Change of shift calls to MD. Who should take the call?

Nurses General Nursing

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I had a patient yesterday, a sweet LOL had gotten back from pacemaker, doing fine, but elevated BP systolic in 190s. She had come from a smaller facility with bradycardia and had gone straight to cath lab after briefly arriving to my unit, and had returned from that procedure in fine shape except for elevated BP.

My first course of action was to give her her lisinopril which she obviously had not had, then I did a follow up BP after giving that time to work and systolic was still in 180s. I gave all info to oncoming nurse regarding when I had given the BP med, etc and so forth, and paged the MD.

Oncoming nurse didn't want to take the call (she was in an empty room making a personal call to her boyfriend :rolleyes: ) So, I took the call, even though it was past time for me to leave, wrote out the order, scanned it down to pharmacy, and accrued some more unwanted overtime.

Our hospital, like many, has been pleading with us to try to reduce overtime, and I'm all for it! I hate to stay even 5 minutes over.

So, what would you all have done in a case like this? I don't like to leave things undone, but I was annoyed at oncoming nurse for her being on her cellphone with boyfriend and wanting me to take this shift change call for a simple matter such as an elevated BP.

Yet, in some cases it definitely WOULD be appropriate to stay and follow through on issues from your shift. Where do you draw the line?

Specializes in LTC, Med/Surg, Peds, ICU, Tele.
the nurse giving report should take the call. the oncoming nurse has no idea what's going on (usually).

Are you really 94 years old? :coollook:

The oncoming nurse should've taken the call; and IF you're given grief by the powers-that-be over the overtime that you accrued due to her refusal to end her personal call, I'd definitely explain why!

Do you realize you spelled "definitely" correctly? OMG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

:bow::bow::yeah::bugeyes::bowingpur:bowingpur:bowingpur:bowingpur:bowingpur:bugeyes::yeah::bow::bow:

Are you really 94 years old? :coollook:
:loveya::up::smokin::smokin::pumpiron::w00t::yelclap:
Most of our patients have their cellphones at the bedside. On my unit all the nurses carry cellphone issued by the hospital so the tele tech or others can call us at any time.

Many Moms will carry their cellphones at work so their children can have easy access. Unfortunately, some use poor judgement in using them. Officially we are not permitted personal cellphones, but that's only enforced with those caught abusing their use.

It would be up to the Charge Nurse to enforce it where I work. And they are not about to enforce it. Our facility is way too laid back for CN's to enforce it against those who run the place anyway (aides). There'd be so many complaints, it seems a small enough offense compared to the fact that the offenders are still doing their jobs pretty well, etc.

Specializes in Cardiac Telemetry, ED.

Coming in late here, but I agree that if it's end of shift and you paged, you should take the call. Reason being that the oncoming nurse has not assessed the patient.

If she had immediately started working on another important situation, I would have helped her. However, to stay and do her work for her while she talks to her boyfriend? No. A professional talk with her should clear up the situation. If it happens again, then turn over the patient care situation to the charge nurse and go home.

Specializes in ICU, M/S,Nurse Supervisor, CNS.

I would have taken the call (as the offgoing nurse) even if it was a minor issue. Like someone else mentioned, what if the doc had other questions that the oncoming nurse who hadn't yet even seen the patient would know the anwer to? I have been in situations where I've called the doc for one thing, and he asks about everything else under the sun that has nothing to do with what I call for in the first place. It would be unfair to expect the oncoming nurse who hasn't yet seen the patient to answer those questions.

Now, if its a doc who notoriously takes forever to call back, than yeah, I'll stay until the minute my shift ends (i.e. 1530, 1930, 2330, etc.), but after that, I'm going to have to pass it on.

i had a patient yesterday, a sweet lol had gotten back from pacemaker, doing fine, but elevated bp systolic in 190s. she had come from a smaller facility with bradycardia and had gone straight to cath lab after briefly arriving to my unit, and had returned from that procedure in fine shape except for elevated bp.

my first course of action was to give her her lisinopril which she obviously had not had, then i did a follow up bp after giving that time to work and systolic was still in 180s. i gave all info to oncoming nurse regarding when i had given the bp med, etc and so forth, and paged the md.

oncoming nurse didn't want to take the call (she was in an empty room making a personal call to her boyfriend :rolleyes: ) so, i took the call, even though it was past time for me to leave, wrote out the order, scanned it down to pharmacy, and accrued some more unwanted overtime.

our hospital, like many, has been pleading with us to try to reduce overtime, and i'm all for it! i hate to stay even 5 minutes over.

so, what would you all have done in a case like this? i don't like to leave things undone, but i was annoyed at oncoming nurse for her being on her cellphone with boyfriend and wanting me to take this shift change call for a simple matter such as an elevated bp.

yet, in some cases it definitely would be appropriate to stay and follow through on issues from your shift. where do you draw the line?

you had already given report and given the oncoming nurse the information about what transitioned on your shift, the time the med was given, ...which i am sure she even had on the mar, or emar. so...it isnt rocket science....gave lisinopril...ineffective...pt is currently in "x" rhythm. doc- what do you want to do?

that....is all she had to ask the md. it isnt like the lady is clasping her chest gasping for air as a code is being called. this call...should have been the oncoming nurses. that ...is why they have 2 shifts. now if the lady was crumping...i'd have stayed ...but this is just a routine call that should have been taken by the oncoming nurse. that...is why they have 2 shifts. it isnt like this lady was crumping...and in the time she took that personal phone call ...she could have used that time to actually go lay eyes on her patient. just imo

Specializes in ICU, ER.

I would have stayed and taken the call, since I was familiar with the situation.

Specializes in Cardiac.

that....is all she had to ask the md. it isnt like the lady is clasping her chest gasping for air as a code is being called. this call...should have been the oncoming nurses. that ...is why they have 2 shifts. now if the lady was crumping...i'd have stayed ...but this is just a routine call that should have been taken by the oncoming nurse. that...is why they have 2 shifts. it isnt like this lady was crumping...and in the time she took that personal phone call ...she could have used that time to actually go lay eyes on her patient. just imo

yet...

what if the pt does have crushing chest pain? remember, this is a lazy nurse caring for this pt. what if she does crump just after you leave? what if she does develop chest pain?

who do you think is gonna get blamed? she will be the first person to say that you didn't follow through.

remember the state expects us to monitor the effects of all of all medications that we administer. the pt was still hypertensive on her shift after her administration of an anti-hypertensive medication. it was the right thing to do to take the 3 minute call and do right by the pt.

Not knowing when the doctor would call back, if I am still on the floor and he calls, I would take the call having a better idea of why I called then the oncoming nurse. However I would not have waited past my shift time for him to call giving as much information to the oncoming nurse as possible before leaving.

Specializes in LTC, Med/Surg, Peds, ICU, Tele.
you had already given report and given the oncoming nurse the information about what transitioned on your shift, the time the med was given, ...which i am sure she even had on the mar, or emar. so...it isnt rocket science....gave lisinopril...ineffective...pt is currently in "x" rhythm. doc- what do you want to do?

that....is all she had to ask the md. it isnt like the lady is clasping her chest gasping for air as a code is being called. this call...should have been the oncoming nurses. that ...is why they have 2 shifts. now if the lady was crumping...i'd have stayed ...but this is just a routine call that should have been taken by the oncoming nurse. that...is why they have 2 shifts. it isnt like this lady was crumping...and in the time she took that personal phone call ...she could have used that time to actually go lay eyes on her patient. just imo

in this particular case i agree with you.

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