Dangerous nurses

mamason · Feb 2, 2009

What I find dangerous is the nurse who thinks she knows it all. Or the nurse who is simply obessed with trying to find something to write another nurse up on. I work with these types of people all the time. Scary.........They are too worried about what their coworker is doing instead of checkng themselves. Funny.......... It's actually a sick circus where I work and am intending on leaving because of the ridiculous stupidity that goes on between the night shift and day shift. Don't want to be a part ot that mess anymore....Very childish.

olli975 · Feb 2, 2009

Yes, I was taking a report from an RN who had a pt post angio. When I asked where the access site is, she stated "periphery" and when I asked her to specify, she kept repeating "periphery"... How did she do her frequent site checks etc? Same RN is always delayed with giving me reports, one time MD called me about the pt at 8am and I did not even get my report yet so I told her to take a call and she did not... RRR, what is she getting paid for?

helicoptergal, BSN, RN · Feb 2, 2009

Paralytics without sedation. Completely unethical and cruel.

merri666 · Feb 3, 2009

My step father was transferred from ICU in the middle of the night. His NG tube was removed after he was transferred to the floor (about 2:00am). When my mother and I got to the hospital and got to his room, we found him covered in dried emesis. You could hear him gurgling (the head of the bed was down). I went out to the nurses' station and asked for his nurse (he was on break). When I asked for assistance the young ladies sitting there do their charting just rolled their eyes. I had already raised the head of his bed. There was no suction set up. There were no clean towels to wipe the dried stuff off his face. Determined not to show my bad side, I went back out to the nurses station and requested clean towels or directions to the clean linen cart. The same young ladies were in the same spot...however, his nurse had returned. I asked him when he had last checked on my step-father. He gave me a smart answer and attitude. I walked halls until I found the unit manager's office. When she came to the door she informed me that she was in the middle of an interview. I then identified myself as a RN and told her that my step-father had aspirated and was covered in dried emesis. I told her it would probably be in her best interest to deal with our problem. When she walked into the room I thought she was going to have a coronary. It was not a pretty situation. She tried to apologize but by then the damage to my step-father had been done. I went straight to nursing administration. She agreed with me. She told me that she knew I was a seasoned nurse and there was no point trying to make excuses for the staff. By the time I was finished the hopital administrators were begging us to take our family member out. They even covered the cost of the chopper to move him. The patient advocate called me the next day and told me the nursing administrator wanted to offer me a position. I called her and told her I was not going to deal with "Romper Room" nurses and that if they were that incompetent they should learn to show some courtesy. Anyone can show some manners...it doesn't even require one to get up from their chair.

My step-father has cancer, had just undergone surgery and ended up with aspiration pneumonia because of sheer laziness. The unit manager was upset with me because I didn't inform her staff that I was a nurse. That only added insult to injury. I didn't work at that facility and my profession was none of their business.

My step-father is being very well cared for by the good people at Providence Hospital in Mobile, AL. They are attentive to my Mother. If something as small as a cup of ice is needed a nurse will bring it if the CNAs are tied up. They keep me apprised of everything pertaining to his condition and care.

I don't blame the nurses at the first hospital as much as I do the unit manager. Obviously, she neither knew nor cared about the patients on her unit. (I heard through the grapevine that she "resigned".) All that drama and heartache because of poor management.

I am not working right now...I love my patients but I just don't have the stomach for all the crap and stupidity. I will go back to work,,,not because I want to, but because I need to financially. As I said, I love the interaction with my patients and their families. I guess I am just old school and I just don't understand what has happened to nursing.

To sum it up, most nurses are competent and caring. However, when you run across the ones who aren't and you observe direct harm from their actions... I just don't know.

