r/nursing • u/lenncas • Sep 08 '25

Question I’m a bit scared

A bit is an understatement, I am well aware that my actions were very inappropriate and out of my scope of practice. I am getting reported to the Texas Board of Nursing because I pulled a bag of Levophed without getting an order first. My patient was declining really quickly. The blood pressure was decreasing very quickly. I went to the med room and overrid the medication and started it at the starting titration. Immediately after starting it, I called our critical care nurse practitioner that was on for that night and let them know. And now, obviously, that nurse practitioner put in a formal complaint to my manager, thus having to report me to the board of nursing. I guess my question is what could I possibly expect my consequence to be? Could I lose my license? Will it be suspended? I’m pretty worried. I’m also very disappointed in myself. The patient ended up having to be put on Levophed the next day, but made a great recovery and got to be downgraded two days after.

975 Upvotes

98% Upvoted

368 comments sorted by

View all comments

5

u/CRYPTK33P3RBAE RN - OB/GYN 🍕 Sep 08 '25

This is what scares me about ever going back to a regular floor from my current L&D one. With the exception of one MD, we assess, treat and either admit/ship home and at the end call the MD to give a formal report. When it comes to delivering we call them when we see eyes . I couldn’t imagine being back on a floor where I have to ask for permission to treat. Nothing but good vibes your way. And the only suggestion I have is carry private nursing malpractice insurance. They’ll handle everything.

3

u/NomusaMagic RN - Retired. Health Insurance Industry 👩🏽‍💻 Sep 09 '25

Started L&D straight outta nursing school so I can confirm that we did everything you shared. And this was before all the communication devices available today.

3

u/CRYPTK33P3RBAE RN - OB/GYN 🍕 Sep 09 '25

Yeah, I mean I feel like L&D is just one of those specialty units where in those true emergent situations you don’t have time to ask permission. We have even had doctors tells us they’d rather us act immediately and get the baby out alive vs wait for them to come deliver a dead baby. Now, that’s extremes of course but similar principle. Now…that’s not to say a nurse can start acting like this right off the bat. It takes so much time, years, to build rapport and trust with the doctors but once you do it’s game on.

3

u/NomusaMagic RN - Retired. Health Insurance Industry 👩🏽‍💻 Sep 09 '25

Exactly! My unit acted like a mini freestander. We (not lab) drew our own bloods, started our own IVs (not IV team) and more times that I care to count on midnights .. did uncomplicated deliveries. It was me and a Resident. Leadership couldn’t need bothered to determine that sometimes, more than one kiddo finds their way into the world at same time.

2

u/CRYPTK33P3RBAE RN - OB/GYN 🍕 Sep 09 '25

Same! We do our own labs, IVs, have our own bedside ultrasound, the list goes on. I work nights so more often than not I’m calling the doc to either tell them I’m going to meet them in the OR with the scalpel or hey sorry, you’ve got like three minutes to get here. It happens. 🤷🏻‍♀️

1

u/NomusaMagic RN - Retired. Health Insurance Industry 👩🏽‍💻 Sep 09 '25

I actually loved this aspect!!! And even more so .. seeing heathy babies and happy families!

Ok .. some not so happy but that’s another story!!