Will they contact State Board

Nurses Medications

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My friend was fired today because she gave a patient her order of NPH insulin and held the patients Regular insulin for the AM dose. The patients blood sugar was 121, so the patient wanted Reg held. About 2hrs later the patients blood sugars dropped to 55, then to 22. So patient was given protocol treatment for low insulin. Anyways, my friend was fired over the situation, but do they call State Board and notify them of the incident? Will her license be in jeopardy of this, because our job sad she probably gave Reg instead of NPH accidentally?

Specializes in Pediatrics, Emergency, Trauma.

Sounds like she was still on probation. :yes:

That runs a risk of getting terminated for an error, instead of remediation...sigh. I wonder why she wasn't remediated. Ridiculous, perhaps...very unfortunate.

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Specializes in LTC, Psych, M/S.

While this nurse took the fall for what sounds like more of documentation error, Was there any kind of root cause analysis as to why this happened? And corrective measures taken?

This patient is a very brittle diabetic sitting behind bars - probably has very limited access to see a endocrinologist who should be the one managing her care. Not to make assumptions but I wonder how well this patient managed her diabetes when she was on the outside as well as her diet in jail.

Nurses working in jails are taking care of patients who often have chronic health problems that all to often weren't managed well before they were incarcerated. I read an newspaper article not to long ago about people turning themselves in on outstanding warrants in hopes of being jailed where they can then get needed medical care on the county's expense.

I have a suspicion that the same thing is going to happen this nurses replacement as well.

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Specializes in Critical Care, ED, Cath lab, CTPAC,Trauma.

just another documented case of why nurses should carry

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Specializes in OB/GYN.
Was she still on probation? Its much easier for employers to terminate employees when they are on probation and there is not much that can be done legally but it's still a good idea for her to speak to a lawyer who is familiar with nursing before she signs anything.[/quote']

Yes, she was still in training.

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Specializes in OB/GYN.
Sounds like she was still on probation. :yes:

That runs a risk of getting terminated for an error, instead of remediation...sigh. I wonder why she wasn't remediated. Ridiculous, perhaps...very unfortunate.

I know! That's why it was easy for them to fire her, because she's still in training I guess.

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Specializes in orthopedic/trauma, Informatics, diabetes.

This us why we have dual sign off when giving insulin. We have to verify BG, type and amount of insulin, and orders. I am forever questioning insulin administration.

I still have a hard time understanding why they use NPH for basal coverage instead of Lantus or Victoza. I would have held all insulin if those were the only 2 choices with a BG of 121.

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Specializes in OB/GYN.
While this nurse took the fall for what sounds like more of documentation error, Was there any kind of root cause analysis as to why this happened? And corrective measures taken?

This patient is a very brittle diabetic sitting behind bars - probably has very limited access to see a endocrinologist who should be the one managing her care. Not to make assumptions but I wonder how well this patient managed her diabetes when she was on the outside as well as her diet in jail.

Nurses working in jails are taking care of patients who often have chronic health problems that all to often weren't managed well before they were incarcerated. I read an newspaper article not to long ago about people turning themselves in on outstanding warrants in hopes of being jailed where they can then get needed medical care on the county's expense.

I have a suspicion that the same thing is going to happen this nurses replacement as well.

I think you are right! This person probably didn't take care of her self. But yes, they do rely on the jails to give them free care from head to toe, including free dental!

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Specializes in Oncology; medical specialty website.
This is one reason why some facilities require two nurses to verify insulin doses. I can imagine that's not easily done in a jail, though - I've never worked corrections, but I'm guessing if there's another nurse, they're on another unit.

Jails get sued all the time for healthcare stuff because the population is considered vulnerable. Firing your friend was likely a CYA move.

Also, this really sounds like one of those, "So I have this friend who..." situations where people are really asking for themselves.

Agreed. Whenever I read a post that starts with "So, I have this friend..." I automatically think the post is about that individual, not the proverbial "friend" who screwed up.

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Specializes in OB/GYN.

Agreed. Whenever I read a post that starts with "So, I have this friend..." I automatically think the post is about that individual, not the proverbial "friend" who screwed up.

Well like I stated before, if it were me, then I have no problems saying it was me! This is a forum to post what you feel, so I have no shame in admitting this being me if that were the case!

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