Nurses............. what would you do in this situation???????

I work in an acute setting at the hospital. Yesterday I had to start an IV on an 80 y-o, blind Italian lady with CHF who speaks limited English. My attempts for venous access were unsucessful so I asked one of my collegues. As a common comment in the medical profession, I probably said "oh you have tiny veins or rolling veins" etc. My collegue had difficulty but was successful after a few attempts and she also made the comments.

This morning while my partner and I were doing rounds, my patient and my partner had an argument in which she told my patient that "she is nasty" because stuff was all over the floor. I told my partner that she shouldn't have said that. Anyhow, yesterday the patient told her daughter, who complained to my manager that the nurse was using derogatory remarks to her. I told my manager that I probably made comments about her veins but that it. I told her I wasn't the only one at the bedside but I didn't mention the names of the other nurses. Am I wrong?

I am not protecting the other nurses. I just don't want to open up a can of worms or throw anyone under the bus........what are your thoughts???

First off U4tSAF2, get a LIFE. She is asking a question to the general public , who might not know what she was saying or even fully understand if she used medical terms. Any professional would know this. Second, yes I think that you did the right thing. While , the pt. might not speak English fully, there is something called body language. And yet, another thing to remember, different cultures/races consider different things to be disrespectful. Next time, try to do a little damage control with the patient/family.

HOW DOES YOUR "PARTNER" DO ROUNDS WITH YOU?

COMPLAINED TO YOUR MANAGER???

DOES SHE SPEAK LIMITED ENGLISH TO FULLY UNDERSTAND "SHE IS NASTY"

DO ME A FAVOR..... DO SOME BASIC INTERNET RESEARCH ON MEDICAL "LINGO" BEFORE YOU COME ON HERE AND PROCLAIM TO BE A NURSE.