Nurses are trained on how to provide proper care and how to respond or how to act accordingly when such emergencies happen. There are just times that nurses tend to do mistakes and neglect patients the care that they need. But when times are tough for nurses especially when they received complaints and accusations cases, there will be someone who can help them. Having a nurse attorney can help you solve your case or can be your defense against complaints, allegations, and accusation cases.
At the time of the incident, an RN was employed as a Registered Nurse at a hospital in Fort Worth, Texas, and had been in that position for three (3) years.
An incident happened on or about February 22, 2020, the RN initiated an infusion of Argatroban to a Patient instead of octreotide, as ordered. Subsequently, the medication was infused until the following morning, when the patient was discovered vomiting blood. The patient required transfer to a higher level of care. The RN’s conduct was likely to injure the patient from the administration of blood-thinning medication without physician orders.
In response to the incident, the RN states that she received a report from the night nurse, and was told that the patient’s bag of octreotide was hanging from the pole in her room and all the RN needed to do was spike it. The RN states that shortly after the report, the power went out in the entire hospital, and it was out for two hours. During this time, the RN spoke to the patient, performed a focused assessment, and proceeded to spike the bag of what she believed was Octreotide.
After the power came back on, the RN went into the room to scan the bag into the medication administration record and states that she mistakenly scanned the empty bag instead of the currently infusing bag. The RN explains that she was distracted because the doctor and family were at the bedside at that time, and this was the RN’s first-day shift, and she was unused to the distractions. The RN states that throughout her shift, the patient began to get nosebleeds. The patient notified her that it was a common occurrence for her to get nosebleeds, but the RN notified the physician who directed her to pinch her nose and to place ice. The RN states that later in the shift, there was a worse nosebleed than before, and she notified the doctor again because she and the patient’s family were concerned. The RN states that she gave the report back to the same night nurse, and when she returned the next morning, she received a report that the patient’s condition had declined. The RN states that she first went to another patient’s room because the call light was on, then was notified by the aide that the patient was vomiting blood. She also states that she immediately entered the room, contacted the charge nurse, and started a rapid response call. The RN adds that sometime after the patient’s transfer to the intensive care unit (ICU), the ICU nurses realized that the supposed octreotide was actually Argatroban.
The incident above has put the RN into discipline by the Texas Board of Nursing and was given sanction for her actions. She failed to hire a nurse attorney that leads to the outcome that she is in. It is really important that you have someone who you can rely on when such a thing happens. Hiring a nurse attorney is very worth a try for RNs who are having a hard time with their cases.
If you have questions about the Texas Board of Nursing disciplinary process, you can contact the Law Office of Nurse Attorney Yong J. An for a confidential consultation by calling or texting 24/7 at (832) 428-5679 and ask for attorney Yong.