Dangerous nurses

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Have any of you ever worked with a nurse you would classify as dangerous ---- dangerous as a nurse and as a person?

Specializes in Pedatrics, Child Protection.

How about working with a set of twins would split shifts? One would start and the other one finish the shift. How could you tell? One was left-handed, the other right.

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Specializes in Education and oncology.

As a nursing intructor trying to instill "best practice every time" in my students, some of the posts are especially disturbing. I find that "dangerous nurses" are likely to be the ones who are so burned out that they don't care that they're dangerous. Lazy? Maybe.

When I think of dangerous nurses that I work with, (as a staff nurse on the floor, not my faculty I teach with!) I find the worst offenders hate their jobs, are annoyed by the patients and spend as much chair time as possible. This is really sad as most of my pts are oncology pts undergoing bone marrow transplant. They get SICK. And need good, compassionate nursing care to get through. (I know I know- all our pts do, I'm just biased about the onc pts- this may be their last Christmas...) Fortunately we only have 1 seriously dangerous nurse- believe it or not the other offender died last year from a massive MI. oops.

Our only dangerous nurse doesn't answer lites, even when it's her pt, prioritizes her coffee breaks over pt needs and MD requests and harbors a terrible attitude towards our pts. How our culture allows her to get away with this is beside me.

This has been a revealing thread and I thank the moderator for keeping it on this issue! :bowingpur

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Specializes in Telemetry & Obs.
Does a nurse that thinks a 1 to 1 Insulin drip is 10CCs of insulin in a 100 cc bag qualify?

Or someone that reconstitutes rocephin with LIDOCAINE in an IV for an infant?

Someone that "instructs" new nurses in the ER that a high pressure infuser can be used on a peripheral IV site?

Or one that turns off the suction on an acute GI bleed, when caught the first time the suction was turned back on with no problem but did it again and that time - the NG clotted and it could not be removed?

Yes, I worked with these nurses and no I would never trust them with my enemies much less my friends.

By the way this all occured in the trauma area of the Emergency Room.:banghead:

I'd say they all qualify.

This is one scaaaarry thread :omy:

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Specializes in Telemetry & Obs.

Coming to work drunk or so hungover you can't function? Sure, that's an issue. A drink or 2 after work every so often to hang out with friends (notice I didn't say after EVERY shift)? Not so much of a issue.

Okay, that's off my chest now.

And let's not go where a DWI might take one.

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Specializes in PACU, ED.

I have worked with one nurse in PACU who I thought was dangerous to patients. That danger came from a lack of critical thinking skills. One example follows. Adult post-op pt. orders for demerol are typically 12.5 to 25mg IV. Peds doses are typically 2.5mg or sometimes 5mg IV for bigger kids. The nurse in question had a small pediatric pt who was in pain. She prepared to give a 25mg dose to the kid. The decimal point was either missing on the order or maybe covered by the 5 when the doctor wrote the order. I told her that was too much but she didn't believe me until I got a second opinion from our CM. BTW, the pt. received the correct 2.5mg dose and did well.

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Specializes in Gerontological, cardiac, med-surg, peds.

Moderator's note: a recent trollish and incendiary post was just deleted from this thread. This is in an effort to preserve the thread and prevent it from being totally derailed.

Do not respond to trollish posts - report them instead and let the moderating team deal with them.

Thank you and carry on...

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Specializes in ICU/Critical Care.

The nurses who are dangerous, in my opinion, are the ones who are know-it-alls and cocky. The ones who think they know everything about everything, how to do everything and don't bother to clarify things with docs. Those are the ones that are dangerous.

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Specializes in ER, PACU, Med-Surg, Hospice, LTC.
The nurses who are dangerous, in my opinion, are the ones who are know-it-alls and cocky. The ones who think they know everything about everything, how to do everything and don't bother to clarify things with docs. Those are the ones that are dangerous.

Well said!

I remember my Nursing Instructor telling our class, repeatedly, "The day you believe that you know it all, that you've never made an error or that you could never make an error, is the day you become a dangerous Nurse and need time away from the Profession".

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I worked with one that didn't think she needed to do accuchecks on a pt all day, because the patient was "sleeping" and didn't eat... we checked her sugar and it was over 700, the pt was in DKA... another time, same nurse mixed up her IV rate and her heparin rate, and had the heparin running at 100ml an hour all day... both times, the nurse thought we were "over reacting" to her mistakes, and just trying to make her feel bad.

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Specializes in ICU/Critical Care.
I worked with one that didn't think she needed to do accuchecks on a pt all day, because the patient was "sleeping" and didn't eat... we checked her sugar and it was over 700, the pt was in DKA... another time, same nurse mixed up her IV rate and her heparin rate, and had the heparin running at 100ml an hour all day... both times, the nurse thought we were "over reacting" to her mistakes, and just trying to make her feel bad.

What happened to the patient with the heparin infusing?

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Specializes in ORTHOPAEDICS-CERTIFIED SINCE 89.

Sure have. Seen things you'd never believe. And when reported got the "at least she/he has a license and we are short already" occurrence reports to the lawyer do no good. Isn't Nursing fun?

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