Was Boss passing the buck?

Nurses General Nursing

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Hey guys and gals....

I need to know if all of you feel the same way that I did about a situation that happened to me the other night when I unfortunately was the Charge RN.

First of all, I find out I have 3 admissions coming in for my shift(3-11) and no clinical secretary scheduled. My boss says she will stay a little late to help me try to get some of the orders off. I work brain injury rehab and when an RN is in charge we do all admits, discharges, cosign orders and handle any and all problems that may come up. Anyways, my boss's husband kept calling her and asking her when she would be leaving. Well, after he called her for like the fifth time she told me that she would be leaving and that MOST of the orders were signed off. Right when she has her coat on and is about to leave the unit, one of the NA comes up to me and states that "the family of the patient in room such and such is extremely upset and says they want to talk with you about their mother saying she was touched inappropriatelly by a black man today". I was speechless as I have NEVER had to deal with such a situation before and I really wasn't quite sure how to approach it. Luckily, my manager hadn't left the unit yet and I pulled her into the conference room and proceeded to tell her what the NA had told me. I also informed her that I felt VERY uncomfortable talking to this paitents family about such a subject and that I didn't even know how to begin. Instead of taking her coat off and telling me that this was something she needed to handle as the nurse manager and that she would speak with them (especially since I was in the middle of doing an admit), she tells me to tell them that if they feel uncomfortable leaving their mother in our facility that for me to give them permission to stay overnight with her. NOW WHAT KIND OF SOLUTION IS THAT???!!!:angryfire

And that is all she said and nothing else. I strongly feel that it is her job as the nurse manager to handle those types of complaints. Now for those of you who arae going to say "What would you have done if she wasn't even there?" Well then that's what we have house supervisors for!! But, just by chance , the supervisor happpened to walk in just as my boss was telling me that B.S. to say to the family. I explained to her what was going on and she said "Well, I'll come with you while you talk so I can be a witness" I was so mad at both of them i could've spit fire. I mean really... they're the ones who get paid the big bucks to deal with complaints susch as that!!! This patients family said that they wanted to call 911 even. At that time I was just wishing I would wake up from the nightmare I was having. It was one of the most awful nights of my nursing career!!

So please let me know how you guys would have handled the above and if I was justified in being extremely ticked off.

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Specializes in Med-Surg, Trauma, Ortho, Neuro, Cardiac.

You are justified in being ticked off. This kind of situation is definately more than just a family complaint. It potentially involves a crime.

I've been a charge nurse for many years and have had to become comfortable with all kinds of situations. If I had to take a complaint like that, it would have been "I understand your concerns, and I will definately be notifying upper management about this".

I'm not understanding that you're upset that you were being brought into the room as a witness. This is an appropriate role for a charge nurse. You weren't asked to handle the situation alone by the supervisor. You should become comfortable in dealing with sticky situation if you are going to be in charge. Sometimes we have to step out of our comfort zones.

I do agree 100% that this is a situation for the guys who make the big bucks. I would be royally ticked at the manager for passing the buck and leaving. I'm sorry that she has a life and a manipulative husband, but she's got 24-hour accountability that comes with her paycheck.

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You are justified in being ticked off. This kind of situation is definately more than just a family complaint. It potentially involves a crime.

I've been a charge nurse for many years and have had to become comfortable with all kinds of situations. If I had to take a complaint like that, it would have been "I understand your concerns, and I will definately be notifying upper management about this".

I'm not understanding that you're upset that you were being brought into the room as a witness. This is an appropriate role for a charge nurse. You weren't asked to handle the situation alone by the supervisor. You should become comfortable in dealing with sticky situation if you are going to be in charge. Sometimes we have to step out of our comfort zones.

I do agree 100% that this is a situation for the guys who make the big bucks. I would be royally ticked at the manager for passing the buck and leaving. I'm sorry that she has a life and a manipulative husband, but she's got 24-hour accountability that comes with her paycheck.

I appreciate your reply,but i think you misunderstood smething that i said. The supervisor told me that she would come with me and act as a witness while I did the talking, not her.

