Should I have stayed?

Nurses Relations

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The other day I had to call a rapid on a patient at shift change. I stayed for the rapid (I was the primary nurse) and gave a stat med that was ordered after the patent stabilized. By this time, it was nearly 1 hour after shift change. I gave report to the oncoming nurse, asked her if she needed me to stick around then left when she said no. I had to return that night so wanted to get home to sleep.

I got an e-mail from my supervisor asking why I didn't stay to transfer the patient. I didn't stay because at that point, the patient didn't have a bed on another unit and as the patient was stable, I didn't see a reason to wait around. Apparently, I should have stuck around and waited the 30min before they got a bed.

I feel like a colossal screw up right now. I have been a nurse for 4 years but only 2 of those have been in acute care (I worked LTC for 2 years) and I do struggle with RR's and Codes. I am now second guessing myself. Today I just want to curl up and cry, not go into work. I'll go because we are short staffed.

So, should i have stayed?

Someone is a pot stirrer ... ask your manager if she could meet with you and the oncoming nurse to clear up this "misunderstanding." And in the future with this person chart report given to m.potstirrer rn at 2005.

I couldn't agree more. Sounds like someone threw you under the bus with an inaccurate report of what took place. I would do exactly what icuRNmaggie suggested. Sorry this happened to you but chin up, you did nothing wrong.

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Specializes in Infusion Nursing, Home Health Infusion.

I agree nothing you did was wrong or unethical. In fact you went above and beyond. I am certain that you have no written policy that states once you call a rapid response or even a code you must stay past the end of our shift until the patient is transferred to a higher level of care. Its not a great way to start a shift but i know many nurses that would have given a report on the patient to the accepting nurse and the RR nurse and left and even that would be OK. Nursing is 24/7 and when your shift is over it is over because you are being replaced by an equally qualified nurse that will take over. With that said If I am in the middle of something as inserting a PICC line, of course I finish and wait to see my film or print out me ECG PICC tip verification and finish all charting and calls. If I accept a call and agree to do it I also will complete that since I have none to take over since we close in the late evening. You did just that,you completed all you could,until you will able to ascertain the patient was receiving the needed care.

This manager is just causing unnecessary trouble and if is he or she is expecting that then they need to have a written policy and it must apply to all employees and HR must be made aware which may be considered being mandated which may be illegal in your state. Does you yearly evaluation have points against you if you have too much overtime...our does! If they are requiring this ask to see the policy requiring that...I bet there is not one . In Ca you cannot be mandated and once your shift is over....it is over. Recently a house supervisor and another IV nurse got into it because the house supervisor told the IV nurse she must stay past her shift to start an IV. The house sup was livid when she said, "No it had been a long difficult shift", and she could not do it. The house sup got in trouble for demanding it and I must admit was rude to the nurse and implied she was abandoning the patient. How can you abandon a patient when your shift is over.

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Specializes in Neuro ICU and Med Surg.

You did nothing wrong. You stayed for the critical part of the rapid response, and even asked the oncoming nurse if she needed additional help. The oncoming nurse said no additional help was needed.

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Specializes in Managed Care.

Rest assured you did nothing wrong. Hold your head high and go into work. By the way, great job!!

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I don't think I would've stayed past the time you did. You called the RR, gave your SBAR to oncoming and even a stabilizing med... And stayed an hour after your scheduled shift. You have a right to clock out, go home, and rest for the next day

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The other day I had to call a rapid on a patient at shift change. I stayed for the rapid (I was the primary nurse) and gave a stat med that was ordered after the patent stabilized. By this time, it was nearly 1 hour after shift change. I gave report to the oncoming nurse, asked her if she needed me to stick around then left when she said no. I had to return that night so wanted to get home to sleep.

Ask your supervisor why they wanted to pay you overtime to be a transporter.

I got an e-mail from my supervisor asking why I didn't stay to transfer the patient. I didn't stay because at that point, the patient didn't have a bed on another unit and as the patient was stable, I didn't see a reason to wait around. Apparently, I should have stuck around and waited the 30min before they got a bed.

