so... i assisted in a code today... BUT

SmilingBluEyes · Feb 21, 2017

1 of my patients FAMILY MEMBER told/complained to my director that i wasn't timely on attending to her mothers' needs.
i believe she wanted medication for constipation.
i was assisting in a CODE BLUE.
the family member... was this lady (40-50 years old) and an ICU RN, aLSO. unbelievable... is all i have to say. i'm not sure i could have handled this any different.

Exactly *how* were you "assisting"? And Did you tell her that? And what's her age got to do with it?

Been there,done that, ASN, RN · Feb 21, 2017

Not clear how a family member could have gained your attention while you were assisting in a code.

Any time I was approached during an emergent situation, I CLEARLY explained I was in an emergent situation, and the issue would have to wait. Hopefully your director.. "gets it".

calivianya, BSN, RN · Feb 21, 2017

I had a patient complain that his sandwich took too long to arrive because we were all coding someone. He got told we were all in the middle of a life or death situation and he told us he didn't give a flying f that someone else was dying because he was hungry. People can be truly evil and crazy. There's no fixing those psychos.

That Guy, BSN, RN, EMT-B · Feb 21, 2017

Welcome to society where everything is about them no matter what is going on.

Libby1987 · Feb 21, 2017

I'm not clear how the patient actually got her med and whether you were the one who gave it. You believe that she wanted medication for constipation or she got her PRN 30 minutes late?

Was it her first request and 30 min from asking to receiving?

If any nurse complained about a total of 30 min from first request, I wouldn't think it would be given any credence, so wondering why your director gave it any? Wouldn't your issue then be with your director?

My guess is that this patient had been constipated for more than 30 min (sarcasm) and the daughter was complaining about the timeliness of treating the constipation versus 30 min for a prn, which obviously would be right on the money and perhaps even premature if patient had only just missed that morning's BM.

cleback · Feb 21, 2017

I think you were looking for more support. Instead, you got "in a perfect world" responses.

Yeah, you probably could've got someone else to get it for you. Honestly, that wouldn't have crossed my mind either. Nor would I have expected a family member to complain that a prn for constipation was given late for any reason, much less a code...

I'm thinking that family member was not coping well with their loved ones illness . Sometimes that manifests itself in being anxious about relatively small needs. Or the family just didn't like you for some reason. Can't please them all.

Hope you can let it roll off your shoulders. I really kind of doubt this situation will present again but if it does, you can consider the advice given by the PPs.

Irish_Mist, BSN, RN · Feb 22, 2017

1 of my patients FAMILY MEMBER told/complained to my director that i wasn't timely on attending to her mothers' needs.
i believe she wanted medication for constipation.
i was assisting in a CODE BLUE.
the family member... was this lady (40-50 years old) and an ICU RN, aLSO. unbelievable... is all i have to say. i'm not sure i could have handled this any different.

OP, you have my sympathies. I'm sorry but a freakin stool softener can WAIT. A cardiac arrest cannot. Assuming that you were directly involved with the code, I'm sure that was the last thing on your mind. At my facility, or at least on my unit, the original nurse is required to stay throughout the code to assist and give information. I'm not stopping that to get a stool softener. Perhaps this is a team work effort. Maybe a team meeting needs to be held to encourage other nurses to round on the patients of a nurse actively involved in a code.

Lastly, I am hesitant at times to believe patients or family who say they are RNs. I'll just leave it at that.

JadedCPN, BSN, RN · Feb 22, 2017

It is all about perception, and in their eyes you weren't timely attending to their needs. That's not necessarily incorrect, but we all obviously know that you were taking care of a much more urgent matter that needed to be a priority.

That being said, I feel the best way to deescalate and even prevent these type of situations and expectations in the future is good ol' communication. It is all about perspective, and they may not have known that you were in the middle of a code (not sure if you mentioned if they did or not) - so their perception is that you didn't get what they needed in a timely manner. By communicating after the fact, "I apologize I was unable to be at the bedside sooner as we were in the middle of an emergency code situation but here is Mrs. XYZ's PRN medication," they may be able to get a better perspective as to why you weren't timely with their needs.

Or as another poster mentioned, having someone go to your other patients' rooms and state "your nurse is in the middle of an emergency situation right now but is there anything I can get you or help you with?" In all of the facilities that I have worked at, that was an expected role of the patient care techs to check on all of the patients while there was a code.

Of course simple communication does not always work all the time and at that point you can't please everyone.

amzyRN · Feb 22, 2017

This is one of the best parts of working in the ED versus the floor. I will rarely hear that complaint, that I gave a PRN docusate late. I have found that there are some very self-centered people in the world who don't care if someone is dying in the next room. They want what they want when they want it. Health care has become too much about hospitality these days.

cocoa_puff · Feb 22, 2017

Tell the family member that she can stick her complaint up her rectum like a tap water enema.

Ruby Vee, BSN · Feb 22, 2017

I concur with offlabel. I have been in a number of code situations in my career. I'm often reminded of the times I was working in the ER and had a trauma room. Whenever I got a trauma code or a CPR in progress to my room, I had MORE help than I needed. In fact, on many occasions I asked extra people to leave the room. Those sorts of situations will turn into a circus if you don't control it. The other patients on the unit are being neglected because everyone wants to participate in a code, and that's not safe.
Just my two cents. But you didn't give very much detail in your post.

While you are correct, I'm sure that some of those other extra nurses had patients requiring more urgent care than a prn laxative. Vital signs checked, breathing treatments, suctioning, drip titrations, hourly I & O, surgeon visit, need to get to the bathroom, pain medicine, transfusions to hang, labs to draw -- especially time-sensitive labs like the hemoglobin ordered for after the transfusion or the K+ that needed to be sent because she digressed 2 liters in 90 minutes or the K+ that needed to be hung because the K+ you just sent to the lab came back at 2.7. A prn laxative can absolutely wait 30 minutes even if the nurse was not assisting in a code situation but was instead giving that pain med, hanging that transfusion, drawing those labs for the nurse who was doing compressions or stuck on the wrong side of the bed pushing meds.

PrincessElleRN · Feb 22, 2017

Like everyone above has said, communication could have completely changed the outcome here, assuming the patient's family wasn't just cruel and psychotic. I usually use humor and it almost always works with calming my patients down. I would have came back into their room still huffing and puffing and been something like,

"Well everyone in HERE is still breathing, right?! Wooey what a day it's been so far! Now who is up for some fun in on the potty? Lemme go get that stool softener, you still want it right?"

Of course, one must take into account that I am 5 feet tall, look/sound like a 16 year old, and my nickname is Sweet Cinnamon Bun. Old southern women and me get a long really well.