Describe a scenario that you either
experienced or observed where there was some
question or controversy regarding a proper action
taken during your clinical experience, as a Respiratory
Care that had an impact on safe patient care or
professional interactions with physicians or colleagues
in other departments.
2. Use specific guidelines or standards from
your profession’s Practice Standards ForRespiratory
Care professionals these can be found on the AARC
website under AARC Clinical Practice Guidelines
http://www.rcjournal.com/cpgs/index.cfm to either
support or condemn the action observed.
3. Be sure to cite these appropriately (state
the practice standard # and what it says in your
discussion) and include all resources in your references
section.
4-Examples might include scenarios like actions taken
during emergency situations, performing (or not
performing) procedures ordered incorrectly by a
physician, disagreement with a diagnosis by a
physician, performing procedures usually performed by
another professional, disagreement with a nurse on a
treatment plan, etc.
Scenario#1
scenario: Arterial cannulation
This a very sad experience I hope other therapists learn
from my mistake. One day while I was in the Intensive
care unit, one night nurse told me that the doctor needs
to place an arterial line in one of the patients that I was
taking care. I asked her if she had an order, she replied
“don’t worry I will put the order” since she was the
charge nurse that day, I went ahead and placed the
arterial line in the patient. As I exited the patient’s
room, the doctor showed up, and I asked him to put
the order for me. Sadly, he asked me who had given
me the order to put an art line in? He informed me that
the patient didn’t need an aline because she was just
admitted for GI bleed. The Charge nurse was standing
next to me but didn’t say anything, then she just left. I
was left alone. My supervisor was called, an incident
report was filled out because it was an invasive
procedure that was performed without a doctor’s
order. In that case if anything had happened to that
patient I would have been responsible. It was a lesson
that I had learned the hard way
Scenario#2
ase scenario: Venus Gas
I am a respiratory therapist, one night I was working in
the ICU, I was called by a nurse to draw an ABG and
a venus gas. First I checked my order, the orders were
placed by the intensive care doctor working the unit
that night. I took two a-line kits since the patient had an
a-line and went to the patient’s chart and pulled two
patient’s label. I drew my ABG and since the nurse was
already in the room, I asked her to draw the venus
blood for me because I was not checked off on
competency to draw venus gas. The nurse looked at
me in aw, she told me that the other therapists always
drew the blood and never asked the nurse to do it. She
told me that it was easy to do and she will teach me
how to do it so next time that I will know how to do it.
I explained to her that I knew how to do it but it’s just
that I was not check off on the competentcy to do it
because. She got mad and told me to call my
supervisor. My supervisor came, he told her that I was
right, he pulled out the policy and showed to her, that
respiratory therapists are not covered to do this
procedure under the hospital protocol. For if any thing
goes wrong and it is traced back that a respiratory
therapist completed the task, the hospital would not
cover this therapist because the therapist in question
performed a task out of his scope of practice and
therefore, risk to loose his license in the court of law. I
was glad that I didn’t do it under her pressure.