Why Nurses Go Crazy

talaxandra · May 30, 2005

And?

Just kidding - what a night!

meownsmile, BSN, RN · May 30, 2005

I guess you were lucky that is all you had going on. Usually ((whisper) the nursing gods/spririts), watch for situations like that and throw a few other patients in crisis in the middle of the main problem. I know problems are problems,, glad you got out of that situation with at least everyone breathing.

And your absolutly right,, exactly why nurses go crazy and burn out.

snowfreeze, BSN, RN · May 30, 2005

You can be my nurse anytime. :)

Tweety, BSN, RN · May 31, 2005

Randy, that's what makes nursing fun and exciting! I'm real impressed you have "crisis" nurse.

Dito, you can be my nurse anytime.

Hardknox · May 31, 2005

Thank God for intensivists, hospitalists and nurses like Randy!

Demonsthenes · May 31, 2005

It is clear to me that you upheld the highest ethical and professional standards with regard to your care of this patient.

lady_jezebel · May 31, 2005

One of the MOST frustrating things in nursing is the way some residents/on-calls handle these types of situations. It's a big pain in the a-- when docs don't listen to nurse input, and the RN meanwhile has to hold things together & stay prepared for an emergency until the right doc (usually an attending, higher resident, or ICU service, in my experience) FINALLY writes the orders we needed HOURS ago. It's a big frickin' waste of RN time, and usually there's no thanks from the docs to the nurses. And more importantly, an inexperienced doc ignores RN input @ the pt's peril!

I also hate doc politics. Sometimes one service doesn't want to step on the toes of the other & thus fails to be aggressive enough with the orders, thereby leading to less than optimal pt care.

MD egos sometimes reign supreme where I work & often cause barriers in efficiency (hey, anyone want to focus on this as a thesis project?? I'd love some "evidence based practice" on this issue, for the sake of all patients everywhere!)...

MultipurposeRN · May 31, 2005

Not too long ago a man went into severe, sudden respiratory distress here on the floor. Poor guy was using every muscle he had to breath, heart rate was 150-160, sweaty, etc. The floor nurse paged the doctor, who called back on his cell phone and said he'd be there shortly, then the phone kept getting cut off. The nurse that had him was fairly new and I kept telling her, Tell the doctor he needs to go to ICU NOW. But the doctor's damn phone cut out twice. Finally we called for a unit bed and when the doctor called back and said he'd be there in 10 minutes, the charge nurse told him we had an ICU bed and hung up. We didn't wait for orders but just headed up as soon as they had the bed ready. Fortunately the Intensivist was there and immediately prepared to intubate, and the primary showed up shortly after. But no way could the guy wait on the doc to arrive, we'd have been tubing him on the floor. Sometimes you just gotta do what you gotta do.

Doctors..sometimes I feel like they're the biggest hindrance! LOL

oldiebutgoodie, RN · May 31, 2005

Not too long ago a man went into severe, sudden respiratory distress here on the floor. Poor guy was using every muscle he had to breath, heart rate was 150-160, sweaty, etc. The floor nurse paged the doctor, who called back on his cell phone and said he'd be there shortly, then the phone kept getting cut off. The nurse that had him was fairly new and I kept telling her, Tell the doctor he needs to go to ICU NOW. But the doctor's damn phone cut out twice. Finally we called for a unit bed and when the doctor called back and said he'd be there in 10 minutes, the charge nurse told him we had an ICU bed and hung up. We didn't wait for orders but just headed up as soon as they had the bed ready. Fortunately the Intensivist was there and immediately prepared to intubate, and the primary showed up shortly after. But no way could the guy wait on the doc to arrive, we'd have been tubing him on the floor. Sometimes you just gotta do what you gotta do.
Doctors..sometimes I feel like they're the biggest hindrance! LOL

Maybe this is a dumb question, but as a soon to be RN (a few weeks!), what would you do if the doc never showed up? Can the RN tube the patient?

Oldiebutgoodie

zambezi, BSN, RN · May 31, 2005

Maybe this is a dumb question, but as a soon to be RN (a few weeks!), what would you do if the doc never showed up? Can the RN tube the patient?
Oldiebutgoodie

Most RNs can't intubate (even if they have ACLS). The ones that can have to have special training (paramedic/flight nursing, etc) and then have to be cleared through the hospital boards to be allowed to intubated inside of the premesis, so even that is fairly rare (at least where I live). If the doc didn't show, you would probably call a code (sounds like they were almost there anyway) and the ER or anesthesia would probably intubate the patient and send them to ICU.

lady_jezebel · May 31, 2005

Sometimes you just gotta do what you gotta do.
Doctors..sometimes I feel like they're the biggest hindrance! LOL

True, in a clear-cut scenario the nurses can act (especially those with more experience, for they have more clout) -- but there are so many grey areas, where you KNOW what would be best for the patient, but you have to wait for things to happen due to all the red tape.