horsecrazy

If i found a patient who was having substandard care, first i talk with the nurse. Face it we all hate it when 10 minutes before your shift ends all hell breaks loose, but we don't have nice 9-5 jobs and we all have to do overtime. If an emergency arises such as cp, sob, or a code it's our job to take care of it, it's not fair to drop it in the other shifts lap. LAst week, had a 22 year old patient with gall bladder pain. This patient I knew, she's an aide on another unit, but since i float occasionally i know her well. There's a new nurse who's been on the floor for about 9 mos. The pt supposed to get iv demerol for pain every 3 hours, her last shot was over 8 hours ago. It's almost 1130, i ask her to give a shot please, so i can listen to report, she says i got to get going. She's single, she says her mom will worry if she's late. I wasn't happy, but said fine, and let it go. I went to see my patient,crying, writhing in pain, the iv looked all puffy and red. I said that iv's coming out, well the pt had complained all 3-11 shift that the iv was painful and burning with just nss going through. After placing in another line i thought how could one leave a pt in this condition, i would have been worried all night! I talked to the pcm and wrote her up, i hate writing other nurses up, but i hate lazy nurses, and if she is timid she needs to go to the charge nurse and ask for her assistance, there is also a float on eves(great nurse), nights we never have that luxury!

i'm sorry you were treated like that, i think sometimes in the heat of the moment, we sometimes say things without thinking. I work in ccu, but i also worked in a ltc for a brief time last summer. I live in a rural community, so the same handful of docs that work at the hospital also attend patients at the ltc's in our area. unfortunately doctors in general do not respect the nurses that work in ltc's here. I was attending a patient who had progressing ms when one night she became sob, I found her sat was only 85% and after listening to breath sounds found she was in pneumothrax( the right side had no breath sounds what so ever). After calling the doctor and reporting my findings, he commented are you sure you are not paranoid I'm sure she has breathsounds. I reported where i worked and he changed his tune, saying he didn't realize who i was, i said that it shouldn't had mattered. as everywhere there are both good nurses and mediocre nurses in all facilities, i think the medical profession can be prejudice to the nurses in ltc's. your patients are lucky to have you care for them.