Please help the MD, don't put him/her to shame!

TazziRN, RN · Sep 9, 2007

If that's what it took to get the lady what she needed, I see nothing wrong with it. He followed procedure....only coding pts can get dopa out of the ICU, so he called a code. Since the lady WOULD have coded for sure if he didn't, I think he did the right thing.

indigo girl · Sep 9, 2007

Makes perfect sense to me. She really was going to code.

Alternator81 · Sep 9, 2007

thats a great story! Sounds like a really nice guy.

montieICURN · Sep 10, 2007

Out of curiosity though, if we have dopamine in our crash cart.. which we do, could a Dr not hang it if he wanted it for a patient?

Yes, the doc could hang it but you would first have to put her on a cardiac monitor. Was that done? Also, I am guessing there is no rapid response team in your hospital. That is exactly what they are for. In any case, the ICU nurses were extremely unprofessional. They were not thinking of WHAT IS BEST FOR THE PATIENT. Maybe the MD did report them, if not he should have.

One action he could have taken would be to call to the ICU and tell them he needs an RN up there, and a bed in ICU stat. Before we had a RRT we did this all the time. For crying out loud, I've been to codes that were called because a patient fainted. Please don't let these nasty girls give you the impression that all of the ICU nurses are like that. I'm sure there is just a few bad apples there.

And, you are very lucky you had such a good MD with you. You did everything right and were right on the mark with your assessment of her condition!! Good job!

NursingAgainstdaOdds · Sep 10, 2007

I :heartbeat SDN. I spend most of my time in the non-trad forum, or in pre-osteo.

wooh, BSN, RN · Sep 10, 2007

One thing I really like about peds better than adults is that a pt doesn't have to be "coding" to call the code. That's one place that PALS is far superior than ACLS in that the focus is on preventing the actual heart stopping where in adults it was always a struggle to get any help as long as the patient had a pulse.

MAISY, RN-ER, BSN, RN · Sep 10, 2007

FINALLY!!! A great nurse/doctor story. Lucky you Very Lucky Patients!!! Maybe the rest will take their queue from him in the future.

We can always hope....

Maisy;)

clee1 · Sep 10, 2007

You (and the MD) did the right thing(s).

Sometimes the "elitists" forget that they are there to take care of patients.... imagine that.

leslie :-D · Sep 10, 2007

wow, tele.

kudos to both you and the doc.

sounds like you worked really well together.

actual collaboration, who woulda thought?

and that's a shame about the nurses who displayed such unprofessionalism.

we're not all like that, thank God.

thanks for the story. :balloons:

leslie

CRNI-ICU20 · Sep 10, 2007

BRAVO GIRLIE!! YOU DID EVERYTHING RIGHT!!

What a wonderful comradarie you have/had with this dr......and ya know what??? HE WON"T FORGET THIS EXPERIENCE....and everytime you call him from now on....HE WILL BELIEVE WHAT YOU ARE TELLING HIM....

I wonder why your hospital doesn't have a policy for "crashing" patients....where if a patient is swirling the drain, a doctor can order what ever is necessary to stabilize her/ ie a dopamine gtt.....Every floor should have a monitor with their crash cart....hook her up....run the drip....and transport the monitor, gtt. and patient to the ICU.....call the supervisor and tell her to get the bed ready....

It shouldn't be this hard to keep a patient from dying in a hospital.....

AND

What would the ICU nurses rather do??? hmmm???? let's see....wait UNTIL she codes....or PREVENT her from coding???

What a complete bunch of hyenas! If I am ever in that situation....as a patient....I want you and that doctor taking care of me....the ICU nurses can leave the building....

crni

FireStarterRN, BSN, RN · Sep 10, 2007

TeleRNer is a guy, in case you didn't know