I was having a chat at work to another nurse and we got onto the topic of early morning vital signs. She said that she does them before she gives out her medication and I said, I do them within the first couple of hours. She was absolutely horrified and said that it was a great concern that I didn't do my vital signs first. Personally, I think giving insulin prior to breakfast is a bit more important!
When I asked why, she said if her patients had low blood pressure, then she would with hold their BP pills as we had a duty of care.
I then said how does this theory work when it comes to patients who are on daily observations but have twice daily hypertensive agents. :chuckle
She waffled under her breath about this point and became quite unpleasant.
One of the other nurses said that patients don't do this at home and most of our patients have been on BP pills long term prior to coming on the ward.
The thing is, I have just returned to hospital work after 6 years of working in a non hospital setting and she made me feel REALLY dumb. I asked some of the other nurses but none of them do the obs first thing for that reason.
I just feel really yukky, she said things like "well I would have a problem working with you" and that "it is a great concern", wanted to know how long I had been out of Uni (I told her I finished in 1989 and she seemed even more horrified). I'm not going to say anything to her because she doesn't work on our ward but geez, I am mad and also, what do others think?
Specializes in Med-surg; OB/Well baby; pulmonology; RTS.
I always check my vitals before giving meds-if I have a question or the patients' VS are inconsistent in a shift (BP going up and down) I always recheck their BP. I always check a HR before giving Dig. If there BP or HR is low, I ask the doc on rounds or call and verify.
starter-rn
7 Posts
I would check v/s before administering bp medication.