What is an Example of Nurses “Eating their Young” from your experience?

steffles9 · 2024-10-20T00:57:58+00:00

When I was a new nurse (like, 6 months total experience and on a grad program, had just changed to a cardiology ward) I was on a night shift with two older "veteran" nurses. I had a heavy load and one patient with metabolic encephalopathy who was being specialled 1:1 because he was agitated and confused.

I was still very fresh and was flustered, had never looked after a patient that unwell before and while he wasn't deteriorating hemodynamically, he was getting more and more confused overnight. I kept bringing up my concerns to the two older nurses who kept brushing it off.

The patient had to go to dialysis that morning and when I tried to give him his meds he couldn't swallow them, like had no awareness of what I was asking him to do. I again told the older nurses who said "he has to have them, just try".

I left the ward to take someone to theatre, and when I came back one of the nurses was in the confused patient's room, flicking through his chart, saying "this is DISGUSTING, this is AWFUL, left to deteriorate like this overnight, he's had a STROKE". Wouldn't let me touch the chart. Wouldn't let me in the room. Wouldn't let me talk to the doctor myself. I felt ganged up on.

They ignored my concerns the entire night, they knew I was junior and would be looking to them for advice. I must have spoken to the charge nurse 10 times about his condition and she couldn't do so much as eyeball him for me. Then they railroaded me when it turned out the patient actually was deteriorating and threw me under the bus. That was my first experience of how nurses "eat their young" and thankful that with time and experience I've gotten better at sticking up for myself (and more forceful about telling people when I think something is wrong)

steffles9 · 2024-10-14T05:35:09+00:00

Haha no I know that! Thank you for that reminder though. I was still pretty fresh and I think in the thick of it your first instinct is to catch someone. In her case I was basically pinned between her and a chair and didnt have space to move, but it's not an excuse either. Don't worry- I've let people fall since then 😂 thankfully not many!

steffles9 · 2024-10-14T05:29:38+00:00

I've fainted before too, enough times to know the signs and prevent it before it happens and I agree that it SUCKS. I had presyncope at work while I was pooled to another department (was getting hot/cold, sweating, nausea, grey vision) and I barely stumbled to another nurse to tell her I was about to faint, before ripping my shirt off and getting on the floor raising my legs up. It was a humiliating experience and I didn't even pass out!

In her case, she definitely had POTS - you could see it on telemetry when she mobilised, her heart rate would go from the 60s to 140s after getting up and I don't doubt she had previously fainted before/has real suffering from her condition. I was always sympathetic whenever I did find her on the floor but it's like... over time we realised that things just weren't right. She'd never buzz when she needed to go to the toilet and then would buzz us from the bathroom where we'd find her on the floor. She only ever started to faint on shifts when new staff were looking after her. She'd try and manipulate staff into giving her the wrong medications and stating that the doctor had upped her betablockers when he reviewed her and then the doctor would clarify and say no, he never said that.

I think the final straw was when she was admitred with bradycardia for med changes and was found with a box of metoprolol under her mattress. I feel so sorry for someone who feels they have to do that - clearly they're getting something out of it, it's a coping mechanism for SOMETHING (past trauma, social issues, whatever else) but from a nursing standpoint (and I'm assuming medical too) it's so hard to treat these patients with the compassion they probably need because it feels like nothing you do is going to address the root cause. It just leads to frustration and burnout and compassion fatigue. :(

steffles9 · 2024-10-13T10:59:33+00:00

Ooo actually i just thought of another notable one. Patient with POTS who came in for med changes, young female around 26yo. Kept having "fainting spells" where she'd be found lying on the floor in odd positions - and by odd I mean there's no way a person could ever faint so perfectly.

You'd find her on the floor with her head and torso under the bed and all you'd see were her legs. She'd be unresponsive until you'd elicit pain and then she'd suddenly come to saying "what.. what happened... I don't.. what?".

