Morphine dose in the hospital and mean nurse!

[designgyrl]

I was recently admitted into the hospital last week with a hernia and gastritis.  I had abdominal pain and kidney pain.  While running tests they also found out that I had a kidney stone.  My question is the 1st day I was there the doctor wrote 2 to 4mg of morphine every two hours.  The nurse came in originally at noon and gave me a 4mg shot of morphine.  At 3:30pm (3 1/2 hours later) I called back and asked for another shot.  The nurse then lectured me for about ten minutes telling me that I needed to hold off for as long as I could having the morphine shot because it was so strong.  I replied to the nurse that I felt that over three hours was more than adequate time to receive another shot.  I then asked her what the doctor had written and she told me 2 to 4mg every two hours.  I then told her that I had  waited as long as I could to contact her and that if she was declining to give me medication she needed to let me know.  The reason the doctor admitted me was because the tramadol and the vicodin was not relieving the pain (and that was how the hospital order was written the nurse then stated that.)  I told her that if she felt that giving me morphine every three and a half hours was too long (the doctor did not write for anything else like torodol, just morphine) then she needed to try to send me home because the reason why I was there was for pain control and to see the general surgeon.  The nurse even got angrier at that point and made the direct comment that if she was going to be in my room every two hours then she needed to see about getting me a pca pump instead of having to personally come in every couple of hours and give me medication. She then gave me the medication, had me in tears because she made me feel that I was "seeking" medication when I had all those things going on.  She did not however get me a pca monitor, I waited for over four hours (they work in twelve hour shifts) and then got another shot from the night nurse.  By then I was in horrible shape.

My question is that has this ever happened to anyone else?  I have never seen the nurse before, so it wasn't something that she had a bad experience with me before.  I was thinking about at least telling my primary doctor or even reporting her to the hospital.  Basically her comment was that she didn't feel like coming in my room every couple of hours and give me medication.  Isn't that her job?  Or am I confused?  I'm just wondering if I should report this to the hospital.  I'm wondering how many other patients she has guilted because she doesn't like giving narcotic medication out.  

Any answers would be greatly appreciated.

[KittyKat23_78]

May - oops. I just saw it up there and responded. It's been one of those weeks. Full moon and all ya know. :)

I hope I didn't add to your fear. Over the three weeks I was there, I met probably 25 nurses and she was the only one that was like that. There was one other that was a little weird about the meds, but the rest were very compassionate, awesome care-takers. I think you are very smart about your plan and it's great that you have a good support system around you! :)

[JadedSweetheart]

Thanks for sharing your story, KittyKat.  That is a HUGE fear of mine for when I have my baby and a big motivator in my tapering as low as possible with my medications.  I am also going to have a "medication plan" in effect when I go in for my scheduled C-section to make sure that the nurses are aware that I'm opiate tolerant, NOT a drug addict, that I will need stronger pain relievers than percoset 5 after the C-section, etc.  I have already resigned myself to the fact that I will probably not be able to breastfeed my daughter when she is born and that will be okay.  I know I will need my meds after the baby is born, especially with needing to hold and carry my baby and be able to funtion for her.  
I am hoping that if I can taper off completely when I have the baby, I won't have to get flack from nurses who try to make me feel bad for taking needed medication.  I'm sure they don't harrass the women who have to take insulin and BP meds.  I will also have a good amount of family for support and advocacy.  
I'm glad that you filed and official complaint.  I think most of us have had to deal with "Nurse Rachet" at one point or another.  Just some woman who feels morally superior to the patients she reluctantly "takes care of".  It's important to make sure the administration knows about these people.  They really need to have some sort of sensitivity training for the jerks-in-scrubs.  There are so many great nurses who are kind and compassionate, even when they are having the same stressful day as the mean ones.  I'm sure the mean nurses aren't very nice to work with, either.
PS.  It's not a big deal and I'm glad that you posted, I just wanted to point out that this thread is from May.  It's still relevant, though, as this happens to CP patients all the time and it's good to stick together on these things.

[KittyKat23_78]

Unfortunately this happens all too often. It's really sad. I was discriminated against when I was in the hospital with my pregnancy the last time. I'll tell you my story:

I was admitted with pre-eclampsia. I had severe edema and swelling of my joints. The nurse who did my "admission" is the one who ended up being the mean one. She asked me the health history questions when she admitted me and included in those were social questions. When asked if I used illicet drugs I admitted to socially smoking pot in the past. She made a big deal out of it and asked me exactly WHEN I smoked last. I should of known then that things were going to be a problem. I answered, "I don't know...sometime last summer, before I got pregnant at a concert? I just told you occasionally and not since I was pregnant!" Anyhow, my OB had me on Percocet for pain while I was there for three weeks. Whenever I had this particular nurse she would always roll her eyes when I asked for my pain meds and suggest a "bath", or make comments when I was on the baby moniter like "your baby isn't moving very much today...it must be drugged up from the narcotics you are on."

