I’m a nurse that works in a large hospital system. I’ve been there a long time and know many of the doctors from my department very well. I’m also very good (or so I’d like to think) at my job.
I’ve brought problems to the attention of doctors/senior nurses who would then either (A) tell me to keep quiet about it; or (B) would take actions to prevent that discrepancy from being documented in the chart or come up with post hoc rationalization about why a certain action was taken.
For example, I was once monitoring a patient who underwent a lap. chole. procedure, and the white blood cell count and creatinine were way off. She was going into sepsis. I alerted attending right away, and sure enough a bile duct had been nicked during the surgery by a surgeon we all knew wasn’t very good at his job. A roux-en-x hepat. was performed by a different doctor, but nurses I work with told me that the chart didn’t mention the nicked bile duct at all, and that the chart made it seem like it was a necessary ancillary procedure rather than reconstructive surgery.
The hospital’s internal review discussed the incident with me, and when I asked about whether I would potentially be a witness in a lawsuit, they just told me it was unlikely because there was very little in the chart for any lawyers to go on. It was a cover up, and now that poor girl’s probably going to have gastrointestinal issues for the rest of her life.
If I speak out, I’m out of a job that I typically enjoy. If I don’t, this just keeps happening as problematic/unqualified surgeons feel untouchable. This sucks, and somehow it feels 10x worse since COVID.
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Ethically call them out on their bullshit and quit . I would tell her. This goes on way too much and if you consider yourself a good nurse then you should not allow this to happen and you’re pretty much choosing a paycheck over what’s morally right . But as you said you enjoy your job even tho those around you are risking patients to lose their lives . So you will continue on going to collect your check knowingly knowing that these clowns are covering up malpractice daily .
Please report these people. Its not safe for you to work there and its not safe for the patients who trust you. Theres a million places where you can work and find a job. If they do stuff like that to patients then theyll def do it to you.
You do not sound medical at all, or like a seasoned nurse. Fake
RN here too, speak up!!! I know how scary it can be but we ARE our patients advocates. How many times a week do we catch a mistake made by a doctor (generally meds)? A lot more than the average person would like to realise. Part of our job is to make sure our patients are safe. The fact that a cover up by the HOSPITAL has been made here is disgusting and is absolutely not a place where I would want to be working.
Our jobs are so hard right now, but I choose to believe that things I can control, I will, and what you’ve just described is absolutely something you can “control”. Speak up!!
Love from another nurse who is also roughing it out here ❣️
I feel like the odds are stacked against anyone but the doctors. I know my mother was supposed to receive a 3rd scheduled MRI after her stroke and it would have shown that she had started bleeding again and maybe could have been saved, but they didn’t do the 3rd scan and she died. Nobody talked to me about it, or apologized about it.
We are at the mercy of the doctors’ verbal statements and written charts and there’s not enough oversight.
You’re part of the problem. I hope you don’t trick yourself into believing you’re any better.
Talk to an attorney first. You don’t want all hell to break out over this and you not be prepared.
Like when a routine chest X-ray caught a tag from gauze left in the abdomen during surgery. I was livid that the patient was taken back to OR for some made up procedure. Her family was so grateful, but learned the truth and moved her out of my hospital ( a little RN birdie told them to follow the bread crumbs).
We do need to advocate for our patients. 🌹
Ma’am are you aware there’s a nursing shortage? Report them and find another job! You’re one of the most valuable people in our entire country, you hold a lot more power than you think.
You’re out of a job or you’re an accessory to murder, either way it sucks.
I ask myself, WWJD.
Old but it works.
I am so sorry. I reported a nurse being negligent which caused her patient to die and nothing was done. I truly hate you’re in such an awful predicament. 💜
Report them to respective boards.
You mention covid, but nothing is worse in the modern history of the healthcare profession. Did you not notice during covid, that the whole medical profession lost its way? That they were wearing and encouraged others to wear masks that had no efficacy against disease transmission? That they were taking and pushing experimental covid vaccines that showed no reduction in case fatality rate and are accused of much worse? That they were ignoring and conducting flawed studies on repurposed drugs that could offer early treatment? Or did you wear your mask, take your vaccines and scold those going out for exercise and fresh air like a good little brain washed healthcare worker?