NurseB96

Ok that makes sense. Thanks. I am sure it wouldn’t have been unexpected to the family. The pt was confused and had pulled out the NG tube out the previous night. And the pt had almost pulled out the new one , prompting me to ask the doc for mitts. It sucks my first phone call to a family member didn’t go well, but I want to learn from the mistake.

Hello, My main question is when do nurses have to call family members to notify them? I am new nurse on orientation. I had to call the doctor about mitts and I got an order to put them on my patient at 10 pm. At 5 am, my preceptor told me it was my responsibility to call the family member to notify them about the mitts. I was taken aback because I never had to call a family member before about anything. I can understand calling the poa for extra information if the patient is unable to tell me, but I never knew as a nurse that I would have to notify a poa. I called and I didn’t get a positive response because I was calling so early in the morning and the doctor had already called her about it. So I am a little confused if it was a mistake to call as a nurse. If the doctors call, why do I need to call also? If nurses are required to call, what else do we have to call about? Because I never had to call the poa even when I had a rapid response. I have asked my preceptor those questions and she told me that the doctors don’t call and nurses do the calling when it comes to restraints. I work on a tele med surg floor. I can’t help but feel like it’s a bit incorrect and just want to hear second opinions. Thank you