All staff matter :)

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Hi everyone! I'm writing this to get some thoughts out but also to see who agrees. As an LPN I never experienced belittling until the other night. I had a patient who had chest pain. Whenever a patient says "chest pain" I aask them to point to where it hurts and about 60% of the time they point to there stomach.. I still follow up with assessing for cardiac arrest, angina, lung abnormality, etc. but the other night I was concerned because my patient did point to his actual chest. BP was 190/100 and it was a holiday and being the only nurse on staff (we are long term care), I rely on doctors mostly. So he had nothing ordered.. No prior history that would require BP meds, nitro, aspirin, nothing. So I had the CNA stay with him, called the primary doc. And called 911. Between getting papers together for the EMS, and transfering him while taking the doctors call back, by the time I called the ER to give report, he had just arrived. And the RN said to me, in her exact words, "this is why I hate LPNS. Pt has hosp try of gerd, did you even check that?" As always I was very professional and apologized for giving report later than I normally do and did not make excuses, just expressed that I ubderstood her frustration. I used to work in a hospital so I get it.. Things get crazy, but I'm a nurse too, and things are far from slow paced or laid back for me. I just wanted to vent. I am never rude to staff who does not have my crudentials. I love my nursing assistants and thank them for all they do. I help as much as I can. I thank housekeeping for all they do.. The kitchen.. Everyone. No matter how much money they make or what they went to school for. I just wish people could see the bigger picture sometimes.. Everyone matters. We're all a piece to the puzzle and should be treated as such. Teamwork is a big deal to me as is respect. -end rant-

btw, when I got report back on my guy, he had an MI. Guess it wasn't the gerd after all. He is okay though, thank goodness. And I made sure to thank the RN for stabilizing him.

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Ps sorry for all the typos. My phone is so slow right now :/

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Specializes in Family Nurse Practitioner.

Chest pain plus high BP can also be a sign of hypertensive crisis. You did the right thing by calling 911.

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Yes I knew something was seriously wrong, especially because his 02 was low and said he felt like there was an elephant in his chest.. I was like yup, no more time to critically think.. Gotta send him out asap lol

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Specializes in SICU, trauma, neuro.

I'm sorry you had to hear that. Last I checked, GERD doesn't cause a BP 190/100. :sarcastic: You did a great job, Nurse. :nurse::yes:

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She thought that I was just dumping a gerd pt on her cause I said "he often has epigastric pain r/t pain, but he pointed to his chest this time, and these symptoms are not his norm" and when she asked if I checked symptoms for gerd or what he had for dinner I said no.. The cardiac assessment was my priority. I guess I just let her Comments get to me a little too hard. Thanks for the kind words guys !

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*** r/t gerd

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"Much like you, I have to follow policy. And chest pain is a send out for a rule out. If you would like to discuss that with my DON, by all means do so. AND this is why I hate RN's who believe themselves to be NP's and diagnose. If you were an NP, I would be more likely to take your armchair diagnosis of GERD more seriously."

....apparently someone urinated in my cheerios this morning......

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Specializes in Telemetry.

*eye roll* Because no one with a history of GERD has ever had an MI, right?

You did just fine, OP. I'm glad your resident pulled through.

I've never worked ED but I get the feeling *most* ED staff would actually prefer to get someone with what turns out to be benign indigestion than have someone ignore S/S of something serious and not seek help and succumb to an MI.

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Great job and great catch. The doctor is a butthead, who in the end (no pun intended) was wrong. Too bad they rarely apologize.

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Specializes in Case mgmt., rehab, (CRRN), LTC & psych.

You did well by recognizing a change in condition and responding promptly.

Some of us who are RNs have experienced rudeness when calling report to the emergency department, too. Not too long ago an ER nurse on the other end of the phone said in a sarcastic tone, "So you're the nurse but you don't even know where this patient's IV site is?"

I responded in a firm tone, "Nope, I'm not the patient's nurse. I'm the house supervisor and I don't know where the IV site is. The patient's primary nurse is in the room at the bedside."

The nurse shut the hell up after that...

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What a witch! Some people aren't happy unless they're miserable. Nothing you can do with these people except ignore them.

"Elephant on the chest" is a classic MI sign--I would have sent him out, too. Good job. Forget that b$#chy RN--you just do what you know is right.

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