Scariest things you've seen

Nurses General Nursing

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What is the scariest thing you have seen other nurses do? We have all seen some pretty ignorant, or uncaring things. Just curious. Someone should probably write a book.

It really was the same unit of blood. :o

:eek: Was the patient okay?

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:eek: Was the patient okay?

yes, fortunately. :uhoh3:

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Specializes in ICU/CCU/CVICU/ED/HS.

Walked into our E.R. to see how things were going (small hospital...3-bed E.R., 12 bed acute care.) There was an older guy whom I had transported several times, extensive cardiac/CVA Hx. He was in a bed, rubbing his chest so I asked him (no nurse/doc in sight) if he was having chest pain and he nodded yes, as he is unable to talk. Hooked him to a monitor and saw 2nd degree AVB type 2 in 2:1. Called for the doc who asked "WTF are you doing practicing medicine without a license.":rolleyes: I showed him the strip and he laughed and said it was "just sinus rhythm with bigemeny of blocked PAC's:uhoh3: . HMMM...Everything marched out...Long story short...We took the pt. to a tertiary facility, cathed and CABG'd. Doc no longer employed at facility.:rolleyes:

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Seen to many over the years

One I will never forget. Resident pushed narcan into a terminal Pancreatic Ca pt who was on Dilaudid IV drip at 12mg/hr. The resident wanted to " assess the pain level". The woman imediatly began to screaming in agony. It took hours to get her comfortable again & her family was afraid to leave her side. Don't know what happened to the resident,but he never came to the Med/Onc ward again.

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Scary nurses, in my experience, are usually the result of an overly egotistical new nurse, in over their head, who disregards instructions.

I have shared this before but I will never forget this. I was 'ordered' to precept a new nurse (less than a year medsurg experience) to hearts and allow him to assist with care/tx. (gotta love management's warm body solutions...not) He insisted he should help with care and announced he would administer the next Krider, after watching me use the buretrol twice and hearing my lecture on cautious K replacement to the shock heart following surgery.

I saw VTach on my monitor to find him giving the KRider wide open in the Swan sideport, totally disregarding my instructions. Patient converted, thankfully, and I felt compelled to refuse to precept this nurse one second further. He was reassigned to telemetry after this.

The scariest people are those who think they know it all. This is why new grads IMO do not belong in most ICU settings, particularly without a dedicated internship program...they tend as a group to lack the common sense experience and the understanding that comes with a few years of medsurg experience under their belts. They simply do not know what they don't know. Give me a savvy, sharp medsurg nurse who is motivated, asks questions and knows their limits and I'll precept them anytime in my ICU if I'm staffed to do so.

I could write a book on similar experiences to the above, and its why I feel so strongly about appropriate education systems in today's busy, understaffed units.

Another overzealous new nurse in ICU repeatedly shocked a paced rhythm. She failed to note her patient had a pulse and BP and claimed she was treating 'vtach' ...with pacer spikes and subcutaneous pacer obvious to the observant eye. She lost her patient and (appropriately) her job.

I'm sure these examples will spur accusations of 'young eating' here by some, but I simply cannot say it enough: we MUST be aware of our limitations in this profession.

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Specializes in ICU, PICC Nurse, Nursing Supervisor.

I was a nursing student assigned to train in tele one day,and my instructer was on the floor with me. Mrs Mac was one of the head nurses in the ICU ,very well respected and students from all schools came to her with questions . A student from a well known University in Texas came up to my teacher and ask " I have got to give a patient this medication,but after I break the top off the ampule how do I keep from cutting his lip when I pour it in his mouth"!!!! I kid you not.:rotfl:

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I didn't actually see this, but a doctor I work with in the NICU said a nurse once gave sodium bicarb through an arterial line instead of a PIV.

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Scary nurses, in my experience, are usually the result of an overly egotistical new nurse, in over their head, who disregards instructions.

I have shared this before but I will never forget this. I was 'ordered' to precept a new nurse (less than a year medsurg experience) to hearts and allow him to assist with care/tx. (gotta love management's warm body solutions...not) He insisted he should help with care and announced he would administer the next Krider, after watching me use the buretrol twice and hearing my lecture on cautious K replacement to the shock heart following surgery.

I saw VTach on my monitor to find him giving the KRider wide open in the Swan sideport, totally disregarding my instructions. Patient converted, thankfully, and I felt compelled to refuse to precept this nurse one second further. He was reassigned to telemetry after this.

