[TsunamiKim]

TNNURSE, <?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" /><o:p></o:p>
JCAHO were an easy con: my Hospital conned them every time they paid us a visit. The OR at my former Hospital was completely transformed for JCAHO’s meticulously choreographed scheduled visits. The filthy overflowing trash dumpsters disappeared from the OR corridors into the hopper room. Is that where they belonged? Wow! So why didn’t we keep our dumpsters in the Hopper room? There was an antiquated layout with just one really long corridor connecting the ORs, but these minor logistical problems were far from insurmountable. When it comes right down to it we broke regulation out of sheer arrogance; that was the way it was done at my former Hospital and no one ever questioned it. When this arrogant, blatant non-compliance was reported to JCAHO they said that they couldn’t do an unscheduled inspection of the facility even in response to reports of ongoing non-compliance. I was shocked by this revelation, but I am sure that the public doesn’t know that this is their regular policy or that even reports of serious repeated abuses might be ignored! I recently discovered that JCAHO are now going to change their standard policy to start conducting unscheduled visits in the future. The public should question why this was never considered necessary until now, even after a legitimate complaint was filed, and why the first unscheduled visits might not start until 2007? <o:p></o:p>
In 2002 a perfectly healthy Lab. Technician was killed in an Asthma study due to negligent Research practices that failed to properly review the toxic side affects of the substance being tested on this human subject. The “powers that be” closed down all their Human trials Research programs for at least one week. My former Hospital was genuinely shocked by this censorship of their practices and totally outraged over what they perceived as a radical response to their gross negligence. How their callously indignant public proclamations must have hurt the victim’s family as they the stacked their unimpeachable record of excellence up against just one most unfortunate, regrettably unnecessary death! There are a few other alarming examples of their less than ethical practices with regard to various research projects, both in the <?xml:namespace prefix = st1 ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" /><st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">US</st1:place></st1:country-region> and in their affiliated research facilities overseas. However, at such a prestigious institution they fully expected to function beyond the range of prying external review and occasionally beyond the law as well. <o:p></o:p>
Occasionally something happens to cause a public embarrassment. One of the residents at my former Hospital blew the whistle on their violations of the working hours set by ACGME and they were forced into compliance. In a quote he reiterated to AP what he was told by the Hospital: “Hey we’re “xxxxxxx,” we’re going to do anything we want!” It was this pervasive attitude of believing that regulations were made for lesser institutions that bothered me so much. I am sure this young man was tormented by his decision to come forward, but what are the alternatives when what is being regulated is a safe standard of patient care? He became overtired one night and nearly made a critical mistake with the care of a patient. That was the “event” that prompted him to report violations, but in many cases it takes more than a near miss, it takes actual harm before negligent practices are investigated. The harsh reality is that more of us need to have the courage to report potential problems before harm is done to a patient. It will never be an easy decision to make and the consequences can be personally devastating, but it is the right decision to take from a moral standpoint. <o:p></o:p>
There are some minor examples, visible to the public via the web, where external investigators have looked into one area of their operation and demanded that measures must be taken to insure public safety. The letter ordering them to tighten controls over their blood bank supply is one such example, but did they fix problems or fain action with their haughty arrogance? They use their internal Compliance Line to fob off more intrusive external investigations as they did when the Board of Healthcare Quality confronted them with my allegations; when the Hospital told them everything was “OK” it was just left it at that. They probably relied on information supplied by the Compliance Line, but if there are latter revelations of negligence the existence of that Compliance Line will help to modify and fines. Genuine oversight and accountability is key to insuring that adequate standards are met and regulations are adhered to by all healthcare facilities. There is a significant danger to the public when any institution is given “Iconic Immunity” from censure.<o:p></o:p>
On most occasions they can remain completely untouchable while they continue to hide behind that famous name. When something really terrible happens there is a flurry of press coverage, but even the press have learned that they should help to excuse rather than give voice to the public’s shock. When a young child died at the Hospital from totally preventable negligence they enlisted the parent’s help in creating a new patient safety program. Publicly the horror over the tragedy was obscured by the triumph of their bold new safety program; but was this program just good damage control with a great PR spin or was it a genuine commitment to make significant positive changes? I hope, for the traumatized parent’s sake, that it was the latter. The Doctor in charge of heading up this impressive program lost his own father to a medical error so he certainly should be a patient safety zealot. I wrote to him, but he shuffled my letter sideways to the same HR people who had corruptly engineered my wrongful termination. I informed him of this in a subsequent letter, but since then all of my letters have been ignored, so go figure? My Petition will put pressure on this good Doctor and the Hospital’s Dean to at last provide the genuine transparency that they proudly boast on the Internet and to finally do the right thing by demanding a proper, thorough investigation through their Compliance Line. <o:p></o:p>
I am sure my former Hospital was not alone in claiming special immunity privileges by virtue of their iconic status, but this does not protect the public from harm. All Hospitals must abide by the same set of rules, comply with public agency inspections or investigations and accept the consequences of non-compliance. While internal reporting to Risk Management and supposedly “independent” Compliance Lines do potentially offer a way forward they too will need to be monitored and supervised carefully as corruption has already crept into their MO. I hope that my Petition will expose the corruption of the Compliance Line that refused to protect me from retaliation and insist that they dramatically change their policies. When someone reports to them that retaliation is being used to try and silence complaints made to Managers up the chain of command there should be immediate action taken. The Compliance Line should have insured that there really was a just cause for firing me and even if it was for a legitimate reason they should have continued to stringently monitor the dismissal process for fairness throughout, but they failed to do this. <o:p></o:p>
