I want an honest opinion of this crap

[cafenurse1112]

Ok, here it goes. We were notified at work that there was a meeting we were told would be in our best interests to attend, not mandatory. It was a pt. She is an ob nurse at a private drs office who came in with " stroke like symptoms". She was triaged immediately, placed in a hall bed, ( only one available ), seen by a mid level within 20 minutes, had ct scan within 10 minutes of that.

The nurse who had her started her iv with some difficulty and cold not get bloood, it was drawn by the lab and they lost it. It was redrawn. She DID NOT have a stroke and was sent home. Her husband, the attorney, sent in a nasty letter to the hospital threatening legal action and they were allowed to come in and address the staff about our " lousy care"!!!!

She and her husband stated that (1.) they did not call 911 (2.) they passed 2 other hospitals to come to us (3.) they didnt see the dr, they saw the mid level (4.) we lost their blood and she was traumarized by having to have it drawn a 2nd time (5.) she did not get tpa (6.) the neurologist did not come in to see them.

We sat there and listened to this crap and I for one felt like we were slapped in the face. She didnt call 911? She passed 2 other hospitals to come to us? She was mad at the neurologist? She had a tia and was upset over not getting tpa?

Administration allowed this to happen to avoid a law suit, thinking if they let these people vent they would go away. She waived her hipaa rights so now everyone in the ER knows about this woman and what happenned and even though she was given guide lines to follow she didnt and pointed out some people who were thoroughly embarrassed!!!!! They were not even allowed to respond to this woman and her stupid husband.

I want to know what other nusrses think of this scenario!!!

[tryingtohaveitall]

I have never heard of such a thing. I'll be curious if this sort of thing is allowed to occur elsewhere. This sounds crazy to let them come and ream out the staff and point fingers!

Tell her next time she needs to call 911!

[racing-mom4, BSN, RN]

THe only thing good that may come of this, is that "crazy"woman and her rude husband will most likely never set foot in your hospital again!!!

You have every right to be ticked off, but you know what?? They should be embarassed, and so should mgmt. Mgmt should have handled this with out having to subject you and the rest of the staff to that level of garbage.

So what you all just had to sit there nodding your heads? Good Lord. Hopefully you at least got paid to attend~~

[Pudnluv, ASN, RN]

I have never heard of such thing! What was the purpose of that meeting? If they are gonna sue, they are gonna sue no matter what. You weren't even allowed to respond to the accusations or tell your side of the story? That certainly won't prevent them from creating a lawsuit. If anything, by not be allowed to respond, you're only giving them more fuel for the fire. Your silence could be seen by them as an admission of guilt. This should have taken place at the management level only!

[cafenurse1112]

I thank you for your responses. We also stated that this should have been handled at a management level with patient relations, the pt and husband and administration. Out if 40 of us, only 5 nurses were present. The meeting was to start at 8 and she was 20 minutes late and she was to talk for 10 minutes and she and her hubby ranted for about 40 minutes.

Sitting in the meeting was the nursing ceo and the chief medical officer. I dont know what kind of letter they wrote but it must have been a doosy!! I also inquired and was told that there was no basis for a law suit so why they did this I dont know.

No, we were NOT allowed to respond although I heard rumors that people are planning on sending anonymous letters to administration, to this nurse at her work place telling her what anidiot she is and thanking her for not returning and to the dr she works for, letting him know that the word is spreading that this idiot works for him and it will affect his business.

I am looking for a transfer to the ICU at this point as I am sick over this.

[Valerie Salva, BSN, RN]

They may try to sue, but they don't have a case. No harm was done to the pt. They're Idiots.

[Pudnluv, ASN, RN]

I agree that there is no basis for a lawsuit. Doesn't necessarily stop people from trying though. If I were you, I'd let it go. Sending letters to this woman or her employer could be construed as harrassment. If you are union, I would suggest sending a letter of complaint to your union officer. Otherwise, if you see the woman or her husband again, just turn and walk the other way. (She probably passed the other 2 hospitals because she pulled the same crap there!)

[racing-mom4, BSN, RN]

LOL Although it is fun to imagine in your mind 101 ways to torture this woman, it wont help...Yes it would be great fun to send letters to the Dr she works for, but she is prob stupid enough she already told him what she did, and he would have to see how ignorant she was for doing such.

