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Nurses General Nursing

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I am an ER nurse. I came on shift and received report on an elderly pt. with dementia. There was an order for 2.5mg haldol IM. I was told by the provider not to give the pt. the haldol because she had a history of "going downhill fast" and that the pt.'s husband was on the way to pick her up anyway. While I was in another pt.'s room and without asking me, a coworker of mine gave the pt. 5mg of haldol IM and didn't document it. I only found out after finding the empty vial and finding 2 other staff members who admitted that they witnessed it. The pt's husband showed up to take her home. Should I have said anything?

Heres what I did... I asked the nurse who gave the injection to let the provider know it was given, to let her know that twice the ordered dose was given, and to document it. She got mad at me, but she told the provider. She refused to document it. The provider held the patient's discharge to observe.

Was I wrong? I'm looking for serious feedback. The other nurse is really mad at me because the provider "reported" her. And to top it off, management told me that it was I who failed to communicate. The other nurse wasn't even working in my area; she was just passing through!

1 hour ago, Oldmahubbard said:

Not the last I knew. Seroquel, very much so, Wellbutrin, yes. These drugs are now classified as "controlled" in some settings.

Why Wellbutrin?

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See, this seemingly keeps getting escalated. If she admitted her fault she might have been given a write-up, some additional training/counseling, and be done with it. No one was hurt but an error was made so something had to be done. Now her lies have gotten more grand, involved more people, and are ever-changing. She will be fired, and depending on what type of person she is she might try to take others down with her. This was an easy fix from the beginning, but now its to a point where talk of lawyers getting involved is becoming more appropriate. I hope this becomes a lesson to all of her coworkers that lying like this isn't in their best interest.

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2 hours ago, TriciaJ said:

Intimidated? Are you bigger and taller than everyone else? Do you have authority to discipline or fire staff members? Do you have a history of violence? Are you sleeping with the CEO?

Unless one of these gets a "yes" answer, you don't have the power to intimidate anyone. What is it she thought you'd do if she didn't 'fess up to something she didn't do?

This is completely pathetic. If management can be suckered by this they're even more pathetic. Square your shoulders and stand your ground.

Management may just be getting their ducks in a row to terminate the person who gave the med since she is now coming up with this crazy story. Particularly if this is a union facility, they may feel they need this level of evidence to not have an overturn in a grievance or a payout.

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12 hours ago, jinct said:

Update:

Unfortunately, apparently the reason they are pulling security footage, which I thought was odd, is because the other nurse is now claiming she never gave the med and that I intimidated her into charting that she did something that she didn't do, which is TOTALLY false. I actually feel really bad about this whole situation, but it's her unwillingness to admit her mistake that is going to end up getting her in trouble.

Do you not have a Pixis? Surely there is a record of the fact that the nurse in question pulled Haldol against a patient she wasn't assigned and also did not record any waste after she give an incorrectly gave the entire vial!

I'm sorry you are caught up in this mess but this nurse really did create this mess for herself and has no one to blame but herself for how it has escalated.

I'm normally of the opinion that we all make mistakes and that they should be used as learning points to improve nursing practise and patient safety not as opportunities to punish nurses. But this nurses refusal to admit her mistakes and grossly unprofessional attempts to blame you really warrant punitive action.

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10 hours ago, DextersDisciple said:

Why Wellbutrin?

apparently it can be crushed and snorted

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Specializes in Critical Care; Cardiac; Professional Development.

Wow. Popping some popcorn and waiting with baited breath to see how all this is going to shake out. Just when I think I have heard it all. We are rooting for you OP!

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Specializes in Mental Health.

??????

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Specializes in EMS, ED, Trauma, CEN, CPEN, TCRN.

So who the heck in nursing ever refuses to document a med that they gave? I couldn't get past that part of it. "Yeah, I gave it, and I gave the wrong dose, but I ain't writin' that down!" Ummmm, hi ... you're fired, kthnxbye. This is just bizarre.

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2 hours ago, Pixie.RN said:

So who the heck in nursing ever refuses to document a med that they gave? I couldn't get past that part of it. "Yeah, I gave it, and I gave the wrong dose, but I ain't writin' that down!" Ummmm, hi ... you're fired, kthnxbye. This is just bizarre.

Which is also what makes it freaky that mgmnt appears to be entertaining this at.all.

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9 hours ago, Oldmahubbard said:

apparently it can be crushed and snorted

People really do find a way to get high off everything! Who in the world would have thought Wellbutrin would need to be a scheduled drug? SMH

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Specializes in Med-Surg/Tele/ER/Urgent Care.

This reminded me of an incident when I had been an RN for about 2 years. My patient needed an ng tube to be used for feeding ( this is when Dobhoff tubes were just being invented) so I used a Salem Sump tube since it had the radiopaque stripe to confirm placement location. I never heard from radiology about placement but as I’m about to call them, the charge nurse walked out of my patient room and said, “ they did call, your tube was in the distal esophagus so I took it out and put in another tube. “ I explained to her all she had to do was give me the message, them all I would have done is insert the Salem sump in 2 to 3 inches more to get it in the stomach! The Levine she inserted is clear no radiopaque stripe to very placement location. Ended up having to call supervisor to deal with charge RN overstepping and interfering in care of patient she knew nothing about and worse didn’t understand basic anatomy terms. Charge had to explain to patient and family tube she inserted could not be used for feeding and I had to reinsert Salem sump. Why another nurse would do anything on patient not assigned to her or not know anything about with out asking the nurse assigned that patient I don’t get it.

Keep us posted

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So far, haven't heard anything new, but, again, thanks for the support everyone. I'm not trying to get her disciplined. I was just trying to do what's right. The rest is out of my hands.

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