Merri

Andrew, RN · Feb 3, 2009

tl;dr

jvman · Feb 3, 2009

Quoting Mamason above, "because of the ridiculous stupidity that goes on between the night shift and day shift. Don't want to be a part ot that mess anymore" Ok, you'd think the "third shift didn't do it" or the stepchild excuse was bad enouff! Now with 12 hour shifts, we're directly able to trace where the bubble burst, or the work was dropped due to negligence, sloppiness and outright lazy nurses. I try to do my best every shift with every patient, we are all human and can either miss something (hopefully nothing major!?!) or just run behind because of things out of our control, if you (we) all give others a work ethos to respect, then we can understand when someone has a bad shift... the problem is: employers now only prize the employee that's out the door on time... no matter the consequence to the other staff and the patients wellbeing... We have ourselves to blame, we specialize and have higher credentials, yet often someone slides under the radar and learns to skip the basics, initial assessments at first contact, and then it's down-hill thereafter... how can you compare a patients decline or degraded status, if "you" didn't go see and get an initial "eyefull and assessment right after report??? Alsp, Danger lurks in the approaching 40% of (continually relapsing) impared nurses in the workforce, (I'm speaking to the Chem-Rehab-Psych arena) far too often, we have had colleagues that we excused their borrowing meds, missing treatments, and skipping protocol and NOTbeing nice, respectful and part of the team, danger also lurks in spiteful and bias thinking between LPN's and RN's and techs that think they are nurses. Lastly, tighter attention by management to job descriptions and accountability to assignments is lost when management makes us all worrk with higher acuity, greater numbers of patients, under trained and streesed out staff. the last example is my number one complaint. Employers are now driven ONLY by the $$$ and not by quality care... sure they say it, but quality care is out the window when you look at the staffing sheet, and you are chronically down by 2 or more nurses, YES, I said chronically despite med errors, accidents, falls and omitted treatments, late IV site changes, dressing change omissions, patients hygiene needs neglected.. Just be sure to clock out on time is the mantra, where once it used to be give our best, and go the extra mile because the patients deserve it! Somewhere over the last 15 years it's all changed and seldom for the better. There is NO shortage of nurses, it's a shortage of nurses that will keep working in dangerous situations, for far too little pay fand employers that don't care or value your service... just my soapbox 2 cents, thanks, I feel better now, ;-)

Andrew, RN · Feb 3, 2009

Use paragraphs, that's way too difficult to read without line breaks.

jvman · Feb 3, 2009

Re: Dangerous nursesQuoting Mamason above, "because of the ridiculous stupidity that goes on between the night shift and day shift. Don't want to be a part ot that mess anymore" Ok, you'd think the "third shift didn't do it" or the stepchild excuse was bad enouff! Now with 12 hour shifts, we're directly able to trace where the bubble burst, or the work was dropped due to negligence, sloppiness and outright lazy nurses...

I try to do my best every shift with every patient, we are all human and can either miss something (hopefully nothing major!?!) or just run behind because of things out of our control, if you (we) all give others a work ethos to respect, then we can understand when someone has a bad shift...

The problem is: employers now only prize the employee that's out the door on time... no matter the consequence to the other staff and the patients wellbeing...

We have ourselves to blame, we specialize and have higher credentials, yet often someone slides under the radar and learns to skip the basics, initial assessments at first contact, and then it's down-hill thereafter... how can you compare a patients decline or degraded status, if "you" didn't go see and get an initial "eyefull and assessment right after report???

Also, Danger lurks in the approaching 40% of (continually relapsing) impared nurses in the workforce, (I'm speaking to the Chem-Rehab-Psych arena) far too often, we have had colleagues that we excused their borrowing meds, missing treatments, and skipping protocol and NOTbeing nice, respectful and part of the team, danger also lurks in spiteful and bias thinking between LPN's and RN's and techs that think they are nurses...

Lastly, tighter attention by management to job descriptions and accountability to assignments is lost when management makes us all worrk with higher acuity, greater numbers of patients, under trained and streesed out staff. the last example is my number one complaint.

Employers are now driven ONLY by the $$$ and not by quality care... sure they say it, but quality care is out the window when you look at the staffing sheet, and you are chronically down by 2 or more nurses, YES, I said chronically despite med errors, accidents, falls and omitted treatments, late IV site changes, dressing change omissions, patients hygiene needs neglected.. Just be sure to clock out on time is the mantra, where once it used to be give our best, and go the extra mile because the patients deserve it! Somewhere over the last 15 years it's all changed and seldom for the better.

There is NO shortage of nurses, it's a shortage of nurses that will keep working in dangerous situations, for far too little pay fand employers that don't care or value your service... just my soapbox 2 cents, thanks, I feel better now, ;-)

OMGosh, I hope you feel better also, when really reading, line breaks aren't needed,

if one only skims, they can mis-read and lose the point. play nice now... ;-)

Peggyfaye · Feb 5, 2009

I still work with a man that I consider a dangerous nurse.

(he's in another area of the hospital)

We worked together in the ICU/CCU years ago.

He was a new nurse & acted like he knew it all , which concerned me as his ICU/CCU preceptor.

He was a wiley one to orient.

Charmed & flirted with the other nurses, who grew to love him.

One incident with him (oh yes, there have been others...)

One night in the unit, I was in charge, he was taking care of a man in late 30's that had an anterior MI.

Lidocaine gtts were going out of favor.

I noticed the man's heart rate brady'ing down.

Asked this nurse if he still had the Lido gtt on. (Had been dc'd a good 2 hrs. before.)

He replied that it had been off.

He then proceeded to stay at the desk to call the cardiology doc (my job as charge) & told him

"you better get over here fast."

While he was on the phone, I went to check a BP, as he hadn't.

The Lido gtt was on - 4 mgs/min.

