coumadin error

[medicarelpn]

I will try to make this as brief as possible but I would like to know what you all think. A friend of mine who works at a different long term care facility than I do called me at work yesterday and asked me to come over to her house when I got off of work, because she needed to talk to me. When I got to her house she was on the phone with her DON. When she got off the phone she told me a couple of weeks ago they had a resident that was admitted to her facility on Saturday evening, the nurse that did the admit (not my friend) wrote up her medication orders. This lady was 57 and had been in the hosp for MI, she had an order for coumadin but the order was not clear so she wrote pending on the order and it was supposed to be followed up on the next morning by calling the docter. This nurse also wrote on the med sheets Coumadin (pending). Well 4 days went by and no one followed up on the order. On the fourth day she was admitted to the hospital with a blood clot and died. Her DON wanted her and all the other nurses to write statements that pretty much stated that they were negligent, she told my friend that this would go no further than her and the administrator. The family is irate understandibly so, my friend was so upset that she may lose her liscense I didn't want to tell her that she was partially at fault as she along with the other nurses did not followup on this order. But I did suggest to her she not put anything in writing until she talks to a lawyer. What are your thoughts on this? What advice should I give her? :uhoh21:

[VivaLasViejas, ASN, RN]

but marla, you must agree that an incident report and med error report be initiated for all those involved. of course you never say i was negligent,but as i stated, you report the facts only, even if there are repercussions.

leslie

Absolutely! I'm as anal as anyone else about incident reports, and I'll write them even for potential errors that never reach the patient but which COULD have harmed him or her.

What I was referring to was the DON's demand that the involved staff write letters admitting guilt, which is something you NEVER want to do if you wish not to pay through the nose with everything you might ever possess in your natural lifetime. People sue for anything and nothing these days, and sorry to say, if a nurse puts down on paper something that essentially states "I did it, it's my fault", he or she gives up any chance of winning in court. :stone

[Judee Smudee, ADN, RN]

Most errors involve several people making mistakes. Sounds like that is the case here also.

[leslie :-D]

Absolutely! I'm as anal as anyone else about incident reports, and I'll write them even for potential errors that never reach the patient but which COULD have harmed him or her.

What I was referring to was the DON's demand that the involved staff write letters admitting guilt, which is something you NEVER want to do if you wish not to pay through the nose with everything you might ever possess in your natural lifetime. People sue for anything and nothing these days, and sorry to say, if a nurse puts down on paper something that essentially states "I did it, it's my fault", he or she gives up any chance of winning in court. :stone

that DON was covering her butt only.

in the incident reports, you never use the words erroneously, mistake, neglected, forgot.....you get the drift. that's why i emphasized facts, i.e., "i left a note for morning nurse re: coumadin orders" and of course sev'l other nurses are going to have to write their own incidents. but for a don to ask for a letter of wrongdoing, she's just trying to absolve herself of any responsibility. so no, never, EVER write such a statement.

[Mulan]

No. People who are determined disabled by the social security administration are eligible for Medicare and Medicaid benefits. This would include people who have had catastrophic events that have left them unable to work steadily, or people who have chronic mental illness that has prevented them from continuing to work. If someone needs dialysis or is diagnosed with terminal cancer they can apply for and will most likely be made Medicare eligible through disability. Anyone who has a kidney transplant is automatically placed on Medicare for one year. The rules change from time to time and they can be confusing.

Thanks for the info.