The on coming nurse -a nurse whom I've never met comes into the patients room, and announces to the family and myself that she is from XYZ agency and that she works 24 hour shifts. The family is shocked are like "how is that even legal?" And she didn't say anything and I said " Um maybe she means 12 hr shifts (the scheduled shift)" She was like "oh I guess that's what I meant."
This nurse was supposed to replace me for one on one nursing. Things got weirder when she expressed that she didn't know what the pulse oximeter was. I showed it to her. This agency says they require 6 months experience.I'm seriously asking...do some schools not have these in clinicals?
Then I was trying to give report at the bedside on this patient (family had left the room). This had been a 13 hr shift for me at this point.I was giving it succinctly and SHE INTERUPPTED ME and said that she was going to put her stuff in the break room.....downstairs....across the building.AND that she needed to introduce herself to all staff on duty.
I was just shocked! She wandered off... and the family wanted my attention and I had other things to chart.
When she came back she began doing a full set of vitals and I thought okay,maybe things will be OK......then she yelled "I need someone to write these vitals down STAT!!!" On a peacefully sleeping elderly patient. Um remember them or write them down on a scrap piece of paper like everyone else?
Then she wanted to write her notes in military time, and asked me how to do it. I explained to her how to do it, but she still struggled with the 'math' of it.
Next she began asking me what descriptive words to use in an assessment. I'm not joking it was like she had never done even a basic assessment.She kept asking me what would I write.....we're talking LTC not an ICU.
There is more but I'll leave it here. Am I getting old and crochety or is this cause for concern. There was something 'off' about this person. I really want to say something to the agency but WHAT? I know how small nursing circles are and I don't want this to come back and bite me in the you know what.I just feel that the agency needs to know the situation, because like I said, there is more.
On the other hand, these types usually disappear or get fired quickly, should I say nothing and let things take their course?Mind my own business?
I'm going to talk to someone about it. I would have never left this person if they were totally alone with the patient. There was a family member spending the night.And a facility charge nurse who did rounds and had control of the med cart keys. I'm afraid of what might happen if this person was sent to someones house and there was nobody watching her......
Specializes in LTC,Hospice/palliative care,acute care.
A recent hire at the LTC with "over 20 years of experience" did not administer morphine on an end of life resident because "I didn't know how to give it S/L". I found out when I stared my shift and reviewed the MAR and notes. Nothing documented and this resident was actively dying. How can an experienced nurse a-not know what sublingual means? b-not call her supervisor for assistance c-watch a resident dying and not admin any comfort medications or non-pharm interventions and not write a note? She's got one foot out the door but she is going to kill someone first. She recently demonstrated her inability to treat a critically low blood sugar.....
Some schools don't pick up everything in a student. I have a coworker who still tells me "the o2 stat was ..." After one year in of a two year degree. I have corrected her before too.
This seems only slightly below par for what I've experienced with agency nurses at my facility (not a dig at agency nurses- we only tried it once and ended up with a crazy). But yeah, I'd be calling supervisor star. I'd be concerned with being liable if I left a patient with a nurse I knew was incompetent.
I've worked with many travelers and agency nurses over the years and most are excellent with lots of varied experience. I remember one who had been a happy office nurse and then found herself laid off and cast adrift and the only job she could get was hospital agency, a very sad nurse that would literally cry when overwhelmed and I'm sure she wanted nothing more than to get another office job but was never able to get one again! Another time there was a home health nurse that took care of my mom briefly and she was a new grad basically a year only if that and didn't know what she was doing. She was literally going to change my mom's wound vac with her bare hands! Well I put a stop to that and made her use gloves. I couldn't believe that! I looked her up on the licensing website and she had only been a nurse for a year. That was the end to homecare and instead we took my mom to the hospital three times a week in the bitter cold to get her wound vac dressing changed where people knew what they were doing and used gloves!
Perhaps she wasn't a nurse at all, but was impersonating one! Did the "agency" fully vet her? There have been cases of indiviuals who steal someones nursing license number and make fake ID's to obtain gainful employment. This person either had some serious deficits, or wasn't a nurse at all. IMO
I see she's not coming back... but honestly my first thought--even before reading the whole post--was "is this someone trying to impersonate a nurse??" Does anyone remember that kid who was caught impersonating a PA a few years ago?? Florida teen gets a year in jail for impersonating a health worker - CNN.com
The Bell Jar
190 Posts
I'm going to talk to someone about it. I would have never left this person if they were totally alone with the patient. There was a family member spending the night.And a facility charge nurse who did rounds and had control of the med cart keys. I'm afraid of what might happen if this person was sent to someones house and there was nobody watching her......