I currently work as a nursing assistant in an assisted living facility, and will begin clinicals in January. My concern is regarding accusations of patient abuse, after an incident I experienced over the summer. Let me begin by saying that I am extremely sensitive to issuses of abuse, as I am a survivor of domestic abuse, having divorced my abusive spouse after over 20 years of marriage. I returned to work and began college at the age of 50, after spending 20 years as a full time homemaker.
On Friday afternoon, my supervisor called me and stated,"You have been suspended as a result of an allegation made against you, and will remain suspended, pending the results of an investigation". She refused to tell me what the allegation was, or who made it, and suggested that I call her supervisor, which I did. That person gave me no more information, other than I would be contacted for questioning, but would not tell me by whom. On Monday, I was called by my supervisor and told that "Mary", a resident at the facility had made an accusation of abuse. I came in to meet with both supervisors, and was asked in detail about my getting "Mary" dressed on Friday morning, which I did. I was told that "Mary" said that I had grabbed her left arm and "threw" her back down on the toilet when she tried to get up. I told them that I held her by the right arm, as her left arm was against the wall, with her left hand holding onto the guardrail. When she stood up, she was very unsteady, ready to fall forward, so I lowered her back down to sit on the toilet, preventing her from falling. There were no bruises or injuries to her left arm, or anywhere else. She is very thin and frail. Wednesday AM I was called, and told that the accusations were unfounded, and I could return to work.
The facility's policy is that an employee is immediately suspended when an accusation of abuse is made by a resident, and you are guilty until proven innocent. "Mary" is in the advanced stage of dementia. Her doctor has numerous notes that she is dellusional and experiences hallucinations, along with statements that she believes the staff are rough with her and rush her. There are pages of nursing notes that state the same. Still, I was guilty until proven innocent.
Is this the "norm" - to be assumed guilty until proven innocent, and automatically suspended? How do you protect yourself from such accusations? What are the policies at other facilities? How do you deal with such allegations? Any imput or suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.
Specializes in LTC, assisted living, med-surg, psych.
I'm the DNS and assistant administrator for a 42-bed ALF, and I'd have done exactly as your supervisor did. I cannot take even the remotest chance that one of my staff members may be abusing residents..........and 'abuse' doesn't always mean physical cruelty! It can mean anything from assault and battery to cursing out a resident---even allowing someone to sit in wet briefs for a couple of hours can consitute abuse.
That said, I'm glad you were cleared, and I agree that no member of your facility staff should care for this particular resident alone. In the future, be sure to document EVERYTHING that's even a little bit unusual.........you never know when it's going to come back to bite you. Don't rely on your nurse or your immediate supervisor to do this for you---write it in the resident's chart, sign, date, and time your entry. Be objective: write only what you saw, what you said, and what you did, and document the resident's actions/reactions. And be sure to write an incident report as well, and turn it in to the proper authority! That way the matter can be investigated quickly, and being proactive demonstrates that you have nothing to hide.
One more thing: you were not 'disciplined', you were suspended with pay pending investigation. There's a big difference between what happened to you and what would have happened if you actually HAD abused the resident!
I had a patient accuse me the other day of not giving him enough cough syrup and too much insulin.
Get real! Why I would I cheat him on the cough syrup and then overdose him on the insulin?
He has some psyche issues, too. He threw his urinal one day and tried to hit the CNA's with it. He's very self centered and demanding. Thinks when he calls we should come a-running, even if we are busy with someone else. Just drop and go see what HE wants.
I can see he's going to be giving me a hard time now, so in the future I'm going to try to have a witness to giving his meds.
VivaLasViejas, ASN, RN
22 Articles; 9,996 Posts
I'm the DNS and assistant administrator for a 42-bed ALF, and I'd have done exactly as your supervisor did. I cannot take even the remotest chance that one of my staff members may be abusing residents..........and 'abuse' doesn't always mean physical cruelty! It can mean anything from assault and battery to cursing out a resident---even allowing someone to sit in wet briefs for a couple of hours can consitute abuse.
That said, I'm glad you were cleared, and I agree that no member of your facility staff should care for this particular resident alone. In the future, be sure to document EVERYTHING that's even a little bit unusual.........you never know when it's going to come back to bite you. Don't rely on your nurse or your immediate supervisor to do this for you---write it in the resident's chart, sign, date, and time your entry. Be objective: write only what you saw, what you said, and what you did, and document the resident's actions/reactions. And be sure to write an incident report as well, and turn it in to the proper authority! That way the matter can be investigated quickly, and being proactive demonstrates that you have nothing to hide.
One more thing: you were not 'disciplined', you were suspended with pay pending investigation. There's a big difference between what happened to you and what would have happened if you actually HAD abused the resident!