The only thing they did was a very cursory investigation into the negligence issues I had presented. I had expected them to get back to me stating their findings are informing me of what measures had been taken to correct all of the negligence issues I raised, but there was never anything in writing. I doubt they would have bothered to do any follow up with me at all, but when I called they gave feeble irrelevant excuses on behalf of the Hospital Management and it was obvious that their supposedly impartial investigation was just a sham. I was ment to feel satisfied with a casual phone comment from their Chief Investigator: “we have decided to just keep an eye on things!” This was the same Chief Investigator who had informed me that the Compliance line could not look into the retaliation issue until I had exhausted all other remedies first a complete contradiction of what is posted on their Internet site. Worse still, after being told by him that only after all else failed could this long postponed Compliance Line investigation proceed, he was too spineless to even tell me that he had just lied hopping I would never return to demand accountability. <o:p></o:p>
The Chief Investigator that I dealt with, who made the above totally spineless statement and comments to me, was the person originally responsible for establishing the Hospital’s Compliance Line back in 1998. On the Internet I found a stellar presentation on “Assessing the Effectiveness of your Program,” (Compliance Line), that he had delivered at a conference on Hospital Compliance. In a press release announcing his latest promotion within the same Corporation it detailed the job he had held from 1994 before being asked to create the Hospital Compliance Line in 98. He was recently rewarded late in 2003 with a new post as Senior Vice President of one of their satellite Hospitals. This was very obviously a long term employee who fulfilled a steady progression of important assignments within the institution. Would you consider him an unbiased “independent” investigator with no special interest agenda? Congratulations must go to that “Independent Investigator,” who earned the eternal gratitude of my former Hospital for creating the right kind of Compliance Line to limit liability by provide perfect damage control, ignoring or condoning the targeting of informant “troublemakers” and providing terrific PR! What a job, you’ve just gotta love that guy.<o:p></o:p>
Are all Compliance Lines equally “independent” and “unbiased?” Who is reviewing the set up of these supposedly independent Compliance Lines? Which Agency is monitoring the potential for conflict of interest that might cloud their “independent Investigator’s” judgment in providing unbiased Compliance and lead to a dangerous lack of oversight? The shocking truth is that I am unaware of any regulatory body acting in the public’s best interests to review the practices of these Compliance Line Investigators to insure the safety of Hospital patients. If there was some level of oversight how come my former Hospital was able to set up their Compliance Line under the guise of independence while assigning its creation to an internal Hospital appointee? Why are they permitted to fool the public, and gullible, vulnerable, employees, into thinking that this internal appointee will not be acting in the Hospital’s best interests at all times by removing threats to their impeccable reputation? The evidence of self-interest is openly displayed on the Internet for Public Agencies to observe and question, but not knowing the Investigators name the public does not know of the deception. Portraying the Hospital’s Compliance Line as “independent” implies the credibility of unbiased investigation and protection from internal retaliation which is not the case. No one cares that this is blatant hypocrisy! <o:p></o:p>
The public needs to know just how crude this inadequate protection offered by Risk Management and “independent” Compliance Lines really is and Public Agencies like JCAHO need to demand a higher level of access for oversight and accountability. In for profit Hospitals the motivation is money, but a Compliance Line limits liability, helps with PR and does rudimentary damage control by supporting retaliation to remove those who report negligence. I hope that my Petition will expose this problem and put safeguards in place to control the “Foxes” before all the “Hens” are eaten alive! We cannot afford to complacently wait until negligence harms patients or takes lives before significant changes are made. As yet there does not appear to be any proper oversight to insure that internal reporting departments like Risk Management or so called “independent” Compliance lines are really doing a thorough job of protecting Hospital patients from harm. <o:p></o:p>
The Internet site for my former Hospital’s Compliance Line is filled with flowery language that certainly implies great honesty, integrity and accountability. They talk of a transparency that I certainly never encountered and promise protections from retaliation that I was never afforded. However, the site is reassuringly impressive and I am sure that the public as well as some very vulnerable employees are totally fooled by their elaborate hype. But, it is just Hype! Compliance Lines and Risk Management have created the façade of self-policing, but our cases of denied access to reporting accountability and zero protection from retaliation prove that they are unreliable, purely self-interest driven, PR scams, who’s gross inadequacy promotes only a dangerous façade of protection. Courageous, conscientious healthcare professionals, Nurses, must keep speaking out until genuine protections are finally established to end the lunacy of uncontrolled abuse and negligence. The more staff expose the truth the more likely we are to accomplish a tangible result with better protections for patients. While the problems may seem almost insurmountable, the challenges daunting, the personal sacrifices made and the price we must pay close to intolerable, with no possible hope of any reward or recognition: WE MUST STILL KEEP BEARING WITNESS TO THE TRUTH. We owe this as a commitment to our patients and our own professionalism, Stay Strong,<o:p></o:p>
<st1:place w:st="on"><st1:PlaceName w:st="on">Fair</st1:PlaceName> <st1:PlaceName w:st="on">Winds & Following</st1:PlaceName> <st1:PlaceType w:st="on">Seas</st1:PlaceType></st1:place>, Tsunami Kim. <o:p></o:p>

