Federal Investigation and employee confidentiality

Specialties Geriatric

Published

An RN in our facility had 2 days of orientation and was then put on the floor as a charge 3-11. A patient died and she did not start CPR. An aide had accidently told her the patient was a dnr. The RN quit and the family called the State agency, who called in the Feds. They interviewed all the employees who were there that night, telling them that anything they said was entirely confidential and no one would know who they were. Yesterday there was a list of people who HAD to see the admin or don by friday. 2 of my cna's were on the list and went in. The admin showed them their "confidential" answers to questions asked by the feds. While it said employee A, B, etc. He had also gotten a list and by each entry the name of the employee was written. He asked the cna's to verify that what they said was true. These 2 had kept their answers short and simple but others had told them about the lack of orientation, short staffing and other concerns. Is this acceptable? If they are fired in the future will they be able to say that is why? I was not interviewed but in the future I would not say anything that would be construed as "bad for the image". I thought confidential was confidential unless it went to court. Does anyone know what options these people have.

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wow.

who told them it was confidential? the feds?

i'm not sure who they can turn to if it was the feds who promised confidentiality....i guess the news could be the last resort?

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Specializes in Gerontology, Med surg, Home Health.

I don't think any investigation done by the state or feds is confidential. How horrible for everyone involved. Seems you're trying to excuse the nurse by saying she only had 2 days orientation. Why did she take someone else's word for a resident's code status???

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Not excusing her actions, but during orientation we were told to send someone to check the chart for code status. That has changed to have someone bring you the chart. The investigators were both state and federal and all those interviewed were told it was confidential and that the facility wouldn't know who or what was said.

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I don't think any investigation done by the state or feds is confidential. How horrible for everyone involved. Seems you're trying to excuse the nurse by saying she only had 2 days orientation. Why did she take someone else's word for a resident's code status???

This is exactly what I was thinking. On my second night here, we had a resident found in the bed, unresponsive, no pulse, no respirations. The LPN was sitting at the desk, and stated that so and so was a DNR. I didn't take her word for it, I pulled the chart in a flash, flipped it open... she was a FULL CODE. I initiated CPR while she called 911. After it was all over, she came to me in tears thanking me for saving her license.

ALWAYS, ALWAYS CHECK FOR YOURSELF!!!

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I would always check myself too.

But getting back to the OP question about confidentiality of an investigation....does the staff have a resonable right to expect that their statements would be kept confidential as they were promised?

Is confidentiality different from annonimity?

We all know how hard it is to do investigations, because no one wants to be the rat.

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Specializes in Nephrology, Cardiology, ER, ICU.

What a tragedy for all concerned.

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Specializes in med/surg, telemetry, IV therapy, mgmt.

Yikes! My thoughts would be that any government agency doing an investigation should make anyone being questioned think about the posibility of having to take a oath and swear to the truth of their statements, thinking in terms of possibly having to go to court. Talking to a government investigator is serious business and not break room gossip.

As for those who took the opportunity to bad mouth the facility, oh well. It was inapproriate for them to offer their opinions unless they were specifically asked about those things. Loose lips sink ships. This is what gossip did for them. If you bite the hand that feeds you, you need to be prepared to take the consequences. Most people forget about, or don't even think about, that part of openly gossiping about the bosses. They dug their own holes--too bad. Hope they learned something from this.

As for the nurse who listened to what an aide told her about a patient's DNR status. . .what's with that? Any licensed nurse should know better than that! If the investigators turn her in to the board of nursing and she is further investigated and punished by the state board of nursing, oh well. She made a very serious error of judgment and got caught. The facility (any facility) is better off without her.

(Sorry if I sound kind of nasty tonight. I'm tired.)

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The people who were questioned didn't bad mouth the facility, they just answered the questions truthfully that they were asked. One was how long of an orientation did you receive? 2 days was about the norm for everyone. How often do you work with less than this amount of staff? The investigation did help in that now any new employee who is hired gets 2 weeks of orientation and just not on days, but on all shifts. An LPN that was hired at the same time of as this nurse quit because she received a whole of 2 days of orientation and was left as charge on 11-7 shift. Unfortunately, as is with a lot of nurses, few of our staff accepted that since she was a new grad it would take her a while to get the routine and because she seldom had her meds all passed they harrassed her. There is a mandatory meeting today about this attitude and the backstabbing that goes on here. It is the worst of any place I have ever worked. Now of course they are all complaining because we are working extra hours to fill the spots left by these two nurses and 1 who is off because of his gall bladder.

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How sad. I am so thankful that we use the dot system on our room plaques. Next to the resident's name is a blue dot for full code, and a red dot for no code. Interesting that years ago, we'd have about 2 full codes, and now we have about 20 out of 72 who want to be resucitated.

I agree with Daytonite about the fact that there is no confidentiality if you get sued. You will be deposed, and asked all of the uncomfortable questions. It IS the responsibility of the state and fed agencies AND the facililty to get to the bottom of this. Too bad they had to learn about the poor orientation and its results the hard way, but hopefully they will take it seriously and work on it.

I know what it is like to need a nurse so bad and want to put them on the floor early. It always comes with a price.

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Specializes in Rehab, Med Surg, Home Care.
How sad. I am so thankful that we use the dot system on our room plaques. Next to the resident's name is a blue dot for full code, and a red dot for no code. Interesting that years ago, we'd have about 2 full codes, and now we have about 20 out of 72 who want to be resucitated.

I agree with Daytonite about the fact that there is no confidentiality if you get sued. You will be deposed, and asked all of the uncomfortable questions. It IS the responsibility of the state and fed agencies AND the facililty to get to the bottom of this. Too bad they had to learn about the poor orientation and its results the hard way, but hopefully they will take it seriously and work on it.

I know what it is like to need a nurse so bad and want to put them on the floor early. It always comes with a price.

Wow. Wish there was a national standard-the blue dot means DNR at my facility!

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