I turned it off, he came in the room.

I said, "the drip was on."

He looked straight into my eyes & said, "no it wasn't."

W/the doc arrived, he continued his charade...the pt. was actually fine by the time the dr. got there.

I took the Dr. aside & said that the Lido had been on during the episode that this nurse was describing.

The Dr. then said that he wasn't trying to place blame, just wanted his pt. ok.

The Dr. & the male nurse then began discussing football at the desk & the doc left.

This nurse now inserts PICC lines at our hospital, & is the "expert" on central lines.

Which is funny, as, after the ICU incident, I was the IV Therapy Manager in the CCU/ICU/Hospital for 8 yrs. after leaving the unit. A co-worker & I inserted the first PICC lines in the valley, where there are 4 hospitals.

ps: yes, I did write it up. He slid through that whole process also.:bowingpur

aloevera · Feb 5, 2009

I have observed through the years that docs seem to favor male nurses...

now don't all you men get on me, just an observation....

I love working with male nurses.....but they do seem to get more "joke time" with the docs.... must be a male thing....

merri666 · Feb 5, 2009

My husband and I were working at the same LTAC hospital. (I was PRN Level 3 on week-ends;) my husband is Charge Nurse/ House Supervisor during the week. I had worked at this facility before so I was no stranger to the docs from the hospitals that send patients. Anyway, our onsite physician felt like I was "questioning" him about giving a certain drug to a high obs patient. (The pharmicist backed me up). I was made to feel like an idiot by the DCS. I would not back down nor apologize. Long story short, I was invited to leave. I had no problem with the other doctors (I have worked with some of them for several years). The onsite physician thinks my husband is wonderful (and I agree). I don't know if his attitude toward me was because I dared to question (and I did it in a nice way) or if he just didn't like me. When it comes to my patients I don't mind speaking up. Everyone acts like this doctor is God. I respect physicians but I do not bow down to them. They can make mistakes... I am glad he and my husband get along so well but if he had bothered to give me the benefit of the doubt he could possibly found that I am not so bad. I am also glad I no longer work at that facility... IMHO, husbands and wives working in such close proximity is not good.

mamason · Feb 10, 2009

Quoting Mamason above, "because of the ridiculous stupidity that goes on between the night shift and day shift. Don't want to be a part ot that mess anymore" Ok, you'd think the "third shift didn't do it" or the stepchild excuse was bad enouff! Now with 12 hour shifts, we're directly able to trace where the bubble burst, or the work was dropped due to negligence, sloppiness and outright lazy nurses. I try to do my best every shift with every patient, we are all human and can either miss something (hopefully nothing major!?!) or just run behind because of things out of our control, if you (we) all give others a work ethos to respect, then we can understand when someone has a bad shift... the problem is: employers now only prize the employee that's out the door on time... no matter the consequence to the other staff and the patients wellbeing... We have ourselves to blame, we specialize and have higher credentials, yet often someone slides under the radar and learns to skip the basics, initial assessments at first contact, and then it's down-hill thereafter... how can you compare a patients decline or degraded status, if "you" didn't go see and get an initial "eyefull and assessment right after report??? Alsp, Danger lurks in the approaching 40% of (continually relapsing) impared nurses in the workforce, (I'm speaking to the Chem-Rehab-Psych arena) far too often, we have had colleagues that we excused their borrowing meds, missing treatments, and skipping protocol and NOTbeing nice, respectful and part of the team, danger also lurks in spiteful and bias thinking between LPN's and RN's and techs that think they are nurses. Lastly, tighter attention by management to job descriptions and accountability to assignments is lost when management makes us all worrk with higher acuity, greater numbers of patients, under trained and streesed out staff. the last example is my number one complaint. Employers are now driven ONLY by the $$$ and not by quality care... sure they say it, but quality care is out the window when you look at the staffing sheet, and you are chronically down by 2 or more nurses, YES, I said chronically despite med errors, accidents, falls and omitted treatments, late IV site changes, dressing change omissions, patients hygiene needs neglected.. Just be sure to clock out on time is the mantra, where once it used to be give our best, and go the extra mile because the patients deserve it! Somewhere over the last 15 years it's all changed and seldom for the better. There is NO shortage of nurses, it's a shortage of nurses that will keep working in dangerous situations, for far too little pay fand employers that don't care or value your service... just my soapbox 2 cents, thanks, I feel better now, ;-)

I think you may have misunderstood what I had meant. I wasn't calling nurses stupid. I was implying that the childish behavior between the day shift vs night shift crap was stupid. If a day shift nurse misses something, the night shift can't wait to write them up for it and vice versa. That's what I was implying. Instead of the 2 shift attempting to work together they choose to fight. I guess I should have clarified. :smokin: