Tragic end for dedicated nurse

[mazy]

I don't know if anyone else has posted this story. But it is just so sad, and highlights how much of an emotional toll this profession can take on good nurses.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/43529641/ns/health-health_care/

[Sl1011]

That is so sad

[hunnybaby24, BSN, APRN, NP]

So tragic! And anyone of us could have been in that situation. I'm sure the hospital now will do more stringent policies on drawing up medications for high risk drugs.

[caliotter3]

Read about this before and found something new in this article that changes the picture. Any way you look at it, could be any one of us facing the same consequences. Sad for everyone.

[NYGiantsGal]

One of the main reasons I left WA state is because of the harshness of the nursing board out there and how easily it is corrupted and influenced. I know of several occasions in which nurses were blacklisted and had flags placed on their files because they happened to work in areas where the administrators were in "good" with the WA state nursing board, while nurses who should have been flagged were allowed to continue practicing for much the same reasons. I know of many occasions were nurses were given outstanding evaluations - only to be fired for ridiculous reasons very shortly after. Someone needs to look at the WA state nursing board and its close affiliations to large healthcare providers in WA state. I guarantee this is not the only case they will find were a competent nurse with excellent reviews was fired for a correctable situation. Who oversees the nursing boards is my question... Its time nurses had advocates with resources to go against these monopolizing organizations who control so many avenues of nurses lives and careers.

[Crux1024]

How sad. My heart goes out to the baby's family as well as those of the nurse.

[Tait, MSN, RN]

How sad

[missdeevah, NP]

this story is heart-breaking. my heart goes out both to the family of the baby that died, as well as that of the nurse. i have heard nurses say several times that something needs to be done about the punitive nature of the profession, in relation to errors made. how can we do this? i truly would like to know how we can get this started. this has gone on for far too long!

[CBsMommy]

This whole situation is so sad. My thoughts are out to the family of the baby, the nurse and her family. So many people have been hurt by this situation.

[andreasmom02]

This is so sad.... My heart goes out to the baby's family & the nurse's family... Just a terrible situation....

[eriksoln, BSN, RN]

In the article, the hospital defended itself by saying they practice "Just Culture", a system that uses errors to identify system flaws rather than penalizing individuals.

I don't know of a single hospital out there who doesn't say they practice this. I also don't know of too many hospitals that actually practice it. Its the old "donkey carrot" game, lure and motivate people to report errors while they are under the spell of believing "Just Culture".........then go about your business as usual by blaming them, asserting that they are incompetent and throwing nurses and the workforce under the bus.

At the very least, I can say there is a silver lining to be found in the comments section. A comment points out "not like she was tweating at the time."

It's been my experience that most medical errors can be traced back to poor staffing or other system flaws. I can honestly say, the number of errors by nurses I know about personally that could truly be attributed to poor judgement/neglect are minimal. Hence, when something does go wrong, admin. is quick to put the ducks in order making the nurse/workforce look like they are to blame. They have to act swiftly and boldly, lest the problem be traced back to them rather than some no name nurse who has no way of fighting back. This will continue until people stand up and say "Enough, firing a couple of the workforce is no longer a get out of jail free card when things go wrong. We want the people creating an atmosphere that promotes errors to start to answer."

Unfortunately, there are too many in the general public who still fall for the "sacrificial lamb" ploy of hospital administration.

[pca_85]

How very sad