sasseynurse

With my wacky sense of humor, I found HappeeWendy's mishaps too amusing. Perhaps I could see myself being wacked by some object in my path. (has happened on many occasions). Everyone had something funny to contribute. Here's a story from one of my long time ago jobs. I was new to the "hair transplanting" field and as an assistant, I was learning the tricks of the trade. The client was sitting in the chair (you know, the kind you see in beauty salons), my supervisor was standing beside the doctor in back of the chair, and I was on the other side of the doctor. We were working in cramped quarters with no room behind to walk past to get to the other side of the room. My supervisor innocently asked me o do something (I forget now what her request was) but it involved me being next to her rather than the doctor. So I took the shortest route that I could to comply with her request--In my mind, I was going to simply step over the client's legs (male, of course) and get to the other side. What I was not prepared for, in my haste, was to trip over the wires that operated the chair. It gave the client quite a startle as I almost landed on his lap and the nurse and doctor broke into laughter as I continued across the room trying to maintain my composure. That moment sure did wonders for the client, as his transplant was without further incident. Another time, still in same job, I tried to practice infection control while assisting a rather speedy doctor. The goggles I was wearing kept steaming up and I could not really fix them, as I was wearing sterile gloves-so I had to keep blowing the steam off so I could see what was going on with the top of the client's head. The doctor was magnificent, but didn't tell me until the procedure was over that I had my goggles on upside down--the seroius doctor had a good laugh on me that day! All in a day's work!

Amy, IMHO, you did the right thing. I would persue the documentation if it happens again. Reason is that if there isn't a filed report of threatening behavior--treatment can be delayed or even ignored. Even if I didn't fill out an incident report, her behavior would have been documented in my nursing note. Good luck in your new job! Sounds like your oriemtation is giving you nursing in a nutshell. Schizophrenic or demented--they all seem to act up during a full moon. See if her behavior changes in the upcomming week. Judy [email protected]

Quote "Only the nurse was fired" really touched my heart. It's the nurse who carried the burden of guilt in that particular situation. Others who were involved are still going on with their lives and their paychecks. As for me, I did recently make a medication error (as reported in the "poll section") I gave Lopressor 50mg to the wrong patient, and felt totally responsible. I immediately reported it-the doctor was notified by my supervisor and the patient suffered for it. A report was made to my state and I waited on pins and needles for their response. They responded and my license is not being revoked at ths time, but the case will remain open. Have I learned from this--you betcha! One of the other nurses told me that I should have just kept quiet--easy enough for someone else to say, but it took 30 seconds to make up my mind that reporting this was the only way I could live with myself. As busy as nurses are, can we possibly be expected to know the correct dose for every medication? My case is different because the dose was correct, the time was correct, but I simply did not know any patients on the floor and this one was not wearing any identification. I should have stopped and looked around for someone to identify the patient. In the case of identifying dosages, that's really difficult. I thought pharmacists were supposed to recognize ranges of dosages for patients based on their age, weight, and other medications that might not be compatible with each other. I know of one case where insulin coverage was written as 2u, 3u, ect based on the BGM readings. Somebody read the "u" as on "O" and gave 10 times the amount prescribed. Of course the patient "bottomed out" and an IV was started to counteract the sudden, unexpected drop in blood sugar. A report was never filed and fortunately the patient responded favorably to the treatment. If someone catches a mistake, it is solely their responsibility to report and take action. The consequences are not good for the nurse if the patient has a serious, adverse reaction, as in my particular case. On the other hand, if the patient does not suffer from the mistake, the incident can be used as a learning experience for the nurse--providing there is a supportive, tolerant enviornment geared to teach rather than punish. Don't know if this answers the question in point, but maybe it has shed some light on the simple fact that people do make mistakes. Let common sense be our guide. If it doesn't feel right, or doesn't sound right, or if we aren't sure-it is better to take a step back and question ourselves or others before taking action. Once we take action, we are ultimately responsible for whatever medicine or treatment we administer. And yes, we will be the ones held most accountable for our actions. Thanks be to all NURSES!

Lots of good comments here. And I think each point of view has its merits. IMHO, people do take risks and they indulge in all sorts of risky and immoral behaviors outside the parameters of work. Random drug testing is ok with me, since I have submitted to testing for all sorts of jobs unrelated to nursing. As more and more employers are requiring drug testing for hiring, does it not make sense to follow-up on the employees throughout their relationship with their employer? But on the other hand, suppose there is an employee just returning from vacation or extended time away from work-who happens to be back at work the day drug testing is done. A positive test for MJ use comes back and the employee ends up loosing their job or even worse their entire working or education privilidges? How fair is that? Sounds like a double edged sword to me. Using good common sense is the key, but let's not punish those with a good job performence record just because they choose an idulgence when they felt they had the freedom to do so and took personal risks despite the obvious laws in place. It is, for sure, a debate that will not go away anytime soon.