Opinion, how would you have handled this?

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I got floated to another unit last night. I am not familiar with their type of patients and I am not chemo certified. At one point, while already drowning and getting an admission (which gave me 6 patients while all other nurses on the floor had only 5) a patient came out into the hallway vomiting everywhere. I did not know what was wrong with her, but I helped her back to bed and called her nurse. The nurse told me to give her something and hung up. I called back and asked what the patient was in for and what can she have. She said she was busy and hung up on me again. I looked up the patients chart (even though I had NO TIME FOR THIS), she had a bowel obstruction and she had already maxed out her nausea meds and it was 6 hours too early to have anymore. I called the nurse and told her it was too soon. She told me to give it anyway and chart it as "condition warrants". I was not comfortable with that and told her so, but she hung up again. I called the Charge Nurse who told me to call the Dr, I explained that I had my admission and still was very behind with all of my own patients. I had 2 patients getting blood and i getting platelets. She screamed at me told me to call the dr. So I did. I tried to answer the Doctors questions the best I could with the chart in front of me, he ordered an NG tube. I wrote the order, called the nurse and told her she would need to do it I did not have time. I later found out that she was just giving her routine meds, so she was not busy with anything emergent.

Anyway I got an email this morning that the Charge Nurse from that floor emailed my boss to say I was not being a team player and that I refused to put in the NG tube. I ended up staying an hour late trying to get MY OWN patient stuff done. That other nurse left on time. I literally spent an hour dealing with this other patient which was NOT MINE. I feel like I did as much as I could and never even got a thank you from the rude nurse I was helping. I asked to meet with my manager to tell her how I was treated on that floor and the mess I was left. I have also told her I will not under any circumstances go back to that floor.

I really felt like they dumped the worst assignment on me to begin with. Should one nurse have all the patients getting blood and platelets? And then get the first admission? It was hard enough having to find where they keep everything and look up every single med since there were a lot I was not familiar with.

Specializes in Clinical Research, Outpt Women's Health.

I am glad your manager has your back. It is ridiculous that they are trying to blame this on you. I hope those IT records get pulled!

Specializes in Med/surg, Quality & Risk.
I got floated to another unit last night. I am not familiar with their type of patients and I am not chemo certified. At one point, while already drowning and getting an admission (which gave me 6 patients while all other nurses on the floor had only 5) a patient came out into the hallway vomiting everywhere. I did not know what was wrong with her, but I helped her back to bed and called her nurse. The nurse told me to give her something and hung up. I called back and asked what the patient was in for and what can she have. She said she was busy and hung up on me again. I looked up the patients chart (even though I had NO TIME FOR THIS), she had a bowel obstruction and she had already maxed out her nausea meds and it was 6 hours too early to have anymore. I called the nurse and told her it was too soon. She told me to give it anyway and chart it as "condition warrants". I was not comfortable with that and told her so, but she hung up again. I called the Charge Nurse who told me to call the Dr, I explained that I had my admission and still was very behind with all of my own patients. I had 2 patients getting blood and i getting platelets. She screamed at me told me to call the dr. So I did. I tried to answer the Doctors questions the best I could with the chart in front of me, he ordered an NG tube. I wrote the order, called the nurse and told her she would need to do it I did not have time. I later found out that she was just giving her routine meds, so she was not busy with anything emergent.

Anyway I got an email this morning that the Charge Nurse from that floor emailed my boss to say I was not being a team player and that I refused to put in the NG tube. I ended up staying an hour late trying to get MY OWN patient stuff done. That other nurse left on time. I literally spent an hour dealing with this other patient which was NOT MINE. I feel like I did as much as I could and never even got a thank you from the rude nurse I was helping. I asked to meet with my manager to tell her how I was treated on that floor and the mess I was left. I have also told her I will not under any circumstances go back to that floor.

I really felt like they dumped the worst assignment on me to begin with. Should one nurse have all the patients getting blood and platelets? And then get the first admission? It was hard enough having to find where they keep everything and look up every single med since there were a lot I was not familiar with.

Well, you have now learned your lesson. At the end of the shift I'd be writing up the charge nurse and the rude nurse for violating your behavior standards (I'm sure everyone has these?) and for dumping on the float person, and the second call to her would have been the last where you asked her what you could give the patient and she hung up on you, my next call would have been to the house supervisor to come up to the floor and see why Rude Nurse is incapable of taking care of her own patients and incapable of answering questions when I was attempting to help her. The good news is, you're probably a DNR to this floor, since you apparently ticked them off. Once someone reviews the circumstances, I doubt you'll be in any trouble.

Specializes in Med/surg, Quality & Risk.
The charge nurse had no assignment. She was shopping online for bridesmaid dresses all night. And I have never put in an NG tube and this was not a good time to learn. I am still angry. So angry I haven't slept much.

