Ha ha, last patient of the night was a young woman brought in by her stepmother at around 3 AM. Step Mom reeked of cigarettes and seemed a bit tweeky. Patient was 19, was "jumped" at 2 AM two nights ago and "beat up by a bunch of Mexican girls" because "I was wearing red". She was complaining of abd pain increasing where, supposedly they kicked her. No bruises anywhere. She got some Percs, a full work up, turns out she had a raging UTI.
So, I gave the DC instructions. They were packing up to go and the Doc glanced over (we have sliding glass doors) and mentioned to me that they seemed to be taking chux from the drawer in the room. I went in and point blank asked "Are you guys taking things from the cupboards?" I glanced over and saw a patient belonging bag filled with stuff. They admitted to taking a box of Kleenex because "I have a cold and need Kleenex" Step Mom said "We know they charge us for everything we get here after all" I laughed to myself, thinking that the only bill that woman ever paid on time was to her drug dealer.
I just told her to take the Kleenex and please leave. They left with a lot more than they came with, stuffed in their bag. Not worth making a scene and good for a laugh!
Specializes in Complex pedi to LTC/SA & now a manager.
Go bags don't usually include diapers and chux. They only include Ambubagstrachs,trach ties. The essentials. Its a small red bag.[/quote']
Then make a second bag with a change of clothes, diapers, chux, extra GT, formula, suction cath, etc. Be proactive. If it was a typical infant you'd have a diaper bag.
And if you forget it, again why not ask the nursing staff for supplies and / or assistance rather than "stealing" supplies & extras? Same with assistance they may not know or assume you need help ask for assistance. I've never been denied a helping hand when I asked ED staff.
Go bags don't usually include diapers and chux. They only include Ambubagstrachs,trach ties. The essentials. Its a small red bag.[/quote']
You said the family needs it, so you steal. Then you change it to, at the time.
IMO, go bags should include essentials like diapers, chux, change of clothes ect. Not just airway management.
At any rate, this thread has gone left. You already admitted you steal. So I'm just going to lol and move on. If it were me though, I'd be utilizing my resources to make sure the families supplies are plentiful.
Our portable phones and thermometers go missing all the time. Really, anything not bolted down is at risk.
Once we had a patient steal her own chart. The unwary nurse left her area for a few minutes and when she returned the patient and chart were gone. The Doc had to rewrite his entire note from memory.
You said the family needs it, so you steal. Then you change it to, at the time.
IMO, go bags should include essentials like diapers, chux, change of clothes ect. Not just airway management.
At any rate, this thread has gone left. You already admitted you steal. So I'm just going to lol and move on. If it were me though, I'd be utilizing my resources to make sure the families supplies are plentiful.
With my current agency,we are NOT allowed to order supplies. Nothing I can do on that part.
Also,as I said, many parents are going to have a hard time with bringing supplies intended for home to the hospital.
Hospital billing includes diapers and chux for these children,does it not?
I have never,ever heard of trach/vent bringing their own suction equipment,catheters,etc to the hospital ER.
That's a waste when as I said the parents' insurance company will get billed for it anyway.
I agree on the go bag. My patient has one. Just 2 days ago we had a power failure and had to evacuate. I was grateful that her suction machine was fully charged and that she has a stocked to go bag. Fortuneantly it was daylight. However if it had been dark we still would be ready to roll.You never know when an emergency might happen.
We had an ambulance crew deliver stuff that they'd collected while fetching a patient: Our airway kits (OPA, NPA, bite sticks), several ambu-bags, some oxygen masks...
She must be a cleptomaniac or somehow thought she could sell them.
We had an ambulance crew deliver stuff that they'd collected while fetching a patient: Our airway kits (OPA, NPA, bite sticks), several ambu-bags, some oxygen masks...
She must be a cleptomaniac or somehow thought she could sell them.
We allow parents to take almost everything disposable home once their child is discharged since the stuff will be tossed and the items probably have already been charged out. This might even include trachs, OPAs and NPAs if they had been at the bedside. None of it can or should not be used on another patient. We may also charge out extra stuff for the to take home knowing homecare can run very lean on giving supplies. I am sure some of our medical needs children or even adults have enough stuff to start thier own store.
If going from the ER, we will make sure the parent has what they need which might include extra suction catheters. I have definitely seen parents bring their own supplies since not all ERs have the same supplies handy and might need to look up the correct size catheter which is never in the closest Pyxis while the child is bubbling up a gooey trach mess.
I wish I could learn to laugh at this stuff but I can't. I also work in an ED and I see things like this all the time. They take our blankets, supplies, everything. Then they want a sandwich and some juice along with a cab voucher upon discharge and we give it to them. It makes me so upset but I'm trying to learn to go with it and simply "play the game"... it's just hard.
Maybe get a bigger bag and add those items. Those are essentials too if you need to evacuate. Like another poster said a "go" bag isn't only for going to the hospital. What if you had to evacuate because of a hurricane or other natural disaster? Wouldn't you take the diapers, chux, GT supplies, trach supplies, etc?
And when you are at the hospital in the ER you can ask for help if you need it. The staff will help you. They aren't mind readers.
In our ICU once we had a family steal the morphine drip off the IV pole after the pt passed away. That is the most unusual thing I have had stolen our of our hospital.
RubyVee how the heck did they get the portable xray machine out of the hospital without anyone noticing?
Specializes in CCU, SICU, CVSICU, Precepting & Teaching.
In our ICU once we had a family steal the morphine drip off the IV pole after the pt passed away. That is the most unusual thing I have had stolen our of our hospital.
RubyVee how the heck did they get the portable xray machine out of the hospital without anyone noticing?
If you act as though you're supposed to be doing it, you can get away with just about anything!
JustBeachyNurse, LPN
13,957 Posts