I have a suspicion about one new nurse who has started working by herself in past 2 weeks. I understand being new nurse and working by yourself, you are prone to make mistakes and with time you will learn. But if it’s regarding patient safety, I don’t know if I should express concern or should I keep quiet.
We have one patient who has dementia with behavioral disturbance and he has been prescribed trazadone and citalopram. Before she was working on floor, the resident was calm and would sleep through the whole night and would get much needed rest. But since she has started working, I have noticed after her shift in evening, the patient is agitated and wouldn’t sleep all night, would be yelling all night long. The thing is I have been advocating for this residence for a very long time since I found out that CNA are not changing him because they don’t want to wake him up as he starts to yell when he wakes up. So I am afraid that this new nurse might not be waking him up to give medicine if he is sleeping which is scheduled around 8. I really don’t know what to do since I don't have proof but just suspicion but I am worried about my patient because missing antidepressants/sedative medication might harm patient. Or is it okay to miss 2-3 dose of these medicine? Please fellow nurses , help my patient . Thank you.
Write the nurse up for med error??? with absolutely no proof??? Can I sew you for slander ???? I could use the money honey
Yes, it is so hard to work as a "floor" nurse today with the overwhelming burden of covid, big corporations like HCA that seem to care more about profits than nurses, doctors, or patients that the last thing nurses need to do is accuse one another without evidence. Please look out for your fellow nurses because if we don't who else will?
Are you really going to bust someone's chops for a spelling error? There is a tenet in polite society call "conversational implicature" meaning that if we can figure out what someone means we don't hold them to higher standards of expression than are necessary to understand them (thankfully we apply this to some of our leaders such as our new President Joe Biden).
Could the reason be that the patient is acting up is because this is a new caretaker? I know he has Dementia, but changes in routine for these patients can lead to delirium. If the medications are documented as given, they are given. I would be very careful assuming someone isn't doing their job when it could be all sorts of things that are causing his change in behavior.
On 11/6/2020 at 9:33 AM, myoglobin said:
Yes, it is so hard to work as a "floor" nurse today with the overwhelming burden of covid, big corporations like HCA that seem to care more about profits than nurses, doctors, or patients that the last thing nurses need to do is accuse one another without evidence. Please look out for your fellow nurses because if we don't who else will?
Exactly. I personally wouldn't work on a unit where nurses are out to get one another. It would make practice even more dangerous because nurses would feel compelled to hide errors rather then be honest.
In my experience, when this happens-often times the nurses who work opposite days from her are giving PRN’s or even “nursing doses” which new nurses (and nurses who are ethical and have a brain) don’t do The biggest problem I have on something like that happens is the situation you’re describing, because There’s no way to get the patient the correct medications if it looks like the ones they’re on are working
don’t be so quick to judge - The patient could also just be experiencing a medical issue or even sundowning or suffering from the time change
Specializes in Emergency Department, Pediatrics, Home Health.
On 10/24/2020 at 12:10 PM, Sharmilagrg00 said:
Hello everyone,
I have a suspicion about one new nurse who has started working by herself in past 2 weeks. I understand being new nurse and working by yourself, you are prone to make mistakes and with time you will learn. But if it’s regarding patient safety, I don’t know if I should express concern or should I keep quiet.
We have one patient who has dementia with behavioral disturbance and he has been prescribed trazadone and citalopram. Before she was working on floor, the resident was calm and would sleep through the whole night and would get much needed rest. But since she has started working, I have noticed after her shift in evening, the patient is agitated and wouldn’t sleep all night, would be yelling all night long. The thing is I have been advocating for this residence for a very long time since I found out that CNA are not changing him because they don’t want to wake him up as he starts to yell when he wakes up. So I am afraid that this new nurse might not be waking him up to give medicine if he is sleeping which is scheduled around 8. I really don’t know what to do since I don't have proof but just suspicion but I am worried about my patient because missing antidepressants/sedative medication might harm patient. Or is it okay to miss 2-3 dose of these medicine? Please fellow nurses , help my patient . Thank you.
Why don't you look in the MAR and see if she administered it? Or, are you saying that you think she is documenting that she is administering it - but really isn't?
Personally, I wouldn't jump to conclusions. You should observe and investigate more before moving forward. There are a lot of variables here that could cause your pt to have behavioral issues/symptoms. Look at it from all sides before going straight for the nurse.
Specializes in Physiology, CM, consulting, nsg edu, LNC, COB.
Another data point: how well does he sleep on the nights she’s off? If he gets his potential drugs of abuse and sleeps well those nights, then when she’s back he’s a wild child, that’s worth noting.
ADN_Is_Complete, ADN
98 Posts
Without any proof or even talking to the nurse first?