Did I do the right thing?

[Kaysmom8]

Usually I relieve the same RN everyday & during report she tells me that she can't remember if she gave one of the resident's IV antibiotic's that morning. She had to think about it for a minute or two & then she said no I didn't give it. The patient came to me at the nurses station asking for the med so I go into our system & it's marked as given. I couldn't bring myself to give it, I got a weird feeling telling myself I can't do this just to cover another nurses behind. The med is scheduled once every 24 hrs & if I gave it her she would've gotten 2 doses in less than 10 hrs. The patient is alert & totally with it so I alerted my supervisor who discovered that this RN hadn't given the antibiotic for 3 whole days now. I know this nurse will find out that I told the supervisor & I don't want to make any enemies so I just need some advice on how to handle this situation.

[txredheadnurse, BSN, RN]

Sometimes in order to do the right thing you will find yourself making an enemy. You didn't fail to give the med as ordered the other nurse did. You researched the issue and then took it up your chain of command. Whatever your DON decides to do from there is his/her responsibility and not your fault. Bottom line you advocated for the well being of the resident which is one of a nurses' most primary responsibilities.

[systoly]

a) tell her to resolve the issue before you'll accept the assignment

she says she didn't give it - so she needs to call the doc

b) i might have called the pharmacy, but that depends on how your system is set up

c) anybody who leaves you with this kind of mess is not a friendly, so she's already

an enemy

[withasmilelpn]

That's a really big deal. Three days? I'm sorry but I would make an enemy too. I'm on the fence with a nurse right now who I personally like, but am becoming less and less impressed with her attitude towards patients and care. Nothing blatant, but it's bothering me. Usually I take the friendly approach and educate, but...

[xoemmylouox, ASN, RN]

3 days without giving this medication is unexcuseable. Everyone makes mistakes so I could see past missing it once, but 3 times is just scary. Who knows what other meds this nurse is "giving". You did the right thing.

[nurse4life72]

You did the right thing. You did not get her into trouble. She got herself into trouble. Your DON will not mention your name anyway, she will investigate and tell the other nurse that her or the pharmacy caught the error on audits or ordering, which would have happened when there was more meds left than should have been.

[JBMmom, MSN, NP]

I've told my kids many times, tattling is done to get others in trouble, responsible telling is aimed at preventing someone from getting hurt. An IV antibiotic not administered for three days is a problem. You weren't tattling, if the other nurse gets mad, she never learned that lesson and she needs to.

[TrivaNurse]

Ugh, I had something similar happen to me! I'm a new RN in a LTC facility and I think this happened sometime during my first month off orientation. I came in at 6p and had to hang an IV ABT right away. I grab my supplies and headed to the room only to find an empty bag of the same ABT hooked up to the patient and beeping. The only other dose of this ABT was scheduled at 11a in the morning. I walked back to the nurses desk to ask the nurse about it and she growls at me saying, "Just GO hang the BAG!" Basically saying, "go do your damn job".

Super confused I walk back to the patients room and assess that yes, the bag is still attached to the patient, etc and realize that I do not feel okay hooking up the new bag because I have no idea if the patient just got her dose or what. I leave the room and the next thing I know that nurse walks into the patients room, then comes up to me in the hall way and starts talking about how "Us nurses look out for each other and we don't tell on each other if the patient didn't get hurt..." Basically that nurse had given the patient her 11a dose and then LEFT THE EMPTY BAG HANGING until 6p!!! This nurse was in at least her 50s, had been a nurse for 20 years, and before LTC worked for 10+ years in the ICU. I was 100% shocked and confused. I chose not to tell her on but looking back I wish I had. She was fired a few weeks ago for something unrelated.

I know this didn't answer your problem but you're definitely not the only one having problems like this. Working with other staff members is often much harder than working with residents.