What is a student nurses responsibility in this situation ?

[sweetcaroline2]

I was assigned a patient and reviewed labs for them . The labs indicated very strongly (very low platelets) that a certain med should be held (lovenox) but the nurse who had that patient (I was shadowing) went ahead and gave the injection. I'm concerned this could have harmed my patient especially since surgery was planned for the next day or two. I was too scared to question the nurse. What should I have done?

[RLtinker, LPN]

I agree with esme on this, you should ask the nurse without being accusatory and get clarification. And if you are still not sure about it, ask your instructor. No one knows everything, that goes for nurses and doctors too. I once had a patient in clinical have a test rescheduled and her discharge delayed because noone seem to relize she needed to be NPO for the test to be performed.

[nurseprnRN, BSN, RN]

Heparin and warfarin (Coumadin) run in different pathways so they can be given together:-). Right?

Correct. Interfering with either pathway will adequately anticoagulate the patient; therefore you can rapidly and definitively anticoagulate him with an IV heparin, checking with the PTT/INR, and fool around with the warfarin he will go home on until you reach just the right dose to make his pro time perfect. Then you can turn off the heparin (no need to wean it, because the warfarin is on board and optimized) and he goes out the door.

[springchick1, ADN, RN]

You really aren't in the position to officially advocate for the patient yet however you can mention it to your instructor since you are technically under her license. In addition, you can include it into your care plan.[/quote']

I disagree. You ARE there to advocate for the patient. He/she is in your care and you want to do best them. If you were the patient Remilekun, wouldn't you want a student to speak up if it could prevent an error?

[MJH3483, BSN, RN]

Lack of communication is the number one cause of med errors and sentinel events. Students and professionals alike need to find their voice. What's the worst that happens? Someone says you're wrong? That's much better than potentially harming a patient. Best case scenario is that you stopped something that could have occurred.