Charge Nurse Fiascos -- Share Yours

[Ruby Vee, BSN]

i was the ccu day shift charge nurse for about a year -- probably a big mistake to take that job, but i digress. it was a sunday afternoon, and the engineering department was changing out the old generator for a new one. to do so, they lifted the old one out by a crane, and then lowered the new one into place. in the meantime, the back-up generator was supposed to provide power to our sector of the hospital. not the whole hospital, just the or, er , both icus and the cath lab.

engineering went around to all the nursing units to make sure that we were prepared by having all essential equipment plugged into the red plugs. we should have had it plugged into the red plugs anyway, but as i made my rounds to check, it inevitably seems that there are a few things that weren't plugged into the red emergency outlets: the odd balloon pump or two, a ventilator, some iv pumps and a defibrillator. but with plenty of warning, i was ready for the emergency generator to go on-line.

at the appointed time, the emergency generator went on-line. moments later, it went back off line. the lights went out. it was really, really dark in the nurse's station when the lights went out, the monitors went off and even the telephones went dead. we all waited for the emergency generator to come back on, but it didn't. and didn't. and didn't.

some of the ventilators had battery power, but it didn't last long. all of us carried little penlights in our pockets for checking pupil responses, and almost in unison seven penlights went on and we made for the patients. there were only two rts between the two icus and more ventilators than there were nurses. the balloon pump died, and someone had to inflate and deflate the balloon every thirty minutes or so. the dialysis machine failed and we had to hand pump the blood back into the patient and disconnect him by flashlight. i wanted to call more people in to help me, but the phone system didn't work. this was when cellphones had first come out, were hideously and prohibitively expensive and the size of a briefcase. no one had one except the wealthiest physicians.

when our medical director walked in the main door of the lobby (for what exactly i never did find out) i was in the lobby payphone with a stack of quarters, trying to call in extra help to bag ventilator patients and shine flashlights on wounds for dressing changes. he took it upon himself to take over the phone calls so i could go back to the unit to help out.

eventually the lights did come back on, and we didn't lose any patients. and i learned that when both the main generator and the back-up generator go off line, the thing to do is call the fire department -- they'll bring their portable generators and extra long extension cords to string from the parts of the hospital that did have power to the parts that did not.

come on and share your stories! i'm sure someone can top this one.

[PAROPPY, BSN, RN]

I've had some pretty crappy nights as charge, but nothing compares to that.

[TiffyRN, BSN, PhD]

Ruby V, you win. Seriously, if I didn't see you on here all the time, I would seriously doubt it's authenticity.

Helps reinforce to me how important it is to check for the presence, location and functionality of the flashlight each shift.

Can't beat that one, sorry.

[PAERRN20]

Ruby V, you win. Seriously, if I didn't see you on here all the time, I would seriously doubt it's authenticity.

Helps reinforce to me how important it is to check for the presence, location and functionality of the flashlight each shift.

Can't beat that one, sorry.

I agree!!

[Pepper The Cat, BSN, RN]

Can't beat that.

And I would NOT call it a fiasco - I would call it saving the Titanic! Sounds like you had a great bunch of nurses on to support each other and save the pts.

[PhoenixTech, LPN]

when our medical director walked in the main door of the lobby (for what exactly i never did find out)

that was the awesome power of god! wow, although i'm not yet a nurse, i definately can't think of anything topping that short of walking in on coworkers indulging in intercourse or injecting themselves. i'm definately not making any assumptions or insinuations, i just honestly can't think of anything more serious and that demonstrates your mettle more than your ability to manuever through that situation. kudos to you!

[RunningRNBSN]

Wow...

All I can say is... wow...

[NurseLoveJoy88, ASN, RN]

Wow, I can't top that one but my nursing instructor can. As we were learning about vents she shared her story. She was working in icu, power went out, generator failed, total darkness. She had two pts. On vents one was 90 the other was a younger in 20's. She had to decide which life to save and she chose the younger pt. The 90 year old passed. Happened years ago, the story was amazing and she shared how the nurses really had to work as a team. Kudos to you ruby, and your nursing team.

[BritEdRn]

I dont even have a story to compare with that. All I can say is good job.

[snoopy29]

Ruby that's one bad day at the office :)

Have racked my memory and many a tale to tell but nothing even close to this. Big respect :)

[scoutsmom]

If you ever apply for a job and they ask "what have you done on a job that was above and beyond"? print out your post and hand it to them...

[Ruby Vee, BSN]

AWWWWW. Come on guys, I really wanted some good stories to share with a class!