by blue note

Nevada nursing board investigates Renown nursing managers
(Reno Gazette-Journal)

The Nevada State Board of Nursing is investigating complaints against five Renown Regional Medical Center managers and the hospital's emergency department for enforcing policies that allegedly placed nurses and patients in danger and violated wage and hour laws.

A nurse fired from Renown this week gave a copy of the 30-page complaint to the Reno Gazette-Journal along with internal e-mails he said substantiate the allegations that state laws were broken.

Hospital officials said Thursday they have been notified of the nursing board's investigation but aren't aware of specific allegations.

In a statement Thursday, the hospital said it has "confidence in these nursing leaders and believes the allegations are without merit."

Renown spokesman Don Butterfield said the newspaper's copy of the complaints came from a disgruntled former employee, and the complaints were made to the nursing board by another nurse who retired in May. Both nurses were union leaders at the hospital until recently.

"(The complaints) are nothing more than unsubstantiated and disparaging allegations," the Renown statement said. "The fact that several allegations were filed at the same time and aimed at several nursing leaders causes us to believe that an individual or an organization with an agenda is behind them."

Stu Talley, a registered nurse fired from Renown on Wednesday, said he was terminated for failing to attend a four-hour class Saturday. He said the penalty had more to do with his union affiliation than the fact that he mixed up his schedule.

"The corporate culture at Renown is that nurses are disposable," he said. "Money comes first, not patients. (The allegations) are substantiated by e-mail exhibits and the testimony of people who were there. The ongoing practices put nurses and their patients in danger."

The complaint was filed by Marvel Bramwell, a Renown nurse who retired in May. She lives in Colorado and could not be reached for comment Thursday.

In her complaint letter, she wrote, "collectively, the RNs have given Renown every opportunity to make corrections," but the hospital refused to make changes.

The complaints allege:

• That nurses were required to draw blood from patients without proper protection from blood-borne diseases and in ways that might render lab tests invalid.
• That nurses were required to make blood draws from multiple patients, which delayed testing and put patients at risk.
• That patients were being transported from the emergency room to hospital rooms before their conditions were fully evaluated, and patients were being misplaced or put into "inappropriate" rooms. For example, the complaint said a patient from the emergency room was put into a room with another patient who was dying and a "suicidal patient" was placed in a room at the end of a hall far from the sight of the nursing station.
• The complaint alleges a case of an "unreported patient" admitted during the day and unexpectedly discovered by a night nurse.
• That nurses aren't given enough time to write charts for patients and are forbidden to do the work on their own time or put in for overtime.
• That decreased nursing staff and high patient loads routinely put patients lives in danger.Butterfield said there are more than 1,200 nurses at Renown. The hospital's statement said the nurses are "dedicated to serving the community and put their patients first" and that internal methods are available for them to put forward their concerns or complaints.

"It is a disservice to these nursing leaders (named in the complaints) for anyone to publicly disparage them without substantiation," Renown's statement said. "We have confidence in our nurses and nursing leaders and believe these allegations are without merit."

Re: Nursing board investigates Reno hospital Nurse Managers

"For example, the complaint said a patient from the emergency room was put into a room with another patient who was dying and a "suicidal patient" was placed in a room at the end of a hall far from the sight of the nursing station."
Was the patient dying his hair? Making tie dye???
Seriously...It does sound like a vendetta.

Re: Nursing board investigates Reno hospital Nurse Managers

When I was an ED nurse I always did blood draws. We did not have time to wait for the lab. I don't know how it is in the hospital this article refers to but the charge nurses on the floors should be having some say in where patients are placed. As the charge nurse of a 34 bed med, surg, ortho unit I work with all areas to find the best location for patients who come to me from multiple locations.

How does drawing blood from multiple patients put the patient at risk? Are they using a label system to label their specimens?

I guarantee you that the hospital in question has the appropriate protective attire available to staff. It is up to the staff to use it.

This complaint sounds kind of fishy to me.

Re: Nursing board investigates Reno hospital Nurse Managers

There must be more to this story,.....it isn't making sense.

