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.
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.
It's my hope (and I hope others too) that the Administrator doesn't take that same stance with regard to that other Charge Nurse's actions... Especially when there's a good possibility that there's a HIPAA violation and potential $$$$ fines along with it...
akulahawkRN, ASN, RN, EMT-P
3,534 Posts
It's my hope (and I hope others too) that the Administrator doesn't take that same stance with regard to that other Charge Nurse's actions... Especially when there's a good possibility that there's a HIPAA violation and potential $$$$ fines along with it...