I talked to my OB at nauseum about being on meds and she assured me that it was safe and that we needed to keep me comfortable because my BP readings were extremely high and pain was a factor in that. I also became friends with another nurse there...a kind of hippie lady that worked the evening shift. She was really cool and we talked a lot.

Fast forward to the baby being born. I had to have a c-section because they had to take the baby early due to the pre-eclampsia. I was on morphine until it had me deathly ill and they switched me back to Percocet. I had been taking 5mg pre-op and they had me on 10mg post op...which makes sense since I had become somewhat tollerent to it and my pain was more severe from the surgery. Well ofcourse nurse Wratchet is taking care of me, and I ask for my pain meds. I take my pain meds. I call her in...two hours later...in excrutiating pain. I don't know what is going on....but I HURT. Worse then ever in my life. The ***** (pardon my french) orders me a heat pad and says she can't give me anything for 2 more hours. I call her back and am crying and begging for the doctor. I seriously think I'm dying. She then declares that she thinks I'm having a panic attack and calls my OB to ask for an RX for Xanax. I told her I didn't want the Xanax...I wanted to SEE A DOCTOR. Finally I did - I had an ultrasound. A) I found out that she decided to only give me 5mg of Percocet because (2 days after a c-section) she thought it was time I start tapering down on my pain meds and B) the reason I was having so much pain is because there was an air pocket in my abdomen near my pancreas from the surgery.

TO TOP IT OFF - I talk to my hippie nurse friend about it later that night, who "off the record" is the one that tells me that the nurse had cut my pain med dose in half herself, AND that right after my baby was born was telling everyone to "make sure they drug test my baby" because she is sure that I'm a junkie. I. Could. Not. Believe. It. I may be on PM, I may have tatoos, I go to concerts....but I have a good job for a VERY well respected dentist in our community, live in a nice house, my daughter goes to a very nice school, and have a well functioning family life. This ***** (pardon my frech) didn't know me from jack in a hospital gown and needs to go to hell for putting me through what she did!!

I filed an official complaint with the hospital and had a long talk with her manager, who was extremely nice. I had to be very careful about what I said because my nurse friend had told me a lot in confidence, but I mainly told her manager how she made me feel and how I was undermedicated even though my orders from my doctor clearly stated what I was to be given after surgery.

I am SO sorry this was so long, but it really made me feel good to type it out. It really affected me for a long time and I clearly still have feelings about it. People that don't have compassion for others shouldn't be working in the healthcare field. Period. It's bull-crap and makes me very angry to hear stories like this. I'm so sorry this happened to you. :(

[darzie]

I hope there is an answer for her inability to follow doctors orders but I have so many had so many experiences with nurses like that or much, much worse.
I hope this isn't the reason, but once I heard of a nurse that acted like that and she had an ulterior motive.
This particular nurse either refused to give the medication on time or didn't give it at all, especially to the older patients who didn't even realize pain meds had been ordered for them by their doctor.
Later, when some of their families had started to complain to the doctor for not allowing medication for them, the hospital staff had someone watching her without her being aware.
She was using the medication herself, or pocketing what she could for later at home and leaving her patients to suffer.
Of course she was fired immediately and her RN license were taken away from her, as it should have been, with no possible chance for her to work in any type of position that had anything to do with medicine.
What a dirty rotten shame, but it happens everyday, for either the meanness of it, or simply being to lazy to make more than one trip to your room per day.
If you don't complain, no one will ever be aware of it. If she isn't called on it, she will continue her wonderful bedside manner and probably get ever worse as time passes.
Why did she decide to be a nurse if she had no desire to work with and help her patients?
Once I was in an ICU unit, on a ventilator, and had been in a medically induced sleep for eleven days. I had already coded twice and was not expected to live very much longer, when they woke me up.
I became aware of so much pain, as soon as I was fully awake, that I thought I would surely die from it.
The guy from respiratory assured me as soon as he finished running his adjustments etc. that I would go back to sleep. Didn't happen.
When the nurse finally came in, I told her, as best as I could, that my bladder was killing me. I was crying great big tears, trying not to seem like a baby, but it hurt so much. The minutes seemed like hours and no matter how hard I begged her just to readjust my cathader she would do nothing for me.
She only had two patients. Me, who'd been asleep for days, and an elderly gentleman who slept most all the time, ( I found out later ).
When I saw another nurse pass by my room, I motioned for her to come in. She did and asked me what was wrong. I rubbed my lower abdomen which she first thought I was sick. When she realized it was my bladder, she looked toward my urine bag and said, "Oh my goodness, this bag is nothing but blood. Let me go get your nurse".
I started shaking my head no, oh please don't go get that woman. Once again the tears ran like water, for I knew this was worthless.
The kind nurse came back and said, "honey, your nurse said that someone had probably stepped on the tubeing today and caused some irritation inside your bladder.
Yeap, exactly what she'd told me, exactly what I expected. "My nurse", if you could call her that, didn't even show me the dignity of a visit.
I saw her one more time that day. When meds were due she did at least put something in my feeding tube. Time seemed to stand still. I would see her from time to time through the viewing window for the nurses.
Finally I began to notice a bit more movement, and realized it was probably time to change shifts.
To my surprise, an RN that I had met one night on the floor, before I was sent to ICU came to "MY" window and sat down with the "WICKED ONE".
They began the routine change of info and I could hear nearly every word they were saying.
When it came my turn to be gladly given over, she talked about me like a dog. She said I had complained all day and nothing she did was right.
"I tried everything I could think of, but that womanhad the buzzer going about every ten minutes".
The nurse, whom I'd dubbed, "the singing nurse," because she sang allot while she worked and I'd loved it, said that she had met me on the floor one night when it was slow in ICU and couldn't understand what had happened, because I had been so nice, but that she was sure she could figure it out.
She looked through the window toward me and winked. That was the happiest moment I'd had all day.
She came in, bent right down and gave me a big hug and said lets put our heads together and fix this.
There was so much she told me to help me that night that it was like going to a support group meeting. One thing that stood out in my mind was that she had gone out to gather up our "feel better stuff". She also brought in my pain meds and gave me that immediately.
I was shocked. All that long dy, since 9:00am and it was now 8:30pm or so. All that long day and I had no idea there were pain meds ordered every four hours.
Of course it didn't cure the pain but it did numb it quite a bit and knowing I had a nurse that cared meant so much more.
I was supposed to die and she still didn't care if I said I hurt. Grit them teeth honey and hang on, I guess were her thoughts.
I hope if either of these two ever find themselves at the mercy of a nurse, I hope them a much better one than they were for us.
The very next morning, in came Satan's grandma, but that was the day I got my vent out the first time, and also the second time I coded and had she been with me, helping me adjust, she'd have seen it coming and I might not have actually died. Needless to say, that was the very last time I had her for my nurse, but I would have refused if she'd ever even looked my way.
This lady was probably in her late fifties or early sixties. She didn't have the excuse of inexperience because I'd heard her say she'd been a nurse for many, many years. Its not right. I hope you never have anything like that to go through again, but the good ones always outnumber the bad ones, and that keeps us going.

