What have other nurses done that have freaked you out?

Nurses General Nursing

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What have other peers done intentional/unintentional to freak you out? Good or bad. Happy or sad.

On my FIRST day as an LVN, (LTC) a res was screaming in her room as I was walking out to leave. I went in to see what was going on. She was having an anxiety attack and severe pain (post stroke). I pulled the call light, and no one came. Uggg.

So I peeked out the door and saw my CNA walking down the hall, and told him to come sit with res. I went down to get her a Xanax and a pain pill, well relief nurse was in the restroom, and relief CNA (with call light still going off) was sitting behind nurses station reading a newspaper. I told CNA to tell the nurse to get a Xanax and pain pill for res. She said OK. I go to relieve my CNA. Said goodbye to him, and stayed with res. after 10 minutes, CNA COMES INTO ROOM WITH XANAX AND MORPHINE PILL. She is soooooo shocked to see me still there, she hands me the pills and RUNS to the relief nurse. I could NOT BELIEVE WHAT I JUST SAW!!!!

(I did immediately call DON and tell what happened. Luckily, my CNA was still checking on another res, and saw the whole thing.--------they got a slap on the wrist! that was it!!!):madface: :madface: :madface: :madface:

Specializes in Cardiac/Tele/Step-down.
I give Morphine 10mg IV almost daily to various pt's,..frequently give it hourly.

It's called tolerance. Some pt have it. Some don't. Apparently her pt didn't.;)

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Things like this are why I do not believe in hospice pts staying in a nursing home. They should be cared for in a hospice inpt unit. Besides not being familiar with palliative care practices, most LTC nurses are too overwhelmed and have too many pts to be able to give a dying pt the attention they need.

not to excuse the bahavior as i know its best to let them go and be at peace- it isnt all cut and dried - i used to be that way - perhaps this nurse never did leave him alone and thought she was doing what was best. especially when i came from the hospital where the case is mostly get them well - it was very hard in LTC to get use dto letting my residents go almost as hard of letting family go! took me a LONG time to come to tems with this fct of letting them go - cant tell you how many times id run around on a no code doing all i could to keep them alive instead of just letting them die peacefully and without pain. the concept is not an easy one to learna nd is alos very hard to keep up. even now that i can let go, i go home crying every time i loose one wondering was there something i could have done to keep him alive. it had nothing to do with not knowing how to give palliative care as i did - nor was i overwhelemed to a point i just left them - i was overwhelmed with the fact they were dying more than anything else and dropped all i had to stay at their side and keep them alive. just another view..............

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Specializes in Med/Surg, LTC,Oncology,Orthopedics,Psych.

A patient in ICU is now paralized from an error by nursing staff at the local hospital.

A 24 y/o female MVA patient had a CVP line for fluid infusion and an epidural for administering continuous pain medication. Pumps were labeled correctly for each infusion as were the tubings. The primary nurse hung Cipro ( she did not check the labeling closely) then followed it with Gentamicin all through the epidural line.

A similar incident occured 7 years ago. The caps for the epidurals and CVP's were the same. They have changed to a red cap for the epidurals, but that does not help if you are not observant of labels.

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Specializes in Medical.

I worked with a woman who got very excitable in arrests, which si just what you need, really. On one occasion she started doing compressions - on a patient who was talking. Good thing she had no idea what she was doing or the poor patient could have arrested for real.

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Specializes in Med/Surg, ER and ICU!!!.
A patient in ICU is now paralized from an error by nursing staff at the local hospital.

A 24 y/o female MVA patient had a CVP line for fluid infusion and an epidural for administering continuous pain medication. Pumps were labeled correctly for each infusion as were the tubings. The primary nurse hung Cipro ( she did not check the labeling closely) then followed it with Gentamicin all through the epidural line.

A similar incident occured 7 years ago. The caps for the epidurals and CVP's were the same. They have changed to a red cap for the epidurals, but that does not help if you are not observant of labels.[/QU

How awful. i remember in school our teachers telling us a simple med error is really killing someone. i will never forget that saying.

