Re: My Mother (an LPN) is in need of advice! Originally Posted by pagandeva2000 
I am horribly confused...it seems that she created notes for herself in order to better keep up with what is happening with her patients under an overwhelming, confusing situation. If she wrote down the chronic conditions, maybe she did it in order to know that there was, in fact, a change in the basic condition of the patient? An example I can think of is if a patient has a history of CHF, and you come in and see that the patient has not voided, hearing rales and has pitting edema, etc...she would have a hint of what is wrong, or interventions, maybe?
Or were these things documented on official continuation records and were documented later on on another sheet? Or was it that she had an individual sheet for each patient and decided to turn them in at the end of the day if there were no changes? It seems to me that the OP's mother was in a horrendous situation and tried to keep up with as much as she can to the best of her ability and got seriously caught out there. Does she have malpractice insurance? I would hope that situations like these would be covered in regard to representation.
Originally Posted by applescruffette What is going down makes me sad for your mother. It's a symptom of what the real problem is, and that's that her employer treated her like crud and kept pushing the limits of what she had to do on the job until she felt she had to do something like this. I know that wasn't a particularly helpful statement I made, but still...I hope it works out for her.
They were indeed individual sheets and she was certainly checking each resident thoroughly. If a condition had changed in one of them, her "cheat sheets" would not have been submitted. Instead, she would've used a fresh sheet and made note of the change. When asked how this was inaccurate recording or falsifying documents, the case-manager dodged the question by bringing up a breach of patient confidentiality... even though the records were kept in her locker under lock and key. At work no less.
They dropped that complaint entirely as there was no basis for a confidentiality breach, but they kept the inaccurate recording, falsifying bit for some reason and I don't know what we can do. That's why I'm asking for advice here.
You're quite correct in stating that it's a symptom of the real problem and I thank you for saying so. My mother is a single parent and I watched her work herself into illness on several occasions to make ends meet. She is so burned out because the nurses she used to work with generally dismiss their duties in favor of gossiping in the break room and their work falls on her shoulders. She could offer no proof of this, as cell phones or recording devices were prohibited, but she shouldered the burden anyway.
The problem came when her employer heaped more onto her and demanded that she take on additional workloads after firing several employees that had, in the past, helped her when she was in a tight situation by taking on some of the paper work.
Re: My Mother (an LPN) is in need of advice!
I am sorry to hear this about your mother, she sounds like a Nurse who like most of us are overwhelmed at times with patient case loads. Unfortunately, I have to agree with most of the advise. It is difficult for her to prove that she didn't shred any documents and that she did assessments on her shift. I agree that her best option is to get a lawyer that would be willing to work with her in regard to payment. I wish there was something else I could do for her but I suggest that she not sign anything until she talks to a lawyer. She could try to find one that may give her a free legal consultation first. There are a few lawyers out there that advertise for free consultation. Tell her to hang in there and to think before she signs anything!!! 
Nursing News