I am in my first year of nursing and after 10 months of employment on a mother/baby unit and great feedback from my patients and my co-workers, I finally received my first complaint, and I would like some feedback as to how I should take it.
Last week a Labor and Delivery nurse took me aside and told me that she had received a gift basket from a patient that included a letter to the nurses thanking them for being so wonderful to her during her labor. However, she also included some negative feedback in the letter about me personally and another nurse on our postpartum floor. The labor and delivery nurse thought it would be in my best interest to know about it because the patient also sent this letter to my boss, as well as the head of nursing department for my company and she wanted to give me a "heads up" in case I got in trouble.
Apparently the patient was displeased with my nursing care. Actually to quote her I was "completely incompetent". I have to admit I was a little shocked. I remembered this particular patient and she had been nothing but pleasant to me. I never received any indication that she was unhappy with me. I couldn't think of anything I could have done to her.
After reading the letter this nurse showed me, I was very heartbroken. The patient thought I was incompetent because she had to wait 15 minutes for pain medication. She was annoyed that I asked her which type of pain medication she wanted, instead of just bringing her something.
I remember that she needed to urinate but was unable to. Before she had come up to my floor she had urinated after delivery so I was hoping she would void normally and that I could spare her an in and out cath. However, her husband (a former EMT) suggested that I in and out cath her moments before I was going to suggest it. I didn't realize she had also drank 2000ml of water right after arriving to my unit! I then asked her directly if she wanted me to do the cath (to get consent of course) and she agreed. As I had never performed this procedure before I asked an experience nurse to help me.
In her letter to the entire labor and delivery and postpartum floor, she described word for word our conversation as she remembered it. I was "totally incompetent" for asking her if she wanted the in and out cath, for asking her what type of pain medication she wanted, for not in and out cathing her sooner, and for making her wait 15 minutes to receive pain medication.
Now, I am sure she did not realize that I also had 7 other patients I was attending to and that I didn't know she had called out for pain meds until I had returned to the nursing desk and got the message, which explained the delay. She didn't know that I had a diabetic mother I needed to give insulin to but had to clarify a conflicting order so that I wouldn't give her too much insulin. She probably didn't realize that when you are unfamiliar with a procedure you don't just try to do it and hope for the best, but you ask for help.
My boss told me that the letter was bogus, and that she never would have mentioned it to me. She said it was inappropriate for that patient to send that letter to everyone on the unit, and not just to my boss. I felt better after that. I was worried that all my co-workers and my boss would think that I was a "bad nurse".
It still leaves a bad taste in my mouth. Any feedback? I don't think that I am the "best nurse ever" and that I never need any improvement, however I don't believe that I am "totally incompetent" either.