[TNNURSE]

I recently discovered that JCAHO are now going to change their standard policy to start conducting unscheduled visits in the future. The public should question why this was never considered necessary until now, even after a legitimate complaint was filed, and why the first unscheduled visits might not start until 2007?
In 2002 a perfectly healthy Lab. Technician was killed in an Asthma study due to negligent Research practices that failed to properly review the toxic side affects of the substance being tested on this human subject. The “powers that be” closed down all their Human trials Research programs for at least one week. My former Hospital was genuinely shocked by this censorship of their practices and totally outraged over what they perceived as a radical response to their gross negligence. How their callously indignant public proclamations must have hurt the victim’s family as they the stacked their unimpeachable record of excellence up against just one most unfortunate, regrettably unnecessary death! There are a few other alarming examples of their less than ethical practices with regard to various research projects, both in the US and in their affiliated research facilities overseas. However, at such a prestigious institution they fully expected to function beyond the range of prying external review and occasionally beyond the law as well.
OMG....when am I going to STOP being shocked?I mean ...I "thought" all research studies involvong meds txs etc had to be conducted on like mice for X # of months..and then begun with like maybe 2-3 humans.I can at least say I am very proud of whatever institutional governing body that did shut down all their human research studies pending a full investigation. I mean,,,how many times are these nurses, physicians and HCT members going to have to say it? WHEN ARE THEY GOING TO REALIZE THESE ARE PEOPLE? With thoughts , memories, personalities,things that have made them so special to the ones who know and love them. Did you ever hear the results of the investigation? Poor family.Poor...family.
As far as their "public indignation" goes...these HCF better wake up.These new laws that are being passed to ensure the publics safety are coming to the forefront ...and making it thru all these senators etc etc bc....instances like THIS are being brought into the limelight. Families are getting a "clue".They are asking questions...and when they dig enough and get the truth....are absolutely outraged as to what did./did not occur.Any institution that treats patients...accepts money from them or their insurance provider...has their doors open ...should have pt safety as the #1 priority.
Again...this shows how incredibly niave I am.I had no idea that JCAHO did not do "spontaneous" non announced inspections.That.....is outrageous....So much for them having the publics interest at heart. Again....these new laws are coming about for a reason...and I suspect that is one reason that JCAHO is going to unnannounced visits.

[TsunamiKim]

The real shocker is that not only do JCAHO not do spontaneous inspection visits as yet, but that when you contact them and report that your Hospital is an ongoing flagrant violator of the regulations they state that they cannot respond by doing an unannounced check on the facility! I was mistaken over the start date for their new policy and I am glad to say that according to a SEIU Union report the visits will start as soon as this January. Look on the SEIU web site to see their report of this triumph. The <?xml:namespace prefix = st1 ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" /><st1:place w:st="on">Union</st1:place> has been pushing for this for some time and I think it is an important change. Hospital staff do not want to support institutions that are in constant violation and they do welcome these unscheduled inspections. However, from my own appalling experience I know that the very few courageous employees who dare to risk retaliation and job loss to report to JCAHO are not taken seriously. As with all Public Agencies that I contacted I was made to feel as if my credibility was on the line and I was under scrutiny to firmly establish this credibility firs; this premise does not protect patients from potential harm. The wrongful termination allowed the Hospital to debunk everything that I said. <?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" /><o:p></o:p>
We cannot afford to discount any reported negligence and all allegations must be investigated without the credibility of who has reported ever being raised as a relevant issue. All Public Agencies need to start acting in the public’s best interest by treating every single report as a potentially legitimate complaint that requires a proper thorough investigation regardless of the iconic status of the institution. They may just be shocked and appalled when they start seeing Hospital facilities as they really are most of the time minus the deceptive transformations that are deliberately done to fool their gullible inspectors. This is a really positive thing for patient safety that should have been in place years ago; now we want real accountability at Healthcare facilities throughout the <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">US</st1:place></st1:country-region>. With the Maryland Board of Nursing at first it appeared that my reports on the negligent policy decisions and subsequent retaliation suffered under four Nurse Managers was being taken seriously. In good faith I believed that these Nurse Managers had crossed the line and that they required some form of censor to curb their negligent decision making that was harmful to patients. In addition the serious abuse of power used to target and victimize a subordinate in retaliation for daring to question their poor judgment and trying to expose the negligence was unacceptable and grossly unprofessional. However following the first interview it was soon apparent that by showing false documentation behind my back they had managed to persuade the investigator that I was the most serious transgressor.<o:p></o:p>
I had said that the documentation of which staff were on duty during off shifts was documented in a rather ordinary looking note book kept at the main desk. My former Hospital must have been furious at having to hand over copies of all the pages of these books so that the BON investigator could evaluate my claim of critically deficient staffing. While she remarked on how shocked she was by the unintelligible entries that made it almost impossible to determine the qualifications and experience of those supposedly noted as on duty, she shrugged off this poor documentation in favor of assuming that there must have been adequate staff to cover cases. In other words, if your documentation is unreadable the BON will just assume that what you say is documented, is correct? If they had been able to or only bothered to decipher the scrawling in that book they would have discovered that on multiple occasions when cases were started there was no longer a Nurse available to stand by for Trauma which was in violation of the COMAR requirements for OR staffing of a Level One Trauma Center. Instead they could readily assume that the room turnover cleaning crew were available to insure that an existing Surgical patient was not abandoned when a Trauma case came to the OR: the distinction between Nursing and non-Nursing staff was unclear in the note book. This was the flawed Managerial policy that provided zero redundancy of personnel to relieve staff for breaks or remain on stand by as required. But it was financially motivated and had already save the Hospital a great deal of money. I was told that in the January, just one month after I was ousted, they started calling in their call teams to stand by for Trauma as required by MEIMSS. They must have become nervous about their policy of patient abandonment in view of the fact it was likely to be exposed. <o:p></o:p>
