RRT one hour into shift

MrNurse(x2), ADN · Mar 2, 2018

RRTs are no one's "fault". Conditions can change in a heartbeat, or lack of one. There have been numerous times that a patient I just assessed starts feeling bad within an hour and that assessment has changed. Stop the blame game.

Swellz · Mar 2, 2018

Have I seen RRT's that could have been avoided by earlier intervention? Yes.

Have I called an RRT after the patient was fine 15 minutes before? Yes.

Self-reflection is good, but don't torture yourself. It's no one's fault unless the patient was neglected in some way. They aren't in the hospital because they're healthy.

AceOfHearts<3 · Mar 2, 2018

I've had to call a rapid on a patient just after getting report. I got report and the patient appeared to be sleeping when we peaked in on them with stable vitals. I'd had the patient some over last couple of days and was familiar with them. I went in to do my assessment and they were very lethargic and almost unarouseable. They'd been in and out of the icu with respiratory issues and they went back to the icu-the physician who had already rounded on them wasn't surprise.

ETA: I've also had a critical patient that I came into for dayshift. I'd had the patient the day before and they had decompensated over night, but had stable vitals and the on-call doctor for the attending service was a lazy pathetic excuse for a doctor. They SHOULD have been in the icu long before I came in for my shift. I wasn't mad at the night shift nurses because they did all they could, but I walked in to a complete mess. I didn't call a rapid, but immediately started paging anyone I could on the services. The patient went up to the icu for emergency interventions as soon as I got providers to the bedside (and thankfully one of them came to the bedside within minutes of getting my page).

allnurses Guide · Mar 2, 2018

RRTs can happen at any time to any type of patient. There is no "fault" in the fact that the human body is ...well....human. It is unpredictable, organic and quite frankly, miraculous to ever work the way it is supposed to at all.

Pepper The Cat, BSN, RN · Mar 2, 2018

I had a pt go from a slightly low O2 sat on 6 l to an extremely low O2 sat on 100% oxygen and a rebreather mask within 30 mins. We had to motor through the halls and get her to ICU before she completely crashed. This was at the end of a 12 hour shift. It was no ones fault, no one to blame. She just suddnly crashed.

Been there,done that, ASN, RN · Mar 3, 2018

If I call an RRT on my patient an hour or two into shift is it the previous shift nurse's fault? The other day I got report on a patient and called an RRT not long afterwards when I was told he looked ok, and last week I gave report of my patient and found out he RRT'd not long after either. I don't know if I missed something in my assessments or if the patient just suddenly went downhill. í ½í¹„ I'm kind of blaming myself..

You took report. The responsibility for the patient is yours.

mmc51264, BSN, MSN, RN · Mar 3, 2018

It is no one's fault! I have called one 15 min into my shift b/c the pt should have never have been assigned to an intermediate floor.

How could an RRT be anyone's fault???

djh123 · Mar 4, 2018

Yeah, it might've been the previous shift's failure to notice something, but as much as I try, I've been spread thin many times and haven't noticed something (or wasn't told anything about it by an aide).

And it's all relative: a nurse at my facility told me at a previous place he worked that one time he was told in report that everyone was 'fine', but soon afterwards, he found out that one person was no longer alive...

bugya90, ASN, BSN, LVN, RN · Mar 4, 2018

I've been in my hospital position for just a few weeks and we have called a RRT during report. Patient was fine at the 1800 round but we went in to do bedside report at 1845 and they had gone downhill. It happens

cleback · Mar 4, 2018

Chances are no. Patient's condition can change that fast. I had a patient go into resp distress from repositioning 20 minutes into my shift, 5 min after the doctor rounded on her. Called him back and he was like "what happened? I was just here!" But that's the way it goes.

You can try to talk with the nurse who took over to see if there was anything else. I had another experience when the nurse after me called an RRT for resp distress. She had been sleepy but arousal on my shift... and I had been told she didnt sleep at all for the last 2 days so I just took it as normal tired.. but appearantly she was retaining co2. It was a lesson learned. Anyway, you can try to get more information. If there was something, don't beat yourself up... take as a learning experience.