Extremely BAD night...

prep8611 · Mar 30, 2013

Your colleague is gonna feel worse when he/she gets brought to court.

SpaceCoastRN · Mar 30, 2013

Wow I would hate to have to document that someone gave that epi IV. The lawyers will be smelling blood from far away with that. Good luck.

turnforthenurse, MSN, NP · Mar 30, 2013

I'm so sorry for your rough night, OP. do you have debriefing available through EAP or someone at work you can talk to? Journaling can help, too. *hugs*

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SweetMelissaRN · Mar 30, 2013

The nurse who did it has already been fired and knows she could lose her license. Trust me, that doesn't compare to how horrible she feels for killing someone. Glad y'all focused on the legal aspect though, thanks.

SweetMelissaRN · Mar 30, 2013

I'm so sorry for your rough night, OP. do you have debriefing available through EAP or someone at work you can talk to? Journaling can help, too. *hugs*
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My charge nurse and I are extremely close, and I have spoken to her, but she's pretty shaken up herself. Not that this is healthy, but we all went for drinks after work (yes, at 8am)... But I keep having flash backs of everything... Not sure about debriefing.. I'll have to find out. Thank you so so much for your caring words... Really means a lot.

smoup · Mar 30, 2013

OP, I am so sorry to hear about your night. That is truly horrible. While I am not a nurse, yet, I work in an ER and on a few nights, we had had multiple codes, but never peds as we don't do peds here. It is a very draining experience for me and I'm in registration so I can only imagine how difficult it is for the nurses who are involved.

Hopefully you can find someone to talk to. I agree about calling the EAP. If there isn't something set up through EAP, maybe you could suggest it as there is obviously a need in a hospital setting.

emtb2rn, BSN, RN, EMT-B · Mar 30, 2013

Please get in touch with your nm and hr to find out what's available for debriefing. That was a bad bad shift. We're with ya sister.

twinmommy+2, ADN, BSN, MSN · Mar 30, 2013

while reiterating about seeing into debriefing, just know that my prayers are with you.

Altra, BSN, RN · Mar 30, 2013

This is going to take some time. Go easy on yourselves and each other.

SpaceCoastRN · Mar 30, 2013

The codes are one thing, they suck but happen. I feel for the person with the epi. I've seen worse (well same outcome although in patients that were already coded or pericode time) that were dealt with in the room and it didn't go further than the door. This situation is different of course, not only did it change the patient's life it is going to change that nurse's life. They are going to need a lot of emotional support through this. Like the others were recommending talk to staff about a debriefing, it helps some people, I used to be a CISM debriefer in my fire rescue days and it helps a lot of people. Be sure to try to include the person you said was terminated as they probably need the most intervention.

BSNbeauty, BSN, RN · Mar 30, 2013

Oh my goodness! What a horrible night. This is the reason I didn't make it in the ER, it was too much for me. I agree with others, get in touch with your EAP. I have utilized EAP at my job and they are very helpful in setting me up with a counselor. I've hung EPI gtts but never had to give in a code situation. I think if you rarely give drug you are prone to mistakes. I was just thinking this could happen to me? Just for future reference.... how should the nurse have given the epi??? Should she have diluted in NS and then given IV??