Was reprimanded and told to resign. Advice or thoughts would be appreciated.

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Specializes in Med/surg, Quality & Risk.

The simple fact is a rapid response should require more that "chest pain". Was the EKG abnormal? Vital signs? Was the pt diaphoretic? Did the report "chest pain"? or something more vague? How long of a period transpired before initial report and assessment? WHAT WAS THE ASSESSMENT? One does not call a rapid response for indigestion, or chest pain, for that matter. You obtain EKG, blood work, contact MD, give NTG, and gather data. In absence of the time to gather all of the above data, you would only call a rapid response if the pt was deteriorating, and you did not know why. Indigestion does not equal deteriorating.

I wanted to say this but didn't know if I was right or not. A supervisor/charge nurse who calls a rapid response for chest pain without even considering a stat EKG and labs a) doesn't belong in her position because she doesn't work well under pressure, and/or b) works at a crappy facility that doesn't move fast enough unless you call a rapid response. Either way I don't want to work with her or for her.

Sounds like a hazardous work environment. Resigning gives you the upper hand because when you apply for other jobs, you can list your reason for leaving in a manner that is beneficial to you. For example, hazardous work conditions, shortage of staffing, etc. You could also ask questions about these things when interviewing for future jobs. Employers will view you as a nurse who is concerned about the quality of care delivered to her patients. Good luck!

Denroc72

Wave Watcher

751 Posts

Specializes in Community Health/School Nursing.

1st rule: protect yourself and protect your license! I am a firm believer that a patient has to take some responsibility.....who the heck sits in a hospital bed for 1 hr with chest pain and doesn't push a call button!?? Patients will push that dang button for everything under the sun but won't for chest pain? Geez. Move on to bigger and better things! Sorry you are going through this.

CrunchRN, ADN, RN

4,530 Posts

Specializes in Clinical Research, Outpt Women's Health.

Hope something better comes your way.

1st rule: protect yourself and protect your license! I am a firm believer that a patient has to take some responsibility.....who the heck sits in a hospital bed for 1 hr with chest pain and doesn't push a call button!?? Patients will push that dang button for everything under the sun but won't for chest pain? Geez. Move on to bigger and better things! Sorry you are going through this.

If I had a nickel for every patient that didn't ring to report chest pain (or other "I need to know about this" type symptoms...).

My favorite is the patient that reports chest pain long after the fact to the cardiologist during rounds but never let the nurses know about this pain. Fortunately the MDs are familiar with this type of stuff and we never find ourselves in trouble over it. We do give the heads up to the oncoming nurse though to keep an eye out for this stuff.

I'm wondering who calls a rapid response on a patient and doesn't send someone to find their nurse. (let alone call a rapid response for what turns out to be indigestion?)

Specializes in ICU.

I've been thrown under the bus a few times in my career, too. Once I was three floors down, attending my patient to a V-Q scan (as was required at the time) when the wife of one of my elderly patients decided to force feed him pills. This elderly woman decided, without telling anyone, to give her husband "his meds from home." He was actually pending a bronchoscopy. He immediately chokes and by the time I got back upstairs, they had already wheeled him from my step-down unit, back into ICU. The doctor threw a fit, complained about ME, even tho I wasn't involved, never saw the wife, and certainly didn't condone her giving him any meds! Another time, I was sent home for 2 days for "patient abuse." I got a patient from ICU, with a guaze bandage on her arm. In report, I asked why this arm was wrapped with guaze; the nurse said "I don't know." I documented this. Then I removed the bandage myself, inspected the wound and re-dressed it. Next thing I know, the patient's daughter is saying that I hurt her mother's arm. If they had read my notes, they would have seen that all I did was remove the dressing to see what was under it, since the original nurse was unable to tell me. I actually had that patient all of 30 minutes, until my shift was over. The daughter came in after I had clocked out and went home~ I never even met or saw her! Administration called me 2 days later and said "it was all a mistake and to come back to work." They had never even read my notes, just jumped the gun to blame somebody, so I lost 2 days pay for something I didn't even do! This patient, BTW, was 94 with dementia, and was too confused to know anything. Once someone gets a little authority, they suddenly lose all sense and are ready to blame any nurse they can, doesn't seem to matter.

DoeRN

941 Posts

I almost got blamed for an order that was missed. The doctor didn't know how to put in orders and didn't tell anyone he didn't know how to put in orders. So instead of asking someone one (myself who happened to be a super user ) how to do it, he put the order in a written note and not even a doctor's note. The hospital got rid of the paper orders and notes. He wrote it on a blank paper and stuck it in the chart that had marked all over it all orders must go into the EMR as this chart is obsolete as far as orders are concerned. So of course it was missed it wasn't in the orders section in the EMR. And yes for a while I did take it upon myself to still check the charts for orders under the orders tab. I would have rather taken a verbal order. He came back the next day ranting and raving about the order. So of course since I was a floater they attempted to reprimand me. Thank goodness I have good negotiation skills and will prove my point until everyone is clear about my view point. Needless to say I didn't get blamed and they sent the doctor to computer class. A class he was actually required to take before using the EMR. He stated that he thought it was beneath him to put in his own orders. A friend of mine told me this when he went to her class. She said he was a piece of work the whole time in class.

So OP sorry you had to go through this. I would have fought that until I was blue in the face. I get so tired of this blame the nurse mentality.

netglow, ASN, RN

4,412 Posts

...He stated that he thought it was beneath him to put in his own orders. A friend of mine told me this when he went to her class. She said he was a piece of work the whole time in class.

What a tool.

OCNRN63, RN

5,978 Posts

Specializes in Oncology; medical specialty website.
I've been thrown under the bus a few times in my career, too. Once I was three floors down, attending my patient to a V-Q scan (as was required at the time) when the wife of one of my elderly patients decided to force feed him pills. This elderly woman decided, without telling anyone, to give her husband "his meds from home." He was actually pending a bronchoscopy. He immediately chokes and by the time I got back upstairs, they had already wheeled him from my step-down unit, back into ICU. The doctor threw a fit, complained about ME, even tho I wasn't involved, never saw the wife, and certainly didn't condone her giving him any meds! Another time, I was sent home for 2 days for "patient abuse." I got a patient from ICU, with a guaze bandage on her arm. In report, I asked why this arm was wrapped with guaze; the nurse said "I don't know." I documented this. Then I removed the bandage myself, inspected the wound and re-dressed it. Next thing I know, the patient's daughter is saying that I hurt her mother's arm. If they had read my notes, they would have seen that all I did was remove the dressing to see what was under it, since the original nurse was unable to tell me. I actually had that patient all of 30 minutes, until my shift was over. The daughter came in after I had clocked out and went home~ I never even met or saw her! Administration called me 2 days later and said "it was all a mistake and to come back to work." They had never even read my notes, just jumped the gun to blame somebody, so I lost 2 days pay for something I didn't even do! This patient, BTW, was 94 with dementia, and was too confused to know anything. Once someone gets a little authority, they suddenly lose all sense and are ready to blame any nurse they can, doesn't seem to matter.

Please tell me that at minimum they gave you back pay for those two days.

BSNRNINRI

6 Posts

Hi, I do not think the director should have told you that you you should resign and that your future looked bleak...this just sounds like she wanted to cover up the issue that the unit was not staffed suffiiciently and that this was putting patient's at risk. However, I am not sure about the chest pain complaint..where you aware that this patient was having chest pain? Or was it just something the patient said as a "rough estimate" of when it began?

annmariern

288 Posts

Specializes in vascular, med surg, home health , rehab,.

And this is why a Nurses union is a godsend; they just wouldn't be able to get away with this. When understaffed we can submit an assisgnment against objection form basically stating that should any issues occur, complaints, falls, missed meds and all of the OP issues, you have great backup when they pull this crap.

DEE S.

36 Posts

I would not have resigned. That is for sure. The hospital or floor must have policies regarding ratios and your supervisor should have provided the support. I would have stood my ground. In any case depending on how long you have been a nurse I would apply to other jobs and hospitals. That situation was dangerous and if the hospital does not care enough for its patients and staff accordingly I would not risk my license. As you can see the supervisor made you the scape goat.

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