What are you supposed to do at YOUR hospital. Im not sure if it's different on every ward or what the case. But, what would you do in this situation.
Come on to shift patient ob's stable, medications given as charted, patient responsive and talkative. confused- but, nothing out of the normal for her. I come back 30 minutes later to help her with dinner. non-responsive. pupils pinpoint, no reflexes, elevated BP- but, that's not out of the ordinary for her either.
So I called a MERT or code blue- whatever your hospital calls it. Doctor comes down. says that it may be because she hasn't had her Madopar yet- uhhh. not sure itd do that. but, he says to give it to her. i refused. he said crush it and put in jelly. i said she is non responsive. he said well just hold her medications and don't do anything for the time being.
anyways. is it hospital policy for YOU to call a code when a patient is unresponsive or can you just call the doctor? or what do you do in your hospital? if the patient is DNR do you still call a code?
Im required to call a code. but, you still get yelled at by the senior nurses for doing it. tonight i kept going back and forth with an old nurse saying im not willing to risk my license. it really isn't worth the risk and i said id do the same thing over again if i had to.
just curious what other peoples situations are like....
I work in a small private hospital and during the evenings there are no doctors on the floor- really after 3pm and if you need anything you have to call their mobiles and get phone orders. and there is a charge nurse but, it's not a manager and well i dont always have that much trust in them.
Even if a pt is DNR, I still call RRT for a serious change in condition, unless they are on comfort care/hospice... so, not a "code" as such, but just for another opinion on the pt. and extra input as to where to go from there... especially if the pt. seems to be suffering. Just because a pt. is DNR doesn't mean we shouldn't treat... it just means no CPR.
regularRN
400 Posts
Even if a pt is DNR, I still call RRT for a serious change in condition, unless they are on comfort care/hospice... so, not a "code" as such, but just for another opinion on the pt. and extra input as to where to go from there... especially if the pt. seems to be suffering. Just because a pt. is DNR doesn't mean we shouldn't treat... it just means no CPR.