What is the most incompetent thing you seen a fellow nurse do?

Nurses General Nursing

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There were two patients in a double room on a 38 bed tele floor. One was an old fart with a sick heart an the other was a 35 year old male who was in an MVA being observed for a myocardial contusion. The old fart coded and died. During the code, the CNAs moved the 35 y/o to a private room. The charge nurse, thinking she was calling the wife of the old fart, mixed up the names and called the wife of the 35 year old gentlemen. She passed on the news that her spouse passed away and that she needed to come in. The wife had to be brought in by neighbors and brought to the floor by a wheel chair because she was too histarical to walk. She was wheeled into the room only to find some dead old guy she never met. She came out of the room yelling "That's not my husband!" "Where the #$%# is my husband? (!)" She found him in a private room down the hall watching Sunday football. She had to be restrained by her neighbors and the male CNAs and male Nurses from beating the crap out of the charge nurse.

I have been an RN for over 16 years and have certainly seen a whole slew of mistakes! One problem I do see though, is how nurses are extremely hard on one another for a mistake. I once saw a seasoned RN in Peds ICU where I worked just verbally abuse another new nurse. I don't even remember what his mistake was now (it was very minor though), but I remember at the time thinking that it was uncalled for! I think we need to remember that we weren't born with this knowledge, it came to us through education, hard work and experience. We need to help the new and inexperienced nurses and watch over them, but not berate them. Remember--we ALL have made a mistake sometime in our nursing career!

A few of the things described on this thread are indeed 'dumb mistakes' and of course we all made a few of those. We can start another thread on that, Renee, and we probably should to offset this one. We all make mistakes.

However, there IS a difference between a 'harmless' dumb mistake and a 'harmful' dumb mistake. There is also a difference between a new hire preceptee giving poor care who is teachable and willing to learn, vs the nurse who doesn't GIVE

A CHIT that she's giving poor care or endangering her patients, or doesn't care she's always stressing her coworkers because she doesn't know what is going on and doesn't care to learn.....get my drift?? :(

MANY of these stories speak of dangerous incompetent care...where patients can and are harmed and even KILLED by an incompetent person. We can't take this stuff lightly today, because hospitals indeed DO have the attitude "just put a warm body on duty".

JMHO. :) And no, I am NOT a *****y old nurse...I give everyone a fair shot....and I'm nice to work with. We can only do so much, though.

RNinICU, I know exactly where you're coming from!! If I ever get back to my ICU I will NOT do charge again, as I am exhausted from pulling the weight of people who have no business being in an ICU setting. I will just be responsible for 'my own little group' and be happy as a clam! :roll

Specializes in ED staff.

Pt codes, gets intubated. Nurse is bagging the hell out of her but O2 sat just won't go up, put her on the vent and sat increases? The ambu bag was attached to the air line instead of the O2. Pt had severe neuro deficits afterward and eventually died.

I was charge in CCU back in the dark ages...1987. We had a shortage of nurses at the time and the hospital actually got some agency nurses to pick up the slack. The one they sent was supposed to have all this ICU experience so I gave her a pt on the vent gettting feedings via an NG tube. She came and asked me which was the NG and which was the ET. I told her to sit right here and don't move. Called the supervisor and sent her home!

Pt on an insulin drip, getting tube feedings. Pt got meds via the tube at 2400. Nurse forgot to hook the feeding back up. Pt had a seizure, d-stick was 19!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Lilgirl, I have had agency nurses too who have come in for a 4 hour orientation with claims of years of critical care experience. I take them at their word until they show zero recognition of an A line wave on the monitor, or don't know what to do with VTach (they think it's artifact), etc.

We have to be really careful with agency on their first visit to us, IMO,...I asess them very closely during their initial 4 hour orientation and DNR them right on the spot if they're coming in lying to me. :(

I've worked with some top notch agency nurses. I work agency myself on occasion. I do not misrepresent my skills, and I expect other agency staff to do the same. If they're gonna call themselves critical care nurses they better be able to demonstrate to me that they ARE critical care nurses.

::stepping off soapbox now::

Lots of errors, lots of mistakes but no one died. Guess that's the bottom line:eek: :eek:

Specializes in Pediatrics, Metabolic genetics, Neuro.

thank god i'm no longer at the bedside....

When I was charge in the PICU, a fellow RN had one of our student NAs assist him with a bladder catheterization. The patient was in the ICU because he had an anaphylactic reaxn to latex while in the OR. There was an allergy sign above his bed clearly stating his allergy, and it was noted on his chart as well. This nurse went on to cath the boy with a red robinson catheter. When the student NA asked, "Isn't that latex?" the reply was, "I thought I'd test the diagnosis..." Good thing she had the cojones to stop him...

Luckily, no one was hurt, but the mess that ensued afterwards was horrible. This nurse was fined an incredible amount of money, made to go through orientation again, and no one wanted to work with him, because he tried to cover the whole thing up...Lesson learned-just tell the truth!

Bobbie

I am not an RN, but will be one soon...I work in L&D and have had to follow one increadably incompitent nurse for a long time before she got enough sense to resign...

