Are all Group home workers like this?

Kooky Korky, BSN, RN · Apr 10, 2011

I used to be a direct care staff person in a group home back in 2000 and 2001 when I was 19/20 years of age. This was several years before I became a nurse.
The pay was slightly more than minimum wage. I passed oral medications such as Haldol, Zyprexa, and Premarin, but I had no clue about the purpose or side effects of these meds. Since I worked the midnight shift, I was alone in the home with the clients for six hours. I had no CNA certification, no CPR, no medical training whatsoever. I would not have known the reasoning behind turning a client every two hours. Back then, I did not know that a lack of repositioning could contribute to pressure ulcers.
This is just to give you a glimpse of the lack of training that many group home direct care staff members have.

It also shows that nurses need to take some initiative in teaching unlicensed staff.

It's very disturbing to learn that there is so little training or education for direct care staff in so many settings. We just value people less every day, it seems.

Blackcat99 · Apr 11, 2011

According to Florida administrative code Group home Facility standards: Each facility shall have a person designated as administratively responsible on site. Someone should be on site at all times to make sure the patient gets his medical care as ordered by the physician. Otherwise, if the care is not given, it is a case of patient negligence. I found this info on a legal law forum. I have also called the ombudsman and left a message.

I will then give all the info to the patient and see what he wants to do. :yeah:

txredheadnurse, BSN, RN · Apr 11, 2011

If this home is receiving any funding from the State such as Medicaid funding covering housing, personal care, etc. there this is a state agency of some type responsible for oversight. Contact them to report any concerns in regards to neglect or abuse.

I don't know the regs in your state but in my state unless an Interdisciplinary Team has agreed that a group home resident is capable of being left unsupervised there must be at least 1 direct care worker in the same building as the resident at all times with the exception of school, sheltered work shops or competitive employment work sites. Since the nurses in my state are not in the line of supervision of the residents, usually have multiple group homes under their professional oversight and are not responsible for the non nursing care of a resident the nurse can not be left as the sole caregiver of a group home resident at any time. So the situation you wrote of would be a huge red flag here and definitely needs to be reported to your employer (as you did). The nurse would also need to make a verbal report to the direct care workers supervisor of your concerns about being left alone with the resident. In addition we were always taught that if we felt we had witnessed a possible case of neglect we were obligated to phone it in to the appropriate state agency complaint hotline.

TheCommuter, BSN, RN · Apr 11, 2011

Try calling a family member

Here's the problem: Many (if not most) group home residents have no family member involvement whatsoever. Most of them have families, but they have not visited the client in years. Some clients simply have no living relatives.

Blackcat99 · Apr 12, 2011

Thanks all. Yes, my patient needs to be supervised by a group home worker at all times. Unfortunately, it was the manager/supervisor of the group home workers who left me with no help. She is a "bully". She bullies the evening nurse. I had to set her straight within minutes of meeting her last week. She seems to think that she is the "nurses supervisor." :mad: . I am concerned about what she would do if the patient decides to make a complaint. My patient is alert and oriented, and can make his own decisions. I wonder if this bully will try to kick him out of the group home if he complains? I know they say they can't kick someone out for filing a complaint. However, I have seen patients in the past, getting kicked out of other facilities for "complaining.":crying2:

allnurses Guide · Apr 12, 2011

Thanks all. Yes, my patient needs to be supervised by a group home worker at all times. Unfortunately, it was the manager/supervisor of the group home workers who left me with no help. She is a "bully". She bullies the evening nurse. (--bolded by me-)
I had to set her straight within minutes of meeting her last week. She seems to think that she is the "nurses supervisor." . I am concerned about what she would do if the patient decides to make a complaint.

It sounds like this person uses intimidation to control others and is in an entrenched turf protecting mode that will not take what she perceives as a threat lightly. If she is the oversight in her domain it's certainly possible that some sort of negative consequence for a dependent adult could occurr if he makes a complaint and she manages to bs her way out of it and he continues to live there. It's such a tough situation! I wish I had better (or easier) answers for you! What you can certainly do is look into all avenues of available remedy for this person which varies from state to state. There are usually nonprofit advocacy groups as well as the state-employed ombudsman. I'll keep you and he in my prayers.

Blackcat99 · Apr 17, 2011

Thanks everyone. I have talked to my patient and he said he doesn't want to file a complaint at this time.

I saw "the bully" today and she looked scared to see me again. She was nice and respectful to me. I guess my supervisor did in fact call the group home owner(her boss) about that situation. :yeah:

allnurses Guide · Apr 17, 2011

So glad it seems to be getting better - and I'm sure your patient has had his life improved just from knowing that he doesn't have to accept poor conditions and has somebody advocating for him even if he doesn't want to pursue action at this time. :up: :up: :up: