Who In The World Gave These Nurses License?This is Madness!

nerdtonurse?, BSN, RN · Jun 7, 2009

Having read the article, what strikes me as so sad was the lack of equipment. It's not like the nurse deliberately chose not to use a functioning warmer to help the preemie, it sounds like a desperate nurse with no equipment, no help, a nurse doing what they had been doing to keep a preemie warm. And if hospitals in Jamaica are like hospitals here, they'd have kept using warmed NS bags because it was cheaper than buying a new warmer. Right up and until the **** hit the fan. So, now the fact that the nurse didn't have what she needed (and since it was a common practice in the hospital to use the warm bags of saline, this had been an ongoing issue)....it's all her fault.

Lovely_RN, MSN · Jun 7, 2009

So it's the nurses fault that the hospital didn't have a functional incubator for the baby?

azhiker96, BSN, RN · Jun 7, 2009

I don't think I'd necessarily jump to blaming the nurses. The hospital doesn't have enough incubators for the kids. This isn't the nurses' fault. Apparently the hospital also doesn't have a safe alternative for nursing to use to keep the kiddos warm. Bad situation all around.

clay07 · Jun 7, 2009

Having read the article, what strikes me as so sad was the lack of equipment. It's not like the nurse deliberately chose not to use a functioning warmer to help the preemie, it sounds like a desperate nurse with no equipment, no help, a nurse doing what they had been doing to keep a preemie warm. And if hospitals in Jamaica are like hospitals here, they'd have kept using warmed NS bags because it was cheaper than buying a new warmer. Right up and until the **** hit the fan. So, now the fact that the nurse didn't have what she needed (and since it was a common practice in the hospital to use the warm bags of saline, this had been an ongoing issue)....it's all her fault.

Hi Nerdtonurse:

This would be true if it were another hospital. However, malpractice at this hospital is VERY common. It would seem that a lot of these nurses do things without critical thinking and do so also under the impression that there is no regulatory body. This time they were caught! My dad was pronounced dead at the hospital mentioned, had it not been for my mom (FNP), he would now be in the grave.

True , they might not have been properly equipped, but this is a premi for God's sake! Alot of times (as mentioned in my personal experience) these nurses abandon their posts and cover up their error by stating it was something else that caused it. This hospital, May Pen Hospital, has been allowing alot of these nurses to escape wth alot of things, partly because there aren't enough voices to echo the maltreatment being given to the patients. This is a domino effect from the crime and violence also predominant in Jamaica today (everyone is tight lipped). Its a long story. I am Jamaican, trained in the USA, licensed in the USA. I cringe at alot of what I have seen in a few of the hospitals that I see at home. It breaks my heart to know that "NURSING STANDARD" is so watered down there. There are no excuses, she could have used other methods to bring warmth...there are no excuses! This is NEGLIGENCE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

*I remember one thing one of my instructor told us in school, that should we ever fall in a situaion where there are no machines, only our brains, we should be able to deliver the same standard and quality of nursiing.

What do you do if there is no Pitocin and the mother has not expelled the placenta?

Cognitive thinking...its basic nursing skills! Let her nurse her baby!

I am so mad. A mother has gone home without her child.

SuesquatchRN, BSN, RN · Jun 7, 2009

Oh, those poor nurses. They must be at their wits' end trying to perform NICU tasks without even incubators.

clay07 · Jun 7, 2009

Nurses:

I can empathise from the perspective of the lack of equipment, but not every hospital in the world has modernised equipment and environment. Believe me when I say, it is possible to hang a drip without a pump, it is possible to share one bed with 2 mothers in labor, its is possible to have 20 patients to a room...This nurse could have used other alternatives...simple. I say this from the background of having several first hand experience at this hospital, believe me when I tell you, more could have been done in the lack, more should have been done in the lack. Please see my post "Nightmare at a major hospital in Jamaica", several other patients were also affected. I am so glad someone finally spoke out. I wait to bring my case to the board.

I know we are not in the dark ages, I know this is not Florence Nightingale's era, but have we got so dependent on machines that should they shut down, we become clueless?

No excuses. A mother has gone home without her child.

oramar · Jun 7, 2009

Nurses:
I can empathise from the perspective of the lack of equipment, but not every hospital in the world has modernised equipment and environment. Believe me when I say, it is possible to hang a drip without a pump, it is possible to share one bed with 2 mothers in labor, its is possible to have 20 patients to a room...This nurse could have used other alternatives...simple. I say this from the background of having several first hand experience at this hospital, believe me when I tell you, more could have been done in the lack, more should have been done in the lack. Please see my post "Nightmare at a major hospital in Jamaica", several other patients were also affected. I am so glad someone finally spoke out. I wait to bring my case to the board.
I know we are not in the dark ages, I know this is not Florence Nightingale's era, but have we got so dependent on machines that should they shut down, we become clueless?
No excuses. A mother has gone home without her child.

This indeed is very tragic. Sticking anything in micro wave and putting next to patient is very dangerous. However, I know for a fact that people were heating pads for warming in US until recently. Patients did get burned and a educational program to teach nurses the dangers of using micro waves in this way were started. As was the case here no one harmed anyone on purpose. I feel terrible for infants and their family, but unlike you I feel bad for the nurses. Don't forget your day to have a lapse of judgement might be just around the corner.

clay07 · Jun 7, 2009

This indeed is very tragic. Sticking anything in micro wave and putting next to patient is very dangerous. However, I know for a fact that people were heating pads for warming in US until recently. Patients did get burned and a educational program to teach nurses the dangers of using micro waves in this way were started. As was the case here no one harmed anyone on purpose. I feel terrible for infants and their family, but unlike you I feel bad for the nurses. Don't forget your day to have a lapse of judgement might be just around the corner.

Hi Oramar:

I am the first to understand and support any nurse who has had a momentary lapse in judgement. We are nurses, but we are first human, I know. The thing is THIS hospital has a history. Several cases of misdiagnoses, pronounciation of death of people who were indeed ALIVE, babies disappearing and parents told that they had died....the list goes on. Lapse in judgement is one thing, we, I have had that, but I owned up to my error and documented it (although the error was not to moratality I did not try to cover my tracks-common practice at THIS hospital). Quite a number of these nurses feel as though they are untouchable, they wear nigtgowns at night and watch t.v. at the nurses station(this was reported by one of the patients at the hospital during my visit with Kiki). When patients call for help, they turn a blind eye and ear. One mother told me that when she was giving birth, another woman in labor (the baby was crowning) screamed for help, when the nurse told her to stop the screaming or she would give her something to scream about. I understand if this were another case of lapse in judgement, trying to do good and your good turned out to be something to be used against you, that there would be cause for concern on the nurse's part. The thing is, these (alot of them) nurses, are not interested in asking the opinion of others, they practice as laymen who would do what they think is best to do because they don't know better. I don't know if I have brought clarity to the scenario...we should stand up for our fellow nurses, but this is out of hand. They are way out of hand! Its not just this one nurse, its about the practice and pattern of several others like her at THIS hospital. There are several cases...

Thanks to all for your input.

oramar · Jun 7, 2009

Hi Oramar:
I am the first to understand and support any nurse who has had a momentary lapse in judgement. We are nurses, but we are first human, I know. The thing is THIS hospital has a history. Several cases of misdiagnoses, pronounciation of death of people who were indeed ALIVE, babies disappearing and parents told that they had died....the list goes on. Lapse in judgement is one thing, we, I have had that, but I owned up to my error and documented it (although the error was not to moratality I did not try to cover my tracks-common practice at THIS hospital). Quite a number of these nurses feel as though they are untouchable, they wear nigtgowns at night and watch t.v. at the nurses station(this was reported by one of the patients at the hospital during my visit with Kiki). When patients call for help, they turn a blind eye and ear. One mother told me that when she was giving birth, another woman in labor (the baby was crowning) screamed for help, when the nurse told her to stop the screaming or she would give her something to scream about. I understand if this were another case of lapse in judgement, trying to do good and your good turned out to be something to be used against you, that there would be cause for concern on the nurse's part. The thing is, these (alot of them) nurses, are not interested in asking the opinion of others, they practice as laymen who would do what they think is best to do because they don't know better. I don't know if I have brought clarity to the scenario...we should stand up for our fellow nurses, but this is out of hand. They are way out of hand! Its not just this one nurse, its about the practice and pattern of several others like her at THIS hospital. There are several cases...
Thanks to all for your input.

Well there are a lot of worse things going on here than just bad nursing care. You can't fix the nursing problems until you attack the systemic institutional problems these third world nations. Chances are in hospitals like this the CEOs are taking goverment money meant for care of patients and using it to buy themselves expensive automobiles.

PostOpPrincess, BSN, RN · Jun 7, 2009

I feel bad for those nurses and I feel bad for the families involved.

You can't do the "right" thing without the "right stuff".

clay07 · Jun 7, 2009

Well there are a lot of worse things going on here than just bad nursing care. You can't fix the nursing problems until you attack the systemic institutional problems these third world nations. Chances are in hospitals like this the CEOs are taking goverment money meant for care of patients and using it to buy themselves expensive automobiles.

The question is, where do we begin? Jamaica is a third world country, there is a lot of political influence in every institution, I would move to agree with you about them pocketing the monies...

Let me also say, I am not trying to kick this nurse while she's down, I am just trying to understand why it is that so many malpractices have been made at THIS hospital, I know about it, yet the board seems to be completely unaware of it.

Maybe this nurse was doing her best, its hard to say. But having followed the history of the hospital over the past 10 years (hearing the horror stories of others) and looked at patterns of behavior of the general nursing population at THIS hospital (although this does not include ALL), its hard to be objective, for that I am sorry.