When your patient goes bad....

[dfs1961]

How do you get over the nagging feeling the day after your shift when your patient went bad? The what ifs? The "how did I not know or do something sooner?" I can't seem to shake the feeling today and all I want to do is call the ICU and see how she is.

[classicdame, MSN, EdD]

Research her condition online to learn how you might prevent it in the future. You probably need to vent with another nurse to get good feedback. Also, call ICU to see if the patient is accepting visitors. If so, go visit just to see how she is doing. No need to discuss what if's with the patient but she might be pleased to know you cared enough to ask about her.

[dfs1961]

I called the ICU today and she had a rough night - low hr, low bp, on a dopamine drip. Now, her hr is tacky, 140's, afib (her original diagnosis and reason for admission). Her low bp is preventing them from administering most of the cardiac meds that she needs right now. I feel a little comforted knowing that is appears her condition is not necessarily something that could have been avoided as she is pretty much back where she was on admission. Her ICU nurse was going to tell her I was asking for her.

[RN813]

Likely it couldn't have been avoided and just be satisfied that you got her transferred and she is alive.

[diane227, LPN, RN]

I try to have a post event discussion with staff to see what we could have done better or different. If other departments are involved like pharmacy, we include them in the post conference discussion. If the patient is transferred to another unit I will often go there later to see how the patient is doing so I can give feedback to the staff.

[NurseKitten, MSN, RN]

It sounds like the ICU might have been where she belonged to begin with...