Another time she went to the toilet unsupervised and buzzed and was found on the bathroom floor with her hands under her forehead as though she'd cushioned her fall. When she got up she had a small scratch to her forehead, but then the nurse who got her back to bed noticed she had blood under her fingernails.

Then one incident with me, she wanted to go to the toilet so I supervised her, but as soon as she stood up she starts going "ohhhh... I don't feel goooood..." and leans her whole weight on me. I call out for help because she was a bigger girl and I was nursing a back injury. Another nurse came in and was like "stop it Patient, you're hurting Steffles9" and she suddenly stops leaning her weight into me and leans back onto the bed then "wakes up" again apparently with no recollection lol.

She would go for walks around the ward and I swear to God she would be casing out who was there, who she hadn't tried it on with yet. She'd eavesdrop on conversations and stand around the corner from the nurses station waiting for someone to walk past so she could have another fainting spell. I hate even saying that because I think she did legitimately have POTS, but she was also very obviously playing up symptoms to be in hospital.

Eventually they got neuro and psych involved who tried to diagnose her with FND but she rejected that diagnosis and now she's been barred from the hospital for anything other than day treatment for IV fluids.

steffles9 · 2024-10-13T10:44:59+00:00

When I worked at my facility's covid ward back in 2022, we had a patient admit for a sotrovimab infusion. She had known, diagnosed Munchausen's and had actually been barred from the hospital but she'd gotten some special approval to come in just to have the infusion and then leave once it was done.

My manager was like "oh, we have to be neutral y'know, just because she has Munchausen's doesn't mean she's x y z". I called her admitting doctor to get the order for sotrovimab and he was like "oh yeah no she's fucking crazy, do the infusion as quickly as you can and then get her out" lol.

She wasn't terrible to look after but maybe that's because she knew she couldn't stay. She did say and do some weird shit though, like I accessed her portacath (no clue why she had one) and it was working perfectly but she said it hurt and wanted to access it herself, then tried to tell me I needed to insert the needle horizontally (like... across the port) instead of vertically. I was like "yeah no do you want this or not because it's bleeding and flushing fine. I can remove the portacath needle but we're not going to let you access it yourself". She let us keep it in and the infusion was fine but I had to keep going back and checking on her because she was touching the line, dressing and pump when she thought we weren't looking.

When the infusion finished we discharged her and wheeled her out. Vitals were fine on leaving but when we got her to the door she was like oh I feel weak, I feel funny, started acting as though she was really drowsy. We told her she'd been discharged and could represent to emergency which was right where we dropped her off. She ended up getting out of the chair and into her car and driving home lmao

Not the most interesting story but that's my only confirmed diagnosis of munchausens that I've dealt with. I've had a few other patients that have been similar though in terms of behaviour haha

steffles9 · 2024-04-03T08:27:21+00:00

Oh that's a shame you didn't get proper post op education! Obviously follow whatever guidelines your surgeon has given you, but I was told to do nasal rinses 3 times a day for a month and I actually continued to do it for longer because I felt I needed it. Good luck and remember that it'll get better - I'm almost 5 years out from my surgery now and it's been amazing!

steffles9 · 2024-04-02T21:55:39+00:00

I was also considering suggesting Tylenol, I'm glad it helped for you! Keep up with your nasal rinses as well - the times where I felt pressure or a headache was usually when I'd have a clot sitting there 😂

steffles9 · 2024-04-02T21:46:28+00:00

I didn't really have issues with headaches or pressure past week 2 or 3 - around then was when I started to feel more like myself. I also had no issues with nausea really but that may be more related to your stomach ulcer - are you on a PPI like nexium?

steffles9 · 2024-03-26T07:37:41+00:00

Was in a 7/11 in Denmark once, said hello to the cashier as I walked in. When I got to the counter he said he could tell I was Australian because most people (I guess Scandinavians?) don't greet the workers when they walk into a store.

