Interesting*insert sarcasm* day at Clinical

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Specializes in SICU.

I did a semester at a cardiac Unit so im totally OCD about taking vitals at least an hour after giving ANY blood pressure meds...

so.....

on the med surg floor my patients bp was unstable. had an MI on the OR table. has floated btw CCU and ICU for a week because of risk of an acute MI. Post op day 8 and has NOT moved from bed...too much pain... and i was being extra cautious. great pt-very likable- appreciative. took his vitals decided to share them with the nurse... bp 82/58 manual. o2sat 83!!!!! pt feeling fatigued etc....diabetic am accucheck 332!!!...not using spirometer..

Nurse says ' who told you to do that huh?.you're just bothering him. Your pt will hate you. you're being a Bad Nurse! and you dont want to do that right now. and no i do NOT want to know his vitals..i dont need them':eek:

is it just me or was that totally unnecessary?..........

*i should add im just a student, dont know much so correct me if im wrong*

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Specializes in medical surgical.

i would want you to be my nurse

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Specializes in LTC.

I would have taken his vitals and went to my instructor along with the charge nurse.

As a new nurse..none of those numbers sit well with me so I'd be reporting those vital signs too.

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Specializes in ICU, M/S,Nurse Supervisor, CNS.

Wow, I would hate to have that person as my nurse. That BP and blood sugar were very significant and you were right to report them. Now, there may be some good reason why he BP is not alarming to that nurse, but I still think it is good habit to report significant information such as what you reported to her.

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What is that nurse's problem? Maybe she was having a bad day, who knows. But I haven't quite started clinicals yet and I know that the BP, O2 Sat and glucose are cause for concern.

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Specializes in critical care, PACU.

Ive totally charted before, with instructor approval, nurse notified of whatever it was and my interventions

then the balls in her court. so if the lawyer comes it doesnt look like I didnt tell the nurse

I had a patient once that became nonresponsive for 2 minutes or so and had a hx of febrile seizures and the nurse didnt care so I charted what happened and that the nurse was notified.

as a nursing student it's kinda like you saying you notified the md as a staff nurse

I always made sure that the nurse knew I charted this though and never did it without instructor back up

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O2 sat would have caused me much concern!

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Specializes in Operating Room Nursing.

My reply would have been 'likewise' and I would have reported the incident. This nurse sounds dangerous.

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Specializes in Professional Development Specialist.

Did you ask her why she didn't care? I would have notified my instructor too, and maybe we would have gone to the charge. But I have always found if I asked the RN they usually had a good reason why they didn't want that information and didn't find it relevant.

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Specializes in Operating Room Nursing.
Did you ask her why she didn't care? I would have notified my instructor too, and maybe we would have gone to the charge. But I have always found if I asked the RN they usually had a good reason why they didn't want that information and didn't find it relevant.

I can't think of any good rationale for any nurse to state they don't want to know the vitals on an unstable patient and telling a nursing student they are being a 'bad nurse' for taking them.

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Specializes in critical care, PACU.

the only thing I was thinking was maybe he's a COPDer and she didnt trust a manual bp done by a student. any competent nurse should have gone and immediately reassessed the patient though

to the OP: did you involve your instructor? you should definitely make it a point to do so if this ever happens in the future. you are there to advocate for your patient and if you feel them to be in danger you cant just let it go if the nurse says no.

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Specializes in SICU.

*more info*

I did talk to my instructor and since we are in the system we are allowed to chart so i charted and said i'd notified the nurse because i did..she just didnt want to listen at that time.

i believe she was mad because she felt i was disturbing the patient by taking his vitals abt 2.5 hrs after the 7am vitals.

in my defense, he has all the classic signs of something not quite right... i mean the pt is post op day8 and has NOT moved! i think we are at a dvt risk right there... he HAD a heart attack in the OR... his pulse ox is ridiculus. i gave him o2 but he was taking really shallow breaths...instructed him to take deeper breaths after like 3 mins puls ox was 86..not great still....

pt is on numerous meds a lot of them duiretics and beta blockers..im sure she had a good reason for not thinking the bp was of concern, but it would have been nice to have that said reason explained to me because i am LEARNING here...and from the little i know-those vitals dont look really good....

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