Essay On Ethical Dilemma In Nursing

1713 Words4 Pages

Karen is a post visit register nurse (PVRN) at Cincinnati Children’s Medical Center (CCMC). She has been an employee at CCMC for nine years but has only had this position for about four years. PVRN’s are responsible for following up on any positive culture results to make sure the patient is on an appropriate treatment plan. If they are not receiving the correct treatment, the PVRN must contact the doctor to get orders for the necessary medications and educate the family of the updated treatment plan. PVRNs also make follow up calls to patients who have been seen in the Emergency Department (ED) within the last 24 hours. During these calls, they make sure the discharge plan has been implemented and any follow up care is arranged. The …show more content…

When a patient is seen in the ED for a wound, the doctor generally starts the patient on antibiotics before the results of the wound cultures are in. Once these results are in, the PVRN is responsible for making sure the antibiotic is appropriate to treat the patient. If it is not, the PVRN must contact the patient’s primary care physician who is then responsible for making sure the patient is put on the correct antibiotics. Unfortunately, there are some primary care providers who refuse to do this because they were not the ones that ordered the test. The PVRN must then explain to the primary care physician that they are responsible for the patient’s overall health and should be the ones to address the issue. The PVRN must also explain that it is often not possible for the doctor who ordered the test to follow up with the patient due to the differing schedules of the ED doctors. This means that if the PVRN were to get the new orders from an ED doctor, it would likely be one that has never seen the patient. Therefore, in order to ensure the best quality of care for the patient, the primary physician should arrange the treatment. If the primary care physician still refuses to take action, then the PVRN must inform the ED Medical Director of the situation so that it can be

Open Document