Scariest things you've seen

teeituptom, BSN, RN · Jul 14, 2004

I was taking care of a patient who the MD ordered 65 units of Humalog to be given with dinner...her blood sugar was 170-180's...I called the resident and questioned it and he told me to give it because it is what she normally got at home and then hung up...called him back and told him I was sorry, but I could not give her such a large dose of such a fast acting insulin, and if he wanted it given he would have to come up to the floor and give it himself...so...he comes up to the floor all pissed, calls her PCP and discovers it was supposed to be 65 units of Humalog 75/25....BIG freakin difference!!! Resident thanks me and says "you saved my life on this one!" I just shudder to think that there might have been nurses stupid enough to give it because "the doctor ordered it"....

Residents and med students are scary enough

but nothing as scary as a nurse who looks you in the eye and says Ive never made a mistake, I am too good for that.

ktwlpn, LPN · Jul 14, 2004

Listening to a taped report, the nurse said " Mr. Smiths' catheter fell out, and I couldn't find the right size anywhere in the hospital, so I cleaned it up real good with soap and water and put it back in". taped.

NO WAY!!! Get outta town-sheesh! yech....ouch

P_RN, ADN, RN · Jul 15, 2004

Unfortunately I've seen a lot if not most of these.

so I cleaned it up real good with soap and water and put it back in".

I once saw a resident physician pick up a patient's self extubated trach tube and rinse it off and reinsert it. He's now a local physician. And yes there was an incident report. And yes there WAS a sterile new one at bedside.

mscsrjhm · Jul 15, 2004

Worked just the other day with a nurse who refused to give Roxanol to a hospice patient. Said that Roxanol could kill someone- depresses their respirations. She said that only God could decide.

Okay, so the hospice patient might die?

abundantjoy07, RN · Jul 15, 2004

i don't have much experience under my belt (nursing student working as cna now) however at my ltc this lady was fussy. crying and afraid. the nurse went in looked at her and told her to stop crying. which of course she didn't. so he said to her face that he didn't have "time for this mess" and walked out. she sensed that hostility and continued to cry.

i went in and held her hand and rubbed her cheeks and ah-ha....she calmed down. i didn't hear a peep out of her all night after that. sometimes people just need a little love shown.

rudeness is so unnecessary. it's important to remember that just because people are in an ltc doesn't mean they are dumb . they just need care.

potsy · Jul 15, 2004

I am SOOO scared. I am a nursing student finishing advanced med-surg. Already I have seen so many medication errors that I have informed my family that I NEVER want to be hospitalized. It has, however, made me extremely aware of proper medication administration! :imbar

gypsyangelrn · Jul 16, 2004

It never ceases to amaze me !!

Way back in '77 I was working in Coronary Care....called a Resident DR. to report a low potassium. He asked me, what do you think I should do. I said, we usually add K to the IV....he says How Much?? Same place....had a pt's BP drop from his usual high to lower suddenly...called and reported to Resident who said, well it's normal now...pt. coded shortly thereafter. Had a pt. in respiratory distress in CCU..called Resident for assistance. R 1 and R2 came. R2 says to R1, here's your chance to intubate. After 3 unsucessful attempts, R2 tries without sucess. Mean while pt. not doing well.....I suggest at least trying some O2.

Finally R3 is called, pt. finallly intubated, but is nonresponsive...pupils dilated.

I never felt so upset and helpless in my career! :crying2: :uhoh3:

Working on Intermediate Cardiac Care....Pt. started on IV Dobutrex and titrated since 12 noon....( I Worked 7 P- 7A)...discovered during my first rounds that Dobutrex had been not attached to maintenance IV, and had been infusing onto the floor, probably since noon! Got report from RN who told me pt's next IV hadn't been sent from pharmacy yet...pt. had a PICC...when questioned, she said she had turned IV off....not flushed. Took alot of work for me and another RN to declot it! :angryfire

luvbug9956 · Jul 16, 2004

Nothing bothers me more than breaking sterile technique and continuing with the procedure. Just yesterday I was assisting an RN (with 15 yrs experience) to insert a foley. She missed the first two times and placed the catheter in the lady parts. She had to run to the supply room twice in the middle of the procedure to retrieve a new catheter. On the third try, she also placed it into the lady parts (which, by the way, the patient had vaginitis!). I think she was tired of going to the supply room. She took this catheter covered with lady partsl secretions and stuck it into the urethra! I about lost it. Even though I removed this catheter immediately (and did it myself!), the patient had already been exposed to what could turn into a serious UTI - patient is elderly also. God...and Ive only been an RN for two months.

