I am on a private duty case that is awesome. Love the work, have handled an emergency and also made helpful observations about the patient that the Dr. appreciated.
Of course a problem has to arise and this is one I don't know how to solve. The nurse on the other shift started leaving rude notes for me and family members and documenting total lies about rashes and inflammations that did not exist. Family members and I conferred on the false documentation and noted it in the clinical notes. She then wrote a doctor order for an OTC med, wrote it into the MAR, left a note ordering me to administer the med and never faxed the doctor for confirmation. Of course I did not administer the med. I phoned the agency twice and no one called back. I left a message stating that I was concerned and that it involved giving OTC meds with no doctor order.
This is a rural area without many PDN's available and the patient's family have been through several and gone weeks at a time with none, so they are reluctant to dismiss any nurses. It has become obvious to me in the last couple of weeks that this PDN is bringing the patient to her home and also trying keep the patient overnight and bill for two day shifts. ( Also trying to get my shift switched around to accomodate her. ) She is documenting care that is clearly not taking place. The patient requires certain equipment for their care and it has not been moved. There is other definate proof of this. A family member has told me what a great day the patient has had at that nurses house, several times when I report on. The patient has medical kits for use in an emergency that were always kept in the same place. I discovered them missing and asked where they were and the family assured me they would "find" them. They reappeared the next day, but what if I hadn't noticed them missing and had an emergency ? Other less essential supplies are not there anymore.
Now what ? This situation feels like an accident waiting to happen. If I finally get someone at the agency to talk with me, will anything change since they won't even return calls after I leave a detailed message? Do I notify The Board Of Health Professions in my state, notify Medicaid ?
I also will hate to lose this case. Any action I take will probably destroy my chances of keeping this case, the whistleblower seems to always get blamed along with the wrongdoer. She has of course also laid traps to get me in trouble, like telling me in a personal note to give the OTC med with no doctor order. For the sake of time and space I haven't even begun to include all the infractions this nurse has done, but as I say I am becoming worried about something going very wrong and I don't want this patient having complications or getting sick on my shift because of something that may have taken place off site.
Getting another case is a possibility, but that will take time in this area and I need to keep working to survive. Cases are as scarce as nurses where I live. Thank You in advance for any advice.
