Okay, this is a full bore RANT.
I had a patient who was crashing. Came back from endoscopy, and this guy's temp went to 94.1, then 93.2. In for GI bleed, sepsis. I'm thinking septic shock. I go to look for my teacher to let her know (pt's primary nurse getting an order for a bear hugger), and I can't find them ANYWHERE. The floor's getting slammed with direct admits, and the charge nurse tells me to go get the bear hugger from the ED -- I tell her to make sure to tell my teacher or classmates where I've gone if she sees them. I go flying down, grab the bear hugger, come tearing back, we get the bear hugger on, pt is unresponsive and looking shocky as H***. I asked the charge if she's seen my teacher, and she says she hasn't seen anybody -- other teachers or students, asks, "Did they leave without giving us report?" I told her I don't know where they are. We're trying to get the guy to respond to us, and he's just not coming back...and not coming back...and not coming back.
Mindful that I'm NOT an LPN in this setting, I ask if I can please perform an unscheduled FSBS (since that's all I can think of that could be doing this, unless the guy's thrown another CVA or is actively dying or all of the above...). I take the FSBS -- 47! I stick my head back out of the pt's room (pt's on precautions for MRSA and shingles), and I'm trying to get someone's attention to bring D50. No students in sight, no teacher. I strip off the PPE, go in the middle of the nurse's station, and say, "My patient's blood sugar is 47, can SOMEONE please get me some D50?" The primary care nurse and charge (bless their hearts, they had 3 direct admits hit the floor at the same time, and one outbound to the heart center up 85) really rise to the occassion. I'm holding the arm for the primary care nurse so she can push the D50, (IV in a weird spot, pt is flaccid), charge is on the phone with the doc getting stat orders for blood cultures, an order for the D50 that's getting pushed, etc. Pt is gray, and that "dead guy look" is going on. In the middle of the D50 push, the vein blows.
Just as the vein blows, one of the students drops my book bag on the isolation cart in the hall, says, "there you are!" (Uh, where the H have I been for the last hour?!) I tell them the pt's temp is 93.2, FSBS is 47, and they say good bye and leave. NO TEACHER. NO HELP. The patient finally starts coming around a little, and I tell the primary nurse that if my group's left, I'm not supposed to stay on the floor. I stick my head out the door, thinking I'm going to see my teacher looking at the chart, talking with the charge -- nope, THEY ALL LEFT.
The charge nurse is furious, the primary nurse (who's an LPN) tells me I did a good job thinking about taking the FSBS. They all tell me I did a good job, and my teacher's not there to hear it. Moreover, if the patient had died, what was I supposed to do? I mean, thank GOD the guy was a DNR, and I've put more people in body bags than I want to think about, but here I'm on somebody else's playground, and honestly, if I'd had crappy nurses, they could have blown off my concerns, not let me take the FSBS, and the pt could have died. Then it would have been "oh, the student nurse never told us...." I mean, one reason we have an instructor on site is for OUR protection in such a situation. I was trying to tell her, but you can't tell someone you can't FIND.
I called my instructor when I got home, and she wasn't happy. Neither am I. I've bent over backwards to help the others, sharing my notes, my drug cards and pharmacology notes from LPN school. And what do they do when I'M the one that needs help? They book. Even if the teacher had told the other students to go, she should have stayed with me until the pt was firmly on this side of the grass.
Honestly, I'm so mad, if it wasn't this close to the end of the semester, I'd transfer to another campus to get away from these folks. We're supposed to be nurses: WE DON'T ABANDON PATIENTS, AND WE DON'T ABANDON EACH OTHER.
Unless you're the folks I go to school with.
Somebody lie to me and tell me this is going to be worth it.
