"During my time working at a skilled nursing facility, we were short-staffed one evening during medication passing. Our standard operating procedure was to pass medications to patients in teams of two to ensure that proper medications were given to each resident. My co-worker told me to do two of the wings alone to save time, and I immediately told her that I was uncomfortable going against policy for the safety of the patients. Another co-worker and I teamed up to complete the pass in the entire facility in a timely fashion with no incidents."

"I recently had a nurse pushing a mother in the ICU to use her breast pump. The patient had been coded in the OR and woke up intubated. I was called repeatedly by the nursing staff to come and help her. I asked the staff if the patient wanted to get pumping. They said they had not asked her. I made it clear that I would not start a mother on a pump without their consent or the family's consent. When they kept calling, I went to the unit and spoke with the nurse directly and the patient who was still intubated. It turns out, it was the doctor who kept having them ask about pumping. No one had asked the patient. So I let the nurse know that I would not help the patient pump unless she consented for me to do so. When speaking with the patient, she was very overwhelmed waking up in the ICU. She was able to answer yes and no questions and wanted to pump but did not want to at the time. Education was provided to the patient about pumping. I did not get to speak with the doctor about it. I put a note in the chart that I would help the mother pump when she was ready. I stuck to my standards of doing what the patient needed and wanted. I would never force such a personal decision on a patient."