scared sick....literally....need some advice here stat!

[sasha2lady]

Ok,long story short we have a much older nurse at work who recently returned after a surgery. She has always been slow and unable to stand on her own...but now something is different. I along with 5 other nurses on various shifts have noticed how this nurse's mind is not right. She has been really confused, doesnt seem to know where she is or what to do. She didnt know how to do a tb test, an IM injection, she left meds laying in several rooms (we are not allowed to do that) and the meds that I found were incorrect..luckily the pt had not taken them. Ive followed behind her and found that people with IV's had been unhooked from the IVF's they were in dire need of (one had a BUN of 88)...when I asked her about the IV's she had no idea what I was talking about. She gives report to the oncoming shift using the old reports she finds...whether it be from the night before, the day before or the week prior. She doesn't know what meds are....she thought fosamax was for anxiety. The list goes on. The supervisors all are aware of this. I feel so uncomfortable following her. I feel in my gut she is going to seriously hurt or even kill a pt on accident because she can't do this job anymore. Instead of dealing with this....the supervisors have given her extra shifts to work. I feel physically sick about it. The last thing I want is to end up in a lawsuit or something or go in behind her and find a pt dead because she gave or didnt give them what they were due. My stomach burns like fire and churns when I have to go in to work knowing what I might walk into. Its already a mess to the n'th degree every other time I work and this makes it worse. I dont know what to do. The supervisors and administration have not listened to any of the nurses who have brought this to their attention so what is to be done now? This nurse will soon be 80 years old by the way. I dont know if the signs Im seeing are early dementia or parkinsons or if its medication related for her. I also noticed her hands shake really bad and uncontrollably. When I say shake....I dont mean like a little tremor...I mean a shaking like when you are shaking a bag of flour or something.

HElp!

[Rick68fl]

Sounds like you need to go to the director of nursing.

If that doesn't get you a response, go to whoever is responsible for risk management.

[Nascar nurse, ASN, RN]

Go to the Director of Nursing. Be prepared with several specific examples that have caused some real concern.

Have you (or someone she is close to) asked this nurse if she is feeling alright? Is anyone close enough to her to express some of your concerns in a gentle manner?

[DamnGoodNurse]

Something has to change here don't want to put your license on the line, and depending on favoritism it sounds like she is well liked you don't want to take the fall for her if something happens lord forbid. I would do one of two things one contact the owner or your corporate and explain the situration again make sure you have documented proof. Second contact the State, they are supposed to have the number posted in every breakroom. Wish you the best of luck with this situration. Hopefully this will give you somthing to think about.

[CapeCodMermaid, RN]

Before you call the State or the BON or anyone else, why don't you ask the poor woman if something is wrong. I see all time on here nurses who say making this mistake or that wasn't really their fault because they were busy or overworked or whatever the excuse of the moment it. But I guess it's okay to dump on this woman because she's old.

Ask her what's wrong. If she truly is impaired, go to your DON and calmly tell her what you've seen. If she does nothing, then you should think about calling the BON.

[JMomBaby]

wow, that sounds very scary! since the management does not seem to be responsive, i would contact the state board of nursing asap and provide clear details of what you have described here. it sounds like this nurse may be suffering complications from her surgery or her medications, and i am shocked that no one else (especially someone in her family) has stepped up to address this for her. one of my older relatives became completely delirious when her doctor put her on a new med (scopolamine, of all things), i mean talking to deceased people and inanimate objects delirious. thank god we saw what was happening and the situation was fixed before any permanent harm befell anyone.

[Merlyn]

Find out what is going on in this woman's life. question her. If she doesn't give you an answer. Make your concerns know to the highest authority in the hospital. It could be as simple as family problems or as serious as little TIA's. But do something before more serious things happen.

[sasha2lady]

The DON, administrator, social worker, ADON, unit manager and charge nurse are all aware of whats going on. One of the other nurses did ask her if anything was wrong and the only thing she said was that she was fine. Ive observed her on several occasions and each time its been worse. Especially with the shaking hands and cognition. Shes tried counting narcotics with oncoming nurses using the wrong papers, and when that gets pointed out to her she will call off random numbers so its basically like you are counting narcotics alone.

I showed the unit manager the meds I had found in a room that were left and incorrect and took her to the room where the one of the IV's had been unhooked from the patient. All she did was shake her head and say "well you know how she is"....and my reply back was yes...i do and I refuse to be blamed for the outcome of her inability to work properly and be blamed for leaving meds out in the open like that.

Several other nurses have pointed out the exact same things to the DON and ADON with no success either. Ive jotted down each time Ive told managers how uncomfortable it makes me to follow this nurse and every time I get nothing in return. The ADON in fact said to me that she didnt see what I was talking about and that she seemed fine to her.

I have also informed them that when something dire happens its on their hands for continuing to put the pts at risk and when there is an investigation over a huge disaster that I will not cover up for anyone nor will I lie about anything for them becaues they have all been made aware of the huge risk at hand.

I am seriously thinking she is in early stages of dementia or parkinson's. She was always slow but never confused like this. She even got lost on the way to the time clock one time and when she got there I had to show her how to clock out because she couldn't remember how to do it...even though she had clocked in earlier. I think alot of her and I hate seeing whatever this is happen to her. I questioned her once about her surgery and she couldnt even remember how long it had been since it was done nor could she remember her next appointment.

Shes even came in to work on the wrong days and got argumentative with other nurses about it when they told her what day she was actually supposed to be there. Its totally not like her normal self at all.

[DixieRedHead, ASN, RN]

Documentation is your friend. Incident reports. Every time you find something fill one out and keep a copy. This is a dangerous set of cirucumstances. And from what you have done, nothing is going to be done until something is in writing.

You owe it to the patients, the staff, and yourself.

[Nascar nurse, ASN, RN]

Do you have a corporate compliance hotline? Maybe they could be of assist.

[peaches88]

Follow chain of command. If nobody does anything about it, go to the state board of nursing immediately. This doesn't sound like someone having a bad week, this sounds like someone incapable to taking care of patients. Actually, I would go the the state board of nursing ASAP! Especially since administration isn't doing anything. Remember your #1 most important job as a nurse is to be the patient's advocate.

[peaches88]

Go to the state board of nursing immediately (since administration isn't doing anything)! Your #1 job as a nurse is to be the patient's advocate.