Would you take a bullet for your colleague?

[Katie5]

So what if your fellow nurse made a mistake and it was blamed on you, would you just let it roll and be the fall person?Or would you go, "Hang on a sec, now this person did this, not I"....

[Whispera, MSN, RN]

I can't think of anything in the workplace that I'd take the blame for, if I wasn't responsible. Besides it being a blotch on my professionalism or honor, it could lead the person to think you're willing to let it happen again (and again) and you could be the fall guy for lots of things in the future.

And, if it's something the person is doing that is sub-standard care, that needs to stop, because patients need to be cared-for in the best way possible. We can't let each other avoid consequences of what they do, or they won't improve how they do things.

What would be the benefit of taking responsibility for something someone else did or didn't do? Maybe you need to tell us more about it.

[Kooky Korky, BSN, RN]

No, for all the reasons already stated.

So can you elaborate on your problem?

Have the responses helped you?

[Ruby Vee, BSN]

i'm going to go against the majority and say it would depend upon the mistake. if it's a little mistake -- forgot to empty the foley bag, forgot to post the blood transfusion slips in the chart, forgot to plug the bed in after the patient returned from a road trip or even forgot to plug the iv pumps in and they started to screech -- i'd let it go. empty the foley, post the transfusion slips, plug in the bed, ditto the iv pumps. i'd expect a colleague to just let it go as well -- unless i made a habit of that sort of thing. they i'd expect them to let me know quietly without making a big deal of it. and if i still made a habit of it . . . i'd deserve what i got.

if someone hung heparin instead of dopamine, pushed 1 mg of epinephrine when 0.1 mg was ordered or hung mrs. gregory's blood on mrs. thomas, i wouldn't take the bullet. nor would i expect anyone to take the bullet for me.

[Whispera, MSN, RN]

I also think it's one thing to let it go if something minor just happened and the other person isn't admitting responsibility and responsibility seems to land on you, but it's another if that person says something like, " (your name) did it." or "I saw (your name) do it." or "I told (your name) to do it."

[snoopy29]

I'm with Ruby on this one. In nursing there can be a real culture of blame and every nurse makes the odd mistake. If it's a one off and hasn't harmed the patient then I would simply sort it out, no big drama's.

I also take the bullet in respect of the actions of nurses in my department when something has been overlooked and relatives are complaining. As the nurse in charge my belief is that if something goes awry then it's down to me to apologise and set things straight. If I know that the reason Mr Abdo Pain did not get his analgesia for an hour was because the department is busy and I have pulled nurses to cover a different area then it's down to me to get the well placed anger from the family not the overworked nurse.

In terms of anything big however then no. Errors tend to occur primarily due to system failure rather than any one persons incompetency so if they are not flagged then systems won't change.

[DaniGrrl]

I wouldn't, nor would I expect anyone to do that for me.

[Jules A, MSN]

I was going to say "it depends on what it was and who it was", lol. If like Ruby Vee said it was something minor and I'll add for most of my peers I'd just do it and let it drop.

[NurseNinaFla]

A colleague should not even expect this,If I make a mistake then I alone must take the blame..its unethical to handle mistakes any other way

[Tsiasn]

In certain situations, yes.

For example, I had an admission.. the other nurse was helping me to chart and instead of charting the drip as 50mcg of fentanyl, he charted 50ml which equaled 500 mcg of Fentanyl. The charge nurse walks by and says, oh, your patient is on 500mcg of Fentanyl/H ?? I could have easily said, "Oh, no Joe charted it wrong, I'll fix it" But instead I said, "Oh, I'll fix that!" Why? You scratch my back, I'll scratch yours... no harm was meant, no patient got hurt, and Joe will know that I appreciate him helping me with my admissions and in the future not leave me hanging!!!

[Otessa, BSN, RN]

So what if your fellow nurse made a mistake and it was blamed on you, would you just let it roll and be the fall person?Or would you go, "Hang on a sec, now this person did this, not I"....

I would not take the blame for a co-worker. sorry.

otessa

[Chaya, ASN, RN]

If a minor mistake I would just rectify it without assigning blame. If major I would approach the person responsible and allow them to take action. "Taking the bullet"as such is actual falsification of information; you do not want to go there.