Is it common?

Noooooooo. Maybe its different because we are a chest pain center. We call the doctor immediately and they give us orders. If the doctor doesn't call us back within a certain amount of time we have to call the attending in the chest pain area of the ed.

If there is something wrong with the patient, as a nurse, we need to get a hold of the doctor. Especially if its something that can be really really serious such as chest pain.

it's not common, but i've seen it happen. they don't know what to do, so rather than doing something "wrong," they do nothing. not understanding of course, that "nothing" is the worst "something" they can do.

Since when is calling a doctor when you have concerns ever considered "wrong"?

since when is calling a doctor when you have concerns ever considered "wrong"?

you'd be surprised. (or maybe not). a lot of places regard the doctors as sacred, and you'd better not "bother" them with something so trivial as a full blown code. not saying it's right. just saying i've seen it.

We have a hospital wide protocol,..CP= page the doc, then O2,monitor, EKG, and SL nitro X3 (if SBP >100),..then the doc decides what to do from there.

no, we have somewhat of a protocol. and then we also have a rapid response team. its wonderfully awesome, it works great! now when it comes to it being a guest of a pt, thats a total different story!!!

-H-RN

I'm still just a student (LPN), but we covered this last semester and we were taught to administer 2 L/min O2 (assuming there is no other standing order), collect vitals, then call the doctor or team leader, depending on the facility and policies.

If nitro, etc. whatever is ordered prn, obviously, we'd administer it.