Watch out - Its Death Angel!

Nacki, MSN, NP · Sep 27, 2008

Don't feel bad. I had a period of 5 weeks straight were I was in the process of getting a pt changed to DNR status and sending them off to hospice or doing a terminal wean. Five different patients in 5 weeks. The Palliative care team knows me personally!

gentlegiver, ASN, LPN, RN · Sep 27, 2008

I got that beat! I lost 3 ladies in 2 days. Dr calls my unit "the funeral home" now.

dollphyn · Sep 27, 2008

Any one else have this happen? It seems every time I work lately, at least one of my pts ends up unresponsive - I come on shift, find them lethargic, unresponisive or in poor condtion. I take care of them allshift - Next shift come on and they improve. Just call me Death Angel!
My logic side just says - coinsidence!
My superstitious side says - Death Angel! LOL:no:
Anyone else ever go throught this? To clarily - I'm calling myself Death Angel - no one else has said it and no one has died - I'm just trying to keep my sense of humour about it!
Although I had to laugh today I had a pt who was extremely lethergic all day and was trying to figure out how to answe this stupid new assessment form some idiot in upper management has created, someone said they should add a question "Is Pepper taking care of pt today" because if answer is Yes just wait one shift and they will be fine!

First few months at Walmart, person collapses in fabrics, I was in jewelry, and had to call for ambulance, person died. First day as a medical assistant, patient died in doctor's office. First day as a tech/unit secretary, LVAD patient alarm goes off, pt was coding in the room. First few weeks on my new unit as a nurse 2 rapid response team calls and one patient that I was helping take care of was in for a simple procedure and died of a heart attack.

6 years ago, my family gave me the nickname "Death Angel" because of the first incidence, now I am starting to wonder. I feel I provide excellent care, but there is a higher power that we have no control over. It just has to happen when I start new jobs. Definitely coincidence, but still when you get teased about it your superstitious side comes out.

Long Term Care Columnist / Guide · Sep 27, 2008

I feel like Nurse Kevorkian myself...........I've lost eight of my ALF residents in the 2 1/2 months I've worked in this facility. I wish they'd quit dying on me---everytime we lose one, we've got to fill the room ASAP, and all these admissions are killing me. No pun intended.

trudlebug · Sep 27, 2008

Wow, I was feeling like the Death Angel yesterday, too. 2 back to back ambulances with CPR in progress, one young adult, one infant. Neither was successful. I was primary for both, and have been feeling pretty sick about it today. Like you, my rational mind says there was nothing we could have done that would have changed the outcome. However, I can't stop wondering if I could have done or suggested something that would have helped. (I can't think of anything, and I even reviewed my ACLS and PALS books to see if we missed anything). I am still getting tears in my eyes while typing, but hugs to you all, we need it.

I'm glad I'm off this weekend.

blueheaven · Sep 27, 2008

LOL, I can relate to all of the OPs!!!! It seems to pass from nurse to nurse here. One nurse will have a black cloud for a while then it passes to another. Hmmmm come to think of it...it's almost my turn again (oh NO)

Roy Fokker, BSN, RN · Sep 27, 2008

I ain't known as the "**** (insert colloquial term for fecal matter) magnet" in my ED for nothing :icon_roll

On the other hand - working shifts with me is never boring. Ne'er a dull moment

Bugaloo · Sep 27, 2008

When I worked Home Health, I gained a reputation for always being the nurse who stepped into a home for a first visit and having to call 911 because the pt was either VERY sick or almost dead! Trust me, it happened a lot.

One pt's wife had overdosed him (by accident). When I got there to open his case, I realized that she was not "all there" herself and she really could not remember if she gave him his meds that morning or not (or the day before, for that matter). He was nonresponsive with a heart rate around 28. Yikes!

Pepper The Cat, BSN, RN · Sep 27, 2008

Glad to hear that its not just me!

On the other hand, the same nurse has been following me. We are starting to joke that I put them in a coma, she re-surrects them!

Of course, the best part of putting my pts in comas is that they don't ring that call bell nearly so much! :)

Nightcrawler, BSN, RN · Sep 28, 2008

We have one nurse on my shift that definitely has a reputation for always being on the floor when everything hits the fan. He doesn't even have to be the primary nurse, just in the building. He also has a habit of saying some of those words that nurses never like to hear on the floor for superstitious reasons. Our unit recently split, and unfortunately he ends up taking the blame for whatever happens on either unit, as long as he is in the building. One night I was working on one unit and he was working on the other. Suddenly we heard a rapid response called on our sister unit, and one of our nurses looked up and said " I didn't think that "Kevin" was working tonight" She just assumed that he was down there because of the rapid response. The crazy thing is that he WAS working.

I, on the other hand, am trying to develop the opposite reputation. I am trying to come up with a catchy nickname to bring a mojo of stability and health to the patients on the floor. We have been trying out some nicknames, but none of them are right so far. "Ativan Kid" sounds funny, but doesn't give the right message, because I do tend to get patients that are agitated and odd. I want a name that implies that patients stabilize, without having to call that rapid response or code.

Even without a nickname, "Kevin" and I have noticed that we tend to cancel each other out. Nights that we work together aren't boring, but neither do things go completely insane either.

ShayRN · Sep 28, 2008

The angel of death for us is almost always the new girls. It just never fails that when someone new starts she has a death every single night she works. :confused: