Purple25

I am a new nurse graduated last June and a couple of days ago I had a patient 4 days status post open heart surgery who was transferred back to ICU because of increased confusion, combativeness etc. The first night I had him, I got an order for a 1 time dose of haldol which did not help he repeatedly became confused, labs were normal, sats were fine. He remained that way for day shift, the 2nd night I had him still confused. I asked my charge nurse could i give him a prn order for morphine to help him possibly relax. She advised no, give him phenergen(which is for NV) it helps sedate and relax without the rebound affect. and he had an order for that. I gave it, 10 min later, my patient codes and his pupils are now dilated non-responsive. He still moves to touch. I had family at bedside during the entire thing. I feel terrible. I was advised by the charge nurse, er doc, attending physician it was not the medication and that he was having a brain encephalopathy that was causing his confusion and the medication just relaxed him enough to bring it out. I am a basket case and this is the first time I got a chance to just say anything about it because I have been so uptight. In your case, nothing happened and as posted before it is a learning experience you will always have with you. You are an excellent nurse and I truly understand how you are feeling. My confidence in what I do has been shaken but reading the various post here has helped a great deal.

Thanks for the post. I am orientiing to CCU, It is my second month and today was the day from hell. I got yelled a by a doc for what night shift did not do and I had just got report, was called to my first code and the lady passed away, and my preceptor was MIA much of the day and when around not the most approachable. To hear it gets better, thanks because after today I was going back to accounting, with my desk, tight blue suit and computer. Great POST!

I will take the boards in a couple of months, I just graduated school and $500 bucks is a lot for Kaplan when you have been broke for so long. Was it worth it for those who took the course? Are there any less expensive courses or books that I can purchase at the bookstore that would be just as helpful?

My heart goes out to you. I will soon be a new grad and will soon be faced with dealing with a cranky doctor. It is good to know that I have you and many others who have shown tact and professionalism when dealing with such an incident. I am sorry you had to go through that but keep your wits and head about yourself. We are all a team, it is unfortunate that docs sometimes forget that and fly off the handle.