Work Experiences You Could Have Lived Without

[Kooky Korky, BSN, RN]

Reading some of the posts here caused me to recall some experiences I wish I had never had.

For example:

I was new in ICU, plus, it was only my 2nd year as an RN, which had not been spent at the Med/Surg bedside.

A fellow nurse complained to the boss that I had or hadn't done something or other, which I can't recall specifically. The boss' reply was, "Don't worry, Korky's getting the next admit, acute renal failure. He'll be running his butt off".

Well, I had never had an ARF pt and could only do so much butt off-running because I didn't really know what to do for the pt, as I was very new at the whole thing - Nursing and ICU. So, to prevent death or other calamity, the boss wound up helping me. She ran her hind end off. Pt was OK, but I was not.

I was puzzled, scared, hurt, and angry as to why the boss thought, even for a second, that a pt should be endangered or receive less than adequate care just because I had managed to, apparently, tick off another nurse. No one had counseled me, advised me, instructed me. I was a new nurse and new to ICU and was doing the best I knew how to do.

To this day, this kind of stuff confuses me and hurts so much.

[cardiacfreak, ADN]

One experience I wish I had never had was a new admission, R/O CVA. We transfer him from ER cart to bed, ER nurse and orderly leave. Another nurse and I hook him up to telemetry and get vital signs. We then turn him to get all of the extra linen out from under him and remove his depend. In the depend were maggots from a huge pressure ulcer on his coccyx. I almost lost my cookies, it was the only time I actually gagged in front of a patient and family.

The daughter and son-in-law, who were his primary caregivers didn't know he had a bedsore. So I asked who put the depend on him? "Oh, he does that himself." Next question was regarding ambulation prior to event, "Oh, he can't walk, he hasn't walked for years." Do you help him with bathing? "Of course, we give him a bath every day."

I immediately notified social services.

[Kooky Korky, BSN, RN]

One experience I wish I had never had was a new admission, R/O CVA. We transfer him from ER cart to bed, ER nurse and orderly leave. Another nurse and I hook him up to telemetry and get vital signs. We then turn him to get all of the extra linen out from under him and remove his depend. In the depend were maggots from a huge pressure ulcer on his coccyx. I almost lost my cookies, it was the only time I actually gagged in front of a patient and family.

The daughter and son-in-law, who were his primary caregivers didn't know he had a bedsore. So I asked who put the depend on him? "Oh, he does that himself." Next question was regarding ambulation prior to event, "Oh, he can't walk, he hasn't walked for years." Do you help him with bathing? "Of course, we give him a bath every day."

I immediately notified social services.

Really makes you wonder doesn't it? it's so sad what people have to endure sometimes.