Hello everyone,
I've been a new nurse for almost a year now. I had an incident that still rattles me. There was a patient who had an elevated blood pressure, around in the 170's/90. The doc said to just re-check it in an hour, then she'd figure out if she'd give the pt anything to lower it. I re-checked it, and when I did, it was I think 159/80's range. When I was on the phone talking to the doctor, one nurse, who has worked at my hospital for years, was listening to my conversation with the doc. Then she all of a sudden said something along the lines of "now don't take me the wrong way, but should you really be reporting that blood pressure? That is pre-hypertensive and the patient is old." That is NOT pre-hypertensive value and the patient was simply in her late 50's. She knew that. Just because an elevated BP tends to happen amongst people who are middle-aged and older does not mean it is healthy to not treat an elevated blood pressure.
My question is, was this nurse trying to mess with my mind? I did my job and reported the abnormal value, which is our responsibility at this facility and as a nurse in general. This nurse has had a history of making comments to me like "hah, you're a young nurse" and would try to make fun of me for always documenting things extensively. I think that she is a bit twisted and for some reason is trying to hate on me. I have always been nothing but courteous. When with saying hello and goodbye, and most of the times when I say hello or "have a good night," she never responds back.
What do you think this was?
The whole incident got me very angry. Though I stayed calm and ignored her because she was giving me incorrect information and perhaps encouraging me to work towards losing my license by not reporting an elevated blood pressure (if a patient strokes out...it will be my fault because I did not report it).
Thank you for your feedback, I appreciate it