Nurse practitioners earn a median annual wage of $126,260 as of May 2023, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). The national mean hourly wage for nurse practitioners is $61.78, with most earning an hourly median wage of $118,040. Nurse practitioners often work collaboratively, and their average annual salary in 2022 was $124,680.
The top 10 highest-paying areas for nurse practitioners are Boydton, VA, Missoula, and Great. In the United States, the average maternity nurse practitioner salary is $62.64 per hour or $130295 per year. In the UK, the average NHS Maternity Nurse yearly pay is approximately £34,767, 12 above the national average.
In the United Kingdom, the average NHS Maternity Nurse yearly pay is approximately £34,767, 12 above the national average. The median average nurse practitioner salary is $129,480, with the average salary for a Maternity Nurse being $55.21 per hour in the United States.
In London, UK, the average salary for a Maternity Nurse is $34821 per year. On the low end, nurse practitioners can make an average of $94,530, while the higher end averages closer to $168,030. The starting NP salary averages $104,440 per year, but compensation rates vary with education level, certification, practice specialty area, and workplace setting.
The average Maternity Nurse salary in the United States is $124795 as of July 29, 2024, with a salary range typically falling between $114512 and $141515. Nurse practitioners earn a median salary of $120680, but their pay can vary based on their location and specialty.
📹 OBGYN vs Nurse Practitioner
Board Certified Nurse Practitioner, Kate Hughes of Women’s Care Florida, discusses the difference between an OBGYN Physician …
Who are the happiest nurse practitioners?
Aesthetic nurse practitioners are a highly happiest specialties due to low stress levels and flexible work hours. They work closely with general surgeons, providing post-op assessments, education, and follow-up appointments. The average annual salary for surgical nurse practitioners is $108, 778, with evenings or weekends rarely required. They assist with surgical procedures, provide post-op assessments, and assist with follow-up appointments in the clinic.
What is the hardest nurse practitioner specialty?
The toughest nurse practitioner specialties include psychiatric, emergency, Armed Forces, adult-gerontology, correctional, substance abuse, critical care, and neonatal. Each specialty presents unique challenges, and the answer to the hardest nurse practitioner specialty varies from person to person. Here are the 10 hardest nurse practitioner specialties and tips on how to make the job less arduous.
Adult acute care nurse practitioners are advanced degree nurses who have obtained their NP credentials in this specialty area to work in inpatient facilities, such as hospitals, caring for adults on med-surg units or other areas of acute care. They must navigate the complexities of the job, such as navigating the complexities of a specific patient’s condition, navigating the complexities of a specific patient’s medical history, and navigating the complexities of a specific patient’s condition.
In summary, the 10 hardest nurse practitioner specialties are psychiatric, emergency, adult-gerontology, correctional, substance abuse, critical care, and neonatal. By understanding the challenges and tips for each specialty, NPs can find suitable opportunities and make their careers more fulfilling.
What country pays nurse practitioners the most?
Registered nurses and related professionals receive the highest remuneration in Switzerland and Luxembourg, with Canada, Australia, and the USA also offering competitive salaries. These countries are experiencing a deficit of nurse practitioners and are seeking to employ a greater number of overseas nurses. The role of the nurse is held in high regard and is a secure position, due to the increased demand and low supply of nurses following the global pandemic.
What is the highest paid nurse specialty?
Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetists (CRNAs) earn $235, 000. They are anesthesia professionals who administer over 50 million anesthetics annually in the United States, working in various settings such as traditional hospitals, critical access hospitals, ambulatory surgical centers, ketamine clinics, and healthcare facilities. CRNAs play a crucial role in the US military and rural settings, providing primary anesthesia care for military personnel, aircraft evacuation teams, and navy ships.
They have absolute practice authority in every branch of the military and represent over 80 percent of anesthesia providers in rural counties. The salary of CRNAs is the highest among all nursing professions.
What is the happiest nursing job?
The top 10 happiest nursing jobs include labor and delivery nurses, radiology nurses, gastrointestinal nurses, cardiac nurses, gynecology nurses, pulmonary/respiratory nurses, critical care nurses, and psychiatric nurses. These jobs offer a sense of fulfillment and satisfaction, despite the challenges of burnout, stress, and compassion fatigue. Nurses highlight the most meaningful aspects of the profession, such as patient care, education, and compassion, as the most important aspects of a truly satisfying career.
What is the highest paying nurse?
Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetists (CRNAs) earn $235, 000. They are anesthesia professionals who administer over 50 million anesthetics annually in the United States, working in various settings such as traditional hospitals, critical access hospitals, ambulatory surgical centers, ketamine clinics, and healthcare facilities. CRNAs play a crucial role in the US military and rural settings, providing primary anesthesia care for military personnel, aircraft evacuation teams, and navy ships.
They have absolute practice authority in every branch of the military and represent over 80 percent of anesthesia providers in rural counties. The salary of CRNAs is the highest among all nursing professions.
Is a maternity nurse worth it?
A Maternity Nurse is a crucial role in the early days of a new baby’s life, providing support to the mother, father, and baby. There are various levels of maternity care available, including full-time care, night nurse work, and daily help. A Maternity Nurse’s knowledge and experience enable them to guide and advise both parents on their journey into early parenthood, especially for fathers who may feel left out or uncertain.
A Maternity Nurse also supports the mother with general baby care, nutritional care, breastfeeding support, and establishing a routine. They can help the mother establish a routine so that the baby is familiar with daily life and the family can continue on after the nurse leaves.
A good Maternity Nurse is up-to-date with the latest equipment and may offer a list of items parents may wish to purchase before the birth. They can also provide advice on unnecessary items, despite the negative advertising campaigns. Overall, a Maternity Nurse is essential for the successful delivery and care of a newborn.
What is a maternity nurse practitioner?
Maternity nurses, also known as post-natal carers or practitioners, provide support to mothers and their newborns for the first 4-8 weeks of pregnancy. They work six days a week, 24 hours a day, with some covering 8-12 hours. The role includes providing emotional support, establishing a feeding routine, supporting the mother in rest, helping the mother feel confident in handling the newborn, changing and settling the baby after feeds, monitoring the baby’s weight gain, growth, and sleeping patterns, and advising on the use of equipment. Maternity nurses are generally required to work six days a week, 24 hours a day, with negotiable rest periods.