:eek:

I am pretty peeved myself. I want to punch someone for you. Here I was assuming the charge nurse had her own load or something.

Specializes in ER, progressive care.

The charge nurse should have called that doctor. Everyone was being so unprofessional...sorry for your experience. Put everything in writing and report it to Risk Management and/or your nursing supervisor.

And no, one nurse should NOT get all of the patients receiving blood and blood products AND get first admission. Definitely not safe. We all know admissions can be a lot of work at times so who is going to be monitoring your patient(s) for transfusion reactions while you're busy with your admission? Certainly not the charge nurse or those other nurses on that unit who definitely do NOT sound like team players to me.

Specializes in Med/surg, Quality & Risk.
Just an update. Apparently the other nurse NEVER PUT IN THE NG TUBE then blamed it on me in report, then the day shift nurse never put it in so when the MD came at 11 am he flipped out. My manager agrees that I should not have been put in that situation and should not have had to call the MD to begin with. The manager on the other floor was told that the other nurse was "dealing with an emergency with another patient" which was not true at all. And the CN said she was not at the desk or online. My manager suggested they pull the IT records, and I really hope they do! The other nurse could not explain what emergency she was dealing with. That is because there was not one. Anyway it seems like my manager has my back on this one, but the other floor tried to blame the no NG tube on me even though more than 8 hours had passed and 2 nurses ASSIGNED TO THAT PATIENT had ignored the order. The nurse from that night said I never told her about the order for the NG, and the charge nurse claims she was also unaware of the order. LIARS. Fortunately another nurse from that floor had witnessed the whole thing and when the manager called her at home she vouched for me. I want to go hug her.

I swear if I get floated to this unit again I am going to immediately get sick and go home. I will NEVER do that again ever.

Good, I'm glad they're hopefully going to look at her web history (not hard to do) and it's great that Rude Nurse couldn't find herself another emergency she was dealing with (because she was just being a b-.) Thank goodness your manager understands. This is probably not uncommon with this unit and your manager knows it.

Specializes in PACU, ED.

I'm glad your manager is supporting you. Apparently she knows she has an excellent nurse. I don't know if you can refuse a float but getting sick sounds like a good option. That floor is burning their bridges. I hope your manager talks with her supervisor about this because that other floor needs improvement.

Well Holy Smokes! Wow I can't even imagine the nerve it took for them to pull that! I sure hope I never wind up as a patient on their floor! I am so sorry that happened to you and I sure hope they get what they deserve for pulling that!

Ugh, I'm so sorry you had to deal with lazy, ungrateful idiots in addition to your own heavy load, being out of your element, and pregnant on top of it all! Talk about going above and beyond.

Caveat: I am not a nurse. I'm a secretary/monitor tech with an incomplete nursing education. But I'm still sitting here with a O_o on my face about that assignment. When our unit gets float or flex nurses, we try and give them the lower acuity patients. When our charge is lucky enough to be out of staffing, he or she is the *first* person to help out when another nurse is in a jam - having them there as a resource person is half the point of not giving them patients.

In my opinion, once you ensured the patient was safe and comfortable and her nurse aware of the situation, your responsibility to her was complete. It is absurd that they would try to pin the NG tube on you when you had already put your own patients on the back burner to help out a nurse who really didn't need the help. I am glad your manager has your back, and I hope everything works out for you.

Wow. Just wow. First off, a biohazard nightmare if patient is vomiting in the hall after having chemo. Secondly, I would always tell the charge nurse (whilst looking at pumpkin orange bridesmaid dresses or not) that you called RN xyz, that the patient has intractable vomiting, and the RN was unable to take care of the patient's needs, at which point most all charge nurses would have to do something about that, as that is part of their job. But that is water under the bridge. Your saving grace is that the patient was not assigned to you, you may have taken the order, but you did not note the order (?) and your manager has your back on this one. That there were at least 2 other nurses who don't look at orders,apparently, is mind boggling! I would do a report to risk management/quality assurance as the ratios are too high (and quite frankly infection control--vomiting in the hall exposes a whole lot to a great many). And that you did not do the NG tube--well IF it were your patient assignment--which is was not-- it would not have been in your practice to do the NG tube anyways--as you do not know how to, and it could cause the patient harm. This all falls to the charge nurse, who is ultimately responsible to ensure everything that needs to be done is. Hopefully, may you never, ever have to be on this floor again. Ever. The poor patient. And I would bet money that the other nurses hadn't a clue how to do an NG tube either, hence why it just was "forgotten". I am shocked and amazed that they all just didn't say "patient declined" as that's usually the "go to" excuse for poor practice.....Oh, but wait, they didn't have to if they blamed it all on you. You did what you could. You were attempting to help out, and went far beyond what most would do. It is difficult to not be "walked all over" when you are put in a situation of which the need is immediate. This is not your issue. But seemingly that floor needs some serious re-vamping.

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