Forget Ramsay's kitchen, this case of nursing negligence begs belief.
We have a new weekend night nurse, finally, after a 3 month search by our agency. The second weekend in, I spent an hour going through a new illustrated How to clean the suction machine chart I've put together, the daily night tasks, but more critically, the fact that Reuben threw up 4 times on Sunday and that we're closely monitoring his bradys (low heart rate) and tachys (high heart rate) readings.
For anyone who lives in the land of responsibility, surely these 2 critical medical issues would make anyone, let alone a qualified nurse, want to be extra vigilant during the night shift? I'd been recently discussing the issue of night nurse with Amy R and after 10 months of no cover at the weekends, namely all through this difficult pregnancy, it's been beyond exhausting for us both. We also wanted to get things in place for when I'm in c-section recovery. Auntie Lisa will be here, but Reuben will need the skilled care necessary when Jason's helping me out.
So I go to bed, 50ft away on the opposite side of the house. An hour later (I'm not sure if I'd slept), I hear an alarm sound. When we're dozing alongside Reuben, any change in his breathing wakes us up. We rarely need the help of an alarm. The alarm continues and I get Jason up to investigate. Eventually the alarm stops, Jason's voice is raised. He returns to say "Angel's gone home". What he discovered was not a nurse dozing in a chair, but a nurse only 2hrs into her shift, fast asleep in our weekend bed beside Reuben (now I know why it was smelling of smoke), his alarms sounding, her oblivious to them, his feeding bag empty. Jason has to clap his hands pretty loudly to wake her up, standing there all the while in disbelief and raging anger. She replies that getting into the bed, falling asleep, ignoring the alarms was "an accident".
I fail to understand this gross negligence, but suffice to say, I am reporting her to the Board of Nurses to have her suspended and to seek a revokal of her licence and thus to ensure she never has the privilege to work with children again, let alone, get her RN for which she is studying with the ambition of opening up a nursing home! How can these nurses have the audacity to put in jeopardy our children's lives?
Her name is Angel Renee McNeal VN Licence # 226635 registered with the BVNPT Board of Vocational Nurses.
7 comments:
OK... so this was bad when I read your text. Reading the whole story... it's even worse. Not too far off of the horrible experiences we have had... I think I've shared previously. I am APPALLED and so very sorry that you are dealing with this. It's really horrifying that these "people" are in our homes blatantly neglecting our children as we are supposed to be resting just a few feet away. That's exactly why we finally gave up on nights... we couldn't trust anyone to stay awake... and the one person who did stay awake kept Gracie up all night with her...
What happened the other night is negligence, unacceptable and her license should be pulled. Last time I checked, laying down and sleeping doesn't happen by accident. It's her JOB for crying out loud. So sorry for you, Jason and especially Reuben that this happened. I hope the agency is handling this properly. Not only should you report to board (I know you are) but make sure that they do, too.
Can Kristina be cloned, by the way? I know that I am going to need help again... John will be working and my mom will not be close enough for the extra help... so we will be on the hunt for a GOOD nurse, amongst other things.
I hope you can find help before Buttercup makes his/her (I cannot WAIT to know!) appearance. You know that if I could help once I am in the area, I would. I wish it were simpler for us all.
Love, hugs and good night nurse vibes are being sent your way!
Kristi
Oh my goodness - I am so sad and upset to read this. It makes my stomach turn to think of someone being so careless with any child, but knowing it's our dear Reuben, well, that just hits too close to home.
gettingf into bed isnt an accident that to me is deliberate unless of course you fall over and you happen to land on the bed that is a different thing but getting into the bed well its an action and the moves you take to do it arent accidental moves and sleepign wat do they do in the day dozing in the chair is one thing but bed NO WAY love ya
Oh no, I'm so sorry your potential weekend nurse turned out to be such a horrible nurse/person. I feel your pain in this instance. I can think of at least 4 nurses that we have caught sleeping under the same circumstances. It is absolutely unacceptable. We don't have a bed in the Ben's room, so they cuddle up in the chair. Some of ours too have fallen asleep a few hours after arriving. How can I wake to his alarms across the house and they don't even budge until you shake them (that was what happened to us). Truly, truly appauling!! Good for you for reporting her. We should have done the same thing. We kick them out the minute we find them, but that is it... they got off too easy. I do hope you find someone else. Don't give up, good help is out there. We still have our problems, but overall we have some good people we trust to stay awake. Pretty much, all we ask is someone to suction when needed, run feeds, change his diaper once and wake us up in anything happens. Be dependable and not smoke. It is amazing how hard it is to find those qualities.
I am so so so so sorry...
Negligent. I call it wanton cruelty. I'm absolutely stunned about this, lost for words.
I know how difficult the night can be, and when you settle for the night near Reu, you're barely asleep, so tentative are you for any signs of things going wrong. They're relying on the alarm completely to wake them up, but their job is not to go to sleep, but to be working on a nightshift with a responsibility to ensure the safety of a young child through the night and make sure he is still alive and well in the morning. This lady has no conscience, and clearly doesn't care at all, which makes me very angry.
My goodness, that is horrific. We never dealt with nurses (wasn't an option) and after reading some of the stories, I'm glad now we didn't.
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