Is a maternity nurse a midwife?
Midwives and maternity nurses have different roles and responsibilities. Midwives support mothers during pregnancy, labor, and post-birth, while maternity nurses work with mothers after the baby’s birth and for the first few months of the baby’s life. They work in various settings, including hospitals, midwifery-led maternity units, and expectant mothers’ homes.
Midwives work alongside a team of professionals and medical staff, including doctors, social workers, neonatal nurses, and health visitors. Maternity nurses work privately within families and guide parents through the transition of a new family member. They examine and monitor the pregnant woman, assess care requirements, and provide emotional support. They also undertake antenatal care, perform screening tests, and provide information, emotional support, and reassurance to women and their partners.
Maternity nurses help new parents transition smoothly to their baby, teaching about the different development stages and encouraging parental involvement. They understand the impact of a newborn on a family and can help navigate the changes that come with the baby. Their duties may differ slightly if they are breastfeeding or bottle feeding.
Maternity nurses should discuss all aspects of the baby’s care and development with parents, and should inform parents and doctors if there are concerns or if the baby becomes ill. Exchange contact details at the start of the placement for emergencies.
What nurse practitioner specialty makes the most money?
The remuneration offered to nurse practitioners varies according to the specialty in question. Those specialties which are considered to be the most lucrative are neonatal, pediatric, and psychiatric. These specialties typically offer higher remuneration than others.
What is the top salary for a nurse practitioner?
Nurse practitioners and advanced practice registered nurses (APRNs) have the potential to earn up to $400, 000 per year. In addition to their primary responsibilities, which include medication prescribing, patient examination, diagnosis, and treatment, they are also able to prescribe medications and perform patient examinations.
📹 Former nurse speaks out after sentencing in fatal drug error | Nightline
RaDonda Vaught talks to Eva Pilgrim about her tragic mistake that left a patient dead and the unprecedented criminal charges …
As a nurse for 32 years, I can only sympathize with her . She is accountable for her actions ( her RN license revoked) BUT at the same time, Vanderbilt has to be held accountable for its system’s failure. She was definitely made a scapegoat. I am praying for her, the deceased woman’s family and most of all for the deceased patient.
I’m a nurse too and a doctor ordered me to give an insulin to patient. I read over the prescribed meds and I realized that the unit to be given was above the normal dose….the patient was a very small woman and the prescribed insulin was too high for her. Called the doctor and informed him and he changed it. In medical field, especially nurses always check the meds beforehand.
As a nurse working in one of the busiest ER’s in the country this scares all of us to death. Most nurses that I talk to about this have so much empathy for Radonda. We’re working under severe stress, multiple tasks, understaffed, high demand… NO ONE HAS YOUr BACK. This was a mistake. We’re humans! Im sorry for both families.
There were so many things wrong with this scenario. From all the overriding to the type of medication ordered. I know she has to be held accountable for administering this medication, but the hospital has to be held accountable as well. I hope hospital administrators realize nurses need a safer environment in order to provide safer care and safer practices to their patients.
I don’t think people understand that this also a problem with the medical system, under staffed, long exhausting hours, and you don’t expect a mistake to occur? These errors occur all the time in the hospital and it’s absolutely horrible, but she is not the only one making mistakes in the hospital setting.
I waited at the doctors office for 6 hours a few days ago when I tested positive for COVID-19 and the doctor who came in – immediately I could see how exhausted she was. She told me she was on a 12 hr+ shift and still wasn’t going to be able to go home after me. The receptionist was eating lunch at her desk at 7pm because she was there for so long too. This is what these nurses and doctors have to go through and it’s ridiculous.
I’m a lab tech. I’ve worked under extreme conditions at a hospital to the point where it would be impossible to not make a mistake. You can only push a human so far. Negligence is one thing, but hospitals are notorious for putting workers in overwhelming situations to where taking half a minute to check your work is not possible. That’s why I quit.
This is why I went to home health. I see about 3-4 patients a day and give great one on one care. I refused to be overworked by these hospitals owned by corporations. They don’t care about the staff or the patients! My ex-coworker told me that now in medsurg at her hospital she’s taking 6 patients!! SIX! Insane!
As a former Army Nurse, I stand with this former nurse. Safe staffing does save lives! I, as a civilian nurse, had to work 12 hour shifts and not enough staff to cover for my breaks. In the military we deal with even more stressors. Nurses are usually the first to be found on the chopping block! It’s time to stop and face the facts so that things can change!
This is one reason why I never finished nursing school and went into another healthcare related field. The main reason was the toxic environment that seems inherent in nursing. I’ve witnessed nurses whose behavior made me believe they would eat their young they were so cold and evil to fellow nurses. Its a real thing whether nurses want to admit it. I’m glad to see this nurse got a lot of support from the nursing community.
I’m a healthcare professional and have continuously carried high-intensity case loads, so I understand the concerns around the charges brought against her. However, she selected the wrong medication, ignored multiple label warnings, and admitted that she was distracted with a side conversation and also that she was confused by the med requiring reconstitution with water. Her actions weren’t malicious, but she employed extremely poor clinical judgment skills in this case at the very least. I’m pleased that she isn’t serving time in prison but feel better that she won’t be responsible for making any more life and death decisions on behalf of patients.
This and so many many more reason is why I will NEVER EVER go back to working in the hospital again. You could not pay me enough. I know we need people to work in the hospital and I am grateful for them. It just won’t be me. Nurses are set up to fail from the moment they clock in. Nurses are set up to be the scapegoat for every occurrence. We are told his nurses that we are responsible for everything because it is our hands that are the last ones that touch the patient. Yes, we make mistakes. No we do not mean to make those mistakes. But we are the only ones ever held accountable. I will never work at the hospital again. I would rather work at Walmart than to go back to the hospital. May this poor nurse and the poor family affected find peace. I think this family is wonderful for being able to forgive her in spite of the tragedy. This is the example of true human compassion.
