Just wanted to ask if any of you have supervisors who are nonclinical? By that I mean they might have degrees in marketing, administration or maybe even political science but not nursing or anywhere close to it.
Do you find it frustrating?
I have a direct supervisor who, although very congenial and extremely intelligent, I don't think has a degree in anything at all, the next in line has a degree in marketing, then finally I have one who is a nurse and is the VP of the company. We've only talked on maybe 2 different occasions and one of those was when I was ordering cookie dough from her for her son's school project. So you see she's not greatly involved in my day to day functions as a nurse, right?
Had a little situation where a pt. complained that he called the agency and was "brushed off" by being told to go to the ER by one of the nurses (couldn't remember who or exactly when). I work phone triage for a HH agency. Find record where I had indeed, over 2 months ago, talked to this pt. who was c/o sx. of hypokalemia, just gotten out of hosp. 5 days prior and had hx. of cardiac complications. So, what did I do? I stressed the potential danger of his sx. along w/ his dx. and the need to proceed w/ caution and recommended the need for ER visit (this all occurred after hours - so MD office closed), notified the nurse on-call in his geographical area - and she agreed. I mean, I thought this was the prudent thing to do and had an RN concur. Anyways, b/c I admit to talking with this pt. and admit to advising ER visit (BTW I've never sent one that didn't subsequently get admitted to the hosp.), now I have to justify the advice b/c of "customer service" complaint. :uhoh21:
Specializes in home & public health, med-surg, hospice.
Dummy question-I see you're a LVN. I thought LVN's couldn't do triage b/c it was considered assessing? Or is this a state to state thing? Maybe its just this state, but I;ve always been told that only RN's can do telephone triage.
Not meaning any disrespect here, i'm just curious. I don't want to have any misconceptions, you know?
Hey HappyNurse2005,
LOL...No, I am not at all offended by your question. I hate it that there is so much disunity in nursing (I think in part, b/c there are so many different levels of nursing) that we have to pose honest questions with statements like, "Not meaning any disrespect here," for fear of being taken the wrong way. That's another thread and issue though... :)
No, LVN/LPNs follow the same nursing process that RNs do, you know, ADPIE -Assess, Dx., Plan, Intervene and Evaluate. So, yes, we're quite capable of assessing patients. I mean, if we couldn't, we wouldn't be really nursing, would we?
I think the misconception might be that LVN/LPN are not eligble to apply for telephone triage certification. You know, like how you have to have a BSN for WOCN certification? Yet there are plenty of LVN, ADN and Diploma nurses doin' wound, ostomy, continence care everyday, right?
BTW, I'm finishing up my last semester of my 3rd year in my BSN program, so hopefully I'll be an RN soon! That being said, after I do attain this goal, there'll still be plenty of long-practicing LVN/LPN that'll still know tons more than me.
Specializes in home & public health, med-surg, hospice.
arrrgh, I didnt mean to post that yet. HOw can someone who is not a nurse really know if their employees(the nurses) are performing properly if they don't know what it is they are doing? how can they adequately handle a complaint about a nurse, if htey dont knwo what proper nursing practice is?
I;ve known of managers to have a BSN then an MBA, but thats different. -THey are a nurse, too
Well, luckily, I've always had the back-up of other nurses regarding my judgement. I mean, I always inform the field nurse (and they are RNs) in the area of my decisions, sometimes b4, sometimes after - just depends on the situation.
ETA: I have the back-up from RN in this situation as well. It's just what if she didn't remember the situation, or had quit in the 60 day time span that it supposedly occured in?
This is the 1st time any of my actions have ever been questioned and I realize I'm being overly defensive about the whole situation. It's just, b/c she's nonclinical, I have the concerns you listed above - how does she know what's appropriate anyway, right? I think it's making me overly defensive.
Plus, sometimes it's just aggravating in the day to day functions, as well. Like I said earlier, the double work. Maybe I'm thinkin' work should be easy or something...lol (j/k)
Kelly_the_Great
553 Posts
Hey HappyNurse2005,
LOL...No, I am not at all offended by your question. I hate it that there is so much disunity in nursing (I think in part, b/c there are so many different levels of nursing) that we have to pose honest questions with statements like, "Not meaning any disrespect here,"
for fear of being taken the wrong way. That's another thread and issue though... :)
No, LVN/LPNs follow the same nursing process that RNs do, you know, ADPIE -Assess, Dx., Plan, Intervene and Evaluate. So, yes, we're quite capable of assessing patients. I mean, if we couldn't, we wouldn't be really nursing, would we?
I think the misconception might be that LVN/LPN are not eligble to apply for telephone triage certification. You know, like how you have to have a BSN for WOCN certification? Yet there are plenty of LVN, ADN and Diploma nurses doin' wound, ostomy, continence care everyday, right?
BTW, I'm finishing up my last semester of my 3rd year in my BSN program, so hopefully I'll be an RN soon! That being said, after I do attain this goal, there'll still be plenty of long-practicing LVN/LPN that'll still know tons more than me.