what would you do?

TheCommuter, BSN, RN · Feb 3, 2006

The nurse should not have shoved food down the throat of a semi-conscious patient, as this could affect the future patency of the airway.

If a diabetic is sweating profusely and semi-conscious, there's a high probability that the patient is having a hypoglycemic spell (low blood sugar). The nurse should have taken 1 minute to check the blood sugar to confirm her suspicions, and then give an injection of glucose or dextrose.

TazziRN, RN · Feb 3, 2006

If it happens again, notify whoever is in charge. You don't say if you're working at an LTC or an acute care facility. If an LTC and there is no supervisor on at night, document the incident and let someone know in the morning. By not saying anything when you know wrong was done, you are opening yourself up for liability.

CoffeeRTC, BSN, RN · Feb 4, 2006

This is definatley a ltc situation. Ive been there and have the T shirt.

What you need to do is report this to the supervisor or DON or whe ever is the next one up. I would do this in private and go into meeting without a no it all way. (I'm not saying you are) I'd approach it like you have some questions about how a situation was dealt with...like teach me about it. (even though you know that what she did was wrong)

I'll never forget a few situations I dealt with while working as a CNA while I was in school and then a GN. Like during caths, I would offer to get a new cath if the nurse broke sterile. Another instance an IV dressing came off and the one nurse just wanted to leave it that way or just put more tape over it...I offered to get her a dressing change kit...Hint, hint.

Marie_LPN, RN, LPN, RN · Feb 4, 2006

How many other people are going to be hurt by this person before they hang themselves?

And knowing that all of this is going on, and not doing anything about it, even reporting it, isn't that wrong in itself? It definitely needs reported

ChattyRN · Feb 16, 2006

I generally get frustrated by nurses that do not do the simple things that I am anal about, but I feel any incident that affects patient safety must be written up. If an RN has a rep of being unsafe the management would have no way of gettin her help or getting rid of her without documentation from the floor, If ever an incident is a matter of patient safety write it up and do not be afraid in a kind way of telling the person why. You practically had a patient in a coma with someone shoving food down their throat, when you are a nurse you will understand what could have happened. I work on a Critical Care unit and I never take my patient's IV's out or their telemetry monitor until they are rolling out the door or off the unit to many times someone has coded and no one knew because the monitor was taken off.

ilostu12 · Feb 16, 2006

What the nurse did wasn't safe for the resident, asperation comes to mind. Your best bet is to follow the facilities policies, use the chain of command. Why the nurse handled the situation like she did, I don't know, but you need to look out for the resident's saftey as well.

Just recently, I had to change a residents foley because it was occluded. I gathered all my materials and had a couple of STNA's assist me, the resident was very large. I removed the old foley and inserted the new one, made sure the new one was flowing well, cleaned up my trash washed my hands and left the room. A few minutes later one of the STNA's pointed out that I didn't use the betadine swabs before inserting the new foley! I was horrified! I felt so bad, so I wrote myself up, notified the unit manager and the MD. The MD went ahead and ordered an antibiodic as precaution, the unit manager pulled me into the DON's office and they shredded the write-up. The DON said it was a mistake and I did took the proper actions to correct my error. As it turned out the resident was fine and no complications.

Bottom line, the aid did her job and was looking out for the residents safety. I couldn't thank her enough.

SmilingBluEyes · Feb 16, 2006

Report it---til something gets done. Keep elevating it til thing change. If there were MY Loved one or YOUR Loved one, how much worse would you feel? This is SOMEbody's loved one. Please advocate for her.

lady_jezebel · Feb 16, 2006

According to our diabetes clinical nurses specialist, new research shows that a precipitous drop in blood sugar can cause irreversible brain damage. It's not simply a matter of pushing D50 & then expecting full recovery.

Anyway, in this situation the nurse should have 1) immediately checked blood glucose, 2) pushed D50 according to protocol once she discovered it was low, and then 3) notified the MD of all that happened. She should NOT have "pushed food". Nor should she have had to ask a student or CNA if she should "send him to the ER". This is gross incompetence, in my opinion.

sjt9721, BSN, RN · Feb 17, 2006

...Just recently, I had to change a residents foley because it was occluded. I gathered all my materials and had a couple of STNA's assist me, the resident was very large. I removed the old foley and inserted the new one, made sure the new one was flowing well, cleaned up my trash washed my hands and left the room. A few minutes later one of the STNA's pointed out that I didn't use the betadine swabs before inserting the new foley! I was horrified! I felt so bad, so I wrote myself up, notified the unit manager and the MD. The MD went ahead and ordered an antibiodic as precaution, the unit manager pulled me into the DON's office and they shredded the write-up. The DON said it was a mistake and I did took the proper actions to correct my error. As it turned out the resident was fine and no complications.
Bottom line, the aid did her job and was looking out for the residents safety. I couldn't thank her enough.

:flowersfo Admitting your mistake takes guts, integrity, maturity, etc.

Posting it in public takes even more. Thank you.