I’m not a nurse but worked with them on the floor for 10 years. The first week working I lost 5lbs without even trying. A nurse clocked her steps once and walked 10 miles on her 12 hour shift. They are badly overworked and forced to watch extra patients all the time. I know that nurse certainly did not mean to make that fatal mistake. I’m so sorry for the family. I saw nurses and doctors make mistakes. I even saw one mistake cause myocardial infarction but thank God she survived.
she seems like a genuinely good person. Even the family of the victim forgives for for her mistake (mistake, not crime!). RaDonda, I only wish you the best, I hope you will get through this. To all the nurses out there, I hope the system changes 🧡. I used to be in hospital a lot as a kid and it was the nurses that got me through 💜
In college, my school made sure every graduating RN read the state’s Nurse Practice Act. I left the bedside after 1 year due to unsafe work practices and knowing there was no way I could provide SAFE patient care with the patient caseload and amount of responsibilities. The US should pass a federal law to limit patient caseloads in the hospitals!
You have nurses that are passionate and make honest mistakes, then you have ones that are just there, I’ve worked with both. Two months ago while admitted, a nurse gave my mom the wrong medication that she was actually allergic to, then gave her a Benadryl and said oh you’ll be ok. Nursing is not for everyone.
I recently graduated from nursing school, and I’ll never forget what one of our lab instructors said to us. “As a nurse the best way to keep patients safe is to never get too complacent and always remain a bit on edge, because once you start to get too complacent that’s when you’ll begin overlooking things and mistakes will happen.”
I know that feeling of the heart drop. I worked in an immunohematology lab in a trauma 1 hospital in 2016 and made a similar mistake when assigning a bag of blood to a premature baby in NICU. Luckily, my mistake was caught by a coworker, but had it not been caught it could have killed the baby. I was horrified and I’m still traumatized by it. At the time I felt alone and like I was the only person who had ever done something like this.
I used to work as a nurse’s aide. I left after routinely being assigned over 20 patients. One day I was assigned 43 patients. Imagine 43 patients who need help being fed, 43 patients who need adult brief changes, patients who need bathed, help getting dressed, help moving between their bed and wheelchair. I truly cared for my patients but I couldn’t stay. The workload was impossible (and well above the legal limit of 15 patients per nurse’s aide) The nursing home never got in trouble for understaffing. Any problems got blamed on the nurses or nurse’s aides and to add insult to injury, I was getting paid less than the McDonald’s down the street was offering.
She was reckless and she doesn’t seem remorseful, blaming everyone else except herself. Medical professionals have the highest standard of responsibility yet she and her colleagues were protesting that “mistakes” that kill should be overlooked. Oops. She didn’t even READ the vial! What am I missing here? How is the family not outraged?
I’m a nurse and I have made med errors, though none that ever hurt anyone (all nurses have at least once, and if you say you haven’t then you’re even more scary because it means you have made one and didn’t know). It’s an awful feeling even if no one is hurt. A medication like that should take 2 people to sign it out.
Prayers for this nurse and the family of the patient. My husband had a stroke 3 years ago and spent 3 1/2 days in ICU. All his nurses were awesome. The entire stay I only saw 2 doctors. The first one went over the MRI explained some things the first full day at the nurses station. The 2nd one came in with a bunch of others another day to see where my husband was add medically. Never saw either again. It was his nurses and even the cleaning lady that filled me hope.
This is difficult to judge. I’m a healthcare professional, and I know how easy it is to make a mistake that can harm the patient. I’m as careful as I can be. But at the same time, if one of my loved ones died because a nurse neglected to do something so basic as reading a label with the name of the medication on the medication vial, I would want justice to be served. Even when I take medications, I make sure I read the label on the bottle. And then she didn’t scan the patient’s wrist band and vial. It was just a bunch of mistakes. It wasn’t just the override.
I’ve been a nurse for 12 years. First off, I hate this crap about “I can’t use the bathroom”. Yes you can! Go use the bathroom and ask your coworkers to cover you. No one is expecting you to not eat or use the bathroom. Second, I’ve worked on a lot of floors and the main problem with nursing is nurses. So many of them are toxic, bullies who do not have any patience for new, growing nurses. We have a saying “nurses eat there young”. If you don’t hit the ground running, you’re likely to get bullied by your staff members who don’t accept you’re learning. Then they turn around and complain about staffing shortages. Just shut up. I was almost forced out of the career earlier on because it took me extra time to grow. I was told how awful I was and how I was a bad nurse and I resigned before they could fire me. Then, lo and behold, I moved to a larger, more prestigious hospital and I not only succeeded but won awards at my next job. Me being awful was just their opinion. The key in nursing is to find a good floor with good people to work with. If you end up on an average floor with average, toxic nurses you’re going to hate this field. But if you can find a good floor with good people who work together and help each other, there’s no better field to work in.
People don’t realize how common this is, you just don’t hear about it because it usually doesn’t lead to death. But I’ve worked in medical agencies for a very long time and yes people make med mistakes constantly. This could have been me in this article, I once gave the wrong pills to the wrong person FORTUNATELY the person didn’t swallow them, they were in her mouth so I ordered her to spit it out and she did. I’m lucky every day that it didn’t go further than it did, it would have been an ER visit and possible health problems and/or death. It happens. We are human and we make mistakes. It’s not always so simple. It’s easy to sit here and say “well how could this even happen” but there’s like 100 situations I can think of right now that would make this happen, it just happens. Please be understanding and have empathy before freaking out “how can they do this!!”
My loved one has had numerous brain procedures in the neuro ICU in the past 5 yrs. All the neuro ICU nurses that have cared for my loved one have been fabulous. Not a bad one in the bunch. All caring, conscientious, hardworking. They have a big workload and they’re human. Tiny mistakes have been made. Nothing dangerous. I feel so bad for this nurse. We all make mistakes but this one was a very tragic one, unfortunately. I appreciate the wonderful care from all the nurses who have helped my family, as well as the doctors, even the housekeeping and orderly staff. All so appreciated. THANK YOU.
As a chronically ill person who spends half of my life in the hospital; I can unbiasedly attest to nurse’s being over extended, constantly having to make due with too many patients per nurse, shortage of supportive staff such as MA’s. Having to fix errors the previous shifts staff made etc. This is all while having to document every breath a patient takes AND being there to hold the patients hand and calm their fears. There was nothing malicious or intentional about this incident. Should it be looked into and have some new training procedures installed, sure. A woman to go to PRISON, loose everything she worked for and have a label that will follow her forever is not equal to the situation. I feel compassion for the family but, I also recognize that mistakes happen. I’ve had many medical mistakes happen to myself. I would never expect the professional at fault to be criminally charged. This is a very slippery slope and setting a precedent for healthcare workers to now work in fear or not work at all. The hospital and union should have protected her rather than throwing her under the bus.
