monitoring patient...

Nurses General Nursing

Published

I am a new nurse with less than 2 months experience on my own. When working 2 nights ago I got an admit right at 2000 and already had 3 others patients with 2 of them running high fevers and c/o pain. This new admit was coming in due to respiratory issues and a fever in recovery after a bronchoscopy and was admitted to r/o pneumonia. I was really busy with the other patients when I got this admit and should not have been given this admit considering another nurse had stable patients that did not have immediate needs, but she 'disappeared' somewhere and I had to take this admit. When the patient arrived he was stable, a&o, on humidifed oxygen (blow by)...so i did my assessment and he looked really good and I finished with the other patients. However, i forgot to hook this patient up to a monitor and my charge nurse was really upset with me that i didn't get him on a monitor right away. She told me then that he needed to be on a monitor and she again told me later in the shift at how concerned she was that he wasn't placed on the monitor even though nothing happened. It made me feel awful...I was almost in tears. I still feel bad and I don't want to go back to work....

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in home health, dialysis, others.

Luv, as far as errors go, this does not rank very high. You have learned a lesson. Hold your head up, go into work, and blow the charge nurse away by thanking her for her consideration of your patient!

And when you post, try to write with shorter paragraphs as they are easier to read.

You are going to be a GREAT nurse - don't let this get you down. Best wishes!

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in Oncology.

Was there an order for the patient to be monitored? No? Then it's a nursing judgment. Just because the charge nurse's nursing judgment is different from yours, it doesn't give her a right to belittle you over it. Did she assess the patient?

Granted, the charge nurse is presumably more experienced than you, so it is good to listen to her advice, but it sounds like you did once she told you to monitor the patient.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in Hospital Education Coordinator.

get over it. You will be fussed at by all kinds of people. You will learn to develop a thick skin. No harm in telling her if she thought there were issues she could have jumped in to help. No one is perfect.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in Critical Care/Coronary Care Unit,.

if forgetting to put the monitor on the patient was your biggest mistake...then you didn't do all that bad. you learned a lesson for next time and believe that charge nurse has made his/her share of mistakes as well. go to work and take care of your patients. :nurse:

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in Med/surg, rural CCU.

((hugs)) really, don't let it get you down. Take it as education, learn from it, and move on.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in geriatrics.

Don't let it get to you, learn from it. And let the charge nurse know you are thankful she pointed this out to you, and you appreciate her concerns. By doing this you are showing maturity and respect to her, which is NOT 'kissing-up' but quite the opposite. She will go away with respect for you admitting you erred, and you will go away feeling you learned something (so much to always learn!) and all will be well.

Up Vote Up Vote ×

(rant)This is one of those instances where your fearless leaders should step up and help out. DO NOT forget to ask for help ESPECIALLY from supervisors when these situations arise. If she noticed it, told you about it, and you didn't have time, instead of taking your time to do it, you could say, "I'm terribly sorry I'm totally swamped... is there any way you could help me out and put them on monitor? I just totally forgot."

This way you don't give them the chance to b**** about it twice. Also, a good supervisor would, on second request, ask if you need help. She obviously needs a bit of education what it means to be a supervisor.

Ps- "doing the schedule" or "figuring out staffing" is a POOR excuse. Helping staff is at the core of their responsibilities.(end rant)

Finally, when I admit patients (almost all our patients are tele, and if mine aren't they're automatically put on con't SpO2 if they're getting ANY pain meds) the first thing you do is A-Vitals, B-Assessment, C-Telemetry. You can mix and match as you will... some like to do them in different order, but make sure you follow your order of things. Don't get sidetracked. Take a deep breath. Every shift ends SOMETIME... it just might not be by the end of your regular shift. Oh, and temps aren't necessarily SUPER critical to take care of *right now* ... Unless they're HR is tachy, respers are elevated, or are in some other way distressing, you can take care of that when you get to them.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
+ Add a Comment