I feel like a colossal screw up right now. I have been a nurse for 4 years but only 2 of those have been in acute care (I worked LTC for 2 years) and I do struggle with RR's and Codes. I am now second guessing myself. Today I just want to curl up and cry, not go into work. I'll go because we are short staffed.

So, should i have stayed?

Is this from your manager.. or the supervisor on duty at the time .. that didn't want to be bothered pushing the bed?

I would forward that to management.. let them deal with it.

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I dont trust your supervisor, and you probably shouldnt either.

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The part that got me, OP, was that you needed to go home and sleep because you were coming back that night!?!?

I agree with the PP that suggested you ask the NM what you could have/should have done differently. And that next time you would be more than happy to stay until the patient was transferred, heck, even stayed as the primary nurse for the patient, but of COURSE clarify if the NM would find a replacement for your night shift or come in and work it herself? Because the policy in most facilities is no more than 16 hours in a 24 hour period of time...

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Whoa maybe it depends on the hospital/unit but where I've worked we are not supposed to stay that long after shift change, they don't want to pay us extra for that. If you've given report then you can leave no matter what is going on. This isn't a nursing judgement issue its really more of a policy issue. Maybe at your hospital it is expected for you to stay (which would be highly unusual). You could just explain that you were never told that the expectation was to stay, how can you follow a rule you didn't know about? Ask for the full attendance policies. Don't beat yourself up over it, you didn't do anything wrong.

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Don't second guess yourself because of a stupid email that a stupid supervisor sent you.

I would email the supervisor back & tell her/him that I would be happy to discuss the situation with her/him IN PERSON, with another management person in the room as a witness. NEVER HAVE A MEETING WITH MANAGEMENT WITHOUT A THIRD PERSON AS A WITNESS!!

*** is the deal with management sending emails to nurses? If you have something to say, grow a pair of balls & say it to their face!!

Having said that, I hope you got paid for an hour of overtime.

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Specializes in PCU.

I would want to know if there was a problem with the oncoming nurse. In my view you went above and beyond and I would have been greatful that you stayed that long and helped me stabilize the patient. If the oncoming nurse initiated this inquiry, I would have to turn it back on her since the patient was stable and the rapid response nurse was there.

Don't let them bully you. And your patient survived because you cared enough to be on top of their condition even during shift change.

Sheri Lynn

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The changes in healthcare astound me. This "rapid response" bullsh** wouldn't have to happen if they didn't put patients who were unstable on medical floors. It used to be that ICU patients were not put on medical/surgical floors. They stayed in ICU until they were ready to be down graded. Heck, if there's no ICU bed, bed board doesn't think twice about putting somebody on a couple of drips & a vent on the floor!! While anything can happen, "rapid response" is because patients are too sick to be on a medical floor. And what happens after the rapid response? Does the patient stay there or get moved to ICU? How is a nurse supposed to care for a full patient load with everybody on contact precautions, unstable patients, post-ops, admissions, discharges..................and then when something happens, the hospital will NEVER admit blame for short staffing. In doing medical malpractice consulting, I have seen hospitals make up staffing sheets, tell a nurse to say in a deposition that there were 1 or 2 more nurses working at the time something happened to cause the lawsuit, tell a nurse to change the time a patient went to radiology from the ED in her notes, "lose" mammograms & scans, "misplace" xrays----you name it. Rather than beefing up staff to prevent lawsuits in the future, the hospitals want the nurses to lie for them.

Whatever happened to "float pools" that hospitals used to have, that consisted of a bunch of per diem nurses that were qualified to work in different areas, so when there was a sick call or a nurse was out for whatever reason, they could call up a nurse from the float pool to come in & work? I spoke to a NICU nurse recently who works nights, and was the only RN in the unit one night. A nurse was pulled from labor & delivery, and she wouldn't give any meds or do any charting. Are you kidding me? If a nurse is pulled by management to work in another unit, giving meds & charting is part of their job. If they won't give meds or chart, then they are not qualified to work in the unit, period. End of story. But, had something happened to one of the babies, it would have been the NICU nurse's fault, not management's or the hospital's. It's like nurses are going to work every day not knowing if that will be "the day" something happens or they make a mistake. Who wants to work under those conditions?

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