Sending the letters only reduces those to her level. But it is kind of fun and cathartic to talk about what you could do...top of my list would be sending her literature in the mail on what to do at 1st sign of a stroke. and then highlight #1 being call 911.

[oramar]

I am nervous about the people who are going to write the woman and tell her she is an idiot. That stuff will be pulled out in a court case. Those people should aim their rage at your administration that totally dropped the ball. What in the world would she have sued about, she was not harmed in anyway. They only thing to get aggravated about was the loss of the blood and that happens all the time. It sounds like she wanted to be treated for a stroke. I don't think she has a clue what the difference between a TIA and a stroke is and she needs to be educated. She does need to see a neurologist so that he/she can explain the difference, also to work her up to prevent another TIA or actual stroke. The patient and her hsuband need to be warned that getting all riled up like that can bring on a stroke in a person who has a history of TIAs. I will make a prediction here. She vented at you about not seeing a neurologist, she is angry at you guys about a thing you can do nothing about. When she gets to the neurologist's office she will be as meek as can be and bow and scrape to him/her. The chances of us walking into any ER and getting to see a neurologist of OUR CHOICE is remote. If we are lucky and go to a teaching facility we may see a resident or in some cases another neurologist that we do not know. I am running on about this and I think I know the problem now that I am thinking about it for a while. I think the woman is sure she had a stroke and that she was misdiagnosed, she thinks if she saw her neurologist he would have diagnosed her with the condition she thought she had.

[loricatus]

If you weren't allowed to say anything, an obvious violation of your rights to confront an accuser, then laughing at them would have been the apprioprate thing to do.

If confronted about laughing, you could have said that you thought it was a practical joke because no professional would have to put up with such garbage.

[Medic09, BSN, RN, EMT-P]

Admin. should be told that if they ever do that again, the whole shift is going to walk. It is the job of good leaders (military, charge nurse, admin, whoever) to run interference and protect their people from attack. The admin folks may turn to you and criticize and question if they like to get the story straight, but they should NEVER expose reasonable responsible employees (certainly not a whole shift or dept!) to outside attack! NEVER! I've been fortunate to work several times in different professions for such bosses, and those are the ones that can later make demands and have me say 'sure, I'll get to it'. Your bosses have just shown their lack of courage, and ineptitude.

The pt. should be told that the next time they have a boo-boo, they should share the love and go to one of the other hospitals.

I actually understand when pts and families are upset and off-the-wall at the time of an incident. They're scared, and we need thick skins in the ED. But AFTER the fact, this behaviour is just vindictive. They can't handle their own vulnerability and mortality, so they take it out on others.

[southernbeegirl, BSN, RN]

Management doesnt give a rat's bohunkus about us!

I had this 90something year old patient that was dying. There was nothing that could be done. Daughter had been on nurse all day to the point that the nurse cried to me "i cant take it anymore!!!".

Being the supervisor, it is my job to tell people things they dont want to hear sometimes. so i talked to this lady and basically told her that her mom was dying.

Sure enough...mom kicked the bucket a few hours later at the hospital. She had demanded we transfer her to the ER.

Few weeks later, she mailed this letter to the company and it landed on the VP desk. he's an idiot anyway. so the letter says that we killed her mother, that she cant believe they hired someone like me, that i was rude and physically intimidating (i'm a big girl so i guess that intimidated her? cuz i sure as heck was as sweet and understanding to her as i could be for a family member in denial).

I had spoken with her at the desk with about 4 nurses sitting there as witnesses.

VP calls my admin and says "fire her today!". admin actually fought for my job but i was suspended. I was told literally "take one for the team". They were having a meeting with this lady the following week and wanted to be able to tell her "weve taken care of that supervisor". i kid yo0u not! i was told just enjoy the weekend off, this goes no further. we understand what happened and you did nothing wrong but we have to appease her. we cant have her talking negative about us out in the community you know.

a year later, my yearly raise was denied because i had a suspension in my file!!! their response? get over it, at least you still have a job.

geezapete.

so yes! i can believe this crap they put you guys thru! administration has officially lost their dam minds.