Hello all! I recently had a shift that left a bitter taste in my mouth. One of my patients was a coworker from another unit. Let's call her "Claire." Claire works in the ED and is a well-regarded nurse. She received many gifts from colleagues and doctors offices, and I responded to many calls during my shift of physicians "just seeing how she's doing." I know Claire fairly well, and she's a very kind person.
I did NOT know she was a terrible patient. She kept a list at the bedside and made note of all the "errors" I made during my twelve hour shift. For example, she was due an antibiotic. I scanned her bracelet, asked her name and DOB, scanned the med, administered the med. Then, she asked for a tylenol for fever...and then a pain pill...and don't you know she can't take her pain pill without Zofran? So after my FOURTH trip to the med room, I scanned her bracelet, scanned the med, and administered. She claimed I made an error by not asking her name and DOB the fourth time.
Another time, she claimed I entered a drug into the IV pump incorrectly and reprogrammed it herself. It was a med you could give over a 1.5 hour to 3 hour window. I programmed it for 1.5 hours. She had a TON of IV antibiotics and with her IV being a 20 in her forearm, I figured 1.5 hours would be fine. My charge nurse agreed with me.
She then requested I bring in new IV flush bag, primary tubing, and secondary tubing with every antibiotic. She would stop the programmed flush after the abx administration, and even once claimed I caused phlebitis by running two abx one right after the other. However, there was a 20 cc programmed flush, and I even alternated IV sites with every antibiotic.
She has already gotten a colleague of mine fired due to the "errors" she made. I made a ton of narratives regarding the situation, and the nurse and house supervisor were both aware during the situation.
Has anyone else experienced this? No matter what I did, I was wrong in her eyes. I'm not really worried about it, I just wished I had handled the situation better.