While I don’t agree with the criminal charges or conviction, this “story” glosses over the horror the accident caused this patient. Instead of reducing her anxiety for the scan, she laid there – paralyzed – as she slowly lost her ability to breathe. Fully conscious she couldn’t move and basically suffocated to the point of severe brain damage. Let THAT sink in. Imagine being scared to swim, being told by someone “you will be fine”, as they tied your hands behind your back, put a weight on your feet, and pushed you in a pool. ALL while you were wide-awake knowing, “I am going to drown”. That was this poor woman’s torturous, last agonizing few minutes. So, sorry – NOT SORRY – I don’t have a warm, happy feeling about this woman finding peace on a farm somewhere.
I’ve been a nurse for 13 years and made my first ever med error recently. It was terrifying and I immediately told my charge. I was scanning meds too fast so one was missed. No harm came to the patient, I cannot imagine if it had how horrible I would feel. I’m so glad she didn’t get jail time and I hope she finds peace.
She was only an RN for 2 years! She was practically still a grad and already with a student. My goodness. What do they expect. They just discard her and wait for the next batch of eager, well meaning although ill informed new graduate nurses. The shelf life of a nurse is becoming shorter and shorter.
Been a nurse 10 years. Worked as an anesthesia tech for 8 years. Point is, I’ve been around these medications for 18 years. The biggest red flag I see is vecuronium comes prepared as a powder and midazolam (versed) comes prepared as a liquid. If she accidentally pulled out vecuronium she would of then had to take an additional step to reconstitute that medicine into liquid form. That right there should have triggered her brain…when have you ever had to reconstitute versed? Every Hospital I’ve worked at vecuronium comes in a vial in powder form. So what does that mean? If she was busy and had to quickly give some anxiety meds for a patient going through a scanner (which is very common) she would of grabbed her vial of versed. But she didn’t, she grabbed vecuronium, which was most likely a vial filled with powder. THATS THE CRUCIAL POINT. A seasoned icu nurse would know you never have to reconstitute versed. But what could of prevented this? She obviously didn’t look at the vial when drawing up med.
Throwing the nurse under the bus, scapegoating. Look at nurse patient ratio. Nurses are chronically short staffed. Also look at acuity level of patient to nurse ratio. The sicker the patient the more care they require the more nurses are needed at any given time. It can become overwhelmingly busy in an instant while working as a nurse. Mistakes happen all the time and yes they are covered up all the time.
Having spent the majority of my life in and out of hospitals since 1982 it is heartbreaking to see that not much has changed for nurses. They are on the front lines, neglecting their own basic needs everyday, often disrespected by patients or their families, disregarded by other medical professionals and doing all of the heavy lifting. When I was a child, I was subjected to nurses who were breaking down from all of this and became downright mean. I look back from an adults perspective and I can see how this could happen to someone who came into the field with all the right stuff and intentions. Shame on the entire system for allowing this to continue.
Another RN here…I appreciate the rallying of the nursing community and the CRITICAL systemic hospital issues that were brought to light by this case. However, the amount of things Radonda had to ignore in order to make this mistake is extremely disturbing. Medications like Vecuronium are COVERED in bright red warning labels and require a second nurse to verify in order to pull it from the med machine. Additionally she literally had to reconstitute and prepare this med and must have never once looked at the vial while doing so, else she would have immediately noticed the warning labels. Then she didn’t scan the med and the patient’s bracelet as well. Like…this is actually legitimate gross neglect. And to think about the absolutely nightmarish death this patient had to experience after being slowly paralyzed by this drug…I can’t. When I was working at the hospital, I was obsessively triple checking my meds even if I was giving something as benign as Tylenol because I was so concerned with causing any harm to anyone. Are we overworked, understaffed, taken absolutely for granted by hospitals and society? Absolutely. Does our healthcare system need an overhaul starting with the educational system which trains our healthcare professionals? No doubt. But I still cannot wrap my mind around how she was absent minded enough to make this mistake. As a nurse, you have more capability of killing someone in your hands than virtually any other member of the public, and that is something that you should always be thinking with.
I stand with this nurse who has gone through the unimaginable. As a nurse for 39 years, most of my practice in the ED, ICU, and the OR, Supervisor positions, etc, my heart breaks for her and the family. Corporate America is causing a decline in appropriate healthcare due to cut backs, novice employees, increasing patient demands, and decreasing salaries. The amount of energy, physically and mentally to work as a nurse in an ICU environment, can’t be explained to those, including administrators, because they are not trained to be nurses. Online nursing programs are on the rise where clinical hours in a hospital environment were mandatory over 3 decades ago. I will always look at her as a nurse who has compassion and love in her heart, regardless of her license status. Shame on the TN Board of Nursing.
It is just amazing how the victim’s relative forgives her so graciously that even advocates for no prison time for Radonda’s mistake. How difficult to be able to forgive like that, and how difficult to live with the responsibility of one death on you. It is something so hard I believe nothing will make it go away ever.
More needs to be done to support nurses in the hospital! We’re overworked during 12 hours with staff shortages, old ass heck medical record systems, faulty medicine machines, educating students/preceptees while trying to take care of high acuity patients. My heart is with Radonda, I can’t imagine how she feels. 💗
I worked in the ICU before. While the work was greatly rewarding, the stress was immense. Not only the work but the pressure from colleagues was huge. Bullying was common. Perfection was required. And we did 12-hour shifts, sometimes without a proper break. I once had a patient who had a heart rate of 150+ with an arrhythmia. While my colleagues were trying to help me, I saw a nurse who was about to inject Potassium chloride into my patient’s CVL. I stopped him. The tube that contained KCL was made by the manufacturer that also provided NaCl in a tube that looked exactly the same. The description was written on only one side of the square shape tube. I do not doubt that the nurse intended to help my patient. He was trying to see if the CVL was patent. We nurses look after each other. But when everyone’s busy, it is hard.
She overrode the system, she didn’t scan the med after overriding the system. She didn’t look at the bottle to make sure whoever filled the med in that slot put the right med. that is her fault. I do feel bad for her, but she got lazy and completely bypassed the protocols to prevent this from happening. My wife is a seasoned nurse that administers meds on the daily. If she would have scanned the med after bypassing the system, she would have been alerted that the med was not correct. It was not an emergency, there was no need to rush the situation just because her coworkers want her to.
