HolyPeas

She can try if she likes but it will be laughed at. This is so typical of long term care. No-nothing boobs running the show....

Give me dickies genflex or give me death!

Yep sorry to hear this because a lot of times you dont see central lines very often in LTC/SNF settings so Im sure your not experienced and as a rule you all are probably not even looking at the dressings every shift if you arent running something so I realize how this happened to you, and unfortunately you are learning this in an extremely stressful way. Sounds like pt probably had a poor outcome and is persuing compensation or at least reporting the inappropriate care, so now the facility is covering themselves as best they can (and are completely within their rights to do so) so you have been let go. You NEVER EVER sign a treatment you did not do. It doesnt matter that the term PRN was in the instructions, as a nurse you are responsible to read the entire order, ask questions if its not absolutely clear, AND have a reasonable knowledge base to know that a central line dressing can never be left that long. If getting fired is the only thing that happens to you, be thankful. People have lost their licenses for less, although its not common or even likely. What you did was fraudulent and negligent and from the sounds of things probably resulted in harm, and thats what you really need to consider. All the other crap about not fitting in but somehow also being well liked is just that - crap, no one cares and it doesnt matter.

Dont press too much. Keep your head down and work hard. This is sort of natural, unpleasant as it is. Offer a hand when you are available, take care of the patients, give it time. If things on the unit are generally positive they probably just need time to get to know you.

I like the Nike View III. Super old unremarkable design but they last and are comfortable. I cant so nursing clogs because i roll my ankles too easily. These also come in wides which i end up being more comfortable in after a 12 hour shift.

No perfume. I even steer clear of heavily scented lotions, washes, and shampoos before shifts. You have to take into consideration that you may be caring for someone in repertory distress or someone who is otherwise affected by fragrance.

Shame on your DON. No, an MDS nurse needs experience. Sounds desperate and short sided. State will chew you up, spit you out, and you will be the fall guy.

I could not function without my up to date glasses. Sounds like your vision is probably not as poor as a lot of people's vision can be without aides.

Agreed. I have no problem, as an adult, admitting to exactly what I did and did not do, I just don't want to be a doormat either, and as a new nurse I wasn't exactly certain how much of this is really my fault, or what was expected of me, so I really appreciate everyone taking the time to chime in on this subject.

Thank you. I started this job about 7 or 8 months ago as a brand new nurse fresh out of school but I started on night shift, I've been on days maybe half of that time now, and I am still running into things that are new to me. I'm just really nervous because last week I got called on my day off because I forgot to write up an incident report (did not have anything to do with a medication error or anything I did wrong, something just happened that day) and so that conversation was extremely unpleasant, and I'm just scared of getting a verbal lashing once again, or maybe of management thinking I don't have MY "proverbial ISH" together. I try to be as through as possible but sometimes I feel like I can't pass ANYTHING onto the next shift, and if I do, it wont be taken care of.

Exactly, the patient should have probably been on an increased dose over the weekend. Thank you for your feedback. I completely own the fact that should have been addressed while I had him on the phone. The fact that it didn't happen after I left though.... I don't know. I just feel like I'm going to be expected to take up responsibility for what happens while I am there AS WELL AS what happens (or doesn't happen) when I'm not there. I could see if it I wrote something on the MAR that made it look as though it had been addressed but I didn't and I'm just not so thrilled to be the fall guy for this one, if it comes to that.

[h=1]Hey, I just wanted to get something off my chest, and get a little feedback because something happened this week that has never happened to be before and as a newer nurse I'm not sure how I should handle it if I get called this week about it. I work weekends 6a-6p, during my shift saturday I get a call from the lab on one of my patients with a critical BUN. They said they were going to fax it over. An hour passes, maybe two, I still don't have this lab so I call them again and ask them to fax it. Then I wait some more. And then I wait and wait. I go over to the fax machine, BAM, no paper, so I put some in, and then I did get ONE copy (so I know they faxed it once, regardless of the paper situation) Anyways, by this time its about the end of my shift, I'm passing meds and finishing up, I write the orders pertaining to the BUN, and hand the lab off to the night shift nurse. Well, I didn't address the INR with the doctor. It was 1.9. Typically what I should have done was address the INR and put something on the coumadin flow sheet in the mar. I didn't write ANYTHING on the flow sheet in the mar but I guess the night shift gave the coumadin anyway on saturday evening and sunday evening, THEN, she turns around and calls me at about 5AM monday morning asking me about this INR that is technically out of range. My first instinct is to complusively apologize for everything, all the time, no matter what, and take responsibility for everything but I cannot help but feel like this is not my fault entirely. I told this nurse exactly what I had addressed with the doctor, I handed the labs off to her, I wrote NOTHING on the flow sheet about it and frankly, I'm shocked she gave it anyway without calling the doctor for new orders. I feel like what really happened is she probably just gave the pills in the cart and didn't even look at the mars. I don't know. My unit manager is extremely effective, and a little bit scary. I don't know what to do. Do I stand up for myself and tell her that night shift needed to have called the doctor and that I did not sign off on the out of range INR, or do I just take it on the chin and say I am the only one who had a responsibility to call the doctor and take the fall for a medication error? [/h]

Hey, I just wanted to get something off my chest, and get a little feedback because something happened this week that has never happened to be before and as a newer nurse I'm not sure how I should handle it if I get called this week about it. I work weekends 6a-6p, during my shift saturday I get a call from the lab on one of my patients with a critical BUN. They said they were going to fax it over. An hour passes, maybe two, I still don't have this lab so I call them again and ask them to fax it. Then I wait some more. And then I wait and wait. I go over to the fax machine, BAM, no paper, so I put some in, and then I did get ONE copy (so I know they faxed it once, regardless of the paper situation) Anyways, by this time its about the end of my shift, I'm passing meds and finishing up, I write the orders pertaining to the BUN, and hand the lab off to the night shift nurse. Well, I didn't address the INR with the doctor. It was 1.9. Typically what I should have done was address the INR and put something on the coumadin flow sheet in the mar. I didn't write ANYTHING on the flow sheet in the mar but I guess the night shift gave the coumadin anyway on saturday evening and sunday evening, THEN, she turns around and calls me at about 5AM monday morning asking me about this INR that is technically out of range. My first instinct is to complusively apologize for everything, all the time, no matter what, and take responsibility for everything but I cannot help but feel like this is not my fault entirely. I told this nurse exactly what I had addressed with the doctor, I handed the labs off to her, I wrote NOTHING on the flow sheet about it and frankly, I'm shocked she gave it anyway without calling the doctor for new orders. I feel like what really happened is she probably just gave the pills in the cart and didn't even look at the mars. I don't know. My unit manager is extremely effective, and a little bit scary. I don't know what to do. Do I stand up for myself and tell her that night shift needed to have called the doctor and that I did not sign off on the out of range INR, or do I just take it on the chin and say I am the only one who had a responsibility to call the doctor and take the fall for a medication error?

Your beliefs are irrelevant.

I realize this is an old thread but I thought I would throw my 2 cents in. I would try to find out WHY its happening. It sounds like she has already been talked too, and it doesnt sound like she is STEALING meds, just getting ahead of herself maybe? You said you are uncomfortable with her still being on your floor but you did not say if it has continued to happen or not. If she has corrected the issue at hand, I don't think reporting her is really appropriate. If she makes you uncomfortable for other reasons, that may be different, but I am not getting that from what you said.