Name a situation that is not your responsibilty...

[NurseCallus]

Was talking about this with some other nurses. I am not sure if it is like this everywhere, but where i work, the nurse is responsible for everything. Any situation that occurs in the hospital can be manipulated to put responsibility on the nurse. Doctor's orders don't matter. Pharmacist verification does not matter. It is the almighty nurse that is responsible for all.

How did it become this way? Has it always been this way?

[The Bell Jar]

I was just reading about this on another thread-its true and often its things we have zero control over

[bill4745, RN]

We keep box lunches in the fridge for our ER patients. When we run out it is nursing's fault because one of us didn't call dietary and notify them. When the sidewalk outside of the waiting room was icy it was the triage nurse's fault for not calling maintenance.

[kathy313]

At my last job, maintenance gave me a key so I could fill the toilet paper if it ran out....employee or resident bathrooms. I had no idea this fell under "other duties as assigned".

[RNperdiem, RN]

It is not my responsibility to intervene in family visitation squabbles.

Unless my patient is directly affected, I tell the family to work it out.

I refuse to get entangled in those situations (usually involving ex-spouses).

Yes, I do not exactly what you mean about everything falling to the nurse.

[LiverpoolJane]

I was a ward manager for nearly five years and was convinced the title was a fictional one as they couldn't fit "person to blame when things go wrong" on a name badge.

I used to get phone calls at night from the ward staff telling me the bank nurse hadn't turned in, the night managers would tell them to do this, I have no idea what they expected me to do.

[RNKPCE]

Informed consent and discharge instructions. Both are the physicians responsibility. Where I work nurses can't even enter discharge instuctions in the computer and docs know we can't.

[XB9S, BSN, MSN, EdD, RN, APN]

I was a ward manager for nearly five years and was convinced the title was a fictional one as they couldn't fit "person to blame when things go wrong" on a name badge.

I used to get phone calls at night from the ward staff telling me the bank nurse hadn't turned in, the night managers would tell them to do this, I have no idea what they expected me to do.

Get up and go to work if course we are talking NHS after all you work there because you have no need fir anything else in your life

[NurseCallus]

I think its funny when I am responsible for getting consent for surgeries that I dont even fully understand. I am told to get the consent and inform the patient that the surgeon will answer all questions before the surgery. So the pt is basically consenting, and I am witnessing a consent that the patient isnt really consenting to, yet if i dont get the consent signed. Nurse = in big doo doo.

[ChristyRN2009]

Yeah, I love how in nursing school and on boards its drilled into our heads that nurses can only witness consent signature, not inform the patient. Yet when I bring the consent into my real patient for a cardiac cath, they don't know what it means and the doc just said "we're going to look at your heart." ???? No risks, benefits, nothing. But oh goodness, if that is not signed by the time they get to the cath lab, whose fault is it?

[tewdles, RN]

I think its funny when I am responsible for getting consent for surgeries that I dont even fully understand. I am told to get the consent and inform the patient that the surgeon will answer all questions before the surgery. So the pt is basically consenting, and I am witnessing a consent that the patient isnt really consenting to, yet if i dont get the consent signed. Nurse = in big doo doo.

Consider if you can impact change in this important area. Informed consent needs to be obtained by the physician. If the patient has questions at the time that the consent needs to be signed, you should be calling the surgeon to come answer those questions BEFORE the patient signs the consent. If you allow yourself to be pressured into practicing otherwise you could be in serious legal jeopardy. We may, as nurses, witness the patient signature on the informed consent, but it is the physician's responsibility to insure that all pertinent information was supplied and ALL questions were answered by the MD before signature. Please speak with your nursing management about this practice and discover ways that it may be improved, for your sake and the sake of your peers.

[tewdles, RN]

Yeah, I love how in nursing school and on boards its drilled into our heads that nurses can only witness consent signature, not inform the patient. Yet when I bring the consent into my real patient for a cardiac cath, they don't know what it means and the doc just said "we're going to look at your heart." ???? No risks, benefits, nothing. But oh goodness, if that is not signed by the time they get to the cath lab, whose fault is it?

Seriously, if the patient has questions or doesn't understand; it is the physcians fault that the consent is not signed. Document the concerns and call the doc.