How are some nurses nurses?!

[kellyjo]

I had a neck injury from pole vaulting a few months back and when i went into the E.R. the nurse put my neck brace on wrong. I kept messing with it because my neck hurt so bad and she yelled at me and told me not to mess with it ( my mom is a nurse, and she knew it was on wrong, as well as i) when i went to get my x rays the nurse there was like, "who put this on you?!" and she fixed it and then it actually did what it was disigned to do! if a nurse can't even put a neck brace on...then what else is she doing wrong...? Hospitals scare me! hopefully one day i am a great nurse

[Sparrowhawk]

I don't know how to do everything other nurses do...doesn't make me a bad nurse nor does it mean because I don't know how to do x or z that I make bigger mistakes.

[Ruby Vee, BSN]

must be summer vacation -- some kids have nothing better to do than stir up stuff on the internet?

[porridge]

There is a very valid point being made in this thread, and it is that jumping quickly to denigrate another nurse's professional worth because of a mistake is one of the more unpleasant symptoms of the serious problem of an overall lowering of morale in nursing.

[Altra, BSN, RN]

Would you like an "S" for your chest, SuperNurse-to-be?

Yet again we have, "Hospitals are scary!" with the (barely) unspoken, "I, however, will come and set everything right."

[Caffeine_IV]

I was expecting a much more serious transgression than an incorrect c-collar.

She reacted wrong to being told the collar wasn't placed right but you are now overreacting to the situation.

[gentlegiver, ASN, LPN, RN]

I work LTC, I rarely have braces (other than wrist ones) to apply on patients. That said, I did have a new patient come in with a brace for his leg that had more straps and pieces than you would have thought possible. None of us had the smallest idea of how the darn thing went on. The DON finally called the hospital and one of thier staff agreed to stop in to teach us on her way home. Needless to say, she was smerking and trying not to laugh at the mess we made in trying to put the darn thing on (we didn't take offense as once she showed us the correct way we all were laughing at ourselves). It didn't make us "bad" Nurses, just good Nurses who were untrained in new technology.

[kalevra, BSN, RN]

We did tell her it was on wrong, but she disagreed.

So the nurse was informed that the neck brace was hurting you and it was placed on you incorrectly. I am also to assume that your mother who is also a nurse informed her of the improper placement of the device, since you said we and not I. The nurse made a mistake yes, it happens people are not perfect. In your case however she was told about the improper placement and did not investigate/double-check if she had made a mistake. The device was left on you causing further discomfort and no one caught it till the next nurse came into the picture.

The nurse was told of the issue and made no move to correct the error. The signs were there people and she just ignored her patient. I don't know what other "what if" circumstances was surrounding the situation but based on what is, that's kinda messed up. Perhaps the nurse didn't like it when patients or other nurses tell her how to do their job...or constructive criticism.

[Cessna172]

It's not like the OP made a big deal of it. Seems the point is that the nurse failed to acknowledge the patients complaint, and ignored her, without accepting that she herself could actually have made a mistake. How many other times has that nurse made someone wear the collar backwards, and will she continue to do so?

Alot of the times, I read nurses making excuses for situations like this. Maybe she was tired, near the end of her shift, etc... so what, is that really a valid excuse? I belong to the group of nurses who has made mistakes too. I simply apologize, learn from it, and move on. Why couldn't she?

[Cessna172]

It's not like the OP made a big deal of it. Seems the point is that the nurse failed to acknowledge the patients complaint, and ignored her, without accepting that she herself could actually have made a mistake. How many other times has that nurse made someone wear the collar backwards, and will she continue to do so?

Alot of the times, I read nurses making excuses for situations like this. Maybe she was tired, near the end of her shift, etc... so what, is that really a valid excuse? I belong to the group of nurses who has made mistakes too. I simply apologize, learn from it, and move on. Why couldn't she?

[kalevra, BSN, RN]

It's not like the OP made a big deal of it. Seems the point is that the nurse failed to acknowledge the patients complaint, and ignored her, without accepting that she herself could actually have made a mistake. How many other times has that nurse made someone wear the collar backwards, and will she continue to do so?

Alot of the times, I read nurses making excuses for situations like this. Maybe she was tired, near the end of her shift, etc... so what, is that really a valid excuse? I belong to the group of nurses who has made mistakes too. I simply apologize, learn from it, and move on. Why couldn't she?

Exactly

[kalevra, BSN, RN]

sorry to say this but you mentioned that your mother is also a nurse and she knew your brace was on wrong, yet she also didn't know how to intervene? 'cuz if your logic is followed, if all nurses should know how to put braces on, and your mother is a nurse, then your mother should know how to correct your brace problem...

True, the mother did spot the problem and informed the nurse providing care about the mistake. The big issue here is the nurse on duty didn't catch that a mistake was made on their part, didn't make corrections, and didn't learn from the mistake. That is the big issue.

[Black Jade, BSN, RN]

When I had my surgery, I had a student nurse give me the wrong IV solution...THREE TIMES. My friend who came to visit mentioned to her that I was a nurse and I don't know if that made her nervous. I had my family around, but they didn't know what was going on. Also, I was very weak due to my anemia s/p my surgery and I wasn't able to "defend" myself. What was most upsetting was I had an idiot float nurse who was supposed to be supervising the student and neither bothered check my ID or the computer to see if I actually needed my IV replaced. In the end, I didn't needed the IV anymore after I insisted several times to check on the computer. I ended up putting a complaint to five different supervisors about this nurse. Because of this, if any of my loved ones end up in the hospital I will be hovering like a vulture watching every nurses' move. The feeling of being vulnerable was hard to describe. Sometimes I wished that I didn't had any medical knowledge and it was better to be ignorant about my surroundings. I don't even want to think if that medication error/neglect/stupidity were to happen to my loved ones.