Nobody wants to think that a nurse could be negligent. Generally it is not going to be something that occurred on purpose. The nurse may have been overworked, in a situation for which she was not adequately trained, or she might unfortunately have simply been following orders that she should not have been following.
Unfortunately I have seen other situations in my 30+ years that probably also occur at other institutions. My experience in this area is invaluable for looking for the following type details: nurses that do not follow standing orders and the patients’ condition deteriorates; blood pressure and heart rate variations without medication administration documentation (yes I have seen nurses give pressers IVP without an order before I could stop them); rewriting code records; charting ahead on restraint forms.
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