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Specializes in med/surg,CHF stepdown, clinical manager.

Your manager should have handled it....period.

But, about the big bucks.........ummmmmm, I am a RN manager of abou 76 beds.....I make less than some of my LPN's! Your manager should have handled it because it is likely to go further and she will be involved anyway. She should have started an investigation immediately and reported to the DON and administrator. Suspected abuse must be reported to the state within 24 hours. (At least in Michigan.)

Yes, your manager left you in an inappropriate situation. But, as for the big bucks......see above.

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Specializes in tele, stepdown/PCU, med/surg.

Your manager was wrong. She is to handle these types of complaints; that is in her job title!!

On a side note, I'm very distressed at the increased number of confused patients in our hospitals. While I understand these often elderly confused ones are not to blame, they can sure stir up a lot of trouble making accusations.

I'm not saying that the patient was lying or confusing, I'm just saying that I've noticed this trend.

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Yeah, you were justified. You shoulda called the cops and let them handle it.

Being as it were that you weren't getting any help elsewhere.

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Your manager was wrong. She is to handle these types of complaints; that is in her job title!!

On a side note, I'm very distressed at the increased number of confused patients in our hospitals. While I understand these often elderly confused ones are not to blame, they can sure stir up a lot of trouble making accusations.

I'm not saying that the patient was lying or confusing, I'm just saying that I've noticed this trend.

I've seen it happen, too. When I worked in a LTC on part time job for awhile, a male aide was accused of inappropriately touching a female patient. It was investigated, the aide was NOT fired, but he wasn't allowed to give care to that patient any longer.

I couldn't say whether or not he did it......but I was never convinced that he did. The patient, I thought, had some confusion.

I suppose it happens, but in that instance I just wasn't convinced.

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The NM and the supervisor were both passing the buck.

Ideally, the Supervisor (since she was there), should have taken control, gone into the patient's room with either you or the NM as witnesses.

Entirely inappropriate to shove it off onto you; but that's the way "they" (charge personnel) play the game.

They need a patsy in case there are repercussions.

Someone must be available to be fired and to take the blame.

That's what I have seen in my experience. :rolleyes:

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What did you say to them (the mangers I mean)?

My supervisor tried a similar thing with me once, and I just said "that's your job isn't it? I don't have the experience to deal with this and I have other patients that need care right now" and she dealt with the woman on her own.

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What did you say to them (the mangers I mean)?

My supervisor tried a similar thing with me once, and I just said "that's your job isn't it? I don't have the experience to deal with this and I have other patients that need care right now" and she dealt with the woman on her own.

I just basically explained to her how uncomfortable I felt talking to a family about that and that I've had no prior experience with the subject and that I just really wasn't sure what to say to the family. Since the incident, I've been talking with other RN's that I work with and they all are telling me that I should've stood my ground and just refused to talk with the family and told my boss that it was a serious enough complaint that she needed to take care of it and not me. But you see, I'm the nice girl on the unit... I don't like to start trouble and I get along with everyone, and people take advantage of that ...including my boss!!!!

However, now I have another problem.... after she left (my boss) she called me on the phone and asked me what I ended up telling the family and how they reacted. I was so ticked at her that I wanted to say "well, if you would have done your job and went in to talk with them you woould know!!"

Anyways, she told me that I was required to fill out a grievance complaint paper and to leave on her desk for her to take care of on Monday(today). Well, I never had a chance to fill it out b/c as it was I didn't punch out that night until 1am which gave me a total of 19 hours for that one day. By that time I was so delerious that I didn't even know if i could make it home safely. I'm not scheduled again until tomorrow. So now could I get into trouble b/c I won;t be able to fill it out until then??? Also, should I bring this whole subject up to the Director of Nursing, Imean as far as how my boss made me handle the situation???

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This REALLY ticks me off!!!

If she was so concerned about how they reacted she should have talked to them.

She DIDN'T because they need somebody to take the hypothetical blame........you.

Disgusting.

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double post

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