Nurses rat on nurses

Rock, LPN, RN · Mar 3, 2003

RNinICU

You go girl!!!

veetach · Mar 3, 2003

of course, patient safety comes first. If I see another nurse making a mistake, I try to help them. If they are merely using a different technique than what I am used to, but the outcome is the same. I keep my mouth shut.

IMHO, nursing is a very territorial profession and I have seen nurses spend so much energy backstabbing and degrading others that is just nauseates me.

unfortunately, my dept manager encourages a "tattletale" mindset, that if people run to him and tattle, then he will take care of the "problem". He has caused so much animosity in our dept that it is almost too much to bear at times.

nimbex, RN · Mar 3, 2003

RNinICU, double your statement and well said. With you 100%. I think that the difference may be those that search out and look for every and any reason to complete the paper trail.... and we all know they are out there....

vrs. the nurse that calls you at home and says "you didn't sign off the vancomycin, did you give it?".. having forgotten to give it recently, I appreciated the phone call, and her rescheduling after talking to pharmacy to determine if levels should be drawn.

No paperwork, just teamwork, because patient outcomes were not affected. Herein lies the difference.

It also boils down to a simple...hey, I' ve been following you for three days, the rooms and the patient have really been a mess..... has your assignment been so bad that we needed to readjust it, is the other staff helping you enough, is something going on??? HOW CAN I HELP???

Goes alot farther than backstabbing or nasty remarks or write ups.... you never know what kind of day a person had, or whats going on at home, that with kindness can get a person to see they need a break or need to shape up.

jenac · Mar 3, 2003

In the LTC where I work- I am a floater. I work a particular unit when the "regular" nurse has the day off. So- needless to say- it may be a week or two before I'm back on any certain unit, and usually need a bit of catching up at first. I have often times come up with a question re: a certain med being given or an order that was written. I choice to 1.) hunt down the answer or 2.) call the regular nurse if it's important. I will not run to the DON with every little thing. If something was not done- and was suppose to be- I will do it. And I don't b**ch about it. It's teamwork. And it's all for the good of the patients I'm assigned to care for. I have encountered many situations-and I have done my best to sort them out.

Unfortunitly- I have also encountered several nurses, one in particular-who will run to the DON with everything she can come up with, verses going straight to the nurse when she's 30 feet away. To me- this is really pathetic and over the top. All it serves to accomplish is bitterness and frustration- and backbitting all around. What's the point?

dianthe1013 · Mar 3, 2003

Originally posted by rscarlatti
...The patient was not harmed so why hurt the nurse by documenting the error...

Eeeeeee. Urm. This statement scared the snot out of me.

Why document it?

First off, that poor patient!

Secondly, I can't think of a single clinical institution without rules for documenting med errors.

And last - but not least - what happens in three days when it all comes out and your hospital administrator comes to you to ask what happened? Are you going to lie then? Where does the "I got your back" stuff end on something like this? :eek:

Like everyone else, I am not advocating the eating of the young...especially since I am the young. LOL But the example given was a pretty big mistake. I can't see myself "covering" for that. In all honesty? I wouldn't want someone to risk his or her license to do it for me, either.

Donna :)

VAC · Mar 3, 2003

Good thread. Lots of common sense.

Police and paramedics have been mentioned as sticking up for each other. Have you ever known a doc to rat on another doc even if they're really wrong? You just don't hear about the petty nitpicking nonsense between docs. They stick up for each other.

RNPD · Mar 3, 2003

quote:

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Originally posted by rscarlatti

...The patient was not harmed so why hurt the nurse by documenting the error...

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quote:

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Originally posted by dianthe1013

.....Eeeeeee. Urm. This statement scared the snot out of me....

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I have to agree with dianthe1013 here. To give KCl instead of Kayexalate is a HUGE error. The patient could have been killed and in fact did suffer increased risk and discomfort with an extra dialysis, not to mention the cost. But even if the patient didn't need the extra dialysis, and the hyperkalemia could be managed with giving the ordered kayexalate, how can you cover this up? There is a missing dose of KCl to account for and the patient's K+ level will now be even higher than when the doc ordered the Kayexalate. How do you know what to give? Perhaps the patient will now need 60gms as opposed to 30 grams, for example. If the doc doesn't have all the info, it is impossible to correctly treat. This is EXACTLY the kind of error I WOULD write up-after first telling the other nurse that it had to be done, if she was present, and encouraging her to do it herself. If not, I inform the doc and the manager, and write an incident report. I have to play CYA for myself here as well-I don't want anyone to think that I attempted to cover this up.

2 good rules for reporting:

1) Was the patient harmed-or is there a potential for patient harm-with an error?

2) Even if I can fix this, is it obvious to someone reviewing the chart that I had to be aware of the error and did nothing? If so I report.

I am all for sticking together and in 15 years can only think of about 10 incidents I reported that directly affected another nurse. But we always have to put the patients before sticking together. And if a firefighter made a grave mistake that hurt people, I would like to think that others would understand the need to report it.

Norbert Holz · Mar 3, 2003

You certainly picked a bad place to post an issue of brotherhood. Health care in general and nursing in particular will never attain the camaraderie & brotherhood you elude too. There is no one with benevolent intentions watching your back but you.

IRISHBREAD · Mar 3, 2003

i don't know what you men by ratting out. i agree if you see a fellow nurse doing something to harm a patient then you need to go to that nurse and confront her. if she continues to place the patients in harms way then it is your duty to go to the manager.

if only md's would do the same when they see their fellow physicians make big mistakes instead of covering up for them--maybe we wouldn't have so many scary doc to watch out for--for our patients' sake.

rscarlatti · Mar 27, 2003

The patients have lots of advocates. We as nurses are taught and most of do advocate for our patients. The hospital usually for economic reasons also advocates for the patient. The regulators JACHO et al also advocate for the patients.....

Who advocates for the nurses ?????

Jenny P · Mar 27, 2003

Rscarlatti, NURSES advocate for nurses; BUT only after they advocate for their patients first. Join your professional nursing organization (I noted that your profile does not say what type of nurse you are, whether RN or LPN) and get involved in your professional organizations.

The nurse who substituted the KCl for the Kayexelate could have KILLED that patient! Would YOU have let it go if that patient was killed? How does one account for the missing dose of KCl; how does the nurse chart what she did; there are so many questions that are "what ifs" here. What if it was YOUR family member?? :eek: How would you feel if it was, and some nurse covered up for the other nurse?

I do not condone any nurse eating their young; but I put my patients' lives above my co-workers' back any day.

I have also found that it is necessary to expect 110% of myself when I am at work. I expect my co-workers to do at least 75% of their peak performance. When I have someone who doesn't give that much towards their patients, I will talk to them on a one to one basis, then if their is no improvement, I will talk to our manager.

I do happen to work with a bunch of nurses who are willing to go the extra mile for our patients. We also are there for each other, and also help each other out as needed.

The one thing that is so important though, is that we also have to learn to ASK for help when we are overwhelmed. Maybe if we would all do this, we would be more supportive of each other.

nurseJLoo · Mar 28, 2003

FLYNURSE-WELCOME TO THE REAL WORLD! there are usually two types ofnurses ones that will do everything to help you out,and ones that are looking for any tiny thing they can to get you wrote up basically to make themselves look better. CLUE the nurses doing the most talking about other co-workers will be talking about you too.