Nurses Grappling with Systemic Failures
12 posts across 3 communities since Jul 2026; 83% from r/nursing.
“There are so many scenarios that could be at play here. A guardian traveling, tiredness like you mentioned, maybe the father only saw his son at night/evening and whoever was with the boy just didn't know any better, newly diagnosed and awaiting education and training, broken…”
“Hi everyone! I am a hospice nurse with 7 years of experience. Today I saw a patient with aortic dissection as her primary hospice dx. That was diagnosed 2 weeks ago and she is still alive, although barely. When I auscultated bowel tones today I heard what sounded like a wind…”
“I agree… this was a complicated situation in which neither parent were available to make decisions. They were in a tiny regional facility and couldn’t manage the patient any longer, so they did transport, but of course we all know the end result.”
Several posts express deep concern and frustration within the nursing profession, highlighting issues ranging from patient safety protocols to workplace dynamics. There's a sense of systemic failure contributing to errors and burnout.
SOURCES (18)
“Hi everyone! I am a hospice nurse with 7 years of experience. Today I saw a patient with aortic dissection as her primary hospice dx. That was diagnosed 2 weeks ago and she is still alive, although barely. When I auscultated bowel tones today I…”
“I agree… this was a complicated situation in which neither parent were available to make decisions. They were in a tiny regional facility and couldn’t manage the patient any longer, so they did transport, but of course we all know the end result.”
“Before I opened the article I interpreted it as meaning that an hour after CPR was done, the patient spontaneously started making noise (totally misinterpreted that). Then when I started reading it seems like they did CPR for an hour, called it, started getting him into the ambulance and then he started breathing again. I googled this article and something about a Lazarus effect came up - meaning a rare instance when there is a delay in ROSC. Very interesting...but also terrifying submitte”
“There are so many scenarios that could be at play here. A guardian traveling, tiredness like you mentioned, maybe the father only saw his son at night/evening and whoever was with the boy just didn't know any better, newly diagnosed and awaiting education and training, broken glucometer... heartbreaking. Maybe the dad just didn't have a village. Everyone needs a village.”
“Well, not typically that long but remember that if you’re waiting a long time, you probably aren’t dying (or at least there’s no evidence that you are). The EKG doesn’t show a heart attack and the troponins are normal so that’s good. If her SOB has stopped that’s also really good. I assume they are rechecking vitals in the with room occasionally? Long story short it sucks but they have to bring back the sickest first”
“So, he was taken to the hospital, he started thrombolysis, and the next day he died. A nurse passed by, noticed him, checked his pulse, and began CPR. Asystole was detected and resuscitation was stopped due to inefficiency. The autopsy showed that at about 5 a.m. the man suffered Cardiac rupture, And died because of cardiac tamponade. Do you think this could have been avoided, and if so, then how? submitted by /u/Ok-Poem-5532 [link] [comments]”
“Hospice nurse here. You absolutely did not fail your spouse. Dying, in the best of circumstances when we are able to have the time to educate on what to expect and what to do, is hard to go through. It sounds like it was more sudden than what was expected and that you really have the time to prepare and know what to expect. That gasping at the end of life is normal to see (called air hunger), and we give the morphine to help combat it because the morphine basically tricks the brain into thinking”
“A rapid sounds extreme compared to just calling the provider, but in some hospitals the doctors don't respond in a timely manner. So a rapid will definitely do the trick. I agree if you've had to give the max dose every hour (CIWAs should be hourly), you need to do something more. Is your floor staffed so the nurse is able to do hourly CIWAs or are your nurses 6:1?”
“I’m with you and I agree that we don’t really know how out of control he got in the hours prior to the situation. My guess is that he was showing signs of deterioration but wasn’t being treated appropriately. Perhaps the nurse was afraid of overmedicating him, perhaps the doc didn’t want to deal with consulting the icu, perhaps the unit has a 7:1 ratio and he was alone for two hours and thus no one knew he was going through it….anyhow everything that could go wrong did go wrong”
“We had one of our patients get hit by a train 2 days ago. They had gotten out of their yard and were running. The owner found them deceased and brought them in for cremation. I'm struggling with what I saw and what I had to do. The dog had been cut entirely in half. I bagged their body up in two bags. I won't be gruesome with details, but you can imagine... I've worked in vet med for a decade. Mostly in GP but 2 years in ECC and I've never experienced anything like this and I hav”
“Having worked ICU before hospice and seeing brain dead patients. The only time they are kept on life support is when they qualify for organ donation. Their death certificate is filled out for the time brain death is declared by the MD. And typically many who are brain dead their bodies only last so long before complications start to occur. The younger they are the easier it is to keep the body functioning but the older the harder it is.”
“Based on what I’ve seen as a former hospice nurse and very clearly what you highlighted about LTACHs, there are far worse fates than death.”
“Having done all of it, it's fascinating that each state does something different. Where I am now there are facilities with people in his assumed condition that have been there for months to years with no improvement. When my mom passed in another state my siblings wanted everything done and the dr told them it's not possible.”
“Yup. And they will take ideas from ANYONE. He should lose his license for this, his arrogance hurt this baby.”
“Agonal heartbeats happen after almost any arrest, and often continue occasionally for hours after death. Cardiac muscle contacts spontaneously as a single myocyte can trigger those around it, though the beats are disorganized and non-perfusing. Death is not a single event, it is a process that can take an extended time. The nurses should've known this and documented the strip with the beats marked as agonal at time of death. The patient was DNR - their presence is not unexpected and did not”