the same oversight occurs again and again

Nurses General Nursing

Published

If you wonder what I am doing up in the middle of the night it was because I had a long conversation with a friend. She is distraught because a co-worker was having a MI the evening before and it never dawned on my friend or the co-worker what was happening. The person complained of flu like symptoms. My friend was the charge nurse, wanted to send the sick person to the ER. She also offered to call supervisor. The person said "absolutely unnecessary, it is late in shift I will finish up and go home and go to bed, after all there is something going around". Person got home, got sicker and came in to ER and is now in ICU. My friend is really down on herself, any nurse worth her salt would wonder if they should turn in their license because they don't know what they are doing under circumstances like that. I secretly think that she should have called the supervisor but I am never going to say that there is nothing to be gained by making her feel worse. I can't believe this happened again. In my long career it happened three times that a co-worker was having MI and in no case was it caught. One time the nurse died but not right away about three days later in the cath lab. One of the times I was the charge nurse and I DID call the supervisor who refused to let the person go to ER saying the place was to busy. Because of that none of the blame fell on me but the does not mean I did not blame myself. Recriminations have been made to my friend by other staff members and my friend was called into supervisors office at 11 pm to explain what went on the evening before. You know how it goes, if the person said chest pain they would be in the ER in a second but that is not what happens to middle aged women. Cautionary tale I guess.

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Specializes in Cardiac Telemetry, ED.

Flu like symptoms are so nonspecific, how is anyone supposed to just automatically know the person is having an MI? I think your friend is being too hard on herself.

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Specializes in Neuro ICU and Med Surg.

Your friend is being too hard on themself. Also they offered to let the co worker go to the ER and they refused to go. She did nothing wrong.

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Specializes in Hospital Education Coordinator.

Your friend is feeling guilty, but in reality she could not have known. Heck, many MD's in the ER miss it because the symptoms are non-specific at first. Sorry it happened though. That has a way of affecting the whole crew.

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if you wonder what i am doing up in the middle of the night it was because i had a long conversation with a friend. she is distraught because a co-worker was having a mi the evening before and it never dawned on my friend or the co-worker what was happening. the person complained of flu like symptoms. my friend was the charge nurse, wanted to send the sick person to the er. she also offered to call supervisor. the person said "absolutely unnecessary, it is late in shift i will finish up and go home and go to bed, after all there is something going around". person got home, got sicker and came in to er and is now in icu. my friend is really down on herself, any nurse worth her salt would wonder if they should turn in their license because they don't know what they are doing under circumstances like that. i secretly think that she should have called the supervisor but i am never going to say that there is nothing to be gained by making her feel worse. i can't believe this happened again. in my long career it happened three times that a co-worker was having mi and in no case was it caught. one time the nurse died but not right away about three days later in the cath lab. one of the times i was the charge nurse and i did call the supervisor who refused to let the person go to er, saying the place was to busy. because of that none of the blame fell on me but the does not mean i did not blame myself. recriminations have been made to my friend by other staff members and my friend was called into supervisors office at 11 pm to explain what went on the evening before. you know how it goes, if the person said chest pain they would be in the er in a second but that is not what happens to middle aged women. cautionary tale i guess.

there is a common but errant belief that a sick worker needs permission to seek medical care while on duty. if you're sick, you're sick. do not ask the supervisor for permission. paint a picture that will scare the supervisor into saying, "i'll call the ambulance for you." i'm sort of kidding. really, just tell the sup, "i'm sick and i need to see a doctor now and i"m sorry if it leaves you short but i just can't continue working. i'm in pain, i'm faint, you do not want me to die on duty, i'm sure, so i'm going to the er now." if we get hurt on duty, we absolutely have the right to get treatment asap, depending probably on the severity of the injury, both physically and emotionally. a sick, hurt, traumatized nurse does not belong doing care for others.

for op: i don't think a nurse has a duty to treat, diagnose, or advise a coworker. we do not have a nurse-patient relationship with that person. we are not responsible for anyone but our patients. yes, i know that morality and ethics enter the picture but see what some lawyers say about what i said. let me know if i'm right. duty to help non-patients might vary by state.

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Specializes in Nursing Home ,Dementia Care,Neurology..

Hindsight always has 20/20 vision!! No one could diagnose an MI with 'flu like symptoms' otherwise the ER would be crowded ever minute of the day.It is awful though when a colleague has a serious illness and we just have not noticed until after the event.

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Specializes in CVICU, Burns, Trauma, BMT, Infection control.

Women sometimes have such atypical symptoms for an MI,it is sometimes so difficult for anyone to diagnose. Please reassure your friend it was not her fault,there's really no way she could've known. I know I'd be beating myself up too but I don't think it could be avoided. [[[Hugs]]]

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Flu like symptoms are so nonspecific, how is anyone supposed to just automatically know the person is having an MI? I think your friend is being too hard on herself.

Exactly. She thought her friend had the flu that was going around. That's what we all would have thought too. Please tell your friend to not be so hard on herself. She did nothing wrong. I hope the nurse is okay.

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I think the toughest thing for her were the two aides that are good friends with person who became ill. She said they are still whispering amoung themselves and looking dagers at her. I would like to drive over and bang their heads off the wall. Five years ago I worked on this unit and I see nothing has changed with those two.

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