So a couple of days ago I worked at my contingent job. If any of you look at my posts from that day, I talked about my patient who had a seizure. Anyhow, I had another patient that night who I knew would eventually be going to dialysis but didn't know if it was that day because her blood pressure was labile.
So morning comes, I had already taken my seizure patient to ICU. And transport arrives for my dialysis patient. Her glucose is about 60 so I had the aide give her some juice. I should has specified apple and not orange but forgot cuz I was in a hurry to get this patient ready. Patient drinks her juice and I escort her to dialysis. I explained to the dialysis nurse that her glucose was low and I gave her orange juice...Instead of ok, fine whatever I get..
"You should know better, orange juice is high in potassium!!! Her blood glucose isn't even that low!!!!!"
She was very rude and condescending and unprofessional. I mean, she could have pulled me to the side and said next time make sure you give apple juice instead of orange. But no, she ripped me a new butt in front of the patient which I felt very offended by.
I wanted to snap back and say "Does it really matter at this point, she IS getting her dialysis today, is she not?"
Now that I think about it, her potassium level was only 3.8. I don't think that orange juice made that big of a difference in my opinion.
yeah gee whiz nurses need to know all the facts before they get catty. Like we all haven't ever given a renal pt. OJ...lol...especially when that pt. didn't know that 6 pack of soda yesterday wasn't such a good idea..lol:yeah:
no, certainly not enough to make her hyperkalemic...
wonder if the dialysis nurse knew this?
leslie
you'd think she should have know that, right? i wish i could have just..:sasq:
correct me if i am wrong, but dean't apple juice have potaasium in it too!
last year when i had salmonella and bacterimia the infection control doc told me to drink apple juice cause i needed to keep my k+ levels up after being d/c'd from the hospital.
just my thoughts !
i'm sure apple juice has potassium in it. i'm not sure how much more potassium is in orange juice vs. apple juice. it's not like a gave this lady some 360cc glass of orange juice. it was a little dinky can about 150cc. anyhow, refer to sasquatch above.
yeah gee whiz nurses need to know all the facts before they get catty. like we all haven't ever given a renal pt. oj...lol...especially when that pt. didn't know that 6 pack of soda yesterday wasn't such a good idea..lol:yeah:
i think we all need some xanax. of course, it would have been nice if she had asked me what the patient's potassium level was but she was too busy flapping at the gums. i had an esrd patient and he loved his milk. the dietary aide was very reluctant to let me take him more milk because of the protein. the poor guy, only 31 y.o, was dying anyways, at that point, all that protein was going to be his cause of death.
Specializes in Trauma,ER,CCU/OHU/Nsg Ed/Nsg Research.
1/3 c OJ= 157 mg potassium
1/3c Apple juice= 98 mg potassium
I really don't see the big deal potassium-wise, especially since the pt was going to dialysis. As someone already said, apple juice will sustain the glucose level for a longer period of time. One would think the dialysis nurse would be more worried about a low glucose than the potassium level.
There is a nurse on my unit that does that kind of stuff. I can't stand reporting off to her. I used to think it was just her PMSing. After a year I've realized that it is really just her mind 24/7, and I think she controls her mouth most of the time. Generally it just impedes communication, imho, because you never know what piece of info will set her off. So it can be like walking on eggshells. She's also not afraid to make you look bad in front of the patient or one of their family members. It drives me up the wall.
Still, it is obnoxious to work around someone like that or have to deal with them. Like you said, you were in a hurry. It's not like you're a dialysis nurse anyways and I'm sure you probably don't have the kidney diet memorized like she probably does.
Bocephus71RN-BSN, BSN, RN
74 Posts
yeah gee whiz nurses need to know all the facts before they get catty. Like we all haven't ever given a renal pt. OJ...lol...especially when that pt. didn't know that 6 pack of soda yesterday wasn't such a good idea..lol:yeah: