Nurses that kill

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This happened in a hospital in the late 90's opposite a Big Ben/parliament buildings, one of the most prestigious in the UK.

I'm working my 2nd ever weekend in A&E caring for majors - that's like the middle area - they generally have 3 areas, minors, majors and resus.

Anyway, I have the left hand wall, and 4 patients, most of them look like they're going to be fine. It's a friday night, and just getting heaving, when suddenly I hear 'help me' drift across the room. But no one reacts. I begin to wonder if I imagined it, but then I hear it again, 'help me'.

I track it down, and it's a patient on the opposite side from mine, and I walk into the room to see someone who looked like he should be dead. It was a pale, african man, soaked in sweat, the whites of his eyes huge, starting out me in desperation. I automatically put my hand on his wrist, feeling for a pulse. I feel putting hands on your patient is a great way to assess things while talking to them.

I can't really feel a pulse, and he's cold and clammy to touch. Whatever is going on, it's not good.

'What are you doing?' I turned to the sound of the charge nurse, an unhappy look on her face. 'Shouldn't you be looking after you own patients?' she asked.

'Um, he called out for help, and no one else seemed to hear him'

'It's just Mr Smith, he does that all the time' she said, as if this explained everything.

'But, but..' I stammered, 'he looks really sick.'

'He's a regular, he always looks like this, so please leave.'

I reluctantly left, but 5 minutes later I heard it again, 'help me.'

I couldn't ignore him, and this time grabbed the ECG machine as I went in and quickly wired him up.

'I thought I told you to take care of your own patients' this time the charge nurse didn't hide the anger in her voice, but I ignored her as the ECG printed out.

I took one look at the ECG and ran to the nearest doctor. He took one look and asked me who this belonged to and we ran to Mr Smith's room, grabbed his bed and rushed him through to resus.

I stayed briefly, until the resus nurse took over, and I headed back to my own patients.

The doctor came round later to thank me, while the charge nurse never spoke to me again. The doctor said he couldn't believe Mr Smith was still alive. His potassium was 1.5 and the doc reckoned he did not think it possible for life at this low level.

I never found out the bigger clinical picture of why it was so low. But I'll never forget that charge nurse.

The crazy thing is, nothing happened to her. I was an agency nurse with no history and no one would believe my version of events. You see, the scary thing about agency/temp nursing is that often you fill in when a place is short or very busy, and sometimes the care you can manage is to simply fill in the gaps and not much more due to the huge workload. Another weakness (which may not be true in the USA) but in NZ and UK emergency rooms, the documentation is often pretty rushed and weak. The result is that if you go stirring things up with complaints, they will find a way to get back at you.

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Specializes in MDS/ UR.

I've seen doctors that maim.

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Specializes in Complex pedi to LTC/SA & now a manager.

I don't understand this thread title as no one died and no nurse killed anyone in this tale.

I thought this was going to be about Charles Cullen and others like him..

Charles Cullen | Murderpedia, the encyclopedia of murderers

How a Serial-Killing Night Nurse Hacked Hospital Drug Protocol | WIRED

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I'm surprised many of you don't have similar experiences, especially if you work as an agency nurse. Some weeks, i could end up in 4 different hospitals in one week.

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I would have titled the thread differently, but, yes, I can believe your experience.

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Thread reopened.

Admins hope this thread can remain viable with input that remains within the guidelines of Terms of Service.

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Specializes in M/S, LTC, Corrections, PDN & drug rehab.

Anyone in the medical or nursing field has the potential to kill. Look at what we learn & have available to us. But what are you trying to discuss? The charge nurse or what it's like being an agency nurse.

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Anyone in the medical or nursing field has the potential to kill. Look at what we learn & have available to us. But what are you trying to discuss? The charge nurse or what it's like being an agency nurse.

I'm not trying to direct the discussion. I put an experience out there, and see where it goes. Agency nursing, especially in London, is quite an interesting experience, and I could share some posts about that. But while I have seen dangerous or bad charge nurses, this one was so blatant, that I had to take action - not because I felt I was saving someone's life (which I might have done) but because there was a sick man who looked sick, cried out for help, and people did nothing.

I'm also surprised no one showed surprise that someone still had a beating heart with a Potassium of 1.5 Not even the experienced doctors on that night had ever seen one that low, and did not think it compatible with life.

I thought there was quite a lot of interesting angles in this story, such as regular patients who can be taken for granted, but are really sick, or knowing when something is wrong, but not knowing what, except that your gut tells you something ain't right. But I guess others don't see the opportunity for dissection of this topic.

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Specializes in M/S, LTC, Corrections, PDN & drug rehab.
I'm not trying to direct the discussion. I put an experience out there, and see where it goes. Agency nursing, especially in London, is quite an interesting experience, and I could share some posts about that. But while I have seen dangerous or bad charge nurses, this one was so blatant, that if I didn't take action, the man would have died.

I'm also surprised no one showed surprise that someone still had a beating heart with a Potassium of 1.5 Not even the experienced doctors on that night had ever seen one that low, and did not think it compatible with life.

I thought there was quite a lot of interesting angles in this story, but I guess not.

Well you titled your post 'Nurses that kill' but no one died in your story. Was the the patient close to death? Yes. Did he die? No. Was the patient's potassium level shockingly low? Yes. But I also expected more from the title of your story.

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Specializes in Complex pedi to LTC/SA & now a manager.

I would think familiarity and complacency can lead to potential tragic results. This could lead to a discussion on how making assumptions about frequent flyer patients can lead to missing critical signs & symptoms resulting in increased morbidity and mortality. Agency nurses are not exclusive to witnessing these scenarios, nurses that float to different departments can experience the same.

Your story had potential for a grand discussion as nurses' instinct or gut reaction has saved many lives

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Specializes in critical care.

I'm also surprised no one showed surprise that someone still had a beating heart with a Potassium of 1.5 Not even the experienced doctors on that night had ever seen one that low, and did not think it compatible with life.

You need to find the "now that's a lab result" thread.

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Specializes in Nephrology, Cardiology, ER, ICU.

Here's a reference to a pt with K+ of 1.2 Profound Hypokalemia.

"Our patient presented with significant dehydration and electrolyte abnormalities after several days of emesis. Most alarming of these findings was a serum potassium level of 1.2 mEq/L. The electrocardiogram showed changes consistent with hypokalemia that rapidly degraded into pulseless ventricular tachycardia. Potassium chloride of 140 mEq was hand-pushed during the resuscitation with return of spontaneous rhythm. The patient was discharge 11 days later in his prearrest state."

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