[designgyrl]

I felt that the nurse was trying to act like the doctor.  What did make me happy was that I was first admitted in for abdominal pain and kidney stone.  I totally felt like she was over stepping her boundaries, but I've felt that a lot at this hospital.  It feels like the nurses act like they know more about what is wrong with me than my primary care doctor who I see at least twice a month for a variety of things.  I know that I did tell the nurse the next day what happened, and she told me she was reporting it.  She gave me the dose of morphine, and I told her I was afraid to take it and why.  She wasn't too happy at all with what happened.  Then I had my scope and they found out that I have gastritis and a hernia.  The nurse Alli that I had came in the next day (just to say hello) and I was able to say to her did you see my chart and what's wrong with me.  She said she saw and I made the comment about that was probably why my pain was so high, and she said yes.  She left after that and I didn't have her as my nurse for the last day, but it was good to at least be able to defend myself on my last day.  My primary doctor gave me vicodin to take home, and then decided to admit me because the pain was too unbearable and I have no doubt it was the right place for me to be at.  Definitely.  So, I did get one time to defend myself.  But, I'm going to write a letter and ask to see a copy of my bill to make sure they didn't charge me for anything that I didn't receive.  

It just seems that the nurses get mad when they have to give morphine.  I was given zofran, carafate, protonix, synthroid, estradial, and she didn't say anything about having to come in and personally give me those medications.  It was only when she had to give me the shot of morphine that she got upset.  That defniitely shows they are judging people.  I can't understand because I was on the woman's ward where they deliver babies, etc... and they had a ct scan that said I had a kidney stone, and if anyone knows on this board, kidney stones are about as painful as giving birth (so they say) so I REALLY don't get her being mad at having to give one pain shot in 3 1/2 hours.  

[mum2four]

I would have made an offical complaint about her. I was recently in hospitial for tachycardia and the first cargiologist was very rude to me said I basily fat and lazy and need to get real about what I eat and go watch a concentration camp movie and half what they eat. I made an offical complaint to the hospital and was allowed to stay in one more night to wait for the other cardiologist to come see me the next day. I wanted to just go home and die or starve my self. Glad they kepted me in the next cardologist was very nice and I was diagnoised and that felt great. I was given med's watch for a fue hour and started feeling alot better so I went home and have been feeling better every day since.

The nurses caring for me had smiles on their faces when they heard I was making a complaint. The cardiologist was not just rude to me but to all the nurses as well. He also had a go the cardiologist that was still training for allowing me to be admitted to hospital and stay as an ECG was aparently stuffed up(leads reversed) which was I origenly was admitted because of. The cardiologist that admitted me was also concerned about my tachycardia I had been dealing with.

I say never be affraid to stand up and say some thing or make a complaint nothing can change if you never speak up. People in powerfull postion will continue to treat people bad if you other people dont speak up.

It almost sounds like she stepped over her bondries as a nurse. She had a personal oppinion and was trying to force it on you despite the Dr's advice.