I witnessed a nursing supervisor physically abuse a patient. While I have seen abuse before, this rose to a level at which I think the supervisor should face charges in court for assault. It was that bad. That supervisor's judgment is atrocious.
Unfortunately for me, I saw how likely it was for other hospital staff to be injured in the ensuing drama, so I did what I had to do to make sure nobody else got hurt. In the process, I did some things that were obviously bad calls... I said at the time to stop what was going on, deescalate, leave the room, don't do this or that, but the supervisor had their Supervisor bullhorn out and was shouting orders.
This facility has covered for that person in the past. That supervisor has been reported for executing an S&R event and not bothering with the paperwork. They let it slide. There have been numerous other incidents where the patient was provoked into certain behaviors by this supervisor, and this supervisor's friends covered.
Now I have other supervisors calling me on the phone and telling me that if I have concerns about this or that, that I should just write it down and turn it in without fear of retalliation. Oh please. Yeah, I should just do that. I should do that, kick the bear, and not think about my little kids at home and what happens when I show up at work to find all this supervisor's ******-off friends waiting for me to slip up somewhere so they can throw me under the bus. It's happened before at this facility.
Oh, and the new DON came to see me today and scheduled an hour long appointment for me to come and meet with her. Specifically about that event. At the time, I said I didn't want anything to do with that contagious garbage, don't mention my name, don't connect me with that in any way, don't make me pick up a pen because nobody's going to be happy if I start writing it down.
I really don't want to talk to the DON. The idea of it is making my skin crawl. Jobs aren't falling from the trees these days. I have other options. Two facilities have contacted me about similar positions, and 98% of me wants to just walk away and not do this. Like the DON is going to can this supervisor based on what somebody who's been at the hospital for six weeks has to say.
She's doing this under the auspices of "setting up a training session" for staff. I'm thinking about keeping the discussion strictly to training needs and equipment needs, and refuse to discuss the abuse incident until the DON can schedule a meeting that includes the supervisor so we can all lay our cards down together.
I was going to make a similar suggestion, Morte. My hospital has risk management that can be called and anonymous reports can be made if desired. There is also a very clear cut non-retaliation policy in place. Beyond that you would be covered by whistle blower laws in place federally. I understand not wanting to get involved, and am glad that you are going to fulfill your duty to advocate for your patient and report abuse.
you can also make an anonymous report to the bon and the state dept of health. that should shake up the hornet's nest pretty good, and they might not even know you did it.
I put in my report that I will be following up with the BON in two weeks, and I mentioned that the CNO is a mandatory reporter. I think it's only fair that I give her a heads-up on this. It was so outlandish.
After I turned in the supervisor to the DON, she went around to my coworkers and solicited letters of complaint about me. She got a nice thick stack of them, sat me down, and wrote me up. I had to go four weeks with no med errors. What constitutes a med error in this place is sort of murky. If I filed an incident report on every med error I saw all I would do all day is fill out incident reports. It's a setup. Even the best med nurses in this hospital make a mistake or two every day.
A little time passed and I noticed that supervisor still on the schedule as a supervisor. There's more, but I want to cover my tracks a little. Horrified at this turn of events, I took myself off the schedule for a while. Word apparently got around, and the administration took notice. I recently found out that that DON got canned, and that the hospital is aggressively pursuing new leadership on the floor.
I had a chance to meet with the new DON a few days ago and let her know I was happy to see a change in leadership. She knew exactly what I was talking about.
You must advocate for the patient. At least tell your side, and cover no one's behind. 9 times out of 10 that supervisor will make remarks or say something insulting/inapprpriate to you down the line. You don't have to tell your feelings, just tell your point of view, straightforward.
algebra_demystified
215 Posts
To make a long story short, I got cornered at work by the DON. I'm going to give up the goods.