A Fellow Nurse Called Her Patient an A......

[Zee_RN, BSN, RN]

I was in charge last night. Received a phone call from the computer room to check one of the patient's charts to stamp a report as "permanent record." So I was standing outside of the patient's room and the nurse was in the room, not knowing I was right outside the door flipping through the chart.

Patient had pulled off his bipap machine, apparently. I hear the nurse say "Look what you've done. You're an As*h***. I'm through playing your f****** games." I'm aghast. I go to the doorway and say "I know he's a difficult patient but that's not appropriate!" She just starts saying "Look at his bipap! He broke it! Isn't this broken?!" Doesn't address my comment at all. I go in, fix the bipap mask and help her reapply it. And that's that.

I then walk out and write down verbatim what happened. We've had problems with her before. Give it to my manager in the morning and am called into the office with this nurse. She flat-out denies saying it. She was not angry, just seemed very apologetic with statements like "I'm sorry, I don't know HOW you heard that; I never said anything like that. I don't remember you saying anything to me."

I did do the right thing, didn't I?! (Manager believes me, by the way. But can she act on anything, if the nurse flat-out denies it happening? There were no other witnesses. Pt's mental state is uncertain.)

[Tweety, BSN, RN]

Of course you did the right thing. Don't second guess yourself. This nurse is profane, unprofessional and a liar, and each and every incident needs to be documented and reported.

Can the patient speak for him/herself and be interviewed?

Good job.

[Spidey's mom, ADN, BSN, RN]

Of course you did the right thing. Don't second guess yourself. This nurse is profane, unprofessional and a liar, and each and every incident needs to be documented and reported.

Can the patient speak for him/herself and be interviewed?

Good job.

I agree! Good job.

steph

[SuesquatchRN, BSN, RN]

Of course you did the right thing. You can't let a patient be abused even if you completely understand why one might want to.

[donsterRN, ASN, BSN]

Ditto all of the above. You most certainly DID do the right thing. Now...document...document...document... you know the drill!

[rambisisking]

You did the only right thing, even if she did deny the incident. I once walked into a patients room right behind an RN, my charge nurse, and witnessed her giving insulin to a man through his shirt sleeve. I was speechless at first and just looked at her in amazement then told her I was going to the DON and she should probably follow me because she would be called in there soon anyway. Well she didn't and was called in and denied the whole thing and said she wasn't even aware I was in the room. The DON didn't know exactly what the truth was at the time and yet she was having a hard time believing that I would make this whole thing up. True to form, people that exhibit this kind of "when nobody's looking" behavior don't do it just once and she was caught by the DON doing it about a week later. I raised her interest enough for her to watch the charge nurse without anyone really knowing and sure enough caught her redhanded. More than likely your nurse will also repeat this behavior again and who knows who will hear it. You have done what you can do now drop it, unless you witness it again it is no longer your problem.

[pickledpepperRN]

You did the only right thing, even if she did deny the incident. I once walked into a patients room right behind an RN, my charge nurse, and witnessed her giving insulin to a man through his shirt sleeve. I was speechless at first and just looked at her in amazement then told her I was going to the DON and she should probably follow me because she would be called in there soon anyway. Well she didn't and was called in and denied the whole thing and said she wasn't even aware I was in the room. The DON didn't know exactly what the truth was at the time and yet she was having a hard time believing that I would make this whole thing up. True to form, people that exhibit this kind of "when nobody's looking" behavior don't do it just once and she was caught by the DON doing it about a week later. I raised her interest enough for her to watch the charge nurse without anyone really knowing and sure enough caught her redhanded. More than likely your nurse will also repeat this behavior again and who knows who will hear it. You have done what you can do now drop it, unless you witness it again it is no longer your problem.

Off the subject. I oriented an LVN who had been a Navy Corpsman and challenged the boards.

He told me in "Nam" they routinely gave IM antibiotics and paing medication through the victims clothes in the field.

He became a fine nurse after adjusting to hospital work. Got his RN & transferred to ER.

OK.

I agree you did the right thing. We cannot accept a code of silence in nursing. Our patients need us to be honest.

[rambisisking]

Off the subject. I oriented an LVN who had been a Navy Corpsman and challenged the boards.

He told me in "Nam" they routinely gave IM antibiotics and paing medication through the victims clothes in the field.

He became a fine nurse after adjusting to hospital work. Got his RN & transferred to ER.

OK.

I agree you did the right thing. We cannot accept a code of silence in nursing. Our patients need us to be honest.

I'm not sure but I'd lay money on the fact that OSHA would have different requirements for a hospital than they would for a battlefield. lol

[chadash]

My heavens! This nurse was so out of line, I can hardly believe it.

[LydiaNN]

The steadfast denial may work this time, but her type are repeat offenders. After she's caught a few more times, the denials will do her no good.

[MS._Jen_RN, ASN, RN]

:yelclap: :yelclap:You should be proud of yourself.:balloons: :flowersfo

[mandana]

absolutely you did the right thing. Maybe her behavior is why the patient was "difficult", maybe not. At any rate, I can't imagine being the patient and being spoken to that way - there is NO excuse - no day bad enough, no "personal problems" that could defend it, it's disgusting.

Good for you for having the courage to not turn a blind eye.

Amanda