what is there to be afraid of?

Nurses General Nursing

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Literally, what is there to be afraid of, or more cautious about while on the floor of the hospital. In reading another thread, a person described how checking the MAR and checking new orders frequently would prevent a day in court, but filling the ice pitcher or not was not going to do so. I had never thought of it this way.

So, as a nurse, what things must one be mindful to do/not do, to keep the courts at bay?

Thank you.

dny

Specializes in LTC, Med-SURG,STICU.

dny67,

You can not live in fear of making a mistake. When you start working as a nurse you will make mistakes. If you have too much fear of making a mistake that fear will pervent you from doing you job correctly and in the time efficient manner. On the other hand, a little fear is a good thing to have so that you do not become sloppy with your nursing care. All I am saying is to not let the fear take over and make it impossible to do your job. As the OP stated follow the facility's P&P, the states nursing laws and use some common sence and you should be fine.

There is so much. ASAP take a class on Nursing law. That is a MUST and will really open your eyes to how vulnerable you are. I like the format of S.O.A.P. charting. You need not use the acronyms while charting, but just remember: Subjective date (what did the patient say exactly) Objective data (is there visible data to back up or deny what they have said Assess their overall condition and what has occurred so far with this patient and write t hat you will alter or continue the plan in place, incl. contacting other health care members and who. What my instructors told me about charting is you much paint a picture with words so that anyone reading your charting can SEE what you are describing, like a movie. Do not merely say the patient has a rash, but rather the patient has 4"x5" are of pin head sized, raised red bumps with white borders around them. This is exact. The latter is not. :nurse:

As for Policy....know that it is in writing ! One hospital I worked at had a verbal policy for one doctor that female nurses could not insert foley catheters into male patients. We had to phone the Interns for that. But we COULD catheterized females. which are more difficult. :cool:

Had a male patient with bladder cancer who could not urinate on his own. After three overhead attempts to get the Intern to phone me I cathed the man myself to get nearly a liter of urine out of him. Of course, I had to stop the flow a couple times for a moment to prevent the bladder from spasming, but we got him relieved. :bow:

The DON on evening shift and I then had it out in the lounge about policy and, since this policy was not in writing (which is why I cathed him) we came to the agreement that if this should happen again I would phone her to physically track down the Intern. :argue:

Sorry, but I will not LOSE my LICENSE when the hospital/doctors pass the buck and blame ME for the potential burst bladder of a cancerous bladder wall and death of a patient. Remember .... it will always be CYOB (cover your own butt) at all times. :saint:

awemom8, I'm so sorry. No amount of money/compensation will ever be enough when all you want is your loved one back. Sounds like you are able to support your family and spend time with them, and that is wonderful.

I'm a relatively new nurse, and if there is family present with my pt, I will always ask how the pt is doing and also how the family thinks things are going. I mean really and truly, the pt knows themselves the best, followed by family. Even if I've been taking care of the pt for weeks I do not know them like family does. I also encourage family and pt's to always ask questions. I tell them that if I don't know the answer I'll try and find somebody who does. We're all just human beings, and as much as I wish doctors were super-human with X-ray vision and the ability to see into the furture, they can't :( (sure would make my job easier!).

I've had families who wrote things down while I was in the room, constantly asking questions about what I was doing, etc. Other nurses would be like "watch out for that family", which of course made me (a new nurse) terribly nervous. But I was like "well, might as well go in and introduce myself. . ." All they wanted was to know what was going on! And so every time I came in with a medication I didn't even wait for them to ask what I was doing, I'd come in and start explaining. And I'd let them know when I'd be back again and for what, and if they needed me in the mean time I'd be right outside though I might be with my other pt.

Sometimes its the pts who are super nervous and don't want to be left alone. I make sure they have the call light, and if they are unable to use it, I for sure let them know that they are hooked up to monitors that I can see from my desk and from my other pts' room and that me and the other nurses will be there all night looking after them (I'm in an ICU). It seems to help sometimes. . . or else they figure I'm crazy and decide to stop bothering me :)

Specializes in ER, education, mgmt.

dny- your facility is responsible to advise you of all policies. THey should be available to you when you need/want to see them. Conversely, you are responsible to know the policies as well. If you are unsure-ask or look it up. Another word of advice- be nice. Patients and families do not sue people they like. Though I cannot recall the source, there were studies done that suggest this to be true. Best wishes!!

Thanks Cookienay,

I know about those same studies. One of my professors really drilled that into us.

Thanks again for the advice.

dny

Specializes in Rehab, Infection, LTC.

It is up to you personally to read the policy and procedures of your job. I'm not sure when we are supposed to find time to sit and read those huge books but we are expected to and to know everything in them.

In my experience, if a family is saying "somethings wrong" repeatedly then trust them and call the doc or if in LTC get that patient transferred because something usually IS wrong and you will end up looking like the bad guy. It's took me years and years to finally learn this.

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