I reported a situation to the Unit Manager that another nurse did what she referred to as a "take down" on a LTC resident. I am new to LTC and had no clue what she was talking about when she told me she was going to do this to the resident. I pleaded with her to allow me to take the resident back to her room and allow me to give her the IM inj. of ativan to her while in bed and that I thought she would allow me to give it to her because she trusted me. But this nurse had a head full of steam and didn't even want to discuss it. So she tripped her and knocked her to the floor and shot her with the ativan through her clothing. I don't even know how she could accurately hit her landmarks with the res. clothing still on. The unit manae ger told me this was abuse and should have been reported immediately, which I didn't do because the nurse was training me at the time and when I questioned her on it she told me it was policy, so how was I to know differently? My gut bothered me about this incident until I finally went to the unit manager about it. The nurse had left employment at our facility by this time (2-3 weeks later) (She walked out one day because she was riffed about something.)
Anyweveray.. last week I come into work to see her name on the schedule again. I was completely SHOCKED!! I went to the unit manager and asked her why given what I had reported to her and she didn't have much to say other than she didn't have control over it. I asked her if she had told the DON about it and she didn't reply. I told her to nevermind then because i had emailed the Admin. and the DON and explained everything in grand detail. She was later called into the Admin's office and asked if this had been reported to her, she said she had no recollection of it, even though we had just discussed it again that very morning. (LIAR!) I gave the CNA's names that witnessed the act and they were interviewed too. At this point I don't know what to do. If she comes back after I've reported this, she is going to make my life a living hell for ratting her out. She was already bullyish with everyone on staff and would scream and yell at everyone, bossing people around and telling them she was the new ADON (She's an LPN) etc. No one knew officially what her title was, but she acted as though she was the boss, so most of us believed she was.
My dilemma is that I don't know now if I did the right thing. My admin. was great and nice to me. The DON was not so nice and treated me like a nuisance. As though I had broken some unwritten rule to never rat out another nurse. I play by the rules and I don't want to see elderly people abused. In the nurse's defense, the res. was combative and she did bite her. I don't have this reaction from the resident at all. All I typically have to do is talk nice to her and she will follow me anywhere. This nurse has had run-ins with other residents as well. To me she is a loose cannon just waiting to go off again.
Please give me your insight. I am so new to LTC I'm not sure what I did was right or wrong now. I don't think the DON even believes me since the Unit manager has denied the report. Now I look like the bad guy, even though I wasn't the one who did this. What is the Admin. staff's responsibility to do with this information once it has been confirmed by the other witnesses? I don't wish to ruin this nurse's life, I just don't want her to come back to work at this LTC facility. She is always making life a living hell for the rest of us, not to mention the resident's too. Someone please tell me what I did was right or wrong?