As a nurse (retired) let me give everyone a free piece of advice: NEVER, EVER LEAVE A LOVED ONE ALONE IN A HOSPITAL! Stay with them throughout their hospital stay. Find out what meds they’re on & make a list! Whenever someone comes in to give meds find out what’s being given BEFORE it’s given whether it’s by mouth, injection or IV! When they’re taken out of the room, find out what dept they’re going to & why & how long they’re expected to be gone. If something happens that you don’t agree with or don’t like, tell them you want to speak to the hospital administrator. Start at the top so you don’t have to repeat your story a million times! Be an advocate for ur loved one!
She was extremely negligent and should have served some jail time. The same people in these comments crying for her are probably the same people who would say we need to prosecute a cop who accidentally shoots and kills a black 14 year old that was previously running from the police w/ drugs and finally stopped to put his hands up. How the hell do you inject someone with a drug without even reading the label of what you are using?
The same thing happened to my dad. Was given the wrong medication which he had a reaction and slipped into a coma. Brain was swelling and caused him to be paralyzed and he eventually died. They said it was a stroke and but it was later revealed what that nurse did. I just have mixed emotions about this. When I watched this it brought back memories of my dad
My prayers are with you. I have been a RN for over 40 years. I know when you are overwhelmed you make mistakes. Management does not care. They walk around in high heels,and clip boards so quick to write nurses up. We as professionals need to stand up . Nationwide for just one day . I wish the best for her
People who aren’t nurses will never understand what we go through. From toxic work environments to being over worked with bare minimal benefits throughout it all. It’s truly unfair. And for something like this to have happened to her really scares us on the unit now. To think something like this could happen to any one of us truly makes you not want to BE a nurse. Doctors make mistakes all the time and are able to cover their own assess…but who covers nurses?
I remember working as a floor nurse being extremely stretched. Trying to get everything done within the time perimeters. The pressure was unbelievable. Furthermore, my patient assignments did not make sense. Having so many critically patients was dangerous. Times have changed, patients don’t come in for simple illnesses. A person must be very ill to be admitted. Yet, staffing has stayed the same. There is so much waste on over-paid administrative staff. The hospital could just hire more nursing staff. It seems as though hospitals are always looking at ways to squeeze the littler people. They look at how they can get more out of nurses for less pay. It does not surprise me that medication errors and physical accidents are made in hospitals and nursing homes. It does surprise me that hospitals still haven’t figured out that nurses are their most valuable employees.
This is obviously very tragic for Charleen and her family, as well as RaDonda. I can’t imagine how you would feel after that. I don’t understand what all of the protesting outside is for though. The sign “If you criminalize nurses, where will you go for healthcare?” (1:52) and the quote “Almost every nurse has had a medication failure of some sort. That could be any one of us.” (1:54). These statements don’t really have any substance in relation to what happened. Yeah, it was a mistake, but a catastrophic one, killing someone, and as far as it’s shown, at full fault of RaDonda. As stated in many of these interviews, the vile has a large red “WARNING” label on the lid, and clearly states the drug’s name. If you’re about to inject someone intravenously with a medication, and don’t check the name properly or heed to the warning label, the responsibility is absolute. And don’t get me wrong, I can’t imagine the stress of working insanely long and heavy hours like many nurses are burdened with daily in the ER, but when injecting people with substances, that responsibility still lies in you, and some of the signs just seem like such a copout. Another one of them saying, “nurses aren’t criminals”, as if unjust sentences are being thrown out left, right, and center. It was very graceful for the family to forgive her and for the jury to reduce her sentencing, and after 5 years, RaDonda deserves it, I hope my response doesn’t seem as if I think otherwise. I am just puzzled by the actions of everyone outside, maybe the circumstances were different than what I am aware of.
idk…..as an RN for the last 40 years I dont like the “Criminalizing” of it and def lacking where the blame should be shared by Vanderbilt. But when it came to her losing her RN license after a patient died i can see that as a justified punishment. I still fell bad for her b ut all being said a patient died.
One thing we as nurses need to remember, we are just a body/number to that hospital. If push comes to shove, they will blame the nurse and hold them liable even when there are issues with their system. I’ve seen it time and time again. No one is perfect, and nurses strive to be as close to perfect as possible as their actions have consequences. It’s a tragic loss for Ms Murphy. And it’s a tragic loss for RaDonda. Considering how nurses are treated by patients, by family, kicked at, hit, sit at, cussed out, why would anyone want to go into nursing anymore. Why? Because when we go into nursing, it’s a calling, you want to take of people and help them get better. This is a very sad case. And very unfair as that hospital used her as a scape goat instead of owning up to their poor decisions and policies.
Retired RN after 40 years. I feel for this nurse and the family. It was an accident. How many people out there leave their families to take care of others…strangers everyday . Healthcare is a very rewarding and stressful. Unfortunately it has changed so much in the past 2 decades. It is driven by attorneys and insurance companies. They set the protocol s to be followed,the time limits to perform them, the costs and outcomes expected. Doctors and nurses are continuously lectured on how to speak to patients in order to protect themselves and any institution they work for. It is sad to watch an educated MD treat a patient by a protocol instead of using their intelligence. Be kind to those who care for you. Be kind to those you care for.
So many steps to take when withdrawing a medication from a dispensing machine. It gives you warnings for sound a like meds, warnings on paralytics. I know mistakes happen, I’ve seen them too. Knew one who hung a morphine drip like it was an antibiotic, this was way before dispensing machines and computer scanning. Patient survived but we had to intubate him and give reversals until he woke up. Criminally negligent? I don’t think she was. Lose her license, ok. There is not a nurse out there that is perfect, that has not made some kind of error in their career. Know why? Because just like every other profession, we are humans too. The carer in me puts my needs last when I worked critical care, 28yrs of it.
