Is this a legal/privacy issue?

[CNA2016:), CNA]

Hi there, I'm currently working in an assisted living facility. I have a temporary DOC but other than direct medical decisions, this DOC refers myself and my colleagues to our new "assisted living coordinator". This woman is 24 years old, no manager experience or education, and no nursing education or training. Apparently she used to work as a recreation person leading exercises and games etc. Because she has some schooling in kinesiology or something. Anyways, her gender and age is not the issue, but her lack of training and experience. FYI the general manager moved his way up in the company as well with no training or education. So anyways, my question is....this assisted living coordinator decided that she wants to know what we do because she thinks it will help her with her new role. I agree with this. So today she came in the room and watched us provide personal care on some of the residents. I feel like this could be a legal and privacy issue. I dont understand why she is allowed to be present for direct care like that. If she doesnt know what we do and how we do it then she shouldnt be managing us. So Im wondering if this is considered okay because she is in a managing role or?? I think she is waay underqualified for what the job entails. Im considering messaging the upper management of the company to let them know what she is approving herself to do. I was always taught that nobody should have access to medical records or personal medical information unless certified and directly involved in the care. Thank you

[HeySis, BSN, RN]

I'm not sure what DOC stands for, but CNA's need to be supervised by a nurse, not everyday... and Assisted Living Facilities rules defer by state on how often an RN needs to be at the facility. But there needs to one somewhere in your chain of command that does admission assessments, care plans, and supervises any LPNs and CNAs.

Some places have an RN on call that does admits... comes in a few hours a week/or month and looks over, updates care plans and then does Supervisory visits once every 6 months to a year... watching the CNA and passing off competencies. IS this great? I don''t think so and would want my loved one to be in a facility that has 24 hour nurse of some sort there. But it's within their legal right to run a facility that way, and it saves them a ton of money. So if you don't like it, you'll need to look for a new place of employment.

As far as your manager being there.. that's fine as long as the patent is ok with it. The resident should be asked "Miss So&SO is our manager and would like to be more knowledgable about the care you receive, do you mind if she stays while I.... Bath, toilet.... whatever it is your doing" If the resident says yes that's fine then there is no breach of confidentiality. If the resident says no, then Miss So&So should step outside and wait.

As far as her "managing what you do" it's kinda of round about... she can manage you as far as are you following the RN care plan... are you toileting every 2, 4, 6 hours...giving the bath 2-3 ties per week... that sort of thing... its gotten around because the care plan actually manages what you do and that's made by an RN, who knows your job and has assessed the residents needs. But this manager is just doing day to day checks to make sure you are there, on time, following facility policies.

So while nothing you say appears to be legally incorrect (as long as there's an RN tucked away in there somewhere and it's meeting state rules), it doesn't mean that this will be a great place to work... or awful. Your beef seems to be with the manager and her not have=ing the kind of experience qualifications you'd like her to have... welcome to the real world. Lots of people get placed into management positions that aren't qualified. They either take the time and energy to get better and become qualified, quit, get fired.... or remain and others quit around them.