I need advice on how to deal with a situation occuring in a hospital setting, with a final semester nursing student in an AD program.
This student nurse was assigned a stable patient. The clinical instructor had found out that the client had a spouse who was also a patient on another unit (ICU). The instructor indicated to the student that "it would be nice" to allow the stable client to visit his spouse. The student nurse, on that statement" accompanied the client, in a wheelchair, to visit with his spouse. Staying there with the patient, the patient said to the student, "We're OK. Would you please leave us alone for a little while?"
Deferring to these two patients' wishes, the student nurse left for about 5 minutes to use the toilet.
Upon returning to the two patients, the student nurse returned the "visiting patient" to his unit.
The student nurse, when getting a final evaluation was told that due to "abandonment" he was to fail the clinical for the semester and of course would not graduate.
Any ideas or suggestions on this matter? Does this actually fit the definition of "abandonment" and if so why was the student nurse not discuplined at the time of the incident.
Can attorneys get involved in matters such as these?
