Has any dr tried to get you to do something outside of your scope?

[NurseyPoo7]

Had a doctor call me out of another pts room when I'm attempting to give meds and do my assessment this morning - I come out and he tells me another pt of mine is going to need blood and I have to call the POA and get consent... Uh. I know we cant get surgical consent and all that but I wasnt sure about blood, but I was pretty sure the answer was no way.

I ask our RN care coordinator and she says no way - call our charge nurse and she wasn't sure. I called another nurse experienced on our unit (btw, I have to call these people b/c our unit is ridiculously large) and she said "If the dr was up here, he needs to get off his lazy butt and do it himself!"

I looked up our policy on blood admin and it only said to ensure consent was signed. Finally called the supervisor and she said No and told me to tell the MD if he had a problem with it, to call her!

I really think this Dr tried to pull a fast one on me from his laziness or maybe he honestly didn't know.

Has any dr tried to get you to do something outside of your scope?

[Agnus]

Sometimes docs need to be re educated about their own responsibilities. As far as actually carrying out a procedure outside my scope of practice I look at it this way.

I am working under my license. As long as I have that license I can find a job. If my license becomes compromised or I loose it then I have lost my means of even applying for a job. The license is more valuable than any one particular job.

[Penelope_Pitstop, BSN, RN]

as an lpn, i know you are not authorized to handle blood transfusions.

this depends on the state and facility. i know that in delaware, lpns may, in fact, administer blood products. two nurses are required to initiate the transfusion, and one must be an rn.

i know it's not exactly related to this topic, but i just had to point this out!

speaking of the topic, though, i haven't had this happen since i became an rn two years ago. when i was a sne, however, physicians gave me verbal orders all of the time, and then would walk away.

*jess*

[GOMER42]

I think sometimes the docs ask nurses to do things outside our scope because they don't know exactly what is within our scope- not because they are lazy, stupid, want us to get in trouble, etc.

[NurseyPoo7]

this depends on the state and facility. i know that in delaware, lpns may, in fact, administer blood products. two nurses are required to initiate the transfusion, and one must be an rn.

i know it's not exactly related to this topic, but i just had to point this out!

speaking of the topic, though, i haven't had this happen since i became an rn two years ago. when i was a sne, however, physicians gave me verbal orders all of the time, and then would walk away.

*jess*

md lpns can also administer blood, but when you are in the pts room verifying the information, you need at least 1 rn

[Ahhphoey]

A doctor tried to get me to get consent for some endoscopic procedure he would be doing the next day. He called and asked me to do this, so I had assumed he'd already talked to the patient and family earlier in the day when he was in, so no problem. Of course upon taking the consent into the room to get signed I asked if the patient was informed about the procedure and the risks and understood all of it and the patient denied hearing anything about that procedure. It was a few years ago so I don't remember what he was getting done and I remember being unfamiliar with the procedure anyway, so I called the MD back. He was very sarcastic saying that the nurses in endo do it all the time, but "it's okay if you don't know what you're doing." I actually argued back with him a little till I realized he was purposely trying to get me riled up, so I just ended the conversation saying the BLANK consent would be on the chart when he got there in the morning.

[jlmb214rn, BSN, RN]

i know that in delaware, lpns may, in fact, administer blood products. two nurses are required to initiate the transfusion, and one must be an rn.

*jess*

thanks for correcting me. i know that in kentucky, an lpn cannot administer a blood transfusion. but you are right, i didn't think about it varying from state to state. thanks again!