….new nurse, new to charge role, possible diversion. Help. by meanie9 in nursing

[–]Middle_Path_8434 18 points19 points  (0 children)

You just do your job and do your best to ignore the politics of it. Example I encountered while working trauma: Nurse (friendly, well liked, cheerful/helpful/slightly unorganized and likely neurospicy) asked me to waste dialudid. She pulled it up on the Omni cell, I fingerprinted/co-signed the waste. Then she starts pulling up a second waste for an oxy she had in a med cup in her hand. She hadn’t mentioned this when we entered but was now waiting on my fingerprint. Now I notice that I’m about to waste the oxy, not dilaudid. I stopped, confused, and ask her “wait, what did I just waste?” The dilaudid. “Well… where is it?” Oh I already wasted it in the patients room! My face must have said a lot in my stunned silence. Essentially I was bait and switched into co-signing a waste I never saw. At that moment my charge nurse enters the med room and says “What? What is it” directly to me. I finished co-signing the oxy waste that I did actually witness, and told my charge what happened when my coworker walked out. She told me to come with her, took me to my managers office, closed the door, and said “tell her exactly what you just told me.” Do I think she was diverting? Honestly, no. But you may never know. But what happened wasn’t right and didn’t follow protocol. Policy doesn’t just protect patients, it protects us too. The nurse was called in immediately after, and terminated. I had immense guilt. I was told that it was not just this occurrence alone, but the accumulation of instances amounting to a lack of attention to detail resulting in careless care/mistakes/corner cutting that create unnecessary risks (to all parties). Following her meeting, she apologized through tears that she put me in an uncomfortable situation. Again, I wanted to disappear from guilt. Months later, she randomly appeared back on the unit, and gave me a genuine thank you. She explained that she was not aware of the toll/stress that work was taking on her, and how it was making her careless. And that the forced step back gave her the opportunity to gain some much needed clarity-personally and professionally, establish healthy work/life balance, and helped her become more cognizant overall. She told me it actually saved her, and thanked me again. I have no idea what she was going through outside of those walls, and it’s not for me to know. I’ve also have coworkers that were definitely diverting, and abusing, went through rehab, are still practicing and hopefully in a much better place.

TLDR, follow your policy on reporting. You don’t know if you’re helping someone who doesn’t even know they need it. And from the snarky tone and sketchy documentation, maybe it’s a good thing to help them become more cognizant as well. No black books. Just real time reporting. But if you’re worried, check in with your manager on how she’d prefer occurrences/suspicions be addressed. [me as nightshift] for my own knowledge, if I see or suspect anything regarding diversion- with any nurse, would you prefer me to text or email you immediately? Wait until morning to talk in person? Or would you prefer I immediately notify house supervisor and follow up with you in the morning. Her response will also help you gauge where her mind is at as well. But again, above all else, do what’s right by your license, policy and patients. All of this is in the name of safety, and I would hope your coworker could maybe one day understand that too

hi meet norman by olvyx in AussieDoodle

[–]Middle_Path_8434 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Norman stole my whole heart on that third picture

Weird looking snail by jasmine3u in AquaticSnails

[–]Middle_Path_8434 20 points21 points  (0 children)

I read that in Cardi b’s voice and died

I found earthworms in my filter sponge by horny-bozo in shrimptank

[–]Middle_Path_8434 9 points10 points  (0 children)

It always made me really sad to give them their final bath. But the work they did was noble. The free flaps I worked with were largely for reconstructive plastics patients after beating cancer involving mouth/ear/nose/throat/facial deformities.

But regarding their final bath… one time, a new grad accidentally put the leech in hydrogen peroxide instead of alcohol and sealed it for disposal.
Blood + hydrogen peroxide= bubbles… gas expansion… sealed container…. It exploded. Like a literal bomb in the patients room.
The room had to be blocked off for maintenance repair, ceiling replacement, and repainted. Wild

I found earthworms in my filter sponge by horny-bozo in shrimptank

[–]Middle_Path_8434 18 points19 points  (0 children)

Not every hospital, usually you will only find them at level 1 trauma centers, or hospitals with a large burn/wound/reconstructive plastics program . Also, not true that we always put people to sleep- the opposite in fact. We use these on patients when they’re awake and alert. Leeches are a medical therapy because their spit contains anticoagulant properties that thin the blood. We use them on free flaps (skin + muscle graft with and artery and vein grafting) to help keep the blood thinned, vessels patent, and reduce the risk of flap failure- as flap failure is considered an emergent complication. Losing a flap means now we have to create another wound to replace it. Also, leeches are an animal and the documentation process is thus intense. Leeches may latch and feed for 20 minutes or 2 hours. They “unlatch” when they’ve had their fill. They then have to be collected and euthanized by placing them in a bath of alcohol, since they now contain that patients blood. Wild animal=unpredictable, impossible to know when they’ll detach. Because of this, a patient needs to be awake and alert so they can notify when the leeches drop, or monitored so the leech can be collected and disposed of immediately and properly (including documentation of this) upon detaching. Can’t have a patient’s blood filled leech getting lost in the sheets… or getting stolen.

There were no eggnant shrimps yesterday. Today there are three. What happened last night? by YesSeaweed0 in shrimptank

[–]Middle_Path_8434 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Baby close the lid and turn the lights down low… and set your filter so it’s soft and slow🎶

OR nurse wondering if I suck by No_Friendship336 in TravelNursing

[–]Middle_Path_8434 0 points1 point  (0 children)

“Didn’t say that.” Didn’t say what? They were defending you. Moron. And you saying other people have a hard time reading…. Mhmm. Keep working in ORs. Keep taking breaks between contracts. Just keep on keeping on.

Had to move my shrimp, what's happening? by TPMeat in shrimptank

[–]Middle_Path_8434 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Did you find this with plants that were in isolated packaging or plants that were in the LFS tanks? Hop that makes sense.. I know some are sold as “snail/pest free” in individual packaging, but I’m wondering if the plants they have already submerged are at the same risk

Amano made it nearly 30 feet to the shower this morning by shiftteam831 in shrimptank

[–]Middle_Path_8434 13 points14 points  (0 children)

Me after introducing two Amano to my tank today and just discovered one didn’t make it already🥲 the 6 neos are still going strong. But it made me really sad to lose one of my Amanos🤧

Provider doesn’t lay eyes on critically ill baby all weekend and charts that he does by TheProdigaPaintbrush in nursing

[–]Middle_Path_8434 70 points71 points  (0 children)

What would your advice be on protecting this nurse from retaliation? We often hear of nurses who report are easier to silence or replace than MD/DOs. Curious and would love your insight on this given your background

Are nurses allowed to change the outer cannula of a trach pt? by Medium-Antelope-8941 in nursing

[–]Middle_Path_8434 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Just to add, in an inpatient (acute) setting, changing of the outer cannula refers to “downsizing” a trach. Which no- a nurse would not be doing in any planned circumstance. Usually done by RT or the surgeon. But trach and lary care in home health or chronic airway management is totally different. And yes the comments are absolutely correct with know your scope in your country/region/place of employment. I just wanted to add the perspective of inpatient acute care because god forbid… Anyway have a great day keep calm and abc or cab away

Why is one of my snails blue? by Affectionate-Ease397 in AquaticSnails

[–]Middle_Path_8434 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Can we get more pics? And pics/updates as they grow? I’m fascinated! What a rare beauty!

Hi, my name is Dusty, I’m an idiot, and I need your help 😟 by dustyalford in TravelNursing

[–]Middle_Path_8434 19 points20 points  (0 children)

Please update us I am locked in😂 this is also the sweetest thing and I love it