The prosecution pointed out the multiple steps that Vaught failed to take in accordance with her NORMAL AND REGULAR nursing standards including not doing her 7 rights and 3 checks. I am not condemning this nurse; however, VERSED and VECURONIUM BROMIDE may have the same two letters when keying the med in the override (OMNICELL)….. BUT…..the packaging is entirely different. The generic name for VERSED (the medication she was supposed to give) is Midazolam; A COMMON SEDATIVE. However, VECURONIUM is a vial filled with powder that needs to be reconstituted. It also comes with a bright red warning on it that says, “PARALYTIC”. Vaught took that vial, grabbed sterile water, inserted it and shook it until she drew it up. Mistakes are made all the time in nursing; but, clearly, something this impossible is negligence. Vaught was not a new nurse on the unit; she was a mentor who was actually orientating a new hire at the time her actions led to the untimely death of a poor unsuspecting patient who was ready to be discharged home.
this is WHY when i work with trainees/orientees, I TELL THEM THE MOST IMPORTANT THING THAT I CAN TEACH YOU IS “SCAN YOUR MEDS”. ALWAYS! this will not happen if she scanned it. my previous full time hospital wants nurses to scan meds 98% of the time or they’ll call you out. it’ll only take a minute, scan it!
Being overworked, stressed to the brim, having the weight of life on your shoulders every second, and getting assigned way too many patients because hospital administrators refuse to hire more staff just to make more money…nah. If nurses organized and walked out, they could actually get some changes made.
so many people here missing what I see as the point– this nurse was the ONLY one held accountable to such a degree, yet the institution ( Vanderbuilt) and the system ( national staffing laws/ JCOH) who are LARGELY accountable for the system errors/overrides in place are getting off effectively untouched! Unless they are held accountable to the same degree, this will continue to happen to patients. But you wont know it– because nurses wont feel safe reporting it– and the unsafe system will remain…. THATS the problem. sad.
This brings back lots of memories of working in cardiology years ago. I am not a nurse but we routinely worked long shifts with being on call. It was not unusual to be at work from 7 am to 11 pm and then get called back in in the middle of the night. How many times did I not even remember my drive home. I always kept a jar of peanut butter at work because a couple of spoonfuls were my lunch many days. This needs to change! Medical workers are human beings.
After spending 25 years as a registered nurse I can tell you that I’m not surprised by this mistake. I know from experience that most nurses are subjected to patient over loads, taking care of way to many patients most of the time, being made to feel guilty if you call in sick, etc. we’re always told in orientation to not come to work if sick, especially if you might be contagious but if you do that your are treated like your not a good nurse and are spoken to like your letting the team down. Frequently being asked to work back to back shifts. This went on the entire time I worked as a nurse. They never have enough staff. Never. After finally going out on disability at 55 because of two herniated discs in my back from the physical strain of the work and lack of adequate help I had to have surgery. My back will never be “fixed” but at least I can stand up fairly straight most days but every minute I am awake I am in some kind of pain. I am no slouch and I worked my butt off and am quite a tough cookie if I do say so myself but nursing is the hardest job I ever had. Pretty thankless sometimes too. We do it because we want to help others but we should have the support of the administrators, adequate help and better working conditions. Is that really to much to ask? Charging her with homacide is just a bridge to far. Accidentally killing a patient is a horrible experience but it was an accident. The patients family treated her with more kindness and forgiveness than the judicial system did.
RN here. For people who never work in the medical field defending this witch, this nurse should have been jailed. Most major hospitals wont allow you to override a narcotic medication from a medication dispensing system (omnicell/pyxis to name a few) without a supervisor or another nurse as a witness for this deadly reason. And what happened about scanning that patient ID bar code and scanning the medication prior to giving the medicine? That would have alerted her to med error right away since you have too bypass or once again over ride the system before giving the med. Not to mention that med bottle had a COLORED WARNING LABEL around its mouth prior to drawing the med with syringe. This witch bypassed multiple security system (overriding the dispenser, blindly ignoring COLORED LABEL on the bottle, not scanning patient, and not scanning the medicine) which led her to ultimately killing an innocent victim.
Drs perform wrong surgeries to the wrong patients that have consequences for life yet none of them were ever jailed this is totally horrible and as a nurse makes me want to rethink my profession. I work very part time now and as needed only because of this incident. my heart goes out to this beautiful lady who without a doubt has a very kind heart. God bless her and her family.
RIP, Charlene. This poor RN! I can see how this happened. My heart goes out to Radonda. As an RN myself, it’s beyond easy to misidentify a medication. This is why it’s SO damn important to do your “checks”, before giving ANY medication. We are only human, and we do make mistakes. I truly believe when Radonda stated that she didn’t realize that she had given the wrong medication, and this brings me to another point. When mistakes are made, it’s best to “out” yourself. Tell someone! Never hide it!
A nurse at the hospital my grandma passed away at they gave her the wrong drugs that she was allergic too and yes she lost her life. The drugs made her in a very bad state she was screaming and yelling for help it was a nightmare. No one lost their job and no one got in trouble. It was absolutely a nightmare though to continue to hear those noises in my head when that memory crosses my head. Sad.
I worked for many, many years in long-term care. First starting years ago, right after high school graduation. I will never forget the time that a nurse accidentally gave the wrong patient a dose of insulin. I literally watched the color as it drained from her face. The nurse was crying, she was shaking, and she suddenly felt ill. The patient ended up being okay due to the fact that the nurse realized her mistake almost immediately. I’ve often wondered what could have been had she not noticed. I’m not sure what the protocol for reporting med errors was back in those days. But I could only imagine had she done that today that she would have been burnt to the stake by the system. This was a nurse that went above and beyond for all her patients. I can’t tell you how much of her money that she spent out of pocket to buy them clothing, electric razors, snacks, to get their hair done, and so many other things. She truly loved each and every one of the patients that she cared for. Yes, she made, what could have been a grievous mistake. I know that nurse on a personal level, still to this day. She is one of the kindest human beings I’ve ever met. She made a mistake. Honestly I do not know too many nurses who haven’t made some sort of mistake throughout their career. I do agree that bringing these type of charges sets a very serious precedent moving forward. How many nurses are going to choose to retire early? How many potential nurses are going to decide to pursue a different career? We have a healthcare system that is already short staffed and overwhelmed.
After an 18 month battle with Necrotizing Pancreatitis along with 4 major Hemmorages/Internal Bleeding and a Major Infection. I Spent 92 days in and out of the Hospital. 14 surgeries, 1 pain med. Overdose and I Died on the O.R. table twice…..my Doctors were absolutely fabulous but, the ONLY people I truely trust anymore in my life are Nurses…..
