cm8816

I work as a float RN at an acute rehab hospital. I have worked there for 7 years. Two days ago, I had an elderly patient who had had a stroke. He had multiple co-morbidities. The son was in the room. They had been admitted the prior day. In report that morning, I had been warned that family was very difficult. I found the son to be suspicious. He demanded I explain each medication and why I was giving it. He chose the meds to be given or held. I complied with his requests. My patient load was demanding. From 0630 until 1350, I never hit the restroom or took food or drink. We have Spectra-link phones. At 1350, I did go the restroom and then spent 15 minutes in the breakroom eating. Shortly after 1400, I finally sat down on the unit to chart (since I had not had a chance to chart all day). At 1425, I heard a shout from my patient's room. The son had come into the hall shouting, "I need help, he's turning blue". A tech ran in the room, hit the code button. I was in the room within one minute. As the room was filling with the code team and additional staff, the son kept shouting that "I kept calling the nurse and she would not come". The pt was in full arrest and a code was conducted with eventual ROSC (about 15 minutes in). He was transferred to ICU. I was so horrified by the son's false claims that I had a charge RN look at my phone, both missed calls and received calls. There were no calls from that room to me between the time I was last in there (noon meds) and the code. I also took pictures of the missed call and received call lists on my personal phone. This has made me very nervous. I have malpractice insurance. What steps should I take now?

Wow! That's why I left ICU. My son is now going through the same thing as an ICU nurse. You should send this story to NY Times. It is beautifully written and maybe will wake up those folks who think that nurses are there to bring ice water. Thank you for this beautiful story.

This article is very oversimplified. In my previous job, I was targeted because 1) I had a BSN where most of the RNs did not 2) I am a second-career nurse 3) I am over age 50 4) I have a fairly ugly burn that covers one hand leftover from childhood. Because of the scar, I'm familiar with schoolyard bullying. But I worked successfully and bully-free for 25 years as a computer analyst. It was only in nursing that the same bullies from my childhood reappeared. When my direct and polite confrontation of the bully did nothing, I took it to my nurse manager. She was able to turn the situation around on me. I was relatively "new" (one year in the job) and the bully had worked there for many years. I ended up finding another job within 2 weeks of that ordeal. By the way, the same group had just bullied another over-50 RN out of that job. I won't wax poetic about justice or injustice. But I can tell you, when nurses wonder about their declining status and their ever-worsening work conditions, they should look at themselves and consider where this lack of respect originates...it's coming from the way they treat each other. Until that improves, the nursing profession will not improve.

Anyone who has ever reared a child or trained a dog understands that kindness works better than the hostility and anger you seem to value. I have mentored using kindness and I can assure you, the preceptee is educated BETTER than when having been beaten over the head with a stick. No, I don't discuss recipes or go for drinks, I am just plain kind to the learner.