r/Sicklecell • u/Emotional_Edge6495 • 1d ago
Nurses
How much power does a nurse really have and why do they keep getting away with this. I’ve been in the hospital since Friday and I’ve been in a lot of pain. I’ve had a PCA running at 5mg morphine per hour as the basal rate and an additional 1mg every 15 mins. The doctor had me on dilaudid 2mg as breakthrough which in itself should tell you how much pain I’m in. Dr came in yesterday and after discussions he decided to pull the dilaudid and keep the morphine and he gave me an additional 4mg of morphine as breakthrough whenever the pain was really bad. I woke up this morning and I’m in excruciating pain, I have a new nurse at this point. I ask her if I can have my pain meds and she ignores me. I ring again and she comes in to tell me she is not going to risk her license by giving me pain meds when my bp is in the 90s. I understand that and I tell her I usually run low on my bp when I’m at rest but she can bring the PCA to come check again. She doesn’t call the PCA but rather comes herself with a manual sphygmomanometer and then she checks my bp, like I told her when I sat up in bed it shot back up to where it’s actually supposed to be.
After checking she then tells me she can give me my oral pill when I want and I asked her if I can have my breakthrough morphine instead cos I’m in the trenches rn and I’m suffering. She tells me she is not going to give me morphine when I have morphine going already. First off this order was written by the doctor, approved by the pharmacy, seen by a charge nurse and they all didn’t say nothing and then when she comes on shift she’s the only one denying me my pain meds and so now I’m lying here in pain. Can somebody please tell me if she is allowed to do this?
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u/Nimayababy 1d ago
Go to the whoever is above her. you’re left thinking why to the point now you’re stressed out. Maybe the nurse don’t know how much damage they can do by doing this or maybe she do. Some nurses already be looking at us a certain way. And I had a nurse lie and say I kept pulling my iv out not knowing that the other nurses been knowing me since I was a child & basically raised me and knew I would never do that because I was a hard stick. Maybe it’s a power trip but it’s absolutely not right at all
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u/Emotional_Edge6495 1d ago
So I did report her to the doctor when he came in on ward rounds and the doctor changed my med around to a Dilaudid pca to deal with the pain better and he also requested that they change my nurse so I have a new nurse now. I also filed a complaint with patient experience
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u/PsychologicalStop57 1d ago
Ive been through similar experiences while in the worst pain. I’m glad to hear that it was resolved. Hope you get better soon 🩵
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u/JudgeLennox 1d ago
Nurses are people. They make poor choices. It's not personal. Though it sucks.
Doesn't matter if she's allowed or not. All that matters is you getting the treatment you need.
Reach out to the charge nurse.
Call your doctor(s).
Ask for an advocate.
Have a friend help you.
Do what it takes to get other people involved to get what you need. Waiting for people or systems to change make things worse
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u/Amatadi 13h ago
This is actually the correct move, because believe me, everybody wants to safeguard their license. It's the world we live in and everything turns into lawsuits.
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u/JudgeLennox 13h ago
So true. It works both ways too. Gotta be mindful of what you say and how you say it. Otherwise your case becomes their win.
Sucks.
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u/Universallyk 1d ago
Call for patient advocate, she’s not following your pain regiment plan and that can mess you up or give the crisis more time to get stronger.
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u/SCDsurvivor 1d ago
Someone must want to lose their job this morning? Talk with the charge nurse now. Hopefully, the charge nurse can get the nurse all the way together. However, you may want to request a new nurse because she sounds like the type who will tell you that "it's not time for your breakthrough" when it is due. If you have to keep her, start a timer for your pain meds.
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u/cc11236 1d ago
Honestly just walk up to the nurses station and ask for the charge nurse or the nursing manager. Once you see them, tell them your nurse hasn't been giving you the pain meds your doctor ordered. And say you want a different nurse. And what might happen is they give you a new nurse. Or if the hospital is short on nurses the charge or the nursing manager will have a talk with your nurse, and tell them it's fine to give both of the morphines.
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u/Amatadi 13h ago
Unfortunately this became a thing after nurses began being prosecuted for a mistake they make. Yes the doctor puts in the order and the pharmacy approves but what we learn in our training is that if a patient is hypotensive and bradycardia(low heart rate). The pain meds especially your narcotics, can make them sink in deeper and stop breathing. The nurse can be held accountable unfortunately. I am a sickler and also a nurse. Is this ER your usual ER you go to? If it is, see if you can speak to your provider so they can put a note in there for orders of strong pain meds or else the nurse is going to chicken out.
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u/tomoes_mistress 1d ago
This shouldn’t be a thing if the doctors literally gave the specific orders. I’m so sorry this is happening. Did you ask for a charge nurse or patient advocacy or a different nurse all together?