should i be responsible for another nurse action

[MJeune]

please help....

i am an RN working night on a busy 15 beds surgery unit, the other day i worked with a male RN and a male LPN, i had 7pts, the rn had 8 and the lpn had 8pts to medicate. during the shift a female pt who was not on my assignment complained about the lpn going in her room trying to take out her foley catheter without even telling her what he was doing, of course as the female RN, i went to her room and apologize, removed the catheter and let her know am there if she needs anything,

i did my best to assist her throughout the night while still caring for my own pts, the next day i heard she filed a complaints, threathening to sue on how she did not received good care, how her nurse did not introduce himself to her and a bunch of other stuff, now nursing director called all of us in her office and was very upset, she went on and on about pt satisfaction and how we failed the pt as a team. she wants us to individually come back and tell her how things could have been handled differently and how things will change going forward,

i mean i empathize with the pt as far as maybe not being comfortable with a male nurse caring for her and what not, but i feel i did my best to help her, am i supposed to be responsible for the other nurses actions?

[TheCommuter, BSN, RN]

No, you're not legally responsible for what other nurses on your team do. They're working independently under their own licensure. However, in this era of patient satisfaction scores that dictate reimbursement, management is going to be nitpicky with every patient concern that is raised.

The patient's complaint, while valid, seemed overly dramatic. Threatening to sue when no death or injury resulted? Please!

[jadelpn, LPN, EMT-B]

The nurse who was primary care for this patient needs to really think about how he could practice more effectively. Once you went into the room and began care as well, this becomes a more team concept than primary care concept. As then I am assuming that you had to document the removal of the foley and output. I would only acknowledge that perhaps things could have been handled in a different manner, but you were not in the room observing, therefore, you can not comment on the professional or unprofessional actions of another nurse. Look at this as a golden opportunity--if you have your say,(and now you have the chance to) how would the unit run more effectively? What would work better? At the least, the intake nurse should discuss with the patient who the nursing team is, that there are males who are part of the team. Even a couple minutes pre op to say "Hi I am Mjeaune, and I will see you after your surgery. I will be monitoring your vitals, assessing your pain, taking a foley catheter out of your bladder, and making sure you are stable throughout your post op stay. Do you have any questions for me? OK then, I will see you after your surgery".

Use this as a time to improve or change anything that currently doesn't work well. I agree with the pp that the patient is a tad dramatic, however, to address this before surgery even begins is a good way to inform the patient beforehand what is going to happen. There could even be a suggestion that unless indicated otherwise, perhaps removing the foley in the OR before the patient even reaches recovery, or in the PACU before they reach you would be better......

[BostonFNP, APRN]

I agree with the above post. Say you empathized with the patients complaint and did your best to assist in her care to make her more comfortable, but don't say you witnessed anything unprofessional from the other nurse (unless you actually did).

When you entered the room and she told you her complaint, did you say anything that complicated it? Sometimes it's a natural response to say something like "he should have never done that" or "that's awful" or "that's unprofessional".

I would go to the NM with a number of ideas to make things better. This isn't you fault but it is a great chance to make things better.