She "packed up and went".

One nurse who worked for a short time in the ER where I worked should never have been an ER nurse, as a matter of fact she should never have been a nurse at all.

When I was a child I heard my grandmother say that pastors at the church get “the calling” to preach. They are called on by God to spread the word and minister to the people. But there was a new pastor at her church in Winfield that was unsure of himself as he spoke and not really that well acquainted with the Bible (which would be an important attribute if preaching is your calling in life). 

She told me this pastor did not get the calling, “he just packed up and went!”

In the case of this particular nurse, she never got the calling, it was totally not her strong  suit, but she managed to complete the required education and certifications...then she “packed up and went” to the ER. There were NO natural nursing instincts about her at all.

The ER was the worst possible place for a nurse like this, but occasionally they show up. In my opinion an ER nurse is unique, they need to be alert, quick on their feet and natural care givers. A great sense of humor is also a bonus. In other departments or fields of nursing a person can “get by” but the ER and ICU requires the best of the best.

I had become leery of the nurse, I will call her Marcia. There were several questionable things that I had observed about her work that seemed to be gravely lacking in skills and understanding of the process. Others had made comments about her, so I knew I had not misjudged Marcia.  I was anxious and fearful of what havoc she could wreak on our patients.

Then it happened. It was a Friday evening shift and I had just put my things into my locker and headed into the ER to see what was “cookin”. About that time I saw Marcia walking in the ambulance bay doors and I had a sinking feeling that something was going to go wrong on this shift. As I watched her pass and head into the break room, I heard one of my great friends, a nurse named Charlie, as he said, “Oh shit, its Marcia, she’s gonna kill somebody if they don’t get her the hell out of here!” We were all a bit nervous about her.

A couple of hours passed and things went pretty well, hectic but no disasters yet. We had a new patient who was carried in by his parents. He was 18 months old and had symptoms of the croup. Poor little fellow, his big sad blue eyes looked up at me and he appeared to be feeling pretty bad. I could see the concern in the eyes of his parents; they looked so young and afraid.

Immediately I noticed that this new patient was placed in a room that was assigned to Marcia. All of us kept our attention on that baby as we were concerned for his safety. Dr. B was the doctor who saw the little fellow and he ordered blood work, a chest xray and some medicines. This young patient went to xray right away and Marcia was working with another of her patients while he was gone. 

We got busy as large numbers of patients were coming in by ambulance and by private vehicles. 

Soon the little guy got back from the radiology department.  Marcia stepped over and gave the toddler an injection. Then she walked back to her adult patient in the next room and I noticed she suddenly looked startled and confused. I told our charge nurse to see if she could find out what was going on with Marcia. (I never did that with any other nurse but I had zero confidence in Marcia and this child’s health was more important to me than hurting someone’s feelings). 

The charge nurse quickly discovered that Marcia had “accidentally” given this toddler the medicine that had been prescribed for her adult patient in the next room. She ran back to the area where Dr. B. was and advised him of the situation. 

This patient ended up in the Pediatric ICU for 3 days. He came in with the croup and it was not even a significant case of the croup, but Marcia nearly killed the poor fellow.

Marcia was given a stern warning that evening but she was scheduled to meet with the ER Nurse Supervisor on Tuesday when he was to return to work. She was permitted to complete her shift and she was allowed to pull her regular shifts until the meeting. I was shocked.

On Monday as I watched her walk in to work for the evening shift, I felt a knot in my stomach. She was assigned a patient who had been there already for hours. The original nurse gave Marcia a report and a few minutes later, she injected some medicine into this patient’s IV. I had watched this patient for a couple of  hours and she had not complained once; yet as soon as Marcia gave her the injection the patient said, “Oh that stings and burns really bad!” She asked Marcia, “What is that you just put in my IV?” Marcia said, “It is the same thing you have been receiving from the previous nurse for a couple of hours, Mrs. Mason!”  The patient immediately replied, “I’m not Mrs. Mason, my name is Mary Evans!”  

I will never forget that look Marcia had on her face as she turned her head toward me with a look of sheer terror. This made me feel terror as well and I hoped this time would be the time some immediate action would take place to get her out of the ER!

The charge nurse on duty was a great person who always erred on the side of patient safety. She too was watching Marcia as she gave this intravenous injection, she sent Marcia home for the shift. The next morning on Tuesday, Marcia met with our Nurse Supervisor. We were told that she was transferred to 3400 unit to be a floor nurse. This means she would be working under a lot less stress and caring for admitted patients. 

I have nothing against Marcia personally at all. She seemed to be a nice person. I truly hoped that she “packed up and went” to something  more suitable for her skills.

My thoughts are that she could do those flu shots at the table in Walmart or CVS.