I'm scared I shouldn't be..

[staceylisbet]

I'm an RN-BSN with a few years of nursing experience. I'm scared that I shouldn't be a nurse held in such high regard with the position I'm working. For example, tonight, a patient was found on the floor, literally sitting on his bottom on the floor found by a CNA. She yelled for me and said what she found. I immediately went to the room, saw the patient sitting on the floor and was told by the patient that he tripped while transferring himself from bed to chair. I asked him if he was in any pain and asked the CNA to check his vitals (this is a recurring prob with this patient) Then my next thought was to start the proper paperwork, contact the people I'm supposed to (family, Dr., supervisor). As I walked out of the room, the CNA asked me "Aren't you going to help me get him off the floor?"... I wanted to slap myself in the face! Of course I want the patient off of the floor. Why wasn't that my immediate reaction??? I'm disgusted with myself because I walked out with a patient still on the floor. Even though no injuries were accrued, I'm scared to know what I would have done had the patient hit their head!!!

[iluvivt, BSN, RN]

That could be stress and insecurity directing your thought processes and actions. You need to train yourself to stay focused on the task at hand and not let you brain wander to the next then the next thing you have to do or those will then direct your actions. What is the best thing for my patient right at this moment..yes get them in bed....assesses for any potential injuries...and what are possible causes of the fall so you can take prevention strategies. was it medication induced.....review the pts med list...any recent anesthesia,sedatives or narcotics.....was the pt trying to get to the bathroom ( huge cause of falls), neurological issues. What can you immediately do to limit the potential for any more falls. The when pt safe go onto next task.

Next you need to work on your belief that you can handle any situation that arises.You may not know every answer but you can certainly use all the resources available to you . If he hit his head you need to perform frequent neuro assessment and call the MD and report your finding so any tests can be ordered and see what monitoring parameters the MD/LP wants finding.

Build upon you knowledge...you are still learning and if you plan on being a great nurse you will need to commit to livelong learning. If you run into something you are not familiar with ...go look it up.. I spent an hour the other day examining the nerves and vessels in the groin so I could better understand the perils of a blind/landmark techniques for accessing the femoral vein so even after 32 yrs..still learning. So believe in yourself...you made it this far and you will get better and better if you put effort into and do not beat yourself up over little things........you got the pt off the floor.....its OK...your teammate was there for a reason