That Phantom Nurse

[fancee free]

It's happened to me a few times when my patient will tell me how "that nurse" who worked last night gave them a sleeping pill or pain pill, however when I check to the orders they are not prescribed any sleeping or pain pills, and there is no indication that they received any medications the previous night or evening. Just wondering if anyone else had any situations with "that nurse"?

[leslie :-D]

yep.

i frequently get "that nurse", or, "the other nurse".

i always tell them, "oh. she was fired". :rotfl:

leslie

[chocokitten]

yep.

i frequently get "that nurse", or, "the other nurse".

i always tell them, "oh. she was fired". :rotfl:

leslie

XD LOL so funny!

[RNDreamer]

HMMM, this has be wondering...let's say there is a nurse who lets a patient hold onto their meds, and you come in and see the meds by the bedside? What is the protocol? Does you write an incident report, or take the meds away? Do you now become responsible and is your license now on the line since the patient is now on your shift? Thanks in advance.

[leslie :-D]

HMMM, this has be wondering...let's say there is a nurse who lets a patient hold onto their meds, and you come in and see the meds by the bedside? What is the protocol? Does you write an incident report, or take the meds away? Do you now become responsible and is your license now on the line since the patient is now on your shift? Thanks in advance.

you take the med, contact the md and get an order, allowing meds at bedside.

if the md ok's it, all is good.

if not, you put it back in the cart.

leslie

[Lorie P.]

hmmm, this has be wondering...let's say there is a nurse who lets a patient hold onto their meds, and you come in and see the meds by the bedside? what is the protocol? does you write an incident report, or take the meds away? do you now become responsible and is your license now on the line since the patient is now on your shift? thanks in advance.

depends on the meds, things such as cough drops, eye drops that doc says can be at bedside. i check the mars before i go into a room, if i find meds there aren't allowed at the bedside, i remove them, explain to the pt why, write out an incident report, alert my charge nurse, send the meds to pharmacy or personally take to pharmacy to be wasted.

i am sure others have a protocol to follow, i never, ever leave meds at bedside, if a pt wants them later and say please leave them, i explain, "i can't do that it's against policy" then i return them to the cart or medbin. also i make it a habit to not open anything till in front of the pt, that way i can return to the pysix if need be.

[nyapa, RN]

HMMM, this has be wondering...let's say there is a nurse who lets a patient hold onto their meds, and you come in and see the meds by the bedside? What is the protocol? Does you write an incident report, or take the meds away? Do you now become responsible and is your license now on the line since the patient is now on your shift? Thanks in advance.

I usually throw them away, because

1. you don't know what it is

2. you don't know how long it has been sitting there.

There are times you give medications to patients and they don't take them. So I guess sometimes we are the "other nurse".

But when it comes to legalities I reinforce that I want to keep my registration. I have had one patient recently who used to give his own long acting insulin at whatever amount and whatever time he wanted to give it. He wouldn't let us take it away. And yes it was the 'other nurse' again. Of course in this case the 'other nurse' had never been seen on our ward. I actually said to him to please wait, as you could take my registration away from me. He basically said, "I won't sue you" and gave it before I could stop him. The doctors took ages to act on this!!

Thats the problem too. The patient also uses "my doctor"...

[Midwest4me]

Batnurse?

Had to smile at this--like someone else said, I thought of "bat nurse" or the "Grim Reaper". There have been times a patient will say:"all the other nurses do it this way...or leave it at the bedside" or something similar. More often than not, the patient is trying manipulation. My response is something like: "Well, the CORRECT way is to make sure you take the med. We are NOT to just leave it with you. So you can take it now or you can refuse it."

[Becca608]

Batnurse?

:roll

[P_RN, ADN, RN]

Ok another take, "the other night nurse gave me my sleeping pill." Actually it was a Benadryl, of a Tavist or an Ativan that is ordered and in it's generic form is not recognised by your patient. Doc comes in next day and d/c's it because pt c/o dry mouth, bp higher etc. Then you are the night nurse and there is no evidence of anything sleepy wise. ta da?

I have a long black sweater that I almost always used nights. it came to the back of my knees.

[al7139, ASN, RN]

On a more serious note, this can be a real issue.

True story...happened to me the other night...

Got report. Had a male 50something pt with multiple problems including psych, dm, crf, ect.

Pt admitted for infection in left heel.

For a long time, refused surgery for I&D.

Finally did it. I got him that afternoon, still groggy from anaesthesia. Dx was osteomyelitis (yes...incredibly painful, esp after surgery).

At 11pm, reported to the night RN. I gave pain meds (two percs) at 2030. He asked th eoncoming nurse for pain meds. When she told him he couldn't have them until 0030 since he had gotten them at 2030, he stated that I did not give him his requested pain meds, and must have given them to someone else. She tried to explain that they were given, and that he had gotten them, but he came back with "His MD had seen him and told him that pts were having a problem with getting their pain meds on this hallway" (which I doubt the Dr said). We immediately took this to the TL, who said that from now on two nurses must witness him getting his meds. This way he cannot accuse anyone of not giving him his meds. "That nurse" is rampant in my hospital, and I just hope that she will quit soon, because I am sick of dealing with her mess-ups!

Amy

[elizabells, BSN, RN]

Yeah. She must get around. Like Santa Claus

I wonder if she's related to "some dude". You know, the guy who goes around stabbing/shooting all those nice young men just minding their own business, out for a midnight constitutional...

[GilaRRT]

Yep, I put up with this type of behavior all the time in the ER. My BS detector is beeping. Pretty pathetic, but I can give them points for giving it the old college try.