Patient safety

[SueBDoo]

I had a horrible experience the other night at work. I was assigned 7 rooms on a 3-11 shift. I admit on days that had not been completed and was left for me. I got a admit at about 1600 with a new abdominal stent repair with vitals q 15 min x 4 then q 30 x 4 then hourly x4. At about 1800 i got a pt back from cath lab with a new ICCD (old one removed at the same time from the other sc.) I had a confused male who had an amputee a few days earler who was confused and had a sitter who was off at 1800 and not replaced till 2300. and 2 stable patients. my cna had 20 pts to watch over. Now getting to the best part. I am trying to keep an eye on the confused pt by going bythe room every few minutes and peeking in, I go by once and dont see him at all EKKS! Thankfully all is well and he is sitting up on the edge of the bed way down at the end. I try to get him to go to be, to no avail. Fine, I get him up in the wheel chair, now what..................So, I took hime to the front desk where the unit clerk was keeping an eye on a female pt and told her that I was buried and could not keep a close enough eye on this pt. she says ok and that i owe her big time. so i go back to work and i continue to go up and check on this pt. while trying to enter orders on one of my new admits i hear and see nurse running past the door. My confused pt had opened a door at the end of a hallwy (where the stairs are) and was found at the bottom of about 6 stairs. No injuries except for a couple of superficial scapes on the shin of his leg. we got a head ct and the patient is ok. telly showed no increase in hr at the time of the incident (?) anyway now i am scared to death of being fired, sued and I dont want to go back to work. I am a new nurse (less than a year) and everytime i go to this floor I am so overwhelmed and overworked that something will happen and now it has. My manager screeched at me and asked me if this was neglect!!!! Hello isnt she supposed to be on my side? I work 2 days a week here and I am always on the first hit list for new admits. I dont know what to do!!!! I never get a lunch break. I told the charge nurse that night that i was buried and drowing. she helped me for a few minutes and then she was gone. We dont have enough techs so the nurse does both jobs which means neither one is done well. sorry now i am rambling but I dont think i can cut it here....

[lovinghands]

My mouth dropped when I read your NM comment re: neglect - I don't think I would have reacted as tactfully as you. As you are looking for your new job, I encourage you to document any and all sticky situations you find yourself in to CYA because it sounds as if you are being thrown to the wolves. Nothing wrong with having a detailed account as a reference when accusations are flying... Just my 2 cents. Best wishes to you! I look forward to hearing about your new job... :)

[SueBDoo]

What a great idea loving hands has. That way even though the events are not fresh in my mind, I can have a detailed account at my fingertips should (shudder) I need it for a deposition or (shudder)other come up.

Isnt it funny how we can absolutly work ourselves till we can barely drag our sorry behinds back to our vehicle at the end of the shift and never get a bit of thanks. well except from our poor patients and many of them are quite good about thanking me, I really like taking good care of my patients which is why this floor has me so upset. But the end result is that we are on our own. I wish I had a better way of being more assertive when i am at work and i am so busy staying on top of what has been assigned to me...........then here come the admits...Do any of you have any ideas?

and by the way i have applications out EVERYWHERE