She got fired...

Published

I was in my Ethics class today and one girl started talking about how her friend, an RN was with a patient when they started to bleed out. She said that the patient needed their vein sutured up or they would die. They called the dr and it took him over a hour to get to the room. She knew that she needed a dr in the room, but knew that if she waited the patient would be dead. She saved the patient and her and the dr both got fired.

How is it possible that she saved someone's life, but she gets fired for doing so?

Up Vote Up Vote ×

I'm not sure I understand what, exactly, the nurse did?

Up Vote Up Vote ×
I'm not sure I understand what, exactly, the nurse did?

She saved the patient without the dr being in the room. She was supposed to wait until he got there, but the patient would have died. It took him over an hour to get there.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in Peds/outpatient FP,derm,allergy/private duty.

It sounds like most of the pertinent information about the incident is missing, so it's going to be a hard one to evaluate.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
She saved the patient without the dr being in the room. She was supposed to wait until he got there, but the patient would have died. It took him over an hour to get there.

Right, but what was the action that she took?

I am guessing it was something outside her scope of practice?

I mean, did she apply pressure? Yell for help? Suture the vein herself?

It's just hard to comment if one doesn't know.

If she did something outrageously beyond her scope, then yes, she could be fired.

Up Vote Up Vote ×

Was there no other MD that could be called? No ER Doc? Way too little info.. Outside her scope, she could lose her job and her license .

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in Med Surg - Renal.
She saved the patient without the dr being in the room. She was supposed to wait until he got there, but the patient would have died. It took him over an hour to get there.

It's clear from the OP and your response that you really don't know what happened so it is impossible to answer any question you may have.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
It's clear from the OP and your response that you really don't know what happened so it is impossible to answer any question you may have.

Only thing one can think of is the nurse *may* have acted out of the established scope of practice often a big no-no regardless of outcome.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in Emergency; med-surg; mat-child.

I get the feeling she sutured a vein, but unless they were in the wilderness with no other docs available, and nothing to make a tourniquet out of, I don't get why she would have done the suturing (if that's what she did).

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in Pedi.
She saved the patient without the dr being in the room. She was supposed to wait until he got there, but the patient would have died. It took him over an hour to get there.

I don't think the issue is that she saved the patient without the doctor being present... there is no rule that nurses cannot save a life without the presence of a doctor but rather the specific actions she took. Nurses do not suture and acting outside of one's scope of practice can easily get one fired and reported to the BON.

And it seems like A LOT of information is missing from this story. Who waits an hour for a doctor before taking action when a patient is dying? There were NO doctors anywhere in the hospital? I find that hard to believe.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in Intermediate care.

I think there is more to the story here....

the nurse failed to call an MRT or RRT (different facilities call it something different). If i need a doctor there NOW, i don't page him/her because it will take them 20 minutes to call me back, and another 30 minutes to get there. I won't hesitate to call an MRT (Medical Response Team). basically meaning "Get here now or this patient is going to turn into a code blue."

based off the information im given is i don't think dr. should have been fired personally because if he was just "paged" rather than an MRT...that is telling the doctor "it is ok, the patient is stable. i just have a question." but if you call an MRT...you can bet your a$$ the doctor will be there in less than 5 minutes.

So...75% of the post doesn't make sense to me, but i think i got the major point of it. yes the nurse failed to do something he/she SHOULD have done.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in LTC, medsurg.

How did she save the pt? What did she do? Please elaborate!

Up Vote Up Vote ×
+ Join the Discussion