CASE STUDY Jessica and Sue are both staff nurses working the night shift together on a Medical-Surgical Unit at a local hospital. Towards the end of their shift, Sue notices that one of Jessica’s patients, who is a diabetic and had minor surgery earlier that day, looks very pale. He is perspiring profusely and is unable to be awakened. Sue immediately notifies Jessica, her colleague. After doing a blood sugar test, it is confirmed that the patient is hypoglycemic (blood sugar is too low). The physician is contacted and the patient is transferred to the Critical Care Unit. The patient recovers and is discharged home during the week as scheduled. When Sue is talking to Jessica about why the patient may have become hypoglycemic, Jessica admits that she may have miscalculated the insulin dosage and given too much medication to the patient. she also admits that she had not checked on the patient because she had become very busy with another critically ill patient. Sue asks Jessica if she is going to complete an Incident Report and notify the physician, both of which are the policy for the hospital. Jessica says, “No. I don’t intend to report this since the patient is just fine now. I am being reviewed for the supervisor position and a report would negatively affect my advancement.” She then looked at Sue and says “I really hope you are not going to report this either since I told you this in confidence and as my friend.”