BHolliRNMS · Jul 17, 2004

LPN #1 reported to RN Sup that tube fed insuling-dependant diabetic patient with nausea and high residuals. RN instructed her to turn the feeding off, assuming the LPN had enough sense to recheck the patient in 30 minutes. End of shift arrives, RN with patient who is dying providing comfort measures and support to the family. LPN#1 who works 7-3 reports to LPN2 who is working 3-11 and 11-7 that the feeding is off due to vomiting. LPN 2 administers 4pm insulin and never checks FSBS. Then, LPN2 administers 6am insulin and never checks FSBS. LPN3 comes to work in am and discovers tube feeding is STILL OFF! LPN3 immediately checks FSBS and it is 40. Patient recovered thanks to LPN3. LPN2 turned in to board of nursing and received severe reprimands including license restriction. LPN1 received formal reprimand. RN supervisor received FINE for failure to reassess the patient prior to leaving her shift.

Farkinott, RN · Jul 17, 2004

I was assisting a doctor (on a remote island) with setting a lady's broken thumb.

First request "Can you get 50mg Fentanyl and 5mg midazolam?"

Me "Don't you mean 50mcg of Fentanyl?"

Dr "Oh yeah, thanks"

This lady was quite intoxicated at the time so I was gonna make sure I gave the drugs (titrating). Just after I arrived back with the drugs the phone rang and I went to answer it. To my horror I came back on the tail end of the dr giving all of the drugs IV!

The dr went about manipulating the thumb. I said "She's not breathing"

Dr says "We always gave them the lot in endoscopy!(I pointed out to him that at endoscopy in the big city hospital that there were many more staff available to assist in a crisis)Thanks for that, that's why I asked for you to help cos you're onto things like that"

Thankfully this lady commenced breathing spontaneously when I go the guedels in but it could have been a helluva lot uglier!

She tolerated the guedels for about an hour before she pulled it out. Someone was smiling on me that day!

Blackcat99 · Jul 17, 2004

:uhoh21: I worked at a LTC in the 1980"s and had just arrived to work. The night RN was getting ready to give out her insulins. She told me that Mrs. S had a blood sugar of 45. She then said she was going to give Mrs. S her morning insulin now. I told her "No do not give her any insulin. Give her some orange juice stat and re-check her blood sugar."

Ruby Vee, BSN · Jul 17, 2004

Years ago when I was working in Boston and graduate nurses were allowed to practice while they waited for their state board results, I happened to be at work (in charge) early in July. The GN working with me was quite up front about only being in nursing to marry a doctor, and was working on that goal more than any other. We were a general medical floor, and had brand new residents in several rotations coming to visit their patients. Nancy was working particularly hard on an oncology resident, and I was pretty much ignoring them both while doing ALL of the work.

Every once in awhile some phrase catches your ear, and the one that caught mine was "We're only allowed to put 40 mEq of potassium in 500 cc and run it over 4 hours. But if you want to give it IV push, you can push as much as you want." I shook my head and made a note to myself to explain the realities of potassium to Nancy as soon as I was done with my med rounds. Never occured to me that the idiot resident needed the same teaching!

Nancy gave his a 40 mEq vial of KCL, and he was drawing it up when I happened into the med room. He was going to give it IV push to an 80 year old with a K+ of 3.8 and no symptoms. He didn't want to wait four hours, you see. Didn't want to give it PO, either, because he knew it tasted nasty. The poor old dear had 22g in her hand, and he knew he could push it through that. I (rather tactfully, I thought) explained to him why that was a terrible idea, and his response was, "Well Nancy SAID I could do it, and I'm the doctor so I'm going to."

Nancy didn't even have a license. She was still on orientation!

I called the senior resident to get her to intervene, and she thought it must be a joke. (I admit, I did have a well-deserved reputation for practical joking.) I finally got the pharmacist on the phone and handed the phone to Mr. "I am a Doctor". You could hear the shrieking from across the room -- couldn't pick out the individual words, but I could tell the pharmacist ripped him a new one. He put down the phone and walked away without saying a thing to me. It was a very long year, because that resident not only went out of his way to be nasty to me, but got his friends to do the same.

Nancy, last I heard, was engaged to marry a doctor.