Dangerous nurses

Nurses Relations

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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 ICU/Critical Care.

It seems like in any other profession, if you screw up, you are fired. It doesn't seem that way in nursing and I think it gives everyone of us who don't screw up a bad name. There is too much of the "You made a mistake, we will educate you and let you work with patients again". Like the nurse in Belle's post, she screwed up, a patient died and she should no longer be a nurse.

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Once had a student nurse unplug a vent to plug in an IV pump and not realize it. Pt died. Massive lawsuit ensued.

To this day I still wonder how someone would even consider unplugging anything in an ICU! I'm glad I don't work in that particular hospital anymore.

That is the primary nurse's and the instructor's faults, not the poor little nurseling's fault.:(

Why didn't the vent back-up alarms sound? Why wasn't the student supervised closely in an ICU setting? So many questions about this story.

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Specializes in OB, HH, ADMIN, IC, ED, QI.

BelleKat:

Did you or anyone else keep a record of that nurse's aberrant ways of handling equipment? She needs to be reported to QA and mentored until her suspicious behavior got her written up, fired or in rehab.........

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Specializes in NICU, Peds, Med-Surg.

A know-it-all, I'm certified in this, I'm certified in that, and oh....did I tell you I'm certified in this, too!?!

I was BRAND NEW and had never flushed a PICC line....I read the policy, and sure enough, it said to

use a MINIUM of a 10 cc syringe......

She proceeds to use a FIVE cc syringe......and on the way to the patient's room, tells me, "oh, and I'm also

PICC line certified!"..........OH really? Goodie for you!!!!!!!:yeah:

Me being a newbie and loving to learn new things figured "they" must have changed the protocol and

realized that a 5 cc syringe was NOT dangerous..............:no:

TOOO many other dangerous nurses I've worked with.........I always tell people "THIS is why I am SO

afraid for myself and/or my loved ones to be a patient!"

I worked with a nurse who FELL ASLEEP :yawn:sitting next to an intubated neonate.....on MANY occasions,

and nothing was ever done about it.........how many times did we have to WAKE her up to attend

to the poor little baby!:banghead: ..

.

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Specializes in OB, HH, ADMIN, IC, ED, QI.

how many times did we have to WAKE her up to attend

to the poor little baby!:banghead: ..

Well, until you inform the supervisor, who writes her up; and she gets more sleep when she's off duty, needing less when she's on duty.

Or you stop worrying about payback, and more about patients........

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Specializes in private duty/home health, med/surg.
It seems like in any other profession, if you screw up, you are fired. It doesn't seem that way in nursing and I think it gives everyone of us who don't screw up a bad name. There is too much of the "You made a mistake, we will educate you and let you work with patients again". Like the nurse in Belle's post, she screwed up, a patient died and she should no longer be a nurse.

I work with plenty of MD's that screw up patient care and nothing happens. I'm honestly surprised that I haven't been deposed for a malpractice suit against some of the attendings in my hospital. It isn't just the nursing profession, we're just more "in the loop" so we see more of the dangerous situations.

There is a nurse that has been on our floor for years making dangerous mistakes, been written up repeatedly, and nothing has happened. Probably nothing will happen until she goes too far one day and outright kills somebody. :(

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Specializes in CVICU, Burns, Trauma, BMT, Infection control.
BelleKat:

Did you or anyone else keep a record of that nurse's aberrant ways of handling equipment? She needs to be reported to QA and mentored until her suspicious behavior got her written up, fired or in rehab.........

I was assistant nurse manager of the night shift and I wrote this person up again and again,mainly because I usually followed her. I'd find the wrong IVBag,wrong antibiotics hanging,vasoactive gtts at the wrong rate,ETT secured badly so the were going in and out by about 3/4" or more on every respiration. Her mistakes were legion but they never suspended her or anything else. She never acted impaired or anything she was just criminally negligent and as I said a BSN and liked by management for some reason.

She did leave before I did but she just transferred so she could malpractice in another unit,I used to have nightmares about this woman for years.

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Is it that nothing ever happens because written complaints are never made. It is next to impossible for a facility to follow up complaints that are not extremely specific in content.

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Specializes in OB, HH, ADMIN, IC, ED, QI.

There is a nurse that has been on our floor for years making dangerous mistakes, been written up repeatedly, and nothing has happened. Probably nothing will happen until she goes too far one day and outright kills somebody. :(

Well, "what goes around, comes around....." If/when she's in a lawsuit, her disciplinary record will be part of the plaintiff's subpoenaed records, and the hospital will look very bad, to have kept her on. Her luck will be the hospital's bad luck. Why do you think they've kept her on?

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Specializes in OB, HH, ADMIN, IC, ED, QI.

BelleKat:

We used to say about people like the nurse you've described, that "they know where a body is buried" - that is, she has something on someone else........who is of her ilk. However, luck lasts only so long.

When reporting situations that you described, it's important to cc them to administration, and the Chairperson of any committee that could be involved. With the wrong antibiotic case, Infection Control would have been very interested. Be sure someone else sees the mistake, too, and signs the report!

Best of luck.

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Specializes in RN, BSN, CHDN.

Yes I have and it is very frightening, and they always seem to get away with it

One nurses springs to mind here are a few examples

She lay the pt flat on his back when the pt was chocking and had no clue what to do

She infused a PEG feed stat to a new insertion because she said nobody had ever shown her how to use the machine-we only found out because the pt was projectile vomiting

She used a hoist to bath a pt who had locked in syndrome, didnt know how to use the hoist and dropped him in the bath he almost drowned

She cried hysterically in pts rooms

She gave insulin to a pt who didnt need it at 4am

We had a file on her inches thick but in the UK you cant just fire a nurse you have to comply a list of complaints, investigate provide education and help improve said RN and then complain to the board of nursing-which can take years

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Specializes in NICU, Post-partum.
that's the deal with the second nurse i posted about...she's big buddies with the DON.

she's horrible! and she's one of those nurses that likes to "tell" on people. she clocks in, counts her cart and then heads straight to the DON office daily so she can sit and gossip about staff. you know how one bad apple can spoil the whole bunch type person? thats her. she is constantly causing negativity on every shift she works. she refuses to work certain halls, changes the assignments to what she wants, talks about everyone...she's just horrible. the DON actually said to us one day "we are SO lucky to have her! she's the best nurse in the building". i almost choked to death on my coffee when she said that.

...and unfortunately, these are the types that tend to get promoted.

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