Was I wrong?

[blueskyy]

Just to give a little background I work in a ltc facility and my daily patient assignment is taking care of roughly 22 patient's. A few days ago I was dealing with a patient who is known to be a very brittle diabetic when I was alerted that another patient needed my attention. So I go to the other patient's room, when I entered I saw that the desk Rn was in the room as well assessing my patient that was completely alert sitting up in bed showing zero signs of distress. The other nurse stated that she entered the room and the patient was totally unresponsive "practically pulse less" so she directed someone to call 911 and staff put her in bed and all of a sudden the patient was responsive and alert. It was after 911 was called that someone brought it to her attention that said patient was a DNR, she had the families phone number and stated that she would notify them due to the fact that they may become upset that 911 was called. I notified this nurse that I had another patient that needed my attention and the decision was made that she would stay with this patient until the ambulance arrived. About 10 min went buy before they arrived and I reentered the room to speak to the medics and gave them report before they left. The nurse who stayed in the room then leaves the floor to attend her morning meeting as she usually does, I think nothing of it and a hour or so goes by and the patient's husband comes to visit the patient only to discover that she's not in her room and it was then I was left notifying him that she was sent out. I try to get ahold of the nurse that was in the room to find out why she didn't follow through with calling the family and I was told she left after morning meeting for a dentist appointment and would be back later. I had no knowledge of any of this. Now the family is upset that she was sent out in the first place and secondly they weren't called. Was I wrong for leaving a stable patient with another Rn to attend to my other patient? Was I wrong to trust that she call family besides the fact that our desk nurses almost always call family and if not they tell you that they didn't call family so that we make sure to call ourselves. I'm just so confused as to how to handle this situation if it were to ever occur again.

[TheCommuter, BSN, RN]

This is an update from my other post, today I got the call and was terminated due to failure to remain in the patient room.

I am so very sorry that your employment was terminated. Working the floor is becoming a lose/lose situation these days. Good luck to you.

[blueskyy]

Can a Rn delegate to another Rn to remain with a stable patient? I had another patient that needed assessed when I finished my assessment I immediately went back to the first patient.

[suzw]

Wow, I'm sorry, I don't think you did anything wrong. The desk RN was responsible at that point, if she is the one who was with the patient when you left the room. She should've handed back off to you if she couldn't stay, and she didn't communicate to you that she was leaving- if I am understanding this correctly. Also, she is the one who called 911. Keep us posted if anything else

develops.

[Lovethisworld]

Bluesky I'm deeply sorry you were terminated from your job. I hope the desk nurse got some sore of disciplinary action, she def. Should have made the calls. As for you, I hope you find a better job and that this incident becomes a thing of the pass soon. (Hug)

[DallasRN]

Blueskyy, have you really provided 100% of the facts? I ask because if all facts are accurate, I can't imagine a RN being terminated in this situation. I've read this 3 times and can't find anything that would even warrant a verbal warning. If anyone was terminated I would think it would be the RN that failec miserably at every junction.

You might wantto appeal the termination. On the other hand, if indeed this is the way things are handled in this facility, being terminated might be a blessing in disguise.

One thing you might want to consider. Write a letter to the DON and copy to all involved including HR and facility administrator/CEO detailing all facts and stating very clearly you do not understand the rationale for your termination. Provide only the facts. None of the "I think" or "I feel" stuff. Mail it CertifiedMail and require a signature from the person addressed to. That way,if you get a bad reference you have your documentation to show the actual facts. Good luck!