How to deal with stressful situations

[purse]

I'm not a nurse, I hope to be one day. I work as a pca, as Ive said many times. I am just wondering how people deal with emergency situations.. I usually work 3 to 11, and Im normally the only one on the unit. If we needed the Charge nurse for anything, wed have to call the security guard, ask him to get in touch with nurse, and ask her to come up...This can take a long time sometimes because the charge nurse is normally hard to locate..

Heres an example:

One time I was giving a patient a shower, I was assisting her out of the shower, (she can ambulate on her own with walker).. and I was right next to her, and she just fell over, she didnt slip on water on anything...it almost seemed like she just dropped dead. Well she was on the floor, UNCONSCIOUS, still breathing. Now, when someone falls, we are to take their vitals, and call the family, and assess them to see if they are ok or not. Well what would you do in a situation like this? would you still take vitals even though she was unconscious?? And would you try to locate the charge nurse or just call 911?? I feel that someones life could be jeporadized if something similiar to this happened, and we have to run to get the crap to take vitals, ATTEMPT to contact the charge nurse...all while someone is laying there unconscious..

I checked her pulse to make sure she had one, then I ran out to the phone called the guard and asked him to get the charge nurse. When I went back into the room, the lady was conscious. Extremely confused as to why she was on the floor though..I got her up, took vitals, all ok. The lady said she was ok, she remembered getting her shower, but didnt remember falling. Would you send someone like this to the hospital?? The charge nurse said "just keep an eye on her" which is pretty much their answer all the time, because they never want to come to AL. (not dissing them, I know they are extemely busy) Later that night the lady was so dizzy and sick, so i did send her to the hospital. But does anyone have any advice on what i could have done better? Thanks for listeninggg!

[nursej22, MSN, RN]

I think you did a great job, despite your employer leaving you in a tough situation. The vitals can happen while you are waiting for help to arrive, and a sudden loss of consciousness definitely is a situation where you need more help!

This is what I would have done:

Assess for pulse and breathing

Call the security guard and have him call 911 and notify the charge nurse.

Get vitals, or start CPR if needed.

When help arrives and can assume care, call the family.

A fall is one thing, but as other posters said, LOC can be for many things and should be followed up on.

[dream'n, BSN, RN]

Your employer should not be asking you to assess any patient. Why would they have you call the Dr? You can't take orders since you aren't a nurse. BLS, first aid in emergencies and call 911, that's it. Notifying the nurse is of course important, but she should not be making decisions based on something you assessed, since you are not supposed to be assessing.