Random rant

[anggelRN]

Sometimes there are things that arent really all that important but you want to get off your chest so here it goes...

This morning I had a tiny pt- 6 days old. No one was in the room so I quickly went to prepare her formula and gather some things for her bath. As I was leaving the room, three residents come in and ask if I can unswaddle the baby so they can take a better look at her. I unwrap the baby and leave the room to continue my tasks. As I approach the room 15 minutes later I hear the baby crying. I wonder what the problem could be since the baby was sleeping after I unwrapped her. When I saw the baby, she was still unwrapped and only had a diaper on and was crying and shivering from the cold. They even took off her hat I put on to keep her head warm. I couldn't believe it! I quickly wrapped the baby and I marched over to residents in the hallway and told them off in front of their peers. They looked embarassed but stood their ground and made up several pathetic excuses, one of which included the fact that they saw pt care as the nurses job, not theirs. How horrible would it have been for the mother of the child to come in and see her child like that? And who would have gotten the blame- THE NURSE. It seems like all the customer service speeches they give nursing staff should be directed at the doctors as well. The nerve!!!!:angryfire

[Batman24]

I would let their attending know what happened. It will ensure they don't leave a baby like that again. It's good for their attending to know and good for them to learn.

[RN1982]

Patient care is their job. We care for patients. DOCTORS and nurses. Gees. I had a brand-spanking new resident come up to me the other day, asked me how to silence all the bells and whistles around the ICU so that when they go off for some reason he can turn them off and help us out. I thought that was great. I would have handed those residents their ass to them for leaving that baby unwrapped.

[bethin]

If they could unswaddle the baby, they could swaddle her back up or at least come to you and say "hey, I stink at swaddling, do you mind?"

What if that was their baby? Would they allow a resident to do such a thing? I highly doubt it.

Pt care my ***. Dr's provide pt care too - it's called surgery, colonoscopies, intubations, etc. What, that has nothing to do with the patients?

Since you mentioned it to the residents I would go one step further and mention it to their supervisor. If they aren't taught the proper way then they'll continue to do it.

That poor poor baby. Not a mom, but if I had seen such a thing those residents would be peeing through a tube for a long time.

[Chixie]

Unfortunately common sense isnt that common and its a crying shame that this isnt taken into acount when they are being offered placements/jobs/etc.

But i would most certainly report them for this as its rediculous behaviour

[mpccrn, BSN, RN]

i'm glad you took them out on the carpet for what they did. i hope they will remember it in the future. i wonder if they actually heard themselves talk with the pathetic excuses they offered.

[RN1982]

Yes, they should have covered up the patient/baby again. I mean, that's a no brainer.

On the other hand, if it was me, I'd be in there when they were examining the baby. They might have questions. They might need supplies. And...well, to be honest, I'm territorial, because I do not like someone else 'messing' with my patient. I am right there if at ALL possible if another medical person is in with my patient.

I think I made the resident I was working with mad yesterday. He was placing a central line in my patient and I happened to be in the room doing my computer charting. He's a new resdient so I felt like torturing him a bit and said "you did remember to give the patient some lidocaine before cutting into her?" He gave me a look that said " did you even have to ask?"

But I am the same way. If the docs are in the room, I am in the room. I'm lucky enough to work with docs that actually ask for my opinion. One of the new residents got an earful the other night about not sedating my patient who was vented on APRV. I stood in the room and flat out said "This is inhumane and right along the lines of torture. Now we can sedate the patient or we can let her extubate herself AGAIN"...I did want to start crying at that point because I had been watching my patient in agony for two hours and he ordered 2mg of versed that did NOTHING. I did get my way though after he talked to the fellow. I got fentanyl/versed gtts ordered.

[santhony44, MSN, RN, NP]

Definitely, talk to the chief resident and/or attending. It is indeed a medical issue, the more senior physicians should and probably will take it very seriously, and these particular new residents doubtless won't make a similar mistake again. (Something about getting your head handed to you on a platter has a sobering effect).

[alcrab01]

This reminds me of the way our radiology techs practice... I now go in the room and babysit when they are anywhere near my patient. All too many times, I have followed them to find the patient's HOB completely flat while they have tube feeds going, or the height incorrectly adjusted while they have a CSF drain (very dangerous!). I hate my hospital because x-ray comes at 0600, and they always mess up the sheets, or take a wedge out the I JUST put in and leave it laying on top of the patient. I'm really, really picky and anal about my nursing care and they always make me look sloppy.

[Imafloat, BSN, RN]

I had to physically put my body between my patient and an attending surgeon the other day because he wanted to dilate my patients orifice and didn't feel like waiting for a fentanyl order. The surgeon asked for some instruments so on my way to get the instruments I grabbed a nurse practitioner and said please give me a fentanyl order and then go protect my patient until I can get back. I work with babies and some old school docs think that newborns don't feel pain.

Let me dilate your orifice without pain meds Dr. Wonderful and tell me if it hurts or not!