Most shocking thing you've seen another nurse do?

OrganizedChaos, LVN · Jun 2, 2014

Wow. I hope I never get that angry or burnt out to do that to a patient. I can't imagine the pain that poor man was in.

I understand your hesitation. You were caught between a rock & a hard place. Say something & possible get in trouble/lose your job or be quiet & keep it.

ICURN3020 · Jun 2, 2014

When I was still precepting at my first job, one of the other ICU nurses had a patient who was due to be extubated that morning, but absolutely freaked out with sedation turned down. The physician wanted sedation off from 5 AM on, so the guy was just in agony, thrashing around for three hours until 8 AM, when the physician finally showed up and decided the patient was too "unstable" to extubate because of his BP in the 200s and HR in the 150s+. Gee, doc, I wonder why that is?!
Anyway, because the physician decided to give the guy another day on the ventilator, and the nurse was mad about it, she decided not to turn the patient's sedation back on all day long out of spite. Every time I'd walk past the room, the guy was flailing around and thrashing, tears running down his face... finally, when night shift got there, the first thing the night shift nurse taking over that guy's care did was turn his propofol back on. In retrospect, I wish I had said/done something... but I was a brand new nurse fresh out of school, I was still on orientation, my preceptor was best buds with this nurse and I felt like I'd be making big time waves in a bad way if I questioned her, and this nurse had more than 10 years of experience and I honestly just didn't know whether it was any of my business what she did to her patients. I would say something if I saw that happening now.

Wow, that's horrible! Hopefully she never finds herself on the other end of that vent either due to illness or karma. Especially with a mean nurse like herself!

ausrnurse · Jun 2, 2014

When I was still precepting at my first job, one of the other ICU nurses had a patient who was due to be extubated that morning, but absolutely freaked out with sedation turned down. The physician wanted sedation off from 5 AM on, so the guy was just in agony, thrashing around for three hours until 8 AM, when the physician finally showed up and decided the patient was too "unstable" to extubate because of his BP in the 200s and HR in the 150s+. Gee, doc, I wonder why that is?!
Anyway, because the physician decided to give the guy another day on the ventilator, and the nurse was mad about it, she decided not to turn the patient's sedation back on all day long out of spite. Every time I'd walk past the room, the guy was flailing around and thrashing, tears running down his face... finally, when night shift got there, the first thing the night shift nurse taking over that guy's care did was turn his propofol back on. In retrospect, I wish I had said/done something... but I was a brand new nurse fresh out of school, I was still on orientation, my preceptor was best buds with this nurse and I felt like I'd be making big time waves in a bad way if I questioned her, and this nurse had more than 10 years of experience and I honestly just didn't know whether it was any of my business what she did to her patients. I would say something if I saw that happening now.

What the? First off, drives me wild when doctors come around and tell you to turn off the propofol then make you wait hours before they review the patient (I just want to scream at them sometimes...DO YOU KNOW THE HALF LIFE OF PROPOFOL??) Second of all, totally disgusting that someone would do this to a patient, and what sort of ICU nurse wants a patient moving and in pain anyway?

TheGooch · Jun 3, 2014

Wow. I hope I never get that angry or burnt out to do that to a patient. I can't imagine the pain that poor man was in.
I understand your hesitation. You were caught between a rock & a hard place. Say something & possible get in trouble/lose your job or be quiet & keep it.

But I thought nurses were supposed to advocate for their patients? IMO the person who sat and watched as this was happening without reporting it is just as guilty as the nurse who did it. Regardless of whether she was new and was afraid of losing her job. She could have reported it to someone other than her preceptor who was best buds with the nurse who did. That is just cruel.

imintrouble, BSN, RN · Jun 3, 2014

I have nothing half as shocking as the incidents listed here.

There was a nurse and insulin. Not very shocking. The wrong insulin is given at times, and nobody has to die over it.

What I found shocking was the nurse was laughing as she reported it to me as her replacement. Laughed because she wasn't sure if she really gave the wrong insulin or not. She hadn't repeated a BG, or contacted the supervisor or the MD. I still remember the laughing.

Nola009 · Jun 3, 2014

Oh my goodness, that is so scary and so sad. That poor man. I guess I'm thankful that the worst I've seen so far is nurses pre pouring

angikat · Jun 3, 2014

SNF. RN supervisor summoned (overhead, at about 0300) me to one of her rooms. She was attempting to insert an NG tube in an alert man, about 40, alcoholic, with varices. Told me she felt a 'blockage'. She was holding the tube as though it were a fork, and she was 'stabbing' something. She rammed the tube down, pulled back, then rammed it again- until blood exloded out the tube. I suctioned him really quick and the suction tubing, canister and filters became packed with blood. I ran out and called 911, came back told her "Get the **** away from him! What are you DOING"?. I was suspended, for allowing her, an RN, my supervisor, to be so incompetent. Was told I should have known she was incompetent, and should have 'taken the NG from her and inserted it yourself'. Oh, really. Yes, he died. She was 'asked to resign', because her son was the medical director of the place. The panic on that man's face is clear today, and that was 25 years ago. BTW- I don't think an LVN should insert NG tubes, it's as crazy as giving TPN. Out of bounds, my opinion.