I worked at a hospital in Georgia, a doctor prescribed a certain amount of a drug to a preteen boy. The pharmacist knew it and the RN knew it was a wrong but they were afraid to speak up and challenge the doctors order. In this case the boy died and the pharmacist resigned after being there for 25 or so years.
That happened to my mother. She was given antibiotics that was charted caused extreme allergic reaction and she had to remain in the hospital for over a month. My mother kept telling the nurse she was allergic and they blamed it on miscommunication during shift change. Something has to give because remorse or not its a hard way to lose a loved one.
I’m currently in nursing school and hearing about stuff like this is honestly scary. Everyone would like to think they would never make a mistake like this but it happens regardless. All it takes is one bad day, a distraction, sleep exhaustion from multiple shifts. To think I could lose my license or be charged with something adds so much more stress to an already stressful job. My heart and prayers go out to her. I can only imagine how hard this can be and traumatizing of an experience.
As a retired ICU Nurse and Mentor to new Nurses, I was shocked throughout my career, how the entire Medical community continued to assign tasks to Nurses that we were never supposed to be doing, taught to do, because of convenience and money. Vercuronium administration, pulling Swan Ganz, being held responsible for knowing better than to accept specific orders from a sleepy doc, violence management, dealing with Police arresting you for defending an unconscious patient from investigative lab work, protecting family from pandemics, being accused of conspiracy and falsification of records to get Covid numbers in this Pandemic, failure to afford Nurses adequate PPE during pandemics most notably AIDS and Covid….the list goes on…..Many of us retired at beginning of Covid knowing full well that somebody, somewhere would get screwed big time for lack of support and protection.
I am a nurse and if you make a mistake, you need to pay for your error. In the end you are the last line. This is why you need to scan before giving the drug. If you cant do the job correctly you leave people in an unsafe situation while they are vunerable. Dr´s actions can be criminialized so the same thing must be in place for the entire industry to hold us to the upmost standards of care. The focus should remain on providing for the patient’s medical needs and complying with applicable standards of care!
The fact that so many nurse are saying this is common is concerning and sad. It takes lots of effort on the hospital’s part and the medical staff’s part but these errors can be prevent. I went from being a nursing student to a speech-language pathology student. I’m so glad I can work in healthcare without the stress of giving medication. My heart goes out to all involved, especially the patient’s family.
This is simply horrific, as an ER/Trauma RN I can relate to everything this wrongly procecuted RN has to say, especially since she had a trainee/new RN. The hospital was completely reckless with their “system failures” and she is not to blame, it was not intentional. If they prosecute every medical error, they would have to shut down every hosptial in this country. Let’s not forget staffing issues and 12 hours shifts and, I can confirm, you don’t eat, you don’t go the bathroom, you are so exhausted, it takes a full day to recover from a 3 or 4 day run of 12 hours shift. It’s shameful, who would ever want to be an RN…
As a nurse of 52 yrs, you have no idea of the stress and pressures. Years ago you had the security of administration and coworkers having your back but that slipped away years ago. Not having enough time to use bathroom or eat lunch is real. Having to double check and triple check every move you make because you are on your own is exhausting. You can only trust yourself and the decisions you make.
I am a nurse and I can honestly say it’s extremely tough. I am part of float pool. They give us the toughest patients all the time. It’s hard having 5 very ill patients. The one thing I can say it that it doesn’t matter if a physician wants something done quick or how bad I am behind. I always take my time and read every order, I research the med I don’t know. It’s important to do these things because we are under staffed all the time and are so busy. I am sad that she got convicted. No nurse wakes up and says I am going to kill somebody today. My heart goes out to the nurse and the family, they all went through it.
I’ve saved multiple MDs in an outpatient clinic administering chemotherapy. I would quietly approach the MD and ask them to check their math on a dose because my dose was different. They would change the order and thank me. The responsibility for all administering medication is outrageous. Almost every nurse at one time or another has made a med error of some kind. Thank God I never saw one that harmed a patient, but it mentally damages you and your colleagues. The RN patient ratios are frequently unsafe and administration just shrugs their shoulders.After 44 years I retired and my stress level disappeared.
I remember my mom forbidding me to be a nurse. She was a nurse. So instead I became a Radiology Technologist. It wasn’t any less stressful. Working in healthcare will break you and mistakes happen. Some mistakes are fatal and are very rare. I feel bad for both parties and I do hope Vanderbilt has fixed the system errors that contributed to the error. Nurses rule, without them doctors would be lost. So grateful for all who choose to work in this very stressful but rewarding career.
Firstly may the family find comfort during such loss. My condolences. Secondly, I can tell you in full confidence that this was indeed the final nail to the coffin of many nursing careers during the shift of the nurses in the hero to zero pandemic. Lastly may Rodonda know that she helped open the eyes of a nation that needed to be opened.
This is extremely heartbreaking. As a nursing student, it broke my heart. We decide to go into this profession because we want to help others. She made a mistake and has to live with it for the rest of her life now… so tragic. It’s time for nurses to make a change in relations to unsafe pt:nurse ratios.
Having done the same task over and over again, it became routine. She became complacent. It is her duty to verify that the medication she’s administering is correct. She failed to do that and therefore she’s responsible. At the same time, who is responsible is not the question. The question should be what is responsible in order to make sure it doesn’t happen again. Failing to find out what is responsible will likely cause it to happen again.
I am a retired ER nurse and was once given a verbal order by a Dr to give Verapamil, A cardiac drug, straight IV push. I refused because it should be given over a 5 minute period and I knew this. He became angry and administered the drug himself and the patient went into cardiac arrest. We resuscitated him successfully. This Dr resigned very soon afterwards. I won’t go into what followed afterwards.
Just finished my first semester of nursing school, it does take a committed, hard working, and loving individual to do this type of work. This case has become a focal point in the classroom, there are so many parameters and nursing burnout/exhaustion that can cause the wrong dosage/meds to be administer, which is the reason error self reporting it’s so important. Most nurses I have met are wonderful people, there are times when the work environment it’s too much and people have their moments, but to continue doing this type of work under is admirable, those whom have taken a break or quit the profession is understandable, and y’all still have my respect.
All you have to do is triple check your vials and ask someone if you haven’t given the drug before. In addition, there’s an entire extra step, of reconstitution, of powdered vecuronium, to even make it a liquid for IV administration. Versed, you just draw it up because it’s already a liquid. RIP to this patient who was paralyzed with vec while conscious.
