
    May 23, '12 by
    It sounds like most of the pertinent information about the incident is missing, so it's going to be a hard one to evaluate.
    gummi bear, rnang123, hiddencatRN, and 7 others like this.
  6. Guide
    May 23, '12 by
    Quote from FutureRN2013
    She saved the patient without the dr being in the room. She was supposed to wait until he got there, but the patient would have died. It took him over an hour to get there.
    Right, but what was the action that she took?
    I am guessing it was something outside her scope of practice?
    I mean, did she apply pressure? Yell for help? Suture the vein herself?
    It's just hard to comment if one doesn't know.

    If she did something outrageously beyond her scope, then yes, she could be fired.
    nrsang97, Bklyn_RN, aachavez, and 5 others like this.
  7. May 23, '12 by
    Was there no other MD that could be called? No ER Doc? Way too little info.. Outside her scope, she could lose her job and her license .
    nrsang97, aachavez, and sauconyrunner like this.
  8. May 23, '12 by
    Quote from FutureRN2013
    She saved the patient without the dr being in the room. She was supposed to wait until he got there, but the patient would have died. It took him over an hour to get there.
    It's clear from the OP and your response that you really don't know what happened so it is impossible to answer any question you may have.
    Multicollinearity, caroladybelle, Cat_LPN, and 6 others like this.
  9. May 23, '12 by
    Quote from MN-Nurse
    It's clear from the OP and your response that you really don't know what happened so it is impossible to answer any question you may have.
    Only thing one can think of is the nurse *may* have acted out of the established scope of practice often a big no-no regardless of outcome.
  10. May 23, '12 by
    I get the feeling she sutured a vein, but unless they were in the wilderness with no other docs available, and nothing to make a tourniquet out of, I don't get why she would have done the suturing (if that's what she did).
    nrsang97, notjustanurse, sharpeimom, and 1 other like this.
  11. May 23, '12 by
    Quote from FutureRN2013
    She saved the patient without the dr being in the room. She was supposed to wait until he got there, but the patient would have died. It took him over an hour to get there.
    I don't think the issue is that she saved the patient without the doctor being present... there is no rule that nurses cannot save a life without the presence of a doctor but rather the specific actions she took. Nurses do not suture and acting outside of one's scope of practice can easily get one fired and reported to the BON.

    And it seems like A LOT of information is missing from this story. Who waits an hour for a doctor before taking action when a patient is dying? There were NO doctors anywhere in the hospital? I find that hard to believe.
    nrsang97, hiddencatRN, Calder, and 3 others like this.