Take the IV out... yourself.

Wow. Well, I guess the "silver lining" to this is I bet you will never tell that to a patient.

SHe said what????? I am beyond flabbergasted! Even if she knew you were a nurse, that is so inappropriate. I hope the second nurse follows up on this. And you have learned a valuable lesson. Unless you are actually teaching something to a patient or family member, never tell them to "do it yourself".

Oy vey!

Never! I wouldn't want someone to do damage to themselves from something that could of easily been taken care of quickly.

Why would she tell you that? Saying "take it out yourself" tells me she thought you (1) could take it out (2) were indicating somehow you could do a better job. Sorry to sound doubtful, but you've got to understand from my point of view it seems improbable.

Did you file a formal complaint against her?

Why would she tell you that? Saying "take it out yourself" tells me she thought you (1) could take it out (2) were indicating somehow you could do a better job. Sorry to sound doubtful, but you've got to understand from my point of view it seems improbable.

Did you file a formal complaint against her?

I never said anything to her. I was just waiting and watching. Only thing I can think of was when I sighed from being tired.

And no need to apologize. :] Everyone reads into things differently.

Yes, I did file a complaint.

My husband had a cardiac cath and we were so eager to leave that we never noticed until we were in the car that no one DC'd his IV. I did it in the car, no big deal, wasn't mad, we were the ones beating down the door to go home.

However, once his nurse realized what happened, she freaked, needless to say. She called our home and spoke to my dad (there with our daughter) who told them not to worry, "my daughter's a registered nurse, I'm sure she'll just do it". Apparently this bit of info didn't do much to ease her troubled mind, lol. I called as soon as we made it home to let her know it was ok, no harm done. She seemed both relieved and terrified to hear from me! I actually felt pretty bad for her.

So...what exactly are you writing on the Press Ganey you recieve in the mail? Lol.

That happened to me too. The floor I was on knew I was a nurse. I had a c-section. I did a bird bath the first day because i was on Mag. The second day I wanted to shower and was no longer hooked to the IVF. My evening nurse came in to look at my incision and said "You havent taken that off yet" refering to my bandage. I was like no. She didnt offer to wrap my intact IV lines so that I could shower, and because I use to work OB, I know it was not my job to take off that bandage. Heck I couldnt even see it without looking in the mirror. So I said to myself "ok fudge it". I d.c'd both of my IVs and took a shower and had my bf to help me take off the bandage. Noone ever asked me one thing about either one. The cna's did keep up with my urine and BP seeing as how I had elevated BPs and on Mag for 24 hours. To think about it now, I just say oh well.

not only was it rude (!) but it is also a liability. What if you hadn't taken it out...and then gone out and use the hospital started IV to shoot up illegal street drugs? She was an idiot. I hope you got her name!

Imagine if you were her patient and ignorant of the procedure and blithely remove the IV catheter. Let's say you were taking Coumadin, so you freak out and faint or worse fall, seeing blood blood blood everywhere?! I wouldn't dare put that much trust in a patient.

That happened to me too. The floor I was on knew I was a nurse. I had a c-section. I did a bird bath the first day because i was on Mag. The second day I wanted to shower and was no longer hooked to the IVF. My evening nurse came in to look at my incision and said "You havent taken that off yet" refering to my bandage. I was like no. She didnt offer to wrap my intact IV lines so that I could shower, and because I use to work OB, I know it was not my job to take off that bandage. Heck I couldnt even see it without looking in the mirror. So I said to myself "ok fudge it". I d.c'd both of my IVs and took a shower and had my bf to help me take off the bandage. Noone ever asked me one thing about either one. The cna's did keep up with my urine and BP seeing as how I had elevated BPs and on Mag for 24 hours. To think about it now, I just say oh well.

Two nurses in report:

Nurse I: Your patient is a registered nurse, so you really don't need to do anything for her, she's independent.

Nurse II: Really, you mean i get to be on facebook instead, and chart willy nilly that i did the tasks required for her care, great!