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Another one that I've shared on here before .... we had this nurse that had lost her license in another state d/t diversion. She would show up for work and be fine at first but as the night wore on, she would become more and more messed up. She would be to the point of slurring her words, burning herself with cigarettes on her breaks, and her eyes rolling back in her head. She would also fall asleep in the middle of a sentence during a conversation. It was RIDUCULOUS!!!!!!!!!! She was FINALLY fired after 31 complaints. I refused to work with her after a while, and our DON at the time was ticked that I wouldn't work with her. GO FIGURE!!

I think I worked with this gal, LOL. Seriously tho, worked with an RN who was diverting alot, and finally found her slumped over her med-cart, her knees locked, keeping her basically upright, passed out. She was "let go", and no one in the facility besides me felt the need to let the BON know she had an obvious problem. By the way, she was also fired from her last TWO jobs for the same offense.

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I've got to tell you, that when I wake up and before I take a shower and do my hair and out on my makeup - I've scared myself! I think that there were a couple of times that I even scared the cats!! (But I do clean up pretty good.) :D

I've been told that I'm a good looking guy, but when I was in NS, I was also working as a CNA, and after a LOOONNG weekend of double shifts, the last one ending about an hour before clinical for school started, I got home from work, showered, got dressed in my school scrubs, and off I went, w/o looking in the mirror (my hair is very short, and doesn't need combing or hair products, and I shaved and brushed my teeth w/o looking). When my clinical instructor saw me, she ran over looking very concerned, asking me if I'd been in an accident or some kind of fight. I said no, not even imagining why she'd ask. Turns out the dark circles under my eyes were so pronounced, it looked as if I'd sufferred some facial trauma. Scared the hell out of my instructor, several classmates, and all three of my pt's that day before I even knew why everyone was looking at me so oddly.

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Specializes in Brain injury,vent,peds ,geriatrics,home.
A nurse crushed Percocets, mixed with water, and gave it through a central line IV.:eek: :eek: :eek: :eek:

Unbelievable!Did this nurse figure it out?And did the patient survive?

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Specializes in Brain injury,vent,peds ,geriatrics,home.
I saw a nurse sniff and then lick her finger and exclaim... "Yep, it's Jevity"... she touched goop that was around the stoma of a G-tube.... I damn near stroked out

Oh no she didnt!:eek: :eek: :eek:

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Specializes in Brain injury,vent,peds ,geriatrics,home.
At "flu" shot clinics, other LVN/RNs filled syringes with vaccine and piled them up. I was told to use them.

I explained that nurses can only give medications that they themselves prepare - oral, parenteral, IV, whatever. The other nurses there became very hostile, but I stuck to my "guns". :nurse:

Good for you,sticking to your guns.

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Specializes in Brain injury,vent,peds ,geriatrics,home.
We have one of these clinics coming up soon at my Urgent Care, and I am scheduled to be the "shot nurse" for opening day.

My manager wanted to draw up several dozen doses on Friday for Sunday administration... until I said that I only shoot what I myself draw - she was mildly miffed but agreed to let me "do it my way".

I can't believe some of the things I've seen on this thread! :eek: WHO in the WORLD was ever taught to give PO meds in an IV???? For Pete's sake! :nono:

I know. Doesnt anyone know what a drug handbook is?If you havent worked with the med ya need ta look it up.:eek:

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Specializes in Brain injury,vent,peds ,geriatrics,home.
Several years ago I was working on a stepdown unit where another RN was assigned to a pt in her mid 40's with MS. The pt choked on her lunch tray and the nurse did nothing to intervene because the pt had a DNR order. The pt died just because she choked on a piece of food and the RN thought that she couldn't suction her because of the DNR order. ( I was off of the floor with my pt in the radiology dept at the time) I only found out about what happened later in the day.

That is so sad .People need to locate thier policy manual regarding these situations.(prior to being in that situation of course)

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