when things go wrong in the OR

[cardsRN]

for those of you in OR or perioperative areas, i have a question. i am new to surgery and am in a CTICU. several times, when i have taken report on a post-op pt i have been told in verbal report about an occurance in the OR that is not documented in OR record or nurses notes. equipment malfunction, surgeon error. these events were not documented, but often there was treatment: keeping the pt down overnight, closer observation, further surgical intervention than planned. i wondered if others have experienced this before and how you felt/what you did. i am uncomfortable, to state it mildly. and i wonder what if anything i can do about these situations. i do not feel i can file an incident report, as i did not observe the event, i was just told about it later. i don't have proof, just rumor. still, i feel it is dishonest and pt/family should be informed. ehtical dilemma, similar experiences and advice appreciated. :uhoh21:

[Altra, BSN, RN]

Is it possible that an incident report has already been completed on these events? There would be no note of that in the nursing documentation. Just a thought ...