How much trouble am I in?

edmst · Dec 13, 2015

I have been thinking about this post for a while now.... I think the big thing here is the OP was not in the role of a nurse but of a wife. She needs to be seen in that role. She was not just a nurse from another floor coming and visiting patients off the clock. She was a wife visiting her husband.
For all of the people advising OP to follow chain of command. She was not the nurse for her husband. Especially if she is tired, exhausted after her shift. Most of our patients and families do not follow chain of command. many of them have also done outrageous things, silencing alarms, turning off IV pumps, silencing ventilator alarms. The OP was in wife mode, I think by starting the IV, it gave her something to do to try and help her husband. If she was not an employee at this facility, and the supplies were all out, and she started it, they would talk to her, give her numbers of people to talk to, etc. As the OP did, many families do keep timelines of incidences. Most families do not escalate to Charge, etc, they are not expected to.

Nope, you're not looking at the big picture. Although not that common, if the site the wife started became infected and caused her husband to be septic, then who's to blame? You better believe hospitals have lawyers light years better than any nurse could afford.

RobotNurse · Dec 16, 2015

This! "Oh yeah, a nurse from another unit came up and put it in. She said you callies her because you were having trouble? Not sure what her name is or what unit she works on. Brown hair. Average build. Excellent IV skills."

exactly! if no one saw you do it, then you didn't do it!

ProgressiveActivist, BSN, RN · Dec 16, 2015

This thread went off the rails a week ago.

I seriously doubt that she would give her husband sepsis to speed up his demise.

Editorial Team / Admin · Dec 16, 2015

I seriously doubt that she would give her husband sepsis to speed up his demise.

No, but she willfully performed an invasive procedure on a patient while off the clock. Pretty sure employers strictly forbid performing work related duties while off the clock. The fact that it was a family member doesn't negate that.

ProgressiveActivist, BSN, RN · Dec 16, 2015

No, but she willfully performed an invasive procedure on a patient while off the clock. Pretty sure
employers strictly forbid performing work related duties while off the clock. The fact that it was a family
member doesn't negate that.

I'm pretty sure that this was covered in the 76 previous replies.

Illuminati · Dec 16, 2015

So curious how this turned out!

ProgressiveActivist, BSN, RN · Dec 16, 2015

I am too, but I doubt that we will.

The judgemental creepsters chased her away a week ago.

CBlover, BSN, RN · Dec 16, 2015

I am too, but I doubt that we will.
The judgemental creepsters chased her away a week ago.

Libby you make me laugh. I always like your posts. Great minds think alike ay?

applesxoranges, BSN, RN · Dec 19, 2015

This! "Oh yeah, a nurse from another unit came up and put it in. She said you callies her because you were having trouble? Not sure what her name is or what unit she works on. Brown hair. Average build. Excellent IV skills."

Till they review the cameras and see that no nurse they can't account for. Trust me. Most hospitals have decent cameras. Security picked me out one day as a nurse who may have left their trunk lid up because we came in around the same time the mercedes pulled into the parking lot.

dudette10, MSN, RN · Dec 19, 2015

Till they review the cameras and see that no nurse they can't account for. Trust me. Most hospitals have decent cameras. Security picked me out one day as a nurse who may have left their trunk lid up because we came in around the same time the mercedes pulled into the parking lot.

Lets just go with your scenario. What kind of witch hunt would be mounted for security to review tapes to determine who inserted an IV? I mean,c'mon, really...

spoon.counter · Dec 21, 2015

You started an IV without an order. It's even worse because you weren't on the clock and couldn't possibly have been under MD order.

My partner, an RN at the hospital I go to for care, has accessed my port multiple times on & off the clock with & without MD orders. We try to access me before I get to the hospital but I have been admitted longer than 7 days requiring the huber needle to be changed. We bring some of my own home supplies & try to let the staff caring for me do it... However, my port is finicky & she accesses me at home, most providers miss or can't access it. I have had her come to my room during her shift to show my RN how to access a port and a clinical RN miss twice so she demand that my off shift partner try the third time. Both of those were done without MD orders but now most attendings write an order to allow her to do it even off-shift instead of fighting with the RNs or dealing with multiple missed without it being numb so I deteriorate quickly.

sissiesmama, ASN, RN · Dec 28, 2015

Not smart. There were many other ways to handle this. You chose the wrong way.

This!!