yourbee4eva

I recently had a situation occur where a patient that I cared for during my shift was airlifted to another facility r/t a pneumothorax during the next shift. While I cared for her, the vitals were stable and oxygen saturation above 90%. The initial diagnosis was pneumonia. Apparently the doc was upset that I did not notify him of "how bad" the child was during my shift. However, she was stable the entire time and I documented my vitals as such. I did have to place her on oxygen once she fell asleep to maintain the sat greater than 90%, but this is generally a normal intervention with pneumonia, and the MD gives orders for this prior to it occurring. Respiratory also assessed the child when the oxygen was initiated. I guess what I'm asking is... should I be worried that legal action could be taken against me since the child got worse within the hour after I left my shift? The nurse who followed me said she was not maintaining her sats at the time that she did her initial assessment. She tried a few interventions herself before the child was airlifted (none of which helped raise oxygen level). Another note - the mother was with the child the entire shift and never expressed any concern of worsening condition. I know a pneumothorax may happen quickly, but I'm so worried! It's like she got worse right at shift change. I cannot quit thinking about this child.