"I'll see you at our Human Resources. Bring your Union Rep with you."
Those were the words of this particular manager in a hospital where a dear friend of mine has been working for over 10 years. Not because I am her friend that's why I'm defending her, but it's even harder that I'm her friend yet I can't do anything to help her out except to lift her up in my prayers. Being a nurse like her, I knew in my heart that she didn't do anything wrong and that she saved someone's life. That's our job is to be an advocate for our patients, even if our actions will be against doctors' orders, in order for us to protect the patients' health status and provide them a safe, nurturing environment.
Last month, there was a patient with subarachnoid bleeding [bleeding in the brain]. His blood pressure started going higher and he constantly complained of unrelieved headache. The neurosurgeon had an order the day before to discharge this patient that morning, when Anna [my friend] took over from the night shift nurse to care for this patient.
She immediately called the Pain Team and had asked to evaluate the patient's need for pain relief. When the patient's pain subsided, she placed one phone call after another to the neurosurgeon's answering service [3x at least] to make him aware about the patient's change in his health status. But the doctor never called her back. The last time that she called, the answering service told her to hold the patient's discharge until the doctor was able to call her back.
With everything that had occurred, Anna wrote it in her nurse's notes. She had written an order for the doctor [which the doctor can sign later] to hold the patient's discharge.
When the other [medical] doctor came, he was the one who ordered for a CT scan [special x-ray that shows better results than an ordinary x-ray]. The result showed that the patient continued to bleed. That explained why he was having headache still.
The neurosurgeon showed up the following day, upset and wanted to know who the nurse was because within the nurse's scope of care, nurses can't write an order for the doctor without talking to them. The nurse manager added to this building up emotional displeasure [I say this was an "ego at its best!"].
The nurse manager decided to bring Anna to Human Resources because she felt that she violated that scope of care.
I could see if Anna had written an order for a medication that was lethal or some intervention that hurt the patient. She actually saved the patient's life and actually saved that doctor's improper lack of care as he hasn't responded to the calls placed to his answering service at a time when the patient was undergoing a change in his status. The patient ended up being hospitalized for a few more days. The whole time, the nurse manager told her bigger boss about Anna "writing the order without the doctor's knowledge" but didn't really give the whole picture of what precipitated her action.
Despite all the mixed emotions of fear, confusion, being angry about an accusation that has no basis at all, and feeling harassed, I knew that God would protect her when we started praying together and to God's hands, she placed all those emotions.
Nothing happened when her manager brought her to Human Resources. She was telling me that though it was expected that the Management would not say anything against their managers, they had a look like this case should not have been brought up to their desk.
There are so many injustices in this world. Even us, as Christians, sometimes, we wish for a quick judgment and destruction on wicked people. We forget that God is always merciful, slow to anger, always with unfailing love. He is just.
"Jonah got upset when the people of Nineveh came into mourning and repentance when he warned them, as he was sent by the Lord for He wanted this "great city" to be saved. He was so upset that he went to the east side of the city and made a shelter to sit under and waited to see if anything would happen to Nineveh and its people."
God made a leafy plant to grow to protect him from the heat of the sun. The next day, He prepared a worm that ate the stem so the plant died and Jonah grew faint and wished to die when the sun got so hot. "Death is better than this!," exclaimed Jonah. When God asked him if it was right for him to be angry because the plant died, Jonah replied, "Yes, even angry enough to die."
The Lord said, "You feel sorry about the plant, though you did nothing to put it there. And a plant is only, at best, short lived. But Nineveh has more than 120,000 people living in spiritual darkness, not to mention all the animals. Shouldn't I feel sorry for such a great city?" [Jonah 4:1-10; Life Application Bible].
We can only hope for the Lord's actions on things. Though our hearts might feel heavy with the evilness that surround us, we must allow Him to do His part in finishing the work that He started in each of us. When we feel like quitting, spiritually drained out, bruised, beaten, remember that we can accomplish everything "only by His might and grace"....
I wrote this song on 8/7/03. As I got transferred from one detention center to another one. I felt heavy because I didn't want to get out of my comfort zone. Until I let go and "let God..."
Spirit of Lord
Lord, how can I go on?
How can I do Your will
Without backing out on my own?
It's hard, Oh Lord,
I cry for everyone
Who does not follow Your plans
Chorus:
Spirit of Lord, come and fill our hearts
Let Your love overflow and guide us
Spirit of Lord, come and live in us
Let Your Works shine
Glory is Yours always, Spirit of Lord...
Lord, sometimes I don't understand
But I want Your will
So give me the strength
It's hard, Oh Lord
But I wanna' be a servant to Your plans
[repeat Chorus]...
rrrs 8/7/03 1109 hrs.
