shellybsn

At my facility, the docs were writing "comfort measures only", but there was no policy and no other order set to go with it. It became sort of up to the nurse, which got to be a bit of a problem. Every time we needed something else for symptom management, we had to call the MD back. Some nurses thought O2 was a comfort measure, others didn't...the list goes on. Comfort measures shouldn't get redefined every shift change. So we came up with a policy that defined "comfort measures", a order set that the docs can use to customize the orders to fit the patient and situation (some pts/families want certain labs, vitals, etc) and a PowerPoint presentation to educate the staff. The nurses can use the order set as a conversation starter with the MD about what the family and patient want done and get Palliative Care or Hospice involved if appropriate. The Center for Palliative Care website (www.capc.org) has a lot of examples from other organizations.

My grandmother in law is a resident at a local nursing home. My husband took my kids to see her today (I was at home with the baby). The nurse there took the cotton packing out of the top of a bottle of medicine she was opening and tickled my 4 year olds face with it. My husband pulled him away and told me about it when he got home. I'm furious about this. No telling what kind of powder or residue was on the packing..it could have been a chemp drug or who knows what. My husband didn't think to ask, just wanted out of there. Am I crazy for thinking this is absolutely unacceptable? I'm actually thinking of reporting her to the nursing board (she's done a lot of other crazy stuff we've noticed while granny is there). We've talked to admin before about stuff this nurse has said and done, but this is over the top.