Nursing is a calling, imagine caring for multiple patients with varying health conditions and care needs during one shift. Imagine having to document ALL of the things you’ve done and everything that happens during your shift. Imagine being emotionally abused by some patients/doctors/colleagues. Yes, it’s life and death we’re dealing with but how about thinking we’re human too? This is the reason why I quit being a nurse and there’s a shortage of nurses worldwide.
This was not a ” mistake”. As a nurse you are taught that you are the last line of defense for a patient. YOU are responsible for confirming right patient, right medication, right route, right dose. This nurse blatantly ignored warnings about a medication she was trying to retrieve that she shouldn’t have been. Again ignored another warning on the vial completely .. that paralytic warning label top has to be removed in order to insert a needle into that vial to remove the medication. MANY chances to correct an error were missed, and unfortunately a patient paid for this with her life. This has nothing to do with 12hr shifts, or being overworked. This has everything to do with an unsafe incompetent practicing nurse. Period.
This makes me so upset. This shouldn’t be allowed. The hospital is using her as a scapegoat. NO nurse goes through nursing school to graduate and commit homicide on their patients. NO nurse wanted to jump in rooms with patients that have COVID (which no one can accurately explain it to this day) and expose themselves to a deadly virus but still do. No one’s perfect but this is absolutely insane. Prison?! With serial killers, rapists, mental illness…we’re going to put a nurse with a medical error inside a prison with those people. Ridiculous. Period.
I’m sorry. I dont think the verdict was harsh enough. This woman had 4 chances to catch her mistake, yet she clicked through the protocol on purpose. That is FOUR TIMES she was given the opportunity to catch her error. Distracted? Tired? Those are no excuse when lives are in danger. I was in a life threatening situation on 2003, but I was alert. Alert enough to realize the same nurse kept trying to give MY insulin and opiate/morphine pain killers to the lady in the bed next to me (a non-diabetic), who was a different race. The chart clearly states the race of each patient.. what would have happened to that woman if she had been given my insulin? The same nurse was assigned to me when I was moved to the heart floor. I was in such pain that my sheets would be ringing wet in just a couple of hours. I was so weak I couldnt feed myself, let alone make it to the bathroom. When i rang for help to change my sheets and help me clean up, she threw the sheets at me and said changing beds was not what she went to school for, I could do it myself– when I couldn’t stand or lift a fork. I then witnessed her talking back to a doctor who tried to discipline her for yelling at an elderly man for missing his urinal. I’m sorry, but the bad apples in that profession need to be weeded out, and early in their careers. The ones that ignore protocol and cause people their lives DO need to be charged criminally — and that includes doctors.
Doctors make mistakes ALL THE TIME PRESCRIBING WRONG DRUGS, WRONG DIAGNOSIS,. I almost lost my daughter when she was 1 year old. The nigh time resident doctor DINDINT KNOW what medication to prescribe for her asthma, he took a book from his pocket to look it up,,,and give her a EXTREMELY HIGH DOSE of a drug ( I can’t remember the name, 20years ago) her heart rate went to the roof, and took while to to beat more normal, he admitted that was a mistake and she could of died. The he mentioned that he was on a 32 hrs shift work, very tired!!!!!
You people have a backwards sense of empathy. She committed criminal negligence. She’s being punished for that. Stop trying to put yourself in the criminals shoes and instead don’t take up the hard job of being responsible for people’s lives if you believe that the difficulty of being responsible for people’s lives makes you less responsible and even a victim. All criminals cry from their sentence, that doesn’t take away the fact people should be accountable. It’s so sad to see people leave long sympathising comments for a nurse who killed someone and then to try make it sound fair by adding “yeah and I also feel sorry for the victim” at the end. To the woman protesting with that sign that says “Why is a mistake with a needle a crime but a mistake with a gun ok?”, I’d like to say that both are wrong and one absence of justice doesn’t justify another. There is also a huge big difference between an accident and negligence. She had the responsibility to look after someone and was entrusted basically with someone’s life. She didn’t do enough to prevent harm and that’s what negligence is. An accident is something that’s essentially out of your control, someone putting the wrong labels on the drugs and her not knowing any better would make it an accident. Shear irresponsibility is not an excuse and you are not free from killing someone just because you have hard hours, you signed up for the job.
I was in nursing school years ago but dropped out after getting pregnant with my second daughter. I realized later that I’d done the right thing. I can’t imagine what these caregivers and heroes go thru everyday, the hours, the stress. Dealing with god complexes in doctors and family members. I now take care of people, my goal when I’m nursing school, in a totally different manner but my admiration for that profession hasn’t waned.
RATIO HAD NOTHING TO DO WITH THIS .IT S ABOUT DOING HER JOB IN CHECKING TO SEE IF SHE HAD THE RIGHT MED.BOTTLE HAD WARNING .DID SHE NOT LOOK AT THAT.DIDNT SHE KNOW THE NAME BRAND AND OFF BRAND NAME.WHEN PULLING UP MEDS DO THE 5 RIGHTS .THIS HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH RATIO OF PATIENTS .SHE GOT THE WRONG MED INJECTED THE WRONG MED AND TOOK AN INNOCENT PATIENT S LIFE.WHEN YOU ARE PULLING UP A MED .YOU DO EVERYTHING TO ASSURE IT S IS THE RIGHT DRUG.SHE WAS CARELESS .YOU ARE AT FAULT.YOU KILLED HER.
I dont see why people believe someone should be protected from a mistake just cause they’re on the job? It is the same as police getting away with negligence. If you know your job can mean the difference between life/death, then do your due-diligence in accomplishing your task. She was getting paid good to do it so do it right. I was a waitor for 10 years and people have 0 understanding if i got their eggs wrong and it should be more important in a position like hers.
As a nurse myself, working in a system that is tremendously overloaded, mistakes can and do happen. With computers that are not always correct/updated/functioning properly, at time of med rounds, you have to be 100% on top of things. Hard to be on top of things when you are working with half of the necessary staff, long hours, no breaks, unreasonable expectations from management, etc. It’s horrible to be a nurse right now. BUT there are 5 rights of medication administration. RIGHT medication. RIGHT patient. RIGHT dose. RIGHT time. RIGHT route. AND then there are 3 checks of these 5 BEFORE actual administration. Takes time but thats our job.