The scariest people are those who think they know it all. This is why new grads IMO do not belong in most ICU settings, particularly without a dedicated internship program...they tend as a group to lack the common sense experience and the understanding that comes with a few years of medsurg experience under their belts. They simply do not know what they don't know. Give me a savvy, sharp medsurg nurse who is motivated, asks questions and knows their limits and I'll precept them anytime in my ICU if I'm staffed to do so.

I could write a book on similar experiences to the above, and its why I feel so strongly about appropriate education systems in today's busy, understaffed units.

Another overzealous new nurse in ICU repeatedly shocked a paced rhythm. She failed to note her patient had a pulse and BP and claimed she was treating 'vtach' ...with pacer spikes and subcutaneous pacer obvious to the observant eye. She lost her patient and (appropriately) her job.

I'm sure these examples will spur accusations of 'young eating' here by some, but I simply cannot say it enough: we MUST be aware of our limitations in this profession.

Having just graduated this past spring, you might think my response would be to take offense to your post. On the contrary, I agree with you one hundred percent. I want nothing more than to work med/surg for the next 12 months mininum (but preferably 24 months) while taking a maternity course, completely ACLS, PALS, and NALS. My hospital expects all of their new nurses to work all areas - supposedly with back-up, but when we are short-staffed to begin with and things get busy, back-up isn't always available. I disagree with this practice. With a large number of new nurses and a limited number of senior nurses, I can see management's difficulty in allowing us to strictly work med/surg but it is really difficult trying to learn two specialties at once when we are not even comfortable in med/surg nursing yet. My orientation was 10 shifts (2 L&D, 2 CCA, 6 med/surg, and 2 chronic). This is the norm here in Canada. One of my classmates was recruited to California where orientation for a peds unit was 6 MONTHS with 2 days a week in the classroom, and 3 days a week working with a preceptor! Now, THAT, would be a new nurse's dream!

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I work with a nurse in a prison who, when she is making rounds, redirects the pt if he starts asking too many questions by yelling out "Shut up and go to sleep! You're in prison!" It's one thing to be so abrasive, but when I read her charting, she often makes a note that she has reminded the inmate that he is in prison.

OMG, this made me laugh out loud!!!!! :chuckle :rotfl: :chuckle I have got to make that my tag line, oh and reminding the patients that they are in prison............ :chuckle :chuckle :chuckle

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Seen many things over the years.........

A few memorables......

One nurse I worked with on nights, she would get out the narcs at the beginning of the shift that she may need during the night and carry them around with her in a med drawer from room to room. At the end of the shift she would sign out what she gave, put back what she didnt. As charge nurse, I told her this was unacceptable.......she didnt agree. Went to my boss, who thought what she was doing was being a prudent nurse anticipating the needs of her patients......in the end, after I left there.....this nurse was found to have a drug problem....DUH!!!!!!!!

Another biggie was when a nurse was taking care of a patient on an insulin drip which was to be running at 10. She came to me saying the ladies BS was registering at 19 and patient not responding. When I went into the room the drip was running at 100/hr. SHe admitted to resetting the pump. SHe says she meant to increase the volume to 100 not the rate. Luckily it was caught early but was close one.

I learned early in my career never to let a doc start an IV. The doc had gotten mad because no one could get the IV started so he decided to try. He was doing pretty good preparing to start it but then when he stuck the patient he was trying to screw the IV in. Needless to say, he didnt get it either!!!!!!!!!

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This one happened to me..

In 2000 I had a hysterectomy (sp?) and had to be cut. Incision came open. 8ins long and as deep as the knuckle on my finger. I went to my doctor who finished opening my inscision with his finger while my mother was standing beside him. Fluid and blood ran out like crazy...mom almost fainted. Poured saline solution in it and stuffed it with gauze. Instructed my mother on how to care for me at home. Gave us saline and gauze...said to call his nurse if I had problems, he was in a golf tourn...After 1 week I went to the ER and said I couldn't stand this anymore I wanted some help...(Very painful). They put me in a room, pulled out the gauze covered me with a sheet and left me there for 2 hours. Nurse came in to clean it out and dropped her glove on the floor. She picked it up and put it on. Came toward me to clean my wound. I had a hissy fit!!! She left and sent the Doctor in. He asked me why I had not had this wound irriagated...admitted me for wound care...I stayed there for 3 more days before it started healing... thank God I didn't get an infection... :angryfire

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Specializes in Trauma/critical care transport.

I worked in level 1 trauma center for 4 years and one of the other staff members charted that she placed a pulmonary catheter with plueral centisis. what she really did: helped put in a chest tube :uhoh3:

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