Although I signed a waiver to permit the BON to get hold of my short distance phone records they did not mention these records during my interview. I have to presume that because they couldn’t possibly have provided the type of incriminating evidence they were so obviously seeking by this point, they were not even mentioned by the investigator. I was informed of the existence of some documents that I had no previous knowledge of before the BON interview, but I was still barred from seeing them. Can you imagine sitting opposite an examiner and she states that she has this incriminating document that has proved to her that you have behaved in such a way that she probably viewed you as a criminal. The sheer volume of false harassment charges claimed by the Hospital would have been sufficient to warrant a serious criminal indictment! But she will not show you this compelling “evidence” and there is no legitimate reason given for this secrecy. No all evidence used to persecute you must be deliberately hidden from you and once again there are no direct quotes allowed either! How do you manage to refute the validity of a document you aren’t allowed to see? It was like the phone log/office planner shown to EEOC; did it even exist? Did the EEOC Mediator actually see it or was she convinced by the Hospital Managers that it existed? She said: “it would be very hard to fabricate something like that,” but she didn’t explain why? If I had seen it there would have been dates of alleged harassing phone calls at times where I could have produced an iron tight alibi that would have precluded making any type of call; so they kept it from me. <o:p></o:p>
Then there was a letter from a Nurse who said that I had contacted her and allegedly harassed her after being fired. This letter was placed in my file as a complaint subsequent to my removal: we call that a “Witch Hunt” in the <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">UK</st1:place></st1:country-region>! I was very upset by that letter as it was written by a Nurse I had counted as a very close friend since buying my <st1:City w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Baltimore</st1:place></st1:City> home from her. She was an extremely credible, conscientious rather outspoken patient advocate, with a track record for excellence as a Nurse; I had learned a lot from her and I genuinely admired her. I had even invited her to spend Christmas with our family in <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">England</st1:place></st1:country-region> one year so I felt deeply betrayed by her actions and fail to see her motivation. She had contacted me after I was fired and requested to stay in touch; she sent me a Christmas card that documents this request. However she did not agree with my decision not to take the Hospital’s bribe and she severed all contact at that point. She reneged on her commitment to write me a reference and placed some piece of poison into my personal file to help support the Hospital’s phony harassment charges. I do not know why her allegiance shifted so radically, but I suspect that she had casually mentioned staying in touch with me and my former OR Manager seized the opportunity to manipulate her as another “witness.” This Nurse had moved to the float pool and would have been highly susceptible to veiled threats if she failed to produce the letter documentation our ongoing contact as unwelcome harassment. Although she had been outspoken herself regarding the issues I felt so strongly about she must have known that the Hospital might go to great lengths to retaliate if she chose to defend my stand. I am sorry she did not have the courage to defy them as I thought she was a stronger person than that and a more loyal friend. This incident and her callous betrayal have made it very difficult for me to genuinely trust anyone again. <o:p></o:p>
Documents were deliberately kept from me on the explicit instructions of my former Hospital, yes, the “<st1:PlaceName w:st="on">Best</st1:PlaceName> <st1:PlaceType w:st="on">Hospital</st1:PlaceType> in <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">America</st1:place></st1:country-region>,” that proudly touts their “honesty, integrity and transparency?” Great transparency! Give them a prize for their “transparency.” Oops, they just received a patient safety prize sighting their “transparency” as a major reason for the award! I want to expose the seamy reality of their “transparent” dealings with wrongfully terminated Whistle Blowers as it is truly abhorrent and shameful. Their great PR juggernaut is just filled with shallow hypocritical garbage! What is so appalling is that they have got away with this con trick for so long completely unquestioned. If any employee has transgressed and it requires disciplinary action to secure their removal fine, this is a legitimate necessity in some cases. However, all the secrecy and the ongoing insertions into my file should strongly suggest a cover-up of dubious practices and a witch-hunt to silence the real truth! This is what their Compliance Line should have investigated and refused to even look at. <o:p></o:p>