I'm an LPN but I have had more training in NG tube placement and care of gastric intubated patients. This is something my employer at the time felt we needed because they apparently felt as you do about LPN's inserting NG tubes. I'm thankful because I think it has helped me a great deal. Anyway, I have been in this same position with a new RN trying to insert an NG tube but she actually stopped herself and allowed me to show her. This same nurse also asked me for guidance on inserting a F/C and to draw blood. This was a nurse eager to learn and recognized that although you have the education, it does take some time to master the skills. However, I have met nurses (LPN & RN) just the opposite and I'm very thankful I never found myself in the same situation with one of them.

It's kinda scary to think that nurse ended up caring for others somewhere else. I just pray, for other patients sake, that she learned her lesson in that event.

Sent from my iPhone using allnurses. Angi/LPN (?RN)

calivianya, BSN, RN · Jun 5, 2014

But I thought nurses were supposed to advocate for their patients? IMO the person who sat and watched as this was happening without reporting it is just as guilty as the nurse who did it. Regardless of whether she was new and was afraid of losing her job. She could have reported it to someone other than her preceptor who was best buds with the nurse who did. That is just cruel.

I totally agree with you and I regret that I didn't do anything. I am still thinking about it and it was last August that this went down.

Not that it would have mattered if I had - this nurse has countless complaints against her, she is also a bully and terribly rude to other nurses as well as rude/cruel to her patients. Management does nothing because the work environment is so toxic that people leave quickly, and nurses like her who stay are gold, so nothing is ever going to get done about nurses like her. She's too valuable to the hospital. We have literally had to close 8 beds in our cardiac ICU because of lack of staff recently. They say we would need to hire 19 more nurses to open those beds alone, not counting how many staff we are short in my MICU as well. You could probably murder a patient intentionally and keep your job if you worked at my facility at this point.

LadyFree28, BSN, LPN, RN · Jun 5, 2014

Not that it would have mattered if I had - this nurse has countless complaints against her, she is also a bully and terribly rude to other nurses as well as rude/cruel to her patients. Management does nothing because the work environment is so toxic that people leave quickly, and nurses like her who stay are gold, so nothing is ever going to get done about nurses like her. She's too valuable to the hospital. We have literally had to close 8 beds in our cardiac ICU because of lack of staff recently. They say we would need to hire 19 more nurses to open those beds alone, not counting how many staff we are short in my MICU as well. You could probably murder a patient intentionally and keep your job if you worked at my facility at this point.

:eek:

cracklingkraken, ASN, RN · Jun 5, 2014

It sounds like many of these incidents occurred because someone was too proud to admit their mistake or not willing to take the time and double check. I hope that when I finally become a nurse, even after being a nurse for 50 years, I will never be too proud to admit my mistake, especially with someone's life at stake.

TriciaJ, RN · Jun 6, 2014

Saw a nurse who went against protocol and pulled 'Tylenol' for a patient and gave it without using our electronic MAR (scan pt, scan med) and gave the pills... she went back an hour later to scan it, she gave 2 lopressor pills instead of 2 Tylenol..

That's why the whole barcode thing was invented and installed in hospitals at great expense - so we could quit making errors like that. No matter what safety system gets invented, someone will find a way around it and kill someone anyway.

TriciaJ, RN · Jun 6, 2014

Once had a charge nurse who could be observed running AWAY every time a code was called on our unit. That problem was solved when they promoted him to manager.

There was the nurse who gave a patient's family her hospital ID so "they could have free parking when they visit." It obviously never occurred to her that they'd also have easy access to the parts of the hospital that are normally closed to family members. Then security questioned her about why she had been trying over and over to badge into pharmacy after it was closed for the night . . . .

The nursing student who was very concerned about giving the MOM as the patient was NPO. Another student told her to give it "in the butt." So she did. IM.

Then there was the brand new medical resident who had never defibrillated anyone before. The patient was in SVT, dropping blood pressures, but he defibrillated the nurse who was unfortunate enough to have her hands on the patient when he hauled off and zapped her. The nurse went to ER. The patient remained in SVT and the respiratory therapist (brave man that he was) wrestled the intern to the ground to get the paddles away from him.

Which reminds me of the pulmonolgist who had an ongoing hate affair with the cardiac surgeon who boinked his wife during the Christmas party. He hauled off to whack the cardiac surgeon in the face with a metal chart, and as his arm swung back, he clocked the NP who was coming up behind him. She needed stitches. Pulmonologist kept saying "I'm sorry, I'm sorry. I was trying to hit HIM."

You win. I'm not even going to try to think up an example for this thread.