Nurse Reflective Account

When I was working as a bedside nurse in the Emergency Department, in one of my duties I was not satisfied with the treatment plan made by a resident doctor for XYZ patient. He entered intravenous KCL (potassium chloride) for the patient. The purpose of that medication and its dose for that patient was not clear to me. I assessed patient history and came to know that a middle aged patient came with the complaint of loose bowel movements, vomiting, and generalized weakness. His GCS (Glasgow comma scale) was 15/15, looked pale but was vitally stable. I exactly do not remember about his previous disease, social or family history but I do remember that he was there with his son. According to the care plan, I inserted intravenous cannula, took blood

After this incident I spoke to my team leader and we both agreed I needed to report this situation to higher management. I documented the occurrence under the Incident Report file and filled out an online incident report for the doctor due to his unacceptable behavior, unsafe practices and professional misconduct. Within one week, our department’s management contacted me, the team leader, and the resident doctor that was involved. They spoke to all of us about how to avoid scenarios like this in the future, they recommended that we look at each other’s role on the health care team as equal not above or below one another, and that we share power and control in our patient’s plan of care. They also reiterated that if any order or intervention is unclear that it is better to seek clarification rather than have any errors occur. At the end of this whole experience, we evaluated the scenario as a group and planned to work together as a

I had to include the name of the patient, medical record number, date, time, details of the incident, whether it was an actual incident or a near miss, and who was affected. Initially, I was worried that the resident doctor would think of me as spiteful but then my team leader reminded me that this was for patient safety and he needed to be aware of the mistake he had made. Also, by reporting the incident it would be helpful in avoiding problems like this in the future. As stated in the CNO Practice Standard on Medication (2015), “Nurses promote safe care, and contribute to a culture of safety within their practice environment, when involved in medication