help! boss threatening to charge me w abandonment??

[puzzpiece]

hi everyone-

so here's my story. I am a newly graduated RN I have worked in a LTC facility for two weeks now. last week, after my second day, I decided I did not like the facility - understAffed, did not like the care the residents were receiving. I called the supervisor (on my day off, leaving a day between my shifts) and let them know that I would not be returning. next day I get a call from the regional manager asking why I quit. so I told her the truth. and she asked if I would give them a second chance , and if I still wasn't comfortable then I could leave peacefully. well that's exactly what happened. I didn't like it. so I called and told her that before my next scheduled shift. she responded by saying that I abandonment my patients and she could challenge my license??? is this true? I understand it was not prifessonal. but my heart was telling me those patients were not getting proper care. and I don't want to be a part of that. I called before my shift, did not accept any patient care...

[Argo]

They make agencies for this.....

I agree with everything every has sad before me in the thread and understand you needed to quit to take care of yourself.

However, please consider this in case the same thing happens again. You wrote that they are short-staffed. You quit with very short notice. They couldn't hire someone to take your place immediately. So, the patients are left with a staff that's even more short, maybe even making a few days pretty crisis-driven. Giving longer notice would have been more caring toward the patients.

[Rose_Queen, BSN, MSN, RN]

However, please consider this in case the same thing happens again. You wrote that they are short-staffed. You quit with very short notice. They couldn't hire someone to take your place immediately. So, the patients are left with a staff that's even more short, maybe even making a few days pretty crisis-driven. Giving longer notice would have been more caring toward the patients.

Putting the responsibility of chronic staffing issues on someone who felt she needed to quit isn't right. People quit without notice in all forms of professions, nursing included. Sometimes, that's what is needed to get management to wake up and fix the problem. Bending over backwards and asking for more isn't going to fix the problem.

As someone else said, there are agency nurses whose role is to fill in the holes in staffing. This place needs to utilize them and fix the problems causing their chronic staffing issues. Criticizing someone not willing to endure that is just wrong.

[amoLucia]

Go to your state's BON and print off the section that describes abandonment. Highlight for her the definition. I did that when I had a supervisor threaten me.

Worked with a nurse who did that technique when we were being hit with forced overtime/doubles big time. All due to bare-to-the-bones staffing with the decision to NOT use agency. That nurse went through to the right State agencies for her facts 'straight from the source'.

Employer facility sat up and took notice that staff was not going to be bullied and their new elaborate "have to stay' policy (which they themselves were not following) changed right after that.

Also re OP's abrupt resignation - might she be working in an 'at-will' state? If so, her leaving is a moot point as we all know manglement would let her go in a NY minute if they so chose too.

[CapeCodMermaid, RN]

We're not supposed to give legal advice,but to the poster who said they'll call you in to pick up your check and then say you abandoned patients....I think you are wrong. You have to have accepted an assignment (and have accepted the keys to the med cart) and then leave to be charged with abandonment. And you scenario sounds a bit Machiavellian.

[newrnltc]

Agree with sweet wild rose. When I left my previous job I gave 2 weeks notice and they found someone pretty quick. After her 1st week she dragged me to the med room and said "you guys are crazy! This place is nuts". She quit that afternoon. It got people talking because we had a high turn over from being chronically short staffed. Unfortunately in the end things didn't change. I feel like our residents are the ones that suffer the most.... Darn money grubbers up top. I hope they will get to experience this for themselves in the future.

[Alnitak7]

Go to your state's BON and print off the section that describes abandonment. Highlight for her the definition. I did that when I had a supervisor threaten me.

I did this as well and it was only to have a state worker turn it completely around so that when they called me up to talk about it, I had to explain in detail everything I had already talked about in my letter to them

[akulahawkRN, ADN, RN, EMT-P]

We're not supposed to give legal advice,but to the poster who said they'll call you in to pick up your check and then say you abandoned patients....I think you are wrong. You have to have accepted an assignment (and have accepted the keys to the med cart) and then leave to be charged with abandonment. And you scenario sounds a bit Machiavellian.

Yes, it does sound Machiavellian. However, once you're physically there, without anyone to act as a witness to refute/prevent any claim of report having been given and assignment being accepted, who is to say that the event didn't happen? At that point, it's a "he said, she said" issue. There really are people out there that do think like that. I used to work for someone like that...

I would hope that kind of thing doesn't ever happen, but if they're willing to run very short-staffed (to an unsafe level), who is to say they won't stoop to another equally shady level?

[CrunchRN, ADN, RN]

Yikes. Glad you got out.

[Esme12, ASN, BSN, RN]

you can't be charged with abandonment of a patient assignment that you did not accept...nor have you walked away from patient s that you already accepted without proper relief. home care can be sightly different

If you have malpractice insurance...ask them.....if you don't this is how easy of a hassle it can become ....purchase some.