How would this affect you?

[nagmeriendaak]

Im really getting irritated to the point of being angry and Im wonder if these things would make you feel the same way.

One day Im a treatment nurse, and the order was to flush a Port-a-cath. Id never done it , Id seen someone do it however. When I told the Head Nurse she wrote me up, said I should have known how to do it because Im an RN and I get the same pay as the other RNs in the hospital, no one ever bothered to give me an inservice on flushing the port-a-cath after this incident either.How would this make you feel?

The other day I was told I could not go to a ACLS because I didnt work on the floor that it was needed to know ACLS, I could go next time. When I asked why dont they put me on this floor,since all the nurses are floaters, they said they are not sending me there anymore because one time I requested not to work a certain day on that floor because they didnt have a treatment nurse to help me, there is usually a treatment nurse. So now I dont work on a more skilled floor, and hence loose or no longer keep up the skills I have. How would this make you feel?

It seems like Im being punished for erring on the side of caution. Or do I just have a persecution complex?

[zacarias, ASN, RN]

You mean you told the nurse that you have never done a port-a-cath flush and she wrote you up just for that? Did you ask her to show you how to do or walk you through it? Does she want you to perform a task that you are unsure of and have never done before? I see no absolutely nothing correct in writing up someone for asking someone's help in doing a procedure you have never done before. That is a safety issue.

[DusktilDawn]

Im really getting irritated to the point of being angry and Im wonder if these things would make you feel the same way.

One day Im a treatment nurse, and the order was to flush a Port-a-cath. Id never done it , Id seen someone do it however. When I told the Head Nurse she wrote me up, said I should have known how to do it because Im an RN and I get the same pay as the other RNs in the hospital, no one ever bothered to give me an inservice on flushing the port-a-cath after this incident either.How would this make you feel?

The other day I was told I could not go to a ACLS because I didnt work on the floor that it was needed to know ACLS, I could go next time. When I asked why dont they put me on this floor,since all the nurses are floaters, they said they are not sending me there anymore because one time I requested not to work a certain day on that floor because they didnt have a treatment nurse to help me, there is usually a treatment nurse. So now I dont work on a more skilled floor, and hence loose or no longer keep up the skills I have. How would this make you feel?

It seems like Im being punished for erring on the side of caution. Or do I just have a persecution complex?

I don't understand the charge nurse in the situation you just described. I would rather have a co-worker tell me she/he didn't know how to do something rather than RISK HARM to a patient by attempting to do something they do not feel comfortable doing. Your NM should have taken this charge nurse to task for not providing assistance or at least started the ball rolling on providing inservice.

Was it your NM who told you that you were not allowed to go to ACLS? If not you should speak to your NM about this situation and the incident concerning the port-a-cath and your lack of inservice about port-a-caths.