I was given report on a delivered pt., RN told me that the patient was fine, she just hung a new bag of LR with 20 of pit, and fundus was U/U firm. I was to go in and wash her up, and tx her to PP. I go in, the room is a disaster, patient asks me about her IV, which is dripping all over the pumps, on the floor (which had a bath blanket, which was soaked.) worried about possible electrocution!!!! I imediately look at the line, which was tapped with transpore tape at the top port, pt tells me RN Incompitent had to tape it right around delivery because it was leaking, there was already 400 cc gone from this fresh bag and probably another 600 on the floor!! In stead of changing the line or d/c ing the IV this nurse decided that tape would do!!! I get the charge nurse in there, we assess her fundus which, mind you this is less than 5 min after report is 3/U, booggy, to the right with a palpable bladder...charge RN caths her for 1300cc, large clots, 1 dose of methergine later, fundus is finally firm at U/U. Changed tubing on the mainline, new bottle of pit up in D5LR, figure nothing else could go wrong, well, I am FINALLY washing this pt up and guess what, she is a disaster, there is blood up her back, the epidural line was never removed from her back (this is a RN responsibility)the bag was d/c'd but not the line taped up her back, she was never given a quick clean up before taken out of stirrups. I also find out when trying to get an extra hand to tx her, that her call light was never pluged in during her entire stay, pt states that she had mentioned this to RN incompitent, but that the RN said that was fine she was almost done!!!! This one of the many things done wrong by incompetant RN. SHe was given many chances to redeem herself, lots of support and help, but she just wasn't cut out for L&D. She was in Psych for 20 years, but had seem to have lost her basic nursing skills as well as common sence along the way. She didn't know where to find tones on a pre termer, charge nurse would send me in to help her out (I do usually put the pts on the fetal monitors, but they also should be able to do this them selves DUH!), didn't know how to do a clean catch, one time told the pt that the baby might be gone, because she couldn't find tones FREAKED OUT the pt who was 22 wks with spotting, charge RN and I go in, she was looking for tones above the umbilicus for 5 min., never asked for help, put the monitor on, and could hear the baby 150s and kicking!!! Had to do an US to reasure the pt. LAST Straw was giving report to the OB looking at the wrong monitor while giving HR and variability, the pt she was looking at was with great accels, her pt, was flat and contracting at 32 wks!! Well she realized it after she hung up, decided that she wouldn't call the OB back, and let it go, charge RN told her she had to give the OB a call let him know what happened and give him the correct report...Incompetant RN said she would do it later...NEVER DID, pt ended up delivering the next morning.

I don't know what ever happened to this RN...Hope she isn't working L&D....She set a good example for me of how not to practice when I graduate... I learned from her mistakes, too bad she didn't.

Nicole OBT

This was 20 years ago -- I was Charge, working with a new grad who wasn't even licensed yet. Her patient had a K+ of 3.8, and the H.O. wanted to replace K+ IV. Through a 20 G. in the back of the hand. (Did I mention that this was the first week of July?) Nancy New Grad said, "Oh, we have a policy, doctor, that if we (nurses) give it, we can only give it IVPB 20 mEq in 250cc over 2 - 4 hours. But if you want to push it yourself, you can give as much as you want." Dr. New Intern says "OK, we'll do that." She draws up 40 mEq and hands it to him, and he walks into the room to push IV KCL on this sweet little old lady with a normal K+! Both New Intern and New Grad were angry with me when I tried to intervene -- told me to MYOB! I called the R3, who thought I was joking. Finally the Pharmacist (who was male) stopped him.

Years ago, a post CABG patient goes into A Fib, and the doc orders Diltiazem, 5 mg IV bolus. The new nurse didn't know the drug, so she asked the charge nurse if that was an appropriate dose. The charge nurse said it was, so the New Grad went and drew up 5 mg. of Digoxin and pushed it. (They both start with D, right?) The patient didn't survive.

And then there was the LPN who was sent into the patient's room to give IM Morphine. She dropped the syringe (uncapped, and it fell, striking the patient in the great toe and sticking there. The patient is yelling about the pain in the toe, and the LPN figured "what the hell?" and injected it. In the toe.

There are many more . . .

Vicki K

Its ICU that hard??

HI I graduated one year ago. I am working currently in an acute long term hospital with Vent-dependent patients. I just got an interview for an ICU position at a very busy and big hospital but as I am reading some messanges I am scared. :( any advice??

Thank you! :)

I was working in a nursing home in MN several years ago. I was making my rounds between the units checking in with the new nurses, asking if they needed help or had questions...all was well so I was told. On my last swing around the building one of the more experienced nurses flagged me down and wanted me upstairs NOW. I arrived to a family screaming at the new nurse, while the Residents daughter was onthe pay phone calling 911. Come to find out the Resident had been c/o N&V since 4pm. Coffee ground emisis since approx 5pm, it is now 10pm. Resident is grey, weak, thready pulse, no real B/P to speak off, ABD tender and rounded, gums pale pale pink. The waste basket by the bed is holding the most recent emisis...clots and red blood:eek: :eek: :eek: :eek:

By the time the Resident got out of there I was ready to kill this nurse. She thought the resident was faking sick for attention, gave her maalox for GI upset. Said she had identified the coffee ground emisis as partially digested lunch.

She still had a job after this event. :confused:

Another nurse did not know how to give ABX IVPB. So, she did not hang it. She dumped it in the med room trash can signed it off and told me she had run it without problems...the other nurse on the wing found it after she accidently threw her notes in the trash...

Still had a job.:confused:

I quit

peter

Specializes in Med/Surg, ER, L&D, ICU, OR, Educator.

Dilaudid IVP given rather than MS IVP (although in similar looking syringe) by an LPN not even allowed to give IVP meds! (Oh my goodness, ask if you don't know!)

an LPN mixing Toradol in the Demerol syringe, then giving it IM...

OUCH!!!!!!!

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