I was in charge last night. Received a phone call from the computer room to check one of the patient's charts to stamp a report as "permanent record." So I was standing outside of the patient's room and the nurse was in the room, not knowing I was right outside the door flipping through the chart.
Patient had pulled off his bipap machine, apparently. I hear the nurse say "Look what you've done. You're an As*h***. I'm through playing your f****** games." I'm aghast. I go to the doorway and say "I know he's a difficult patient but that's not appropriate!" She just starts saying "Look at his bipap! He broke it! Isn't this broken?!" Doesn't address my comment at all. I go in, fix the bipap mask and help her reapply it. And that's that.
I then walk out and write down verbatim what happened. We've had problems with her before. Give it to my manager in the morning and am called into the office with this nurse. She flat-out denies saying it. She was not angry, just seemed very apologetic with statements like "I'm sorry, I don't know HOW you heard that; I never said anything like that. I don't remember you saying anything to me."
I did do the right thing, didn't I?! (Manager believes me, by the way. But can she act on anything, if the nurse flat-out denies it happening? There were no other witnesses. Pt's mental state is uncertain.)
Specializes in jack of all trades, master of none.
Verbal abuse is still abuse... You did the right thing. I would also put a call in to the BON... let them investigate the nurse.
Of course, we may all have moments when we might THINK like that, but never actually say something like that to a patient, no matter what their mental status is. If this particular pt's mental status is questionable, just imagine how she treats the ones who are confused.
Of course you did the right thing. Don't second guess yourself. This nurse is profane, unprofessional and a liar, and each and every incident needs to be documented and reported.
Can the patient speak for him/herself and be interviewed?
Good job.
Ditto that!
You never know when the straw that breaks the camel's back will fall; then this disgrace to the profession will get her due.
You did do the right thing. Remember, first and foremost the nurse is a patient advocate. Now that you have reported it, it is up to your supervisor how to handle it. Make sure and keep your own personal documentation as well in case this comes up again later.
You were 100% right. The patient doesn't deserve to be abused and actions like hers certainly don't elevate the profession of nursing. I am sorry you had to deal with this.
Ya know, the thing that bothers me is that pts may not be "all there", but he may have been able to hear and understand what she said @ that moment in time. And that would be so sad.
There are very few things that I would consider reporting if it wasn't out and out jeopardizing a patient's health or safety.. but let me tell you that THIS is something I would have no qualms about reporting whatsoever. :angryfire
You wouldn't call your customer at McDonald's an A**H*** would you? You think you'd be canned on the spot? You bet!
If you were in charge, I think you should have dealt with the issue WHEN IT HAPPENED. I would have told her, or got the right administrator on the phone (even at 3am) and got permission to - send her home immediately.
See, by allowing her to finish, it became her word against yours, and even if yours TRUMPS, it's now removed from the situation and action against her is doubtful.
It was SUCH an issue that it should have been an issue, then. I would have sent her home, and, if necessary, taken her patients, doled them out, got more help, asked for adminstrative help, etc.
I could not imagine allowing somebody that uses the F bomb on a patient the opportunity to interact even one more minute with anybody else on my watch. To me, this is on par to discovering somebody is drunk at work: that behavior forbids the ability to continue for one more minute. Goodbye, punch out, go home. HR will be calling you. . .
You did the right thing; but you didn't go far enough.
I'm such a goober sometimes.
ParrotHeadRN
140 Posts
This may be a dumb question, but is this something that could be brought before the BON? It's patient abuse.