iheartyou

I would immediately assume care for the patient, whether anyone else liked it or not. Then I would document every single thing that occured. Will you still have a job? Who cares. You don't need THAT job. There's a million jobs out there. I would personally hand to the DON the documentation I took. If they do nothing about it, I would call the Division of Aging. Then I would call the BON on the nurses you saw doing it, and the DON who did nothing about it. Hopefully it wouldn't come to that; I would hope that the DON would act responsibly to take appropriate action. This is not okay and even though you said it was hypothetical, you would know it was wrong if you saw it. Trust your instincts. :wink2:

Thanks Tazzi. You remind me of a dear friend of mine.:redpinkhe

First off, don't worry. You sound like you are learning at the right pace; even us older nurses NEVER stop learning. This is one of those experiences that you will always remember, and therefore YOU will be passing your experience on to other new nurses who will inevitably have the same occurence, as we all have. But I do have a few questions. How did the aid know her leg looked funny? Did the aid see it? How did she see it? Did the pt. allow her to see it when she helped with showering or toileting? What about the original assessment done right after the fall..... did they say the legs were equal in length with no internal or external rotation noted? Was THAT nurse allowed to see the leg? Did she perform ROM? Were there no Xrays ordered that day? (I may have missed that when I read it). I find the entire situation a little bit fishy, like they just swept it under the rug and hoped it would go away, just ASSUMING it was okay. Good luck sweety. You sound like you have your head on straight and I would work with you any day of the week. :kiss

While I agree that the facebook descriptions probably did go too far in such a small town, especially if she also lists on her page where she works, etc.; I do not agree that the above posts were in violation of HIPAA regulations. They did not say what hospital they worked in and they did not use any names. Maybe I'm dead wrong, and if so, please let me know so I don't make the same mistake.

I just did the exact same thing!

John Boy 2002, I agree with you 100% that it IS money related. Maryjane does NOT lead to harder drugs, it does NOT cause violence like other drugs, and is VERY, VERY, VERY useful for alot of diseases/conditions. But the fact is that it is still illegal. There are tons of laws that I don't agree with, but living in a civilized society, I must follow laws to keep order. Without laws there would be chaos and anarchy. If all of the midnight tokers would just put their energy into helping to legalize MJ instead of blatantly breaking the law, then maybe they could help to CHANGE the law instead of just BREAKING IT.

:rotfl::rotfl::rotfl::rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:lol!!!!!!

Laws are still laws whether someone is on vacation or not. Any nurse knows what is at stake and it would be ridiculous to take such a chance.

The difference is that pot is illegal and alcoohol is not. Your right, it's not anyone's business what people do on their days off; but if they get caught doing something illegal, why are you excusing their behavior? Does that mean that it's okay for nurses to abuse other illegal drugs on their days off? Percocet...morphine...etc.? Any nurse who tests positive for pot should recieve the same punishment for the other nurses who test positive for other illegal drugs. I'm not at all against using marijuanna for medical purposes such as MS and glaucoma (and I'm sure many others), but using it recreationally is still against the law.

Agreed 100%.

I agree it is insane that they say a patient has the right to fall. They are so afraid of being accused of unlawful restraint that they go to extremes to prove that there is no restraining occuring in their facility. When siderails are used you must chart that they are being used only for the purpose of helping the patient to be able to scoot up and down in bed, and even then it's usually only one or two of them (if you have four), or one (if you have two). Did you know that placing an empty bedside table in front of a patient is viewed as a restraint, but if you put something on the table, such as a drink, it is now viewed as a table? Crazy....

There are no dumb questions.

Yes, documentation is very, very, very important. But when it becomes more important to the powers that be than the actual patients, we get pretty upset about it documenting the same things over and over again in ten different places.

It's not a question of nurses "allowing" anything. It's about being there to do your best to cover, even when there are not enough of us. And for alot of people, it's about a paycheck. Not a paycheck to buy brand named clothes or new jewelry, but to pay rent and buy groceries so our kids can eat. I know this for a fact because it is why I work whether staffing is adequate or not. All I can do is the best I can, and I do it. Maybe someday I will be in a postion to decide what is "allowed", but for now I just have to deal with it.

Do you think it is unethical then to pray with a dying patient when they ask you to? I don't think there is anything wrong with that. You are providing them much needed comfort that they are asking for.

I understand how it feels to be on both sides of this debate. My youngest was houdini and could always figure his way out of the seat. If anyone else was in the car with us, they could buckle him back in quickly. If it was just the two of us, I was forced to keep an eye on him, an eye on the road, and to try to find the safest place on the highway to pull over and buckle him back in. Of course I was afraid of getting pulled over, but I was much more afraid of him being injured. If anyone ever called the police on me, I would happily pull over and explain the situation. I don't think that calling the police would be overstepping or overreacting. After all, it's a child's life we are talking about.

I was one of those nurses who thought I would never experience burnout. I loved my job, my career, for over 10 years. I loved going to work. But something has changed inside me within the last few years. I now hate my career and everything about it. I get sick to my stomach just thinking about going in to work. I still have 15 years worth of student loans to pay off so I can't exactly switch careers. What happened? I'm not sure. Alot of it has to do with the cattiness of other employees. It's like being back in high school. The lack of support from other staff, administration, and the government itself. It used to be about taking care of people. Now it only seems to be about covering your bottom. Don't get me wrong, I still love to take care of my patients, all of them, but it doesn't seem like we get to do too much of that anymore.