What I’d like for Nurses Week next year, part 2

5. Trust our clinical judgment. This is actually a subset of #4. If there are protocols for handling such things as anaphylactic shock, then don’t discipline the nurse for following the protocol. If, in my judgment, the resident in charge of a patient hasn’t done enough, don’t punish me for paging the attending, even if it’s in the middle of her golf game. We are, for the most part, very smart and dedicated people who know our specialties and our patient populations inside and out, and who want nothing more than to see people walk out of the hospital whole and healthy. Give us some credit and cut us some slack, or at least make it possible to explain that we were following emergency protocols before you write us up.

Is any of this going to happen? As I said in part 1, I’m cynical and bitter. I’d be happy if even one of these ideas were implemented, but I’m not holding my breath while I lick my Nurses’ Week ice cream cone.