Maybe giving it all up

dsgrandmarn · Mar 10, 2009

I may be missing something but from what you say I can't see what you did wrong. Others are judging based on hindsight, which is always easy. You made the right call based on the facts you had AT THE TIME. What you ended up doing is standard everywhere I've ever worked- LTC and hospice. Others love to second guess but try not to let it get to you. They weren't there. Hang in there.

SuesquatchRN, BSN, RN · Mar 10, 2009

{{{hopeless}}}

Mulan · Mar 10, 2009

I wouldn't worry about it. The hip fracture wasn't caused by you putting him back into the bed.

What did they do about the hip fracture?

The outcome would have been the same either way, left on the floor and sent out then or sent out later, wouldn't it?

Don't let them make you feel bad.

Learn and go on.

Bugaloo · Mar 10, 2009

I think you are being too hard on yourself. A lot of times, they do not complain right away of pain. A lot of times, the fractures do not even show up right away.

Do not let the opinions of the other nurses make you feel bad. It is SOOOOO not worth it.

{{{HUGS}}}

HopelessinLTC · Mar 10, 2009

I do really appreciate your kind words. I did the best I could do alone. I had no other nurse around to ask an opinion of. I am not a new nurse, but this isn't an everyday thing for us. I Thought I did the right thing at the time. My co-workers think otherwise and that is what is so upsetting. I think when this whole mess is over with I will try to find a more supportive work place

HopelessinLTC · Mar 10, 2009

They did end up doing surgery on this man. I have not heard about how it went yet.

oramar · Mar 10, 2009

Here is something that has occurred to me just recently. Old people fall, they always have always fallen and always will fall. If the BON took away the license of every nurse who had a old person fall, injured or not, there would be no nurses left. No nurses and still old people would be falling. We used to restrain them and they fell, we stopped restraining them and they are still falling. Some say they fall less than they used to but I am not seeing it. In acute care we didn't move them till a doc saw them or they went to ER to be examined, however you don't have those resources in LTC. I worked a very short time in LTC and I can assure that is the way they were doing it there. Picking them up and putting them back in bed unless there were signs of injury. If there were signs of injury or signs of injury turned up later they were sent into ER. Falls were one of the reasons I couldn't deal with LTC, the paperwork alone was enough to drive you crazy and since everyone fell just about everyday it was endless. Some people would say every person that falls in LTC should be checked by MD. It is impossible, there would be a dozen ambulances servicing just one 300 bed facility all day long dropping of patients at the ER and turning back for more.

oramar · Mar 10, 2009

but this isn't an everyday thing for us. I Thought I did the right thing at the time. My co-workers think otherwise and that is what is so upsetting. I think when this whole mess is over with I will try to find a more supportive work place

Your kidding me, you mean falls aren't an everyday thing for you. My mother in law was in long term for two years, she fell all the time and so did everyone else. The falls were result of her doing as she darn well pleased, no one could stop her. One time she suffered a pelvic fracture and there were no recriminations what so ever from my husbands family because they knew no one could keep her off her feet. She was on an ambulatory dementia/alzheimers unit half the people on her unit were just like her and they were constantly falling also.

HopelessinLTC · Mar 10, 2009

No,we really don't have too many falls. It really isn't the fall part that has me worried. It is the part the I returned him to bed. I think I am through with long term care. Not just because of this, so much is wrong with it. I love working with the elderly, but I feel it is just getting to risky. I do as much as I can as safely as I can and it still doesn't seem like enough.

oramar · Mar 11, 2009

No,we really don't have too many falls. It really isn't the fall part that has me worried. It is the part the I returned him to bed. I think I am through with long term care. Not just because of this, so much is wrong with it. I love working with the elderly, but I feel it is just getting to risky. I do as much as I can as safely as I can and it still doesn't seem like enough.

I hear you. You sound like a kind, conscientious person. Like I said in a previous post, I took a short shot a LTC. Found tons of responsibility, very little in the way of staffing and resources, way to much blaming. Said "no thank you". I can see where you are coming from.

CoffeeRTC, BSN, RN · Mar 11, 2009

BTDT. I have to agree with what everyone else has said.

YOu didn't cause the fracture, him falling from bed did. The state will not take your license. What they will do is look at what was careplaned. Was he assessed for falls? What were the interventions to keep him from falling or reduce the number of his falls? Did the facility have a policy in place for what to do after a fall? (I worked in one place where everyone was returned to bed via a lift...even if they were as spry as you and me)

Falls are not an everyday thing in our place, but they are common. You can't be in every place all the time.