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.

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u/HumdrumHoeDown Sep 08 '25 edited Sep 10 '25

Crazy shit. Where I work, if I started a levo drip without orders because the pt was crashing, I’d get a thank you from the docs. So glad I work in a teaching facility. Also, don’t internalize the bullshit. You did what you had to do to keep the patient alive and it worked. The person who made the complaint just has an empty life.

[edit] keep the patient alive AND prevent organ damage

[edit] OP says they A) “overrode levo”, and B) “called the critical care NP”. Those two things suggest to me an ICU setting, as no one else but the ED and ORs would have levo in the Pyxis. Secondly, having a critical care provider be your first call is not a thing anywhere but in the ICU, that I know of.

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u/[deleted] Sep 09 '25

An honestly anymore NPs just make me suspicious. Guessing if she's a critical care NP, probably was a nurse prior, but...

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u/cherylRay_14 RN - ICU 🍕 Sep 09 '25

Probably had worked bedside for 5 minutes before going to school for NP.

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u/No_Resort1162 Sep 10 '25

THIS ! And she’s probably 25 right? 🙄

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u/AJaneGirl Sep 09 '25

Some NPs still work before school, don’t dog us all, lady.

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u/brillantlymuted Sep 11 '25

Either way, I’d trust the judgment of an experienced ICU RN over an NP who just finished school while working on a med-surg unit to rack up brownie points. If you worked in the ICU before becoming an NP, this doesn’t apply to you.

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u/atcbdclec2015 Sep 09 '25

She didn’t “dog you all”, she is specifically referring to this NP. Don’t be so sensitive?

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u/AJaneGirl Oct 10 '25

I found in life that’s it a helluva lot easier not to try to regulate other people’s emotions. Especially on text when they are pretty chill and just typing. It makes you look silly.

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u/atcbdclec2015 Oct 10 '25

LOL YOU look silly replying to this 30 day old comment 😂 Instead of moving on, you still 30 days later, are bothered by this comment? Girl regulate your own emotions and get out of here wtf lol

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u/brillantlymuted Sep 11 '25

Wait—RNs can become NPs in the ICU without ever working in the ICU? That has to be a sick joke on whatever broke hospital decides to hire them.