joenp

I am sorry that you had that bad experience. I agree with Ratched, a psych consult would have been a good idea. I am also wondering if some type of sedative could not have been ordered with the morphine that could have been given. I understand that his medical condition may have precluded that as an option. I think that the resident should have taken more of a lead and called this patient's attending to get something done alot sooner. In case of abusive patients, I would be calling the resident every 15-30 minutes with updates. If they started to get abusive, I would immediately invite them into the room with me to experience what I was going through. The resident would then have to start to do something, because I would not stop my updates until something was done. I think involving your shift supervisor would have been a good idea, they might be able to do something to help things along from an administrative standpoint. It is easy for me to say, but I have been in situations like yours and I did exactly what I said, and the resident got so tired of me that he finally called the attending and got a sedation order which we gave to the patient. I hope that this helps. By the way, I worked with frontal lobe head injuries, guys who were young and very strong! Good luck, and do not take abuse from anyone, you do not deserve it! Plus is your resident had any "testicles", he/she would have been more proactive with this patient. joenp

I am proud to be a nurse and a nurse practitioner. joenp