That little voice in the back of your head...

[Kristy02_RN]

I remember nursing instructors telling me in school "always trust your nurses intuition, you may think you don't have one but you do and remember you're the one who spends all day with that patient." How true is that statement. You can't ever let a resident that came and saw a patient for 5 minutes first thing in the morning tell you that you're wrong. I'm a new nurse (1.5 years); I let a resident bully me into backing down on a patient that I felt wasn't doing well. The outcome for the patient wasn't the best it could have been. I blame the resident but more than anything I blame myself. I will never back down again especially to a resident. I will call someone at home if I have to until someone listens to me. I know residents are scared and they're learning, but don't waive my experience and hours of time with the patient off just because I have RN after my name and not MD. I recognize my job is to bring my concerns to their attention and let them do what they wish with it, however it's also my job to be a patient advocate.

Thank you for reading my rant.

[TakeTwoAspirin, MSN, RN, APRN]

The only regrets I have ever had with regard to patient care have been when I listened to somebody else who was supposed to know more (in spite of what I KNEW to be the right thing).

Always do what you believe in your heart to be the right thing and you will have fewer sleepless nights.