An experienced nurse attorney has surely helped a lot of RNs and LVNs when it comes to cases that may lead toward disciplinary action. Unfortunately, not all nurses were able to hire a.nurse attorney as they underwent such cases. This incident that an RN committed on January 9, 2010, was one of those examples.
On or about January 9, 2010, while employed as RN in a healthcare center in Fredericksburg, the RN failed to obtain a physician’s order for a prn (as needed) nursing visit for a patient. The healthcare center staff notified the RN that the patient was not feeling well and the resident’s family did not want to transport him anywhere. Additionally, the RN missed two subsequent phone calls from the facility’s answering service and failed to return their calls.
Furthermore, she also failed to ensure that the on-call physician was notified of the resident’s potential change in condition, and she failed to instruct the staff to call 911 if the patient’s condition continued to worsen.
On or about the said date, the RN also administered medications assigned to a certain patient but were administered to a different patient. As a result, the blood pressure of the patient who received the medication started to drop.
Consequently, the patient required fluid resuscitation for further treatment.
The resulting action caused the blood drop of the patient and was advised to take legal action regarding the matter as it may have caused further injury to the patient.
The RN’s conduct may have contributed to the resident’s demise.
The Texas Board of Nursing has full jurisdiction over all cases regarding errors committed by an RN or LVN. Thus, she was called by the Board to defend against the case.
The RN stated that she mistakenly applied blood pressure medications to the wrong patient within a room for four patients. Upon noticing her error, she immediately notified a charge nurse of the situation, which then notified the physician. The physician then instructed another nurse to monitor the patient.
Afterward, the physician applied the correct medication needed for the patient, as well as the urgent treatment of fluid resuscitation. The patient was given 500 mL bolus, and nothing else followed after the administration of medications.
The following incident and defense against the case caused the Texas Board of Nursing to place the RN and her license into disciplinary proceedings. She would have sought assistance from an experienced nurse attorney to provide clarifications towards the case.
If you’ve ever done any errors during your shift as an RN or LVN, and you wish to preserve your career and your license, an experienced nurse attorney is what you need. Nurse Attorney Yong J. An, an experienced nurse lawyer for various licensing cases for 14 years, can assist you by contacting him at (832) 428-5679.