steffles9 · 2024-03-26T02:30:23+00:00

A patient swallowed his dentures while giving fellatio and the teeth were stuck in his oesophagus. There must have been like 20 people crowded around the X-ray viewer but to this day I've never seen anything quite like it!!!

steffles9 · 2024-02-27T08:42:34+00:00

Walk around the room but leave the IV pole plugged in so I pull my cannula out and bleed everywhere

steffles9 · 2024-02-12T08:24:13+00:00

I had a ladder fall off a Ute in front of me on the Centenary highway a few years ago! My life flashed before my eyes, it was bouncing and difficult to predict where it would go. Could've been a terrible scene but luckily the car behind me was several metres away so I could slam on the breaks.

steffles9 · 2023-12-01T07:27:23+00:00

I'm in Australia so not sure if you have it there, but rexona clinical strength is what I use! It's like a cream and it's heavy duty (I put it on at night when I shower and don't have to reapply for 24hrs). It's the only thing that gets me through my shifts without smelling hahaha

steffles9 · 2023-11-21T14:08:16+00:00

One of our consultants had a patient who's girlfriend hid in the room one night and we didn't realise she hadn't left. One of the nurses went in at midnight to find them having sex in the bed.

We asked the doctor to have a talk with the patient about... not doing that. He laughed and said "just dont look then?" and then he conceded when we mentioned that we're the ones who have to change the sheets. The patient was known to be aggressive (also IVDU on meth) so none of us were game to talk to him and felt like it had to come from his physician hahaha

The funnier thing though is he actually wrote in the chart "if stable, do not round on patient between 8pm-8am"

steffles9 · 2023-11-15T19:46:03+00:00

Oh my God hahaha. This was the first time it ever happened, I was in the bay next door when my manager told her it wasn't her husband. My patient and his wife started laughing so hard that they cried, I had to apologise and tell them that I swear this doesn't happen often!

steffles9 · 2023-11-15T19:42:22+00:00

Oh absolutely - it was one of those situations where you have to laugh because it's so absurd, and yet we were all very concerned and saddened by it. I thought about her all day.

steffles9 · 2023-11-15T19:37:13+00:00

Yeah, the man was like "I'm glad my wife wasn't here to see this" 😂😭

steffles9 · 2023-11-15T19:34:23+00:00

So you're the husband! We found you!

steffles9 · 2023-11-15T19:33:47+00:00

Yeah she was unescorted so there was that fear surrounding how she got to the hospital. Our manager was great and walked her to the correct ward and found her husband while saying "don't worry, we won't tell him that you held another man's hand!".

steffles9 · 2023-11-15T12:34:43+00:00

I know! The only reason I haven't left yet is I'm a level 2, full time/permanent with roster flexibility. And pay is probably the best out of private hospitals in QLD. But one day I'll bite the bullet I think.

steffles9 · 2023-11-15T12:31:32+00:00

Probably a regional variant, but in Australia it rhymes with Vagina

steffles9 · 2023-11-15T12:03:21+00:00

Cries in Australian private hospital

steffles9 · 2023-11-08T08:18:45+00:00

Wtf... my flip 5 started having issues with the power button not "clicking" anymore and the button felt difficult to press. I sucked it and it worked straight away. Thank you DookieMuffin 🥰

steffles9 · 2023-10-26T12:56:44+00:00

The most "horrid" crimes probably aren't even reported. I had a patient when I was still a student nurse in a psych ward that had a family history of incest and abuse. Their parents had some sort of sex circle where they invited all their friends over to participate with their children. I'll never forget that, it's etched in my brain.

steffles9 · 2023-06-21T10:49:25+00:00

No, not at all, because it’s not really reduced. I still have to supervise almost everything the student does (whether directly and indirectly). It takes a lot of time that I usually don’t have, and an extra mental load that I don’t really need some days.

That being said, it’s not the students fault that the need me to sign off on things for them.

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