Nurses calling POA to notify

[NurseB96]

Hello,

My main question is when do nurses have to call family members to notify them? I am new nurse on orientation. I had to call the doctor about mitts and I got an order to put them on my patient at 10 pm.

At 5 am, my preceptor told me it was my responsibility to call the family member to notify them about the mitts. I was taken aback because I never had to call a family member before about anything. I can understand calling the poa for extra information if the patient is unable to tell me, but I never knew as a nurse that I would have to notify a poa. I called and I didn’t get a positive response because I was calling so early in the morning and the doctor had already called her about it.

So I am a little confused if it was a mistake to call as a nurse. If the doctors call, why do I need to call also? If nurses are required to call, what else do we have to call about? Because I never had to call the poa even when I had a rapid response.

I have asked my preceptor those questions and she told me that the doctors don’t call and nurses do the calling when it comes to restraints. I work on a tele med surg floor. I can’t help but feel like it’s a bit incorrect and just want to hear second opinions.

Thank you

[PhillyRN, BSN]

The 0500 notification is a practice nurses probably use based on that facilities nursing culture and likely not based on policy. My organization uses an EMR which requires the notification to be documented on the initial restraint charting. Practice varies from facility to facility, as always check policy or ask a supervisor in an urgent situation. They should know current organizational practices.

[LPN Retired, LPN]

Oh gosh, where I used to work we had to call the family about every little thing. (I worked with mentally and physically disabled people over 30 years.) We had to call about everything. Most of our notifications were about injuries or illnesses. Call and document. I bet the DON did a lot of calls as well.

Best to check your facility's policy and follow that.

[Lucydog14]

Where I worked POAs had to be notified about things such as falls and it was our job. But you could wait until morning unless they were injured.

[Jory, MSN, APRN, CNM]

If you are a new nurse there is a lot you haven't seen before. Instead of thinking about reasons not to do things...think about why you should do them.

Imagine being the family member and showing up and realizing your loved one is in restraints. That can instantly infuriate a family if they were not told and it's 100% preventable. You also need to call them because sometimes patients are calmer and don't need restraints at all if there is a family in the room.

When someone is in restraints, they are not in their right mind. That is when the POA kicks in if the patients was oriented before but isn't now. Can you even reach the POA? Is the phone number correct?

I'm still shaking my head that you don't have someone call the POA during a rapid response. That is standard protocol to call family in our facility or immediately after. Imagine showing up one afternoon and being told that a rapid response was called and you were never notified.

Facilitating communication is a huge part of a nurse's job. You also need to be more open to what you are being taught because it sounds like you have a lot of preconceived ideas that can interfere with your learning.