I was tossed under the bus.

1 Last week in report, a vital piece of info about a patient was reported off to me by the day nurse. For confidentiality reasons I have to be vague.
The day nurse chose not to contact the MD, and the agency involved in the situation. I'm not sure why, as the situation occurred during office hours for both entities. So...she reported the info, and the fact that she didn't follow through, to me at 7P when there was absolutely NOTHING I could do short of calling the MD at home. It was not life threatening or even especially vital that the MD receive the info that night. Busy night, lots of sick people. Guess what? I failed to report the info to the day nurse the next morning. I just plain forgot.
Fast forward to this AM. MD blind sided with a piece of info he should have known last week. Day nurse and I at the Nx station at shift change. This Nx heard day nurse say "Well it's PARTIALLY my fault", in essence blaming me for not forwarding the info the next day.
Day nurse didn't do her job. Agency did not notify the physician of change in condition/care of a pt they were treating. Physician did not notice the info that was on the chart for a week.
I will accept some responsibility, but if you portion the blame it seems my part would not be the biggest piece. I dropped the ball, after it was tossed to me by several other people. Yet I got the bulk of the blame, and I'm feeling small and stupid. What's with that??
Unfortunately, you were the last one holding the ball. I would be frustrated by this too, but there is no wiggling out of it - you were the last line of defense. Chalk it up to experience, take your lumps with the rest of the ball-droppers, and move on.

was the info vital or not?first you state it was vital, then later you say "it was not life threatening or even especially vital that the md receive the info that night."if the 'blame' is betw you and the day nurse, i'd say it's about equal...maybe you a tad more, since you forgot to report to oncoming nurse.i would take the brunt of it, and make sure you report anything/everything to md when it's on your watch.it happens to the best of us, i assure you.leslie

Quote from TakeTwoAspirinUnfortunately, you were the last one holding the ball. I would be frustrated by this too, but there is no wiggling out of it - you were the last line of defense. Chalk it up to experience, take your lumps with the rest of the ball-droppers, and move on.

Quote from leslie :-Dwas the info vital or not?first you state it was vital, then later you say "it was not life threatening or even especially vital that the md receive the info that night."if the 'blame' is betw you and the day nurse, i'd say it's about equal...maybe you a tad more, since you forgot to report to oncoming nurse.i would take the brunt of it, and make sure you report anything/everything to md when it's on your watch.it happens to the best of us, i assure you.leslie

Oh honey, so sorry you went through this embarrassing dilemma. We all forget things from time to time...don't beat yourself up too much.

I got blind sided in a similar fashion in a fromer job. We also had to report off to the next shift and receive report on issues that went unresolved. When I got handed an inappropriate handoff I made sure I CYA. The next shift does not know that I did not get the proper handoff, they only know that they need it.We all make mistakes, and as was said earlier do not be to hard on yourself. Also think about how the MD felt, would you like to be clueless in front of the patients family?? With that said, I guess if we can keep our team cohesive it may be a good idea to try to think of how the other person feels. Just a thought.

Do you guys have a cardex or nursing report that you can type it into so that in case you forget to verbalize it, at least it's there? Don't beat yourself up over it and just learn to cover your ass in the future.

Yep, what they said. Sort of like playing hot potato, and you were the one holding it last.It's so difficult to remember every last detail on our patients every single time. Don't beat yourself up too much. Learn and move on.

Thanks everybody. I'm feeling a little better about the whole thing. The hours right after you screw up are the worst.As always, nurses here keep things in perspective.