Do you report other nurses often?

Indy, LPN, LVN · Sep 30, 2007

I am sure there have been other threads that addressed this. Recently.

And you have to define "report."

Incident reports, of odd stuff, or errors that are preventable and sometimes dangerous, have to be done so that the systems involved with making those errors can be addressed. Sometimes it's other factors involved like understaffing, that need to be fixed and if you don't write it up no one will really care.

If you mean report to the board of nursing, say so. Because that's a whole different ballgame. I had a nurse as patient recently, supposedly in the process of getting her license back, fell off the wagon bigtime and landed in my unit. I won't spell out any details but there was some discussion among us as to what constituted compassion, and how it might be possible to report her to the BON without violating privacy laws. The facility has no policy on this that I can find. Ah well, in the end I figured if she is in the process of getting her license back, the hospitalization, the 1013 for mental health and all the rest that will happen as a result, will do enough to hinder this process.

I hope to not happen on many cases like that in the future. But as for med error reporting, I will do so when it is necessary and appropriate and expect my colleagues to do the same.

Bala Shark · Sep 30, 2007

I am sure there have been other threads that addressed this. Recently.
And you have to define "report."
Incident reports, of odd stuff, or errors that are preventable and sometimes dangerous, have to be done so that the systems involved with making those errors can be addressed. Sometimes it's other factors involved like understaffing, that need to be fixed and if you don't write it up no one will really care.
If you mean report to the board of nursing, say so. Because that's a whole different ballgame. I had a nurse as patient recently, supposedly in the process of getting her license back, fell off the wagon bigtime and landed in my unit. I won't spell out any details but there was some discussion among us as to what constituted compassion, and how it might be possible to report her to the BON without violating privacy laws. The facility has no policy on this that I can find. Ah well, in the end I figured if she is in the process of getting her license back, the hospitalization, the 1013 for mental health and all the rest that will happen as a result, will do enough to hinder this process.
I hope to not happen on many cases like that in the future. But as for med error reporting, I will do so when it is necessary and appropriate and expect my colleagues to do the same.

I seen med errors done by other nurses..I never did report them. If I was the one who did the error, I bet I would be in the DONs office being written up....I look at this way, there was no harm to the patient so why report..

I still would not report..I dont rat anyone out!

Tweety, BSN, RN · Sep 30, 2007

Minor things can perhaps be overlooked and dealt with one on one. I've done this often "did you know yesterday you didn't unclamp the antibiodic you hung?".

Other breaches in policy and patient care issues are important to report, so improvements can be made. Or if the above person does it again I'll report.

It's our professional duty to monitor patient safety issues. It's not "ratting out" and your attitude might not be the right one to take.

To answer your question, I rarely have to report coworkers for stuff. I work with a great crew, and as a charge nurse I can address many problems myself and work it out with the coworker.

User123456 · Sep 30, 2007

if i was the patient i would want someone who made a life threating mistake to be ratted out. out first priorty is patient safety not politics. we are patient advocates.

leslie :-D · Sep 30, 2007

agree w/tweety.

many of these incidents can be worked out amongst your coworkers.

even if a pt wasn't harmed, it's important to know when we make mistakes.

one of these times, there will be a pt harmed.

we need to be hypervigilant in every intervention we use on our pts.

i also let my colleague know, that if this mistake happens again, i will need to report it to the nm.

i expect the same in return.

although i work with a bunch of competent nurses, who i also think the world of, my first responsibility is to my pts.

leslie

Long Term Care Columnist / Guide · Sep 30, 2007

"Ratting out"...............now there's a mature way of putting it.:stone

Lord help any patient under the care of a nurse who NEEDS to be 'ratted out' for sloppy care, bad work habits, medication errors, or a nasty attitude.

Bala Shark · Sep 30, 2007

Here are some of my reports that were given to managment on my performance..Most dont deal with patient safety I believe:

1. "Bala Shark did not chart for several patients on so and so day."

My explanation: The reason why I did not chart because the physical thearpist had the charts so I am not going to stay over time for two hours and wait for the charts to come back on stable patients who are in a nursing home..I would get into trouble for staying so long..

2. "Bala Shark did not clean the medication cart and it has a big stain.."

Yea, I tried cleaning it but the stain would not come off..

3. "Bala Shark does not know what correct blood pressure is.."

From doing research on blood pressure by text books, it can range from 90/50 to 135/90..Most people disagree with me on this but I have the papers to back it up with..Still people would not listen and think I am clueless..

There is a lot more...

brissie · Sep 30, 2007

I guess I would want a colleague to discuss the matter with me before they submitted a report. I have seen some nurses written up because of a perceived error when in fact the one perceiving did not know the full story behind an action or perhaps assumed they were right when in fact they were not. In the three cases I have seen this occur the matter was straightened out through investigation yet it still left a bitter taste in people's mouths and a degree of animosity towards the nurse who did the reporting, which was unfortunate yet human. A careful review of the matter should be done by the person submitting a report on a perceived infraction and perhaps a review of the definitions of negligence and harm as we were all taught in nursing school. Just because I see something that I think is negligent or wrong doesn't in fact make it so. The other unfortunate aspect of nurses reporting other nurses that I have witnessed is that for the most part the whole concept of innocent until proven guilty tends to get thrown out the window. I agree that reports need to be made in certain situations, but from personal experience I would like to see a more structured method involved. Again I think it only professional that you question the person first about the perceived wrong to get their side of the story.

Trauma Columnist · Sep 30, 2007

I think that when more than one person thinks I'm wrong, I usually am - lol.

Being a professional nurse is just that - being professional: able to own up to your mistakes, make corrections so they don't recur and refrain from whining about people reporting you.

Our ultimate goal is quality patient care. It is not about US as nurses, it is about the PATIENTS.

Natkat, BSN, MSN, RN · Sep 30, 2007

"Ratting out"...............now there's a mature way of putting it.:stone
Lord help any patient under the care of a nurse who NEEDS to be 'ratted out' for sloppy care, bad work habits, medication errors, or a nasty attitude.

Yep.

I have seen this attitude frequently in my classmates. Know what I mean? "I was on the floor today and the nurse did (fill in the blank). Can you believe that? How could they be so incompetent?"

The righteous indignation of a student who hasn't walked in the nurse's shoes yet. Let's see how fast you chuck the nursing school procedures when you have six patients of your own.

TazziRN, RN · Sep 30, 2007

if i see an error that needs to be addressed, i will approach the nurse responsible first. if the nurse is receptive to what i have to say and genuinely made a mistake and is grateful that i flagged it to his/her attention and the pt wasn't harmed, i leave it at that. if, however, the nurse is "hostile and defensive" (hint, hint), i would be more likely to go to the boss and say, "i tried to talk to (name here) but i felt like it didn't go anywhere."

if this same nurse has made numerous mistakes before, especially similar ones, then i would be more likely to go straight to the boss.