The former friend who betrayed me with her poison letter referred to a phone call made a full 8months after I was fired; the Hospital had to be really desperate to show that to the BON. There were two Minor Rule Violations that the BON investigator may or may not have been shown as I do not know when they were fabricated and placed in my file. However both violations referred to incidents that had allegedly taken place in the months prior to my being fired, but were entered into my personnel records at a latter date. They were never mentioned at my dismissal or Grievance hearing which is highly suspicious and easily provable as their was a written transcript of the Grievance Hearing. These two alleged charges are also not documented as prior incidents on the Major Rule Violation used to fire me. This is the strongest indicator that they were fabricated after the fact as there is no legitimate reason for this omission. Of course neither document was signed by me, but I was told that for the “counseling,” which I defiantly did not receive, there did not have to be a signature. How very convenient. I had signed my first Major Rule Violation as I was told I had to sign so these two Minor’s would have been signed be me for the same reason, but they were not. My second Major Violation I did not sign as I was told I could not be made to sign and I wanted to protest the corrupt nature of the charges, but there were witnesses to my being there. If the Compliance Line had just monitored the dismissal process then it would not have been possible for my Managers to keep inventing documents after the fact and inserting them into my personnel file to beef up their case. <o:p></o:p>
So far no one has questioned any of these serious flaws and discrepancies and the same bankrupt process can be used to silence another conscientious patient advocate in the future. <o:p></o:p>
When, in good faith, I made my sworn testimony to the Maryland Trauma agency MEIMSS regarding not calling in call team staff to stand by for Trauma I genuinely believed that it was a dangerous practice and a policy that directly violated the COMAR requirements for a level One Trauma Center. I stated that my concern was that without tightening the language there was a distinct possibility that all four Baltimore Trauma Centers were misinterpreting COMAR to save money on staffing. What if that is still true to this day and a plane crashes at BWI overwhelming all of these Trauma facilities? How will they explain their casual comment to me over the phone concerning this abandonment issue: “it doesn’t specifically endanger Trauma patients?” If a transplant patient died after the Circulating Nurse in his surgery abandoned him to go open up a trauma room, how would MEIMSS explain that this non Trauma patient didn’t fall under their remit of protection? How would the Maryland BON explain that in the past the Hospitals records documenting the number of staff on duty, and their qualification/skill level was so completely indecipherable that they decided to give the Hospital the benefit of the doubt and just “assume” that OR Managers had called in their call team Nursing staff. Does extremely sloppy documentation provide an acceptably valid excuse for this negligent practice of patient abandonment? How would JCAHO explain their indifference to my complaints and the refusal to do an unscheduled visit of the OR if an Ortho patient lost his leg due to gross infection when a C-Arm that had been stored next to an overflowing trash dumpster had been used during his surgery? How will the Board of Healthcare Quality justify accepting that an internal investigation thought that everything was OK so they had failed to inquire any further? <o:p></o:p>
I do not want to hear that a patient has died due to Public Agencies ignoring the copious, well documented warnings I have been so persistent in repeatedly giving. I still fervently hope that my Petition will generate further investigation from a powerful Government Agency and possibly the press as well. I will gladly fly back to the <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">US</st1:place></st1:country-region> to testify if this finally produces results. However, will the Hospital still receive the benefit of a significant reduction in any applicable fines for negligence if a Government Inquiry finds that their so called “independent Compliance Line” passed over all of these warnings with unbelievably feeble excuses and the decision to “just keep an eye on things?” Does the very existence of a Compliance Lines automatically confer a certain level of immunity by crediting the Hospital with providing better patient safety through encouraging the reporting of complaints even after demonstrating a totally inadequate and cursory response to such complaints? Would a Government Inquiry then excuse their total failure and refusal to comply with the basic mandate of protection from retaliation as clearly stated in writing on their Internet site? I hope not as this would send a very dangerous message to other Hospitals. I think that both Hospitals and other businesses have learned to manipulate the Compliance Line system to their own benefit and this corruption desperately needs to be exposed to the Government and the public. Even after being betrayed by my former country of residence, being forced to abandon my home and move back to the <st1:country-region w:st="on">UK</st1:country-region>; I still consider it my public duty as a <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">US</st1:place></st1:country-region> Citizen to expose this corruption. I will keep fighting to expose the truth!<o:p></o:p>
<o:p></o:p>
<st1:place w:st="on"><st1:PlaceName w:st="on">Fair</st1:PlaceName> <st1:PlaceName w:st="on">Winds & Following</st1:PlaceName> <st1:PlaceType w:st="on">Seas</st1:PlaceType></st1:place>, Kim.<o:p></o:p>