Re: Nursing board investigates Reno hospital Nurse Managers

This sounds like an average night at work at my hospital....

Re: Nursing board investigates Reno hospital Nurse Managers

Whenever a person makes allegations on their way out the door or when they are down the street, it detracts from the credibility of the charges, whether they are valid or not. One wonders why these people don't bring their complaints while they are still getting paychecks every pay period. How long do these people choose to look in the other direction? Of course, it always coincides with the loss of their job, that they suddenly get conscience attacks, while everything was honky dory when their paycheck was showing up.

Re: Nursing board investigates Reno hospital Nurse Managers

Maybe everything wasn't hunky dory, and the email exhibits are to show the internal discussion of the stuff they then complained about after losing their jobs. It's entirely possible that the nurses who tried to help correct what they saw as problems in the workforce, lost their jobs as a consequence of trying to do something.

Anyhow. I read the blood draws issue as, they are having to draw morning labs instead of lab doing the AM draws. I can see where that would put a kink in the end of your shift - especially if you're understaffed.

Re: Nursing board investigates Reno hospital Nurse Managers

I worked at this hospital - they have around 800 beds.

They have a bed control department that directs the flow of patients throughout the hospital. These are RNs that are determining patient placement and the process has little to do with the unit managers. Although, charge should be advocating for appropriate room assignments. Regarding the suicidal patient - it shouldn't matter where in the hospital they are because visualization/safety/etc has to be documented Q15 minutes, requiring 1:1 care, basically. I'm assuming the lab draws are in the ED. Morning lab draws for admitted patients are done by phlebotomists from the lab for patients requiring venipuncture. Nonetheless, if we wanted to stick our patients ourselves, we were provided with the proper equipment. The lab label system requires scanning of the patient info bracelet to generate labels to place on the lab tubes, otherwise the lab wouldn't accept the sample. I never received a patient from the ED that didn't have a diagnosis... Overtime to finish your work was never discouraged, but they did require nurses to document why they were staying over...nothing complicated, just a one sentence explanation always worked for me.

Sure, things don't always go right in a hospital that large, but I would be really surprised if the allegations stick. The news that the NV BON is investigating the complaint really isn't news since they investigate all complaints received.

The two nurses mentioned were very active in the union, though it seems like they're disgruntled to me. I really enjoyed working there!

Re: Nursing board investigates Reno hospital Nurse Managers

Originally Posted by CapeCodMermaid

"For example, the complaint said a patient from the emergency room was put into a room with another patient who was dying and a "suicidal patient" was placed in a room at the end of a hall far from the sight of the nursing station."
Was the patient dying his hair? Making tie dye???
Seriously...It does sound like a vendetta.

dy·ing (dng) v. Present participle of die1.

adj. 1. About to die: dying patients.
2. Drawing to an end; declining: in the dying hours of the legislative session.
3. Done or uttered just before death: a dying request.


The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition copyright ©2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2009. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
dying
Verb
the present participle of die1
Adjective
1. occurring at the moment of death: in accordance with his dying wish
2. (of a person or animal) very ill and likely to die soon
3. becoming less important or less current: coal mining is a dying industry
Collins Essential English Dictionary 2nd Edition 2006 © HarperCollins Publishers 2004, 2006


http://www.thefreedictionary.com/dying

Re: Nursing board investigates Reno hospital Nurse Managers

For what it's worth...I complained about short staffing and was fired in two days. Then they filed a complaint with the state board because I wasn't getting my job done in a timely manner. Most people just quit. It's possible this is one of the unspoken rules of nursing...complain and risk losing your job. The hospital was Research Medical Center, Kansas City, MO (HCA owned). The reasons for firing me was all related to not having enough people to answer the phones, call the doctor and try to keep the patient alive by myself. It tends to get more stressful than is necessary in those conditions. BTW, I told my supervisor I was going to quit as soon as possible 3 days before they fired me.

I would be happy to share the complaint information with anyone.

my 1.3 cents