I am an LPN working in longterm care. I love what I do for a living. I am currently working on my RN (at 42 years of age...lol). Today was one of the most difficult days, emotionally, for me as a nurse.
This morning I admitted an elderly woman to the facility that I work for. Nothing unusual about that except for her reason for admission. I really want to be able to discuss this without it becoming a HIPPA violation so of course, I will not use name, age, or location in this post. She came to us from the hospital having had exploratory surgery done in effort to determine the extent of internal damage caused by a self inflicted gunshot wound to the chest. She had attempted to shoot herself through the heart, however, the bullet ricocheted and traveled around her rib cage and exited through her back.
Now, I am sure ther are a lot of nurses here who see this kind of thing regularly, and perhaps have even become somewhat acclimated to it... but it is not something that comes through longterm care doors often. I have helped, during my career as a nurse, many, many people to leave this world with as much comfort and dignity as I could possibly provide. But never have I seen such anguish in another person as what I saw in this woman today, and frankly I am having a very difficult time dealing with it.
Then to top it off, my MDS coordinator hears about it and knocks on the door while I am doing her admission assessment. I called out that we were occupied but she came in anyway just as I was removing the dressing on my patients chest to measure the wound site. She said OH! OH! OH! I want to see this! If you could have seen the look of sheer humiliation on my patient's face it, I believe you would have been as sickened as I was by that behavior. Her actions took my patient from being a woman in crisis to being a gunshot wound in an instant. I asked her to leave the room and apologized to my new patient. Unfortunately that was all that I could do.
I could use some advice here from anyone willing to offer it. I am usually able to maintain a professional attitude about work, but I must admit that this one had me in tears all of the way home.
Sounds like there was some kind of problem going on if the MDS coordinator position was a revolving door like that. I do know that some people get into that position to avoid patient contact. What a shame that they get away with not actually assessing the patients.
Good call on feeling the need to talk. I've seen a lot of traumatic things that at the time made me want to quit/cry/kick the dirt, and after some time and reflection it wasn't as difficult to handle. I think this is in large part due to the way I talk things out (here and IRL with other nurses). Give it time.
I would like to thank all who have responded to this post. I did not write the MDS coordinator up for her actions. I did, however, pull her aside and talk to her about it today. She hadn't even realized that she seemed so insensitive and after talking to me she apologized to the resident. I believe she was genuinely sorry for her attitude toward the new resident's condition. And for the record, this is the ONLY time she has come into an admission assessment since I have worked at this facility. I think it would be wonderful if she attended them all as then she would have a better concept of the patient's needs, but she relies on the nurses assessment to develop her care plans.
As to me, I feel a bit better today. This situation has deffinately effected me in a profound way though. I am finding myself thinking introspectivly this day and assessing my life and my goals. I do not want to be so sad in my own life at her age as to feel the need to end it all. Maybe it was my wake up call to make my life what I want it to be...
Again, thank you all for your thoughtful posts and your advice...
Maybe the MSDS person did need to assess the wound, but an insensitive remark to a patient is way out of line. That type of behavior needs to be addressed. Bad behavior is like rotten apples- it spreads from one to the next until the whole bag stinks.
A better approach might have been to say "Mind if I take a look?". It wouldn't have been as much as a personal violation.
Well done Carly! Keep up the good work. Takes some nerve to pull someone aside even though it is the professional thing to do. I say start inviting her to come in for assessments, wound care, etc. Maybe she doesn't know that she should be doing more hands on. Swing by her office and tell her "i've got this going on in 20 minutes. Do you want to join me so you can get a good feel for what is going on?" You'd be really getting that interdisciplinary thing going, making her feel wanted, and providing great care.
.thumb.gif.fc0b5b00a77a1cf676541776e02de0f9.gif){kind=avatar}
RN1989
1,348 Posts
Sounds like there was some kind of problem going on if the MDS coordinator position was a revolving door like that. I do know that some people get into that position to avoid patient contact. What a shame that they get away with not actually assessing the patients.