[TNNURSE]

[font="Verdana"]TsunamiKim,
I wonder what was the primary factor in making JCAHO decide to start doing unscheduled inspections?Do you believe it was d/t possibly the nurses/md's contacting them re: issues such as yours?

I truly think the worst thing a nurse can do...is do nothing when there are issues that are placing patients at risk.It is just sad when the one reporting these type of safety violations are terminated in a blind attempt to discredit them.Unless...that nurse is in my type of position they would have no way to prove retaliation/whistleblower violations.I have a paper trail a mile long of emails etc etc , high performer evals,letters of recommendation from my NM stating things like "excellent exampe of leadership" ,you are such a great
"strongpt. advocate"thank you for bringing this to our attention - your solution will save lives!", and an email "thanking me for my dedication to the nsg staff-(my old coworkers) only days/hours before I was fired.".Then I voice some serious safety issues with a coworker who is best friends with the NM....and I am fired.The NM cant even get her "lie" that she and her friend fabricated to illegally terminate me straight.On one account she says her fabricated event took place on like a Friday and on another account she wrote it "alledgedly" occurred on a Monday.I cant go into details ...but lets just say that my audiotape recorder has been utilized alot.So many "versions" have been given....it is almost comical.But...I am not laughing. I did the right thing. I followed their bylaws, I followed the Nurse Pratice Act and I was fired.
My family....they lost their health insurance. I am my families primary source of income. I lost my short and long term disability.I lost my retirement.I lost benefits that I had worked years to accrue that would have benefited not only me but ..also my children.I was accussed of something I did not do.I was fired for a "trumped up/false/untruthful " documentation error .I have the NM on tape admitting she knew this nurse had not only removed part of this medical record but also had altered it...and then that same NM fired me for "mysteriously strange" vitals that "appeared" on that medical record .She also admits on audiotape that not only did her friend make alterations on the medical record but that it had no patient info on it...no medical record #, no dob, no room #,nada.It was a blank document.Can anyone else smell a rat?
I worked very hard at my job.I thoroughly enjoyed my coworkers. I liked caring for the pt population I was assigned . I did a great job and got raise after raise , & compliment after compliment on my job performance.In the apx 4 years I worked there I went from a base salary of 18$ an hr to over 30$ an hr + shift diff that made me push 40$ an hr.As the sole source of income for my family...when they fired me it impacted all of them.Health insurance -gone, dental ins-gone, long term disabilty ins-gone, short term disability-gone, sick days-gone, seniority-gone,retirement-gone,education benefits-gone,life insurance-gone,my professional reputation-tarnished by a lie...my income to support my family-gone.
Even...after all this I still was so loyal to that HCF that I actually thought that they would do a valid investigation .I am...still awaiting their final findings of the "investigation"...but my faith in that HCF is quite justifiably gone.I have been incredibly niave bc all this was done to me so fast...it made my head spin....and I think I was still in shock weeks later from it.The public is begining to demand more protection for nurses like me who do the ethically correct thing and report things that could endanger patients.The laws are being strengthened each year...but we as nurses have to get involved,You have a duty....to become more active in your state nsg association.BC...if you think this cant happen to you.....you are wrong.Stronger legislation is the answer.

[lpatterson30]

After suffering for 20+ years in several toxic OR environments, I realized that the only change over which I had control was - myself. I fought the good fights only to be made the enemy. I witnessed friends of mine be devoured by the political machine that was supposed to be a hospital only to lose their jobs in the end and be run out on a rail. I finally healed myself of the sick co-dependent illness that was my association with surgery, changed area of expertise, got my BSN, and become certified in my area of expertise. I feel whole again but even more important; I feel appreciated. Know when and how to pick your battles but also know when the system is erasing you and your importance in nursing.

[lpatterson30]

[quote=lpatterson30]After suffering for 20+ years in several toxic OR environments, I realized that the only change over which I had control was - myself. I fought the good fights only to be made the enemy. I witnessed friends of mine be devoured by the political machine that was supposed to be a hospital only to lose their jobs in the end and be run out on a rail. I finally healed myself of the sick co-dependent illness that was my association with surgery, changed area of expertise, got my BSN, and become certified in my area of expertise. I feel whole again but even more important; I feel appreciated. Know when and how to pick your battles but also know when the system is erasing you and your importance in nursing. [/If you are now part of the solution; then you are part of the problem.]

[TNNURSE]

[quote=lpatterson30]

Originally Posted by lpatterson30

After suffering for 20+ years in several toxic OR environments, I realized that the only change over which I had control was - myself. I fought the good fights only to be made the enemy. I witnessed friends of mine be devoured by the political machine that was supposed to be a hospital only to lose their jobs in the end and be run out on a rail. I finally healed myself of the sick co-dependent illness that was my association with surgery, changed area of expertise, got my BSN, and become certified in my area of expertise. I feel whole again but even more important; I feel appreciated. Know when and how to pick your battles but also know when the system is erasing you and your importance in nursing. [/If you are now part of the solution; then you are part of the problem.]

Doesnt it just shock you though? I had no idea this kinda thing was so widespread in hospitals. I have had a "HUGE" EYE OPENER.The days of " this X hospital's #1 priority is patient safety" menatlity...is gone.It was replaced with hidden/ and blatant threats of "open your mouth and you are fired".Still shocked I tell ya!