Terrible mistake!

[labrador4122, RN]

i have been hearing terrible mistake stories at work.

i heard stories on how "the nurse was documenting that the patient was sleeping and doing fine---then in the morning the patient had been dead for hours..."

"the student nurse found the patient with the lips blue and she then went to ask the nurse 'how come her lips are blue?'"

"the baby had to have plastic surgery because the nurse never checked her piv site."

"the patient was supposed to have a monitor on, the mom did not want it because it made noise, nurse agreed, and then the patient in the morning was found dead and the mom said 'well, why did you let me turn the monitor off?'"

those are just a few examples--- after hearing those stories, i kept checking my patients every hour that i got yelled at by one of the moms that i did not let her sleep.... so after that i checked every two hours.

i like working at night on the floor- but i have to remember that these are sick kids--we had a code blue the other day in our floor during the day shift, and the kid had been fine and playing, then the mom carried him to the station calling for help.

i hear that these nurses get fired--- but do they lose their license too?? i mean, that could happen to anyone, even parents dont notice. :typing

[lunden]

the parents that r yelling to let the child sleep, needs 2 b told 2 back off so u can do your job, since she wants 2 yell at u.

[Sterren, BSN, RN]

I would calmly and politely let ANY parent who yells at you know that you are required - not asked, required - to check in at least every 2 hours on her child who is your sick patient in need of nursing care, and that you apologize for waking her and will try to be quieter but that the checks will not stop. And then I'd document that the parent told you not to check in so often and the conversation you had in response, just to CYA in case something ever did go wrong.

[mommyX2]

I think that monitoring your patient often is a good thing. I routinely just walk in my patients rooms and watch them for a moment just to be sure they are fine. If the mother has a problem gently remind her that hospitals these days only take people if they are very sick and that it is our job to monitor our patients. She is probably just stressed and taking it out on you.

[Melinurse]

Definately let the parent know that you'll be checking on them every hour at the start of your shift so they'll know in advance. Also tell them you'll be as quiet as possible. If they get upset or disagreeable then explain you are required to hourly rounds and document the conversation.

I always told my pts when I worked nights that I would check in on them every hour and would be as quiet as possible. I explained that I would not wake them up unless I had to.

I actually had one pt. who complained that I did not wake him up for his prn pain meds. Good thing I documented that he clearly stated at the beggining of the shift not to wake him up unless he called. My CNA was there when he said it and backed me up. Start of shift he rated his pain at a zero. Then he slept all night. Woke up and rated his pain at a zero. So now I ask if they want to be woken up for pain meds, just in case, especially if they were having pain issues throughout the day.

[labrador4122, RN]

I agree with all of you who responded.

but it still does not answer my question in my OP, on what happens to those nurses that the patient dies on them?and the patient has already been dead for hours-- what can anyone do in that situation? I hear that they get fired, but do they lose their licenses too?

[SuesquatchRN, BSN, RN]

It depends.

Pick up malpractice, Bumblebee. www.nso.com

Should such a situation arise and the hospital can deflect blame to you they'll throw you under the bus in a heartbeat.

[tryingtohaveitall]

I happened to be reading some of the suggestions for first year nurses earlier and this reminds me of some of those.

Sometimes you can do everything right and the patient dies.

Sometimes you can do everything wrong and the patient lives.

I think the old seasoned RNs are enjoying sharing these horror stories and freaking you out. These cases are few and far between, and the first things you mentioned were a lack of proper nursing assessment. Heck, charting that the patient is fine when they've been dead for a while is clearly showing the lack of care. The incident of a baby needing plastic surgery for an IV infiltrate, again, that's due to a lack of assessment most likely unless the child was receiving a very strong medication that extravased like CaCl.

Do you job as you know you should, follow up when you feel like something's not right and be extravigilant, and try not to let the horror stories get to you.

Hugs!