Another nurse tried to get me in trouble

[NurseyNursington]

Today I feel like I'm still in high school after another nurse deliberately tried to get me in trouble with the Administrator of the hospital.

Here's the situation...

I work on a Med-Surg floor, and had a fairly light load with five patients. One of my patients was a fully alert and oriented elderly woman who was weak from an infection, but understood not to get out of bed without help (and hadn't tried days prior). About 30 minutes after I had rounded on the patient a charge nurse from another floor came to our floor's nurses's station and began asking who had that specific patient. I let the nurse know it was me, and she began to tell me that the patient got out of bed without help and said she'd been calling for two hours on her call light without anyone checking on her. I followed the nurse down the hall to the patient's room and explained I had just seen her, especially since we round hourly, and she had been asleep. She then began to complain that the patient's IV was leaking and she was in pain.

I was completely confused why this charge nurse was even in the patient's room, until I realized the charge nurse is the patient's granddaughter. The granddaughter took it upon herself to change the patient's IV, even though it was fine after I tightened it and re-taped it, and gave me the nastiest looks while demanding pain medication for her grandmother. I explained that I had already given her pain medication 30 minutes prior and it may not have taken full effect yet. She then lectured me about how her grandmother should be in a room closer to the nurse's station, as if I somehow picked the room myself.

I told my charge nurse what happened, and 20 minutes later my charge nurse tells me that the granddaughter called the Administrator of the hospital and complained about me. Even though we round hourly on our floor, I had only finished my med passing an hour ago AND we had two techs on the floor who answer call lights, the granddaughter still felt her grandmother was being neglected and attempted to get me in trouble.

I'm just angry about the entire thing. My charge nurse is backing me up 100%, but the Administrator is not someone I want to mess with in general. I understand advocating for family members, but she was being ridiculous. I just need some words of advice, or comfort. I'm feeling pretty bad right now.

[icuRNmaggie, BSN, RN]

It makes me wonder what darkness people like this have in their souls when they come up with such outrageously false complaints and criticisms. Are they feeling guilty about something; what are they trying to hide?

You dared to disagree with the granddaughter and now, she is on the attack, in fact, she is harassing you. Stay away from this person and ask not to be assigned to the pt again.

Her behavior was disruptive and inappropriate and she interfered with pt care. Her attempts to make you look incompetent will backfire. Please send your written account to your immediate supervisor and let the people who get paid to worry about these matters sort it out. Also ask your manager to speak to the patient.

Someone wrote here recently that just because you get thrown under the bus doesn't mean that you have to stay there. Your charge nurse should document the visitor complaint as well. The management needs documentation of erratic behavior to initiate disciplinary action. Against her not you.

Don't you worry, you did nothing wrong. Some people are just unexplainable.

[ICURN3020]

Yep, don't frustrate yourself with things you cannot control (how others choose to act).

If you feel confident that you took appropriate care of the patient then your actions will back you up. I know it's worrisome to be in a situation such as yours, but keep your head held high and continue doing a good job.

Some people are just jerks - plain and simple.

[caliotter3]

Getting attacked by family members like this is common. Comes with the job. Document everything that really happened in writing and keep a copy for yourself. Ask not to be assigned to the patient again. That is about all you can do besides taking a witness into the room every time you check on the patient or provide care. Always having a witness eats up patient care time from other patients, so it is best just to avoid that patient and her nasty granddaughter.

[elkpark]

Do you really mean that the granddaughter stuck her grandmother for a new IV? I would be sure that the administration was aware of that. Not sure how much they would like the idea of this woman roaming around the hospital performing invasive procedures on family members for whom she has no kind of official assignment/responsibility ...

[caliotter3]

Administration should use the IV stick as justification to ban the woman from the premises, they are within their rights.

[klone, MSN, RN]

This woman was COMPLETELY inappropriate. She should be disciplined, if not terminated. There should be some sort of formal write-up.

[akulahawkRN, ADN, RN, EMT-P]

Couple things: You weren't the target. The granddaughter that's a Charge on another floor would have done that to whomever was working that day. It wasn't you. You just happened to be there when she showed up. While your patient was her grandmother, your patient wasn't her patient and therefore she should not have provided any patient care... such as starting a new line. Because she was so demanding and did that, she could potentially have found a way to provide her grandmother some pain medication or any number of other things.

I'm with the others here. Make sure you document everything you recall about your interaction with her and what was done by her. I'd almost bet that she was the one that loosened the IV...

She was willing to throw you under the bus and potentially put her own license in jeopardy without a second thought... and then complain to admin about you. You need to protect your own license and your patients... even if they're the grandmother of a certain Charge Nurse from another floor...

[icuRNmaggie, BSN, RN]

Calling the administrator wasn't very smart.

Management will investigate so write it all down in a typed narrative. There is probably an email coming your way asking you to do just that.

Over the years I have noticed that some employees get too comfortable and step way over the line time and again until the management has to do something.

[Ruby Vee, BSN]

Even though she was a charge nurse on another unit, this woman had no business placing an IV in YOUR patient on YOUR unit. Her behavior was inappropriate at best. She should have spoken to you before even going to her grandmother's room! Please follow the advice of previous posters and document everything you recall about this event. Make sure your manager has a copy, and forwards a copy to HER manager. This is grounds for disciplinary action.

[HouTx, BSN, MSN, EdD]

OMG - can you say HIPAA???? Grandchild or not, the 'interfering' nurse was not legally allowed to access records or interfere with the patient's care because she was not part of the designated team caring for the patient. Oh emmmm geeee. This should have generated an incident report ASAP. Hopefully, it did.

[NurseyNursington]

Thank you everyone for really making me feel better. I agree that the entire situation was just a mess and shouldn't have happened anywhere like it did. Thankfully the Administrator said she's uninterested in pursuing it further (as in the nurse's complaint), after the charge nurse explained exactly what happened. It felt good to know that the people on my floor we're backing me up 100%. After a situation like this, I'm glad that I do hourly rounds and that I document my rounds on the patient's white board in their room.