night nurse who leaves everything undone..

Specialties Geriatric

Published

Specializes in Geriatrics, Med-Surg..

What do you guys think of a night nurse who charts that they did an in and out cath but doesn't really do it and the residents bladder is ready to blow. To top it off this is not a one time thing, she does this a lot. I feel so bad for the resident, she must be in excrutiating agony.:angryfire

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Do the required procedure along with needed documentation showing exact condition of pt when you found her, your assessment, your actions. This covers you as far as the required nursing care. If this is an isolated instance, have a talk with the nurse. Maybe she just charted with the intentions of following through and got sidetracked. If this is a bad habit of hers, where she tries to make it look like she accomplished more that she really does in reality, then you should gather up some evidence, in writing, and provide it to the supvr. Once you have brought the poor pt care to the attention of the supvr, your responsibility ends; unless the behavior continues. Document, document, document, so that you are not painted with her brush; particularly if there are adverse outcomes, up to and including lawsuits/deaths. You have to protect yourself as well as see that the pt is taken care of appropriately. Yet it is not your duty to play nursemaid to your co-worker. Good luck. Put up your guard.

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Well, let's see. The nurse has falsified a medical record (unless this res just makes pee, a whole lot and quickly) and she has not followed a doctor's order and she has probably been negligent and abused her patient.

I think you need to gently confront her.

Tell her you are a little confused, that the res had 600 cc when you cathed her at 0800 and you saw where she had just been cathed 2 hrs. earlier. Tell her this has happened several times and give her dates and amounts of urine. See her reaction. See if it happens any more. If it does, or if you just don't want to be bothered with the above, just tell your boss and let her deal with it.

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Specializes in Brain injury,vent,peds ,geriatrics,home.

If this person is being negligent ,WE as nurses are patient advocates.Document the amount of urine you drained. But then again,are you sure she didnt do it??Certain medical conditions could cause someone to produce alot of urine.((diabetes insipidus)) Inquire about her diagnosis and possibly bring it to the DR attention maybe her condition is worsening and the other nurse might really be cathing the pt.Maybe the Pt requires more intense medical intervention.Id hate to think a fellow nurse is lying about the treatment being given.

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Specializes in Gerontology, Med surg, Home Health.

I don't know what the policy is where you work, but I don't really think it's up to the floor nurse to 'get evidence' on another nurse. Follow the chain of command whatever that is in your building...charge nurse then supervisor then assistant dns...whatever it is, follow it. Let THEM investigate. Don't you have enough work to do without trying to find out what someone else didn't do?

There is a similar post about people signing off treatments without doing them. Do they realize that it is a federal offense to falsify medical records? Everyone talks about putting their license on the line because they think they have too many patients, but THIS is what endangers your license (and rightfully so!!).

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What do you guys think of a night nurse who charts that they did an in and out cath but doesn't really do it and the residents bladder is ready to blow. To top it off this is not a one time thing, she does this a lot. I feel so bad for the resident, she must be in excrutiating agony.:angryfire

I agree with allantiques4me. It's wrong to assume that a previous shift nurse did not do catheterization just because the amount of urine you obtained was a lot.

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What do you guys think of a night nurse who charts that they did an in and out cath but doesn't really do it and the residents bladder is ready to blow. To top it off this is not a one time thing, she does this a lot. I feel so bad for the resident, she must be in excrutiating agony.:angryfire

How do you know that she didn't do it? Did the resident tell you she didn't, or was it by the amount of urine you got when you cathed the resident?

Are they ordered at a specific time? If so, maybe she's doing them when they're convenient for her instead of when they're ordered?

I can tell you that if 'I' were the resident - you'd get large amounts everytime - I'm a pee machine.

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Specializes in Brain injury,vent,peds ,geriatrics,home.
How do you know that she didn't do it? Did the resident tell you she didn't, or was it by the amount of urine you got when you cathed the resident?

Are they ordered at a specific time? If so, maybe she's doing them when they're convenient for her instead of when they're ordered?

I can tell you that if 'I' were the resident - you'd get large amounts everytime - I'm a pee machine.

Me too.Ha Ha

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Specializes in med/surg, telemetry, IV therapy, mgmt.
What do you guys think of a night nurse who charts that they did an in and out cath but doesn't really do it and the residents bladder is ready to blow. To top it off this is not a one time thing, she does this a lot. I feel so bad for the resident, she must be in excrutiating agony.:angryfire

I think this is a pretty crappy nurse. I would make it a point to check that resident the first thing I came on duty after her, catheterize the patient if necessary and then make it a point to chart the time and the amount of urine obtained. I would also start pointing out to the bosses that this doesn't happen when you follow other nurses, so something seems "funny". I'd also lay it on with this nurse about how odd it is that the patient always has to be cathed in the mornings for huge amounts of urine. If she's too dumb to figure out that's she's being watched, then she deserves everything coming to her.

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Specializes in Nursing Home ,Dementia Care,Neurology..

Slightly sideways to the topic but if this patient needs all this catheterisation why is she not on continuous drainage?

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Specializes in Gerontology, Med surg, Home Health.

I had a patient once who had to be cathed at least once a shift. He was young with some cognitive problems. His mother was his health care proxy. He was okay with me the first few days I worked on the floor, but then when I'd go in to cath him....he tried to grab my a**. I told him I wouldn't stand for such behavior and called the doc just to let him know that I wasn't going to cath the man if he tried to grab me. The doctor got very angry at the patient and wanted to stop all the nonsense and put in a suprapubic tube. The mother flat out refused. Never know about some things...might be a reason the woman doesn't have an indwelling cath.

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Slightly sideways to the topic but if this patient needs all this catheterisation why is she not on continuous drainage?

I have residents I cath Q shift because they have residual urine left - they can void on their own, but not empty the bladder completely.

An indwelling will do two things: greatly increase the likelihood of bladder infections, and further reduce the bladder's ability to void.

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