Another nurse falsifying my initials

green34 · Jul 22, 2013

I would make sure that they are your initials and not another nurse's initials. I would then bring it up to the manager that you did not do the checks and that someone placed your initials there. I would not accuse anyone of doing it and let the manager figure out who may have done it.

alb402 · Jul 22, 2013

That's exactly what I did. I didn't want to point fingers without knowing for sure and figured it would be best for her to investigate who it was that signed it. There are only 4 staff that worked that shift (we're a 16 bed unit) so it's pretty clear that someone else used my initials.

NotMyProblem MSN, ASN, BSN, MSN, LPN, RN · Jul 22, 2013

Falsification of documentation is grounds for termination. So if HE is guilty, he should be history. Obviously, he has done this before if it came so easy to him to do it this time and obviously he has gotten away with it before since he had no second thoughts about doing it again. So, out he should go! What if something happened during the shift that the check wasn't done? He has placed your job and license on the chopping block. I, personally, would be sharpening up the ax! :madface: I have no use for a liar!! We need to be able to trust our co-workers, especially in a filed where someone's life is on the line!

mlbluvr · Jul 22, 2013

Working nights once, I had to leave in a hurry because my sister had called 911 for my father, who was dying, but he didn't want anything done so I had to get there before the paramedics. Last thing I did was an accucheck on a patient, it was too low (about 70) for insulin. I recorded the accucheck, but didn't give the insulin- instead of initialing that and circling to indicate it was not given, I left it blank. Day nurse saw it was blank, gave the insulin, but signed my initials in the box. Patient crashed, since he was already too low. Day nurse checked MAR again, saw the low sugar that was recorded, decided she screwed up by giving the insulin, so tried to backtrack by circling my (HER) initials, then wrote on the back: "Insulin signed in error- not given due to low BS", then again signed MY initials to that statement. Too elaborate on her stupidity: This was back when night nurses charted in red ink, day shift in blue. So on the MAR the BS was charted in red ink, but the insulin was charted in BLUE! And a blind man would have been able to tell that her initials and mine were not even close to matching. Patient crashed and was sent out, nurse was canned, I was written up for leaving the insulin box blank- a 'med error'.

aTOMicTom · Jul 22, 2013

While I agree the employee should be canned if they knowingly violated procedure, is there any way that he had innocent intent? What if he saw the other nurse do the checks, then noticed that she forgot to chart it, so he charted it but had a brain fart and put the wrong initials? (Intending to put the initials of the nurse who actually did the checks). Maybe you should ask him first, before you report him.

... Obviously, he has done this before if it came so easy to him to do it this time and obviously he has gotten away with it before since he had no second thoughts about doing it again....

I'm trying to understand how you could logically determine that he did it before and that it came so easily to him, let alone read his mind to see there were "no second thoughts".

-Tom

alb402 · Jul 23, 2013

While I agree the employee should be canned if they knowingly violated procedure, is there any way that he had innocent intent? What if he saw the other nurse do the checks, then noticed that she forgot to chart it, so he charted it but had a brain fart and put the wrong initials? (Intending to put the initials of the nurse who actually did the checks). Maybe you should ask him first, before you report him.
-Tom

I thought about talking to him but he could easily deny it to me and it would go no where. If it were a different nurse I might think it was done innocently, but this nurse is notorious for cutting corners and not doing his job. He sees psych nursing as "easy" and is often found hiding when an issue is going on on the unit, doesn't take care of medical issues (they're always left for me on evening shift), and makes a million excuses. He knows better than to sign my initials. The staff that performed the check wasn't a nurse - him and I were the only nurses on that shift. While I understand he might have seen the blank and ASSUMED it was done so he wanted to make sure it was documented, this does not ok him forging my initials. He could have simply left the document for us to sign the next evening as we often do when we catch things that are forgotten.

My clinical managers response to this all was that we "can't go back in time" and that if people didn't forget to do things, this wouldn't happen. In other words, she's not going to do anything about it. The milieu has been crazy lately and EVERYONE forgets things now and then. I commend the staff member for remembering she forgot to document and going back to do so as many staff would blow it off. I feel as though my manager isn't taking this seriously. I like her, but she was forced into being our manager after our last one passed away suddenly and she isn't keen on confrontation with staff.

aTOMicTom · Jul 23, 2013

Sounds like a tough situation at work. Glad you sent the original concern to your manager as an Email as opposed to simply speaking to her. I wonder if she actually realizes she is putting her job in jeopardy?

Hiding? That guy sounds like a real piece of work.

I suppose you could document the fact he forged your initials as a CYA move, but this would likely increase animosity from him - and might get her fired for not reporting it. She needs to do her job, bottom line.

Good luck.

anothergrumpyoldRN · Jul 23, 2013

The person knowingly and intentionally falsified a legal medical document.

Nuff said.