Question: Addressing Sally's Errors in Judgment You are a senior baccalaureate nursing student. This is your sixth week of a medical-surgical advanced practicum. Your instructor assigns two students to work together in caring for four to six patients. The students alternate fulfilling leader and follower roles and providing total patient care. This is the second full day that you have worked as a team with Sally Brown. Last week, when you were assigned with Sally, she was the leader and made numerous errors in judgment. She got a patient up who was on strict bed rest.
She made an IV medication error by giving a medication to the wrong patient. She gave morphine too soon because she forgot to record the time in the medication record, and she frequently did not seem to know what was wrong with her patients. Today, you have been the leader and have observed her contaminate a dressing and forget to check armbands twice when she was giving medications. When you asked her about checking the placement of the nasogastric tube, she did not know how to perform this skill. You have heard some of the other students complain about Sally.
ASSIGNMENT: What is your obligation to your patients, your fellow students, the clinical agency, and your instructor? Outline what you would do. Provide the rationale for your decisions.