Went into a patient's room today - the son(patient) is a pleasant man in his 40's with mental retardation. The MD's removed his epidural today and he still has a chest tube. I tell him, "Ask for your pain medication when you need it. If you don't need it, it would be better not to take it."
Right before this - Mom had told me she was going to go home at 10 pm. But after I said this, she became irate.....she said the following.
"New nurse's don't know anything. I have been a nurse for a long time. A nurse kills 2.5 patients in her career - that's a statistic. Nurse's don't have the corner on dealing with pain and doctors don't overperscribe what patients can have. I am glad that when I am old, I won't have to worry about being in a nursing home because you young nurses will take care of me to where I don't leave the hospital."
I really tried not to be baited by what she said. I commented that she had a dim view of her professions future, that I WILL give her son pain meds when he asks for them and needs them.
She demanded to know my last name, and when I asked why, she said, " I only take down the full names of people I don't think are going to give good care to my son. His father died 6 years ago and he's all I have left."
I was stunned that someone would have such a dun view of our profession! And after I was just trying to give the patient some options!
So I had the doctor talk to her and I wrote a note detailing all this and put it in the chart. The intern said that she said she was just tired andgrumpy and she knew she was out of line.
So There you have an older nurse's view of where our profession is going.
Have any of you ever seen research data to collaborate her claims that a nurse "kills 2.5 people in their career." ?
And although I am an RN offended by your seming insinuation that it's med techs and LVN's who might be responsible for these errors. The nurse who not once but TWICE gave the twins the massive overdose could have been a RN just as easily as an LVN. As far as I am aware med techs don't give meds and these errors are med errors for which doctors and nurses are responsible. When I was in nursing school we were taught that even if a doctor write the wrong order the final responsiblity rests with the nurse administering the drug.
Edc1951...I wasn't insinuating about med techs and LPNs (LVNs). It is just convenient for the ANA and other organizations to immediately blame them to advance their own agendas. I know excellent techs and LPNs. But, if there is a problem, it seems to filter down to them, in the blame game. Sorry for the misunderstanding.
I checked. 100,000 could be prevented, according to a campaign. Antibiotics aren't effective as before too. Can't blame that on nurses. Again, I doubt all those deaths are caused by nurses. Oh, I'm sure it is, when it comes to campaigns and money raising. More of the usual, that you see on the news all the time.."We're all going to die, send money."
Sometimes, when a patient's family is treating a nurse bad, it might help to remember that nursing doesn't always pertain only to the patient in the room, but sometimes may extend to their family also. I am sure she is very stressed about her son, especialy after 40 years of being protective of her handicapped son. Do nurses have a responsibility to help family members that are having difficulty accepting or dealing with a situation? I think I do. Maybe a NANDA would be along the lines of: Anxiety, related to her son's situation, manifested by (whatever you witnessed.)? My guess is she has had a tough 40 years(protecting her son). Is there a social service you can refer to? But then again, maybe she is just a witch. :nuke:
The 100,000 who die from medical error have nothing to do with antibiotics which are related to MRSA.
The 100,000 are preventable medication errors that lead to deaths.
The 19,000 in 2005 who died from MRSA are yes, related to antibiotics. The fact that antibx have been overprescribed (I have heard a pediatrician say, "I can't keep the ***** off my back if I don't give her the antibx"-even though we all knew that the kid had a virus.) I sympathise with the docs though too. The number of mothers who I know who really think their child was not given sufficient attenton if they don't walk out with an antibx after a sick child visit is absurd. OTOH, when I was in nsg. school they had the strict 48 hour rule. You had a culture done, you waited, you got a Rx depending on the results. But, things have changed because there are conditions that progress rapidly and/or the doc thinks it will help protect the others in the house, etc. This seems to have gone full circle in 30 years as I hear more and more docs saying hold the antibx until you're sure.
Not only that but MRSA has now moved into the general population so some of those deaths are people who did not get infected in a hospital. That does not however excuse the fact that nosocomial infections are by far the most common of all infections, UTI's being the most common of them -because sterile technique is not observed during catheter insertions as the most common cause. ALL of this is known. It is known by hospital administrators and everyone else who is involved. But, what happened about 25 years ago? Hospitals went from being largely non-profit enterprises to for profit. Suddenly the "bottom line" is what counts. sent. Administrators are preoccupied with how they will make a profit. They are more concerned with the fancy stuff-the advertising and if the big names come to them, etc. (Like the TV stations that advertise that they "have the news first"-who cares if it's right-it's first!) How do they handle it? They get new drugs to help combat the "problem" because the bottom line is the supervisors really don't want to do spot checks, they don't want to ask the patients on a random basis if their nurse washed her/his hands when they entered the room, they get just as ****** off as the floor nurses when/if a patient demands that their medications be given to them with an explanation. Med nurses sigh and stand impatiently by while the pt. asks the name of each medication that they are putting into THEIR body not the nurse's. No, the supervisor "needs" to be at yet another meetinabout yet another issue or form or whatever, and the med nurse is justifiably nervous that s/he will not finish this pass before the next is due.
since i am sure there are nurses who do not believe the stats here is an excerpt from the national academy of science's institute of medicine's report of july 2006:
[color=#231f20]
an ade (adverse drug event)arising from an error is considered preventable. it is difficult to get accurate measurements of how often preventable ades occur. one study estimated 380,000 preventable ades in hospitals each year, another estimated 450,000, and the committee believes that both are likely to be underestimates.
the numbers are equally disturbing in other settings. one study calculates, for example, that 800,000 preventable ades occur each year in long-term care facilities.
another finds that among outpatient medicare patients there occur
530,000 preventable ades each year. and the evidence suggests that both of these numbers are likely to be underestimates as well. furthermore, none of these studies includes errors of omission—failures to prescribe medication in cases where it should be. taking all of these numbers into account, the committee concludes that there are at least 1.5 million preventable ades that occur in the united states each year. the true number may be much higher.
the full text of the report (a 4 pg. pdf file) can be found at
edc1951
25 Posts
And although I am an RN offended by your seming insinuation that it's med techs and LVN's who might be responsible for these errors. The nurse who not once but TWICE gave the twins the massive overdose could have been a RN just as easily as an LVN. As far as I am aware med techs don't give meds and these errors are med errors for which doctors and nurses are responsible. When I was in nursing school we were taught that even if a doctor write the wrong order